Bangkok Smouldering

We returned from Hong Kong once the violence subsided in Bangkok. The atmosphere here is tense but getting back to normal. Downtown has some charred remains of malls and other buildings that were lit on fire as the red-shirts retreated. Despite a large scale cleanup effort, signs of conflict linger in some places (sandbag fortifications, black stains on the streets, the singed shell of one of the largest malls in SE Asia). Everyone went back to work on Monday like nothing happened. The future is uncertain for the country, but for now the protesters have left, piled on trains by the military and shipped back to the country. In this context I enter the last few weeks of my job here.

Returning to Bangkok- Bad Idea?

I realize now as I approach the end of my temporary job (aka internship I suppose) that I have neglected to spend any time explaining what I actually do for 40 hours a week (when not traveling or fleeing).

I work at a small company that does all sorts of environmental investments. The company essentially develops small scale projects for investors. There are several segments to the company- some people focus on renewable energy- constructing biogas or biomass plants or using hydropower. Others focus on the water business- wastewater recapture and recycling for industrial facilities is the most common project there. There are carbon projects involving reforestation as well. All of these projects have to promise a return, as the word investment implies. The company will not build a biomass plant unless the local farmers want a biomass plant and agree to purchase electricity (in all cases the cost of the power or water we provide is significantly less than the prevailing cost before a project is implemented). As a 3 month intern, I was able to assist with many of these projects in various stages, but did not get a chance to visit project sites. On the whole it was very interesting and refreshing to climb behind the cliché of “sustainable development” and see what that actually entails. The projects rely on profit motives and careful assessment of local conditions. I am thankful for the opportunity I've had here.

Hong Kong and Macau

Please note that I do not intend to make light of the violence in Bangkok, which has upset me and I am hoping for a expedient and peaceful resolution.
What better place to be a refugee than Hong Kong? A delicious remnant of colonialism, the city is nestled between the hills of a few islands and the Chinese mainland. Luckily for us we had friends with places for us to stay on the beach and in a town called Stanley. Hong Kong is a very cool place and very different from other parts of SouthEast Asia. We spent several days exploring islands, beaches and the urban core. A highlight was the bun festival, which on initial appearences consists of all 7 million of residents cramming onto an island that normally has a population of 10,000 in one of those wierd 'how many people can you fit in a phonebooth' types of stunts. What the festival is actually about is eating those chinese buns filled with red bean, or sesame, or something else you don't want to know about. The highlight of the festival is when several young men climb up a large pole covered in buns, gathering as many as they can into a bag. We came for the crowds, but didn't stick around until the middle of the night to witness the scaling of the bun phallus (see slideshow for pictures).

One day we did a daytrip to Macau, a former Portuguese city that has a very funny dynamic with European influences. The food was fabulous- we had some delicious egg tarts and a great steak and seafood dinner prepared in Portuguese style. I particularly enjoyed the greyhound race track, which was a depressing collection of gambling junkies and a few tourists stuck in a several thousand person stadium. (We did not go to the Macau casinos, which are the main source of revenue for the tiny island state). Dog Racing is quite funny, and we lost a few dollars placing bets on losing contenders as we were unaware of what we should be looking for. The dogs are paraded around the track once so that everyone can get a good look at them and then place their bets (each race had tens of thousands of dollars riding on it, not bad for a group of ~100 people). What is funny to me is that all the dogs appear to be trained to relieve themselves on this display lap. I didn’t know this the first time and thus put my $0.50 bet on the first dog I saw break out of line with its handler to fertilize the track. I ran to the bookies and placed my bet. Only on the next race did I note that ALL of the dogs do this. As you can see from the pictures, this was an amusing venue and makes me question what greyhound racing elsewhere might look like (this was billed as “world class greyhound racing”).

Bangkok Burning

On the day we were set to return from Chiang Mai we got word of a curfew in Bangkok due to escalating violence and scrambled to change our flight to the next day as fighting between armed troops and protesters increased…

Red Shirt Barricade On My Morning Commute

We made it back and learned that our offices were closed until Wednesday as part of a declared national holiday. This was fine and we worked from internet cafes… but as the violence escalated we began to plan a trip outside of the country. When the “holiday” was extended through the end of the week, we booked a flight to HongKong. As my American colleague said “Thailand finally makes up for not having any snow days” – but not in the way you want it to.

We fled on the morning of Wednesday, May 19. I say fled mostly because my girlfriend got a call from someone telling us that the army was moving into the center and that most roads in the city were being closed. In a panic she ran into the room and told me to get everything together and that she was going to try and find a taxi although she couldn’t be sure that she would find one. For my part, I was a bit startled: Partly because I had just discovered a small salamander on my sandal, but mostly because I was expecting her to be getting breakfast for the two of us and she had returned empty handed. But she insisted that I hurry, so I collected our pre-packed luggage and met her in the taxi, where to my relief I discovered that she had cleverly placed two ‘to go’ brunches. As I munched down some sausage and toast in the cab I realized that she was still very concerned, but had calmed considerably since we now had a car. Once at the airport things were easier, although we could see the troubling news on the tvs everywhere: Central Bangkok was a mess- protesters, military, fires. As we lifted off from the Airport I watched the dark smoke clouds rising above downtown and was grateful that we had left in a bit of a hurry.

Chiang Mai

I know that many of you have contacted me to ask me about the political situation in Thailand, so I will address that now, particularly as the situation got increasingly more interesting this weekend while we were away.

This time we headed away for a weekend in beautiful Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. It’s a great place- a small city of 1 million people with a calm downtown and so many temples it’s easy to lose track. I think it’s even prettier in the rainy season when things are greener.
We stayed with my ladybird’s Thai professor in a cool teak house.

While we were there a few interesting things happened in Thailand. First some context:

Thailand is a country dominated by one city: Bangkok. In recent years there has been a growing disparity between the elites of Bangkok and much of the rest of the country. Some of this is just perceived, but much of it is undoubtedly real. The current government was put into place by a military coup in 2006 which ousted a billionaire telecom tycoon named Thaksin, then prime minister (pronounced “toxin”, the irony is not lost upon the English speaking Thais who oppose him). He was corrupt, but had also accomplished many things for Thailand including economic growth, elevated highways and increased access to mobile phones (thereby fueling his own personal telecom company). In 2006 he was ousted by a military coup because of his corruption and potentially because many elites in Bangkok opposed him.

The recent protests in Bangkok started with the combination of several groups, collectively known as the ‘United front for Democracy against Dictatorship’ or popularly the red-shirts, demanded better representation and a new election (again I am not certain but I do not believe the current government was elected). The government and its supporters (multi-colored or yellow shirts) opposed this idea of shaking the status quo. What started as a protest in a certain neighborhood of Bangkok slowly escalated into an occupation of certain neighborhoods in the city. There was initially some evidence of some protesters getting paid by Thaksin to protest. Most of these people came from the countryside and began protesting in between farming seasons, during the hottest time of the year when there isn’t much to do (see my post on Laos and BeerLaos at this time of year).

Both sides have been ‘negotiating’ for weeks, but it is unclear that either side is willing to make concessions. The red-shirt protest relocated to downtown Bangkok, a stones throw from my office, and promptly fortified their position. The government has been issuing warnings for several weeks now, and there have been some clashes (early April saw some casualties). There was also one incident of grenades being launched at the elevated train I take to work with scores of injuries and one death. As such the situation is decidedly tense. I do not have sufficient space to explain all of the details, but I will say that as we left for Chiang Mai things started changing- a key general in the red-shirts who had defected from the army and was critical to explaining strategy etc. was shot in the head by a sniper while he was being interviewed by a NYTimes journalist, who claimes the bullet "felt like it grazed my head."

This has led the red shirts to become more aggressive, blocking other roads and lighting tires on fire. We were happy to be in Chiang Mai for the weekend as it’s quite stressful in Bangkok. Unfortunately, it is hard to escape the daily saga of the protests, which are consuming the nation (as a coworker of mine said “Why do I need soap operas? The daily news had more action than any fiction”). Most places you go people are watching tv or listening to the radio, where you can see live shots of downtown Bangkok and armed confrontation.



It was under these circumstances the we toured around Chiang-Mai, a up to now largely peaceful place that is a red-shirt stronghold and Thaksin’s hometown. We tried to distract ourselves during the day, but inevitably would watch the political developments in the evenings.

I include a video here of the city pillar festival which we attended at night. You can see a small white thing in the upper right hand corner which is full of blessed water that you can dump on the temple by pulling it up a pully. I did this with my girlfriend and was then told that it means we shall find each other in our next lives! Also note the elephants in the middle of the temple.

Chiang Mai City Pillar Festival

We spent one day out at this really cool elephant sanctuary where domestic elephants are rehabilitated and taken care of (despite their iconic status in Thailand, Elephants are often abused).

Temples and Palaces

I finally had a full tourist day in Bangkok a few weekends ago. Starting relatively early, we headed straight for the historic section of the town. We took the canal and walked through the old down towards the famous palace complex. On the way we came across a different majestic temple and stopped in- this whole part of town is the old town where Bangkok was originally founded.

We chanced upon a monk ceremony (most men in Thailand become monks for at least a short period of time during their lives). We watched some of the ceremony in a huge and impressive temple. As one of the future monks was being escorted in, all of his friends and family lifted him up to touch the top of the 15 foot doorway to the temple.
The palace and temple complex is very impressive- everything glitters with gold and colors. There is a famous “emerald Buddha” temple- apparently some monks in another part of the country were transporting a gray Buddha statue and they dropped it and damaged it. What they had actually done was crack the case around a smaller Buddha made entirely of emerald. Later this was transported to Bangkok and put in a temple.

Sightseeing is great, except for the heat. Thais like to joke that they have two seasons “hot and hot”. This year has been particularly hot, and although it is May and the rains should be starting, its still very hot. (recall that the SongKran festival in mid April is supposed to be the hottest part of the year). It was only the other night that I realized how much my heat tolerance has changed- I was commenting on how nice it was and looked up at a sign with the temperature on it- 32 degrees Celsius (~85 degrees Fahrenheit).

Also, see the Bangkok photo album for some pictures of delicious fruits: mangostein and rambutan!

Kanchanaburi Thailand: Life on the Lake

We headed four hours outside of Bangkok this past weekend for a houseboating experience. This turned into a total 2 day party atmosphere. We a big group of fifteen to twenty people and rented two houseboats that they attached to each other. We were then towed across a lake and anchored on a more remote shore, where we cracked beers, swam and partied for the whole weekend. We had food and beer delivered to us by boat, and had a liveaboard assistant who would clean all of our dishes and make sure we had ample ice to chill our beer- he also made sure the one electronic device we had was working- a karaoke computer.

Aside from the stunning nature and views, the highlight of the trip was likely when I joined forces with a friend of mine (Also named Alex) from Bangkok to assail some of our neighbors. One houseboat full of Thais had been parked around a bend from us. In the late afternoon, we saw a bamboo raft full of people wearing life vests drift into sight. Curious we swam closer and saw that it was a bunch of Thai people hanging out.
We said hello and they asked where we were from “Isaan,” I replied (a very remote part of Thailand). “It’s a small village of farang (white foreigners) who speak English”. Then laughed and I asked where they were from:
“Kanaadaaaaa- small village where speak Thai”. Ha, fair enough. Somehow Alex and I got the idea that flipping the bamboo raft would be quite fun. The guys on the raft thought this was funny, but the ladies did not enjoy getting put in the water… this was probably due to the fact (later revealed) that none of them could actually swim... We ended up having to swim their raft back to their houseboat.

The whole experience was a great change of pace from hot Bangkok.

Transportation in Bangkok

This is a post dedicated to transportation in Bangkok. Its inspired by the fact that the oldest part of town is not on the skytrain, so heading directly there involves:
(A) Walking down our soi to ThongLor and catching a big red hot bus which crawls along just faster than you could walk, always looking to pick up a few extra people (at $0.18 its still worth it), (B) Getting off the bus at the Klong (canal) and walking underneath where the road crosses the klong to find a small raft platform. You stand on the platform and hail passing canal boats. The canals are notoriously disgusting and smell like a night at Dr. Dremo’s wed to a sulfuric explosion. In fact, the boats are long and wide and have a tarp that you pull up along the sides to prevent the warm and zesty sewage water from getting in your eyes. The boats pass under low bridges and thus the roof can be adjusted down. The people that take your money hang off the sides of the boat and where helmets (presumably to protect themselves from the low bridges). Its quite the experience, best done a few times but not too often (again at $0.50 it’s a bargain). When you dismount from the boat you can either (C1) Get a cab, which defeats the purpose of going on a bargain voyage (C2) get a tuk tuk, which will turn into a heated debate about price- these drivers are terribly hard to deal with near the tourist sites (C3) take a motorcycle- This is perhaps the most adventurous and dangerous form of transportation around Bangkok. Many use the Motorcycles to go a short distance from a subway or skytrain station to their finally destintion. Every major street corner has a bunch of moto drivers standing around, playing checkers and waiting to take people somewhere. While most drivers are reasonable, many are clinically insane (as was the one who ran a red light with me on a six lane intersection the other night..)

My first moto experience was exhilarating, though I later found out that I violated several unspoken rules of motorbike. Apparently you are allowed to ride either side saddle (for the ladies) or regular. There is a place to hold on behind you, which you can grasp with one or both hands (or if you are cool, you can check your blackberry and drink an ice tea instead). Most people don’t wear helmets are they are only going a short distance and generally have a complete disregard for their life (aka trust moto drivers). My first experience I had my ladybird communicate to the driver where I wanted to go and bid her adieu. While trying to figure out how to mount the moto, the driver noticed my hesitation and tried to make a joke which I failed to understand. Once I got myself situated, I put one arm on the driver’s shoulder, which made him recoil a bit. Not taking the hint I said “lets go” and off we went. As we picked up speed I didn’t know what to hold on to, so I reached around and held onto the driver. He tried to say something but his words were swept away by the wind before they got to me. At the next stop, he gave me an oversized helmet that I strapped on. Its only now that I painstakingly look back on that experience- a tall lanky farang (white foreigner) wearing a lopsided helmet hanging that’s too large holding on to a small thai man zooming through traffic. I’m sure I provided a good bit of entertainment to the Thai nation that day. I haven’t been back to the street corner where I got the moto since…

Singapore for a Day

I will write briefly about Singapore, where I spent a night in transit on the way to Indonesia and a day on the way back. Its a super efficient city that feels like Europe in some parts although it has distinct neighborhoods (little india, Chinatown, arab street) Flying in you can see all of the container ships lined up in the ocean- its quite an impressive sight, but according to some locals I met this makes it less appetizing to go for a swim. The place does not have a long history, but the national languages include English. I saw Chinese and Hindu temples, and a church built by the wealthy Armenians and also enjoyed a break in some of the very nicely manicured parks. I was, however, feeling a bit down as the whole place seemed to lack character and be a bit like Disneyland meets the financial district of New York with a Chinese theme.

Astounding After a Beer

Then, I came across a brewery near the Singapore River. This perked me up and as I sipped beer and looked at the skyline, I began to feel a lot better about the place. Afterwards I was inspired to start taking some more pictures of the area, which I did. I was particularly impressed by the “surfboard” buildings, 3 buildings that appeared to have a surfboard strung across the top (later I found out this is the famous casino). As I was wandering around taking pictures of various insignificant landmarks in a tipsy and excited state (“Look- it’s a palm tree with Christmas lights- how hilarious! *click click*), I lost track of time and the day had advanced pretty far when I got back on the subway and realized my flight was leaving quite soon. Suddenly my impressions changed and I hoped that the $10 budget flight I had booked would wait for me. Somehow I knew it wouldn’t, but was able to make it make to the airport in time to catch the plane (thank you Singaporean subway system and efficiency!).

South of the Equator

Java, Indonesia

I headed south for a 5 day weekend thanks to labor day and coronation day here in Thailand. My Indonesian experience started off very well. At the border in the Jogjakarta airport, I made friends with some people from my flight and agreed to share a car downtown, conveniently hitching a free ride. As I had not yet accessed an ATM and did not have any money when we arrived at their hotel, I shrugged and offered to find an ATM, but they did not want to wait. I’m saving this scam for future use.

I took a bicycle rickshaw to a cheap area of town and walked around looking at various places. Bahasa Indonesia is a fairly easy language to pick up. They write using the same alphabet that we do and most words are pronounced in a logical way. Sosrowijayan is an area of town with lots of budget guesthouses and hotels. The neighborhood is really cool, full of 3 to 8 foot wide little alleys that no cars can drive down. I walked around looking at various homestays, most of which I found a bit overpriced. A small boy asked me to come with him to his house, so I obliged (knowing full well that he would get a commission)- I stayed in a great no name house for $8.

A big "gang" (alley) in Sosrowijayan

I walked around the bustling market street (full of Indonesians going shopping)- unfortunately I only had our nice camera so I’m a bit light on pictures. One thing that was cool was the motorcycle valet- one side of the street had thousands of motorbikes lined up in 3 to 4 rows with motorcycle valets attending to them. Jogjakarta is a really cool city and I recommend it to anyone considering Indonesia (most people head past the cultural to the resorts of Bali- a sort of Cancun equivalent for Australians).

Moto Valet (there are two to three more rows to the right)

I spent two days on a round trip to Mount Bromo, being driven at crazy speeds across the island of Java. There are many volcanoes dotting the landscape, but Mount Bromo is particularly famous and I wanted to see it firsthand. I signed up for a cheap tour and only later realized this would involve consecutive days of 10+ hours in a minibus. Waking up at 330 AM, we headed to a viewpoint, shrouded in clouds to see the sunrise, which we were unable to see, though I snapped a few other pictures. I should mention that being at 2500 meters was a refreshing experience- it was only 40 degrees or so at dawn by the volcano.

Mt Bromo in the clouds

At Bromo

Though I was travelling alone, I was rarely lonely. I made friends with many travelers- there weren’t too many foreigners around so it was easy to strike up a conversation. Indonesian people also speak English pretty well, and are constantly trying to practice. In fact, on our 10 hour minibus odyssey, I was approached at a pit stop by a girl who just started chatting me up. He older brother/father then came and asked if she could ride in the car with us for an hour, speak English and then get dropped off. I found this to be a bit ridiculous and refused. Luckily the other people in the car were German or French, so they were not asked.

Borobudur in the Morning (See the Volcano?)

After returning late and grabbing food with friends, I set my alarm for 4:30 and got up for another early morning tour to the temples at Borobudur. This Buddhist temple is the laragest in the world. It was pretty amazing. Here I was again confroned by scores of young Indonesians trying to practice their English. I was also able to meet up with a friend who is working in Jogjakarta at a sexual health clinic. I went out with her coworkers and had a blast before waking up at 5 AM to catch a plane.