The Noodle Curtain

My 7 Links at Behind the Noodle Curtain

It must be my journalism background but once a post is in the public domain, the only thing I focus on is the next one. I do not dwell on what’s past and find it hard to think of some posts that would meet the criteria of My 7 Links, a challenge to bloggers originated by travel blog Tripbase.

The goal is to “unite bloggers  (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.”

Well, maybe I can construct something that meets the challenge thrown down to me by my very good friend Talen at Thailand, Land of Smiles. What may help me to do this is to recall my underlying theme to this blog:  remove the veils of my ignorance about Asian culture,  Southeast Asian in particular, and more particularly, Thai culture.

For me, my time here on the blog is about educating myself. If someone else finds something useful when reading a post, that’s great too. You see, you can live in this culture and yet let a lot of things escape your notice. But if you write about something, you’d better look closer at your day to day life, which will lead you to a better understanding of your next topic.  That’s exactly what this blog has helped me do, pay attention to my surroundings, whether cultural or historical or social.

It’s a great exercise in learning to really live here.

Coincidentally, this month, July 2011, is the third anniversary of Behind the Noodle Curtain. I will have more to say about my three years of self-education in a later post.

My most controversial post on Behind the Noodle Curtain

I was in a rant mood after an extended stay in Southeast Asia in the spring of 2009. But it was some months later that I wrote Female temptations in west bring predictable endings. While I tempered my remarks -- in fact, re-edited and re-published it after removing some incendiary stuff -- I still hold to every word I wrote about male-female relations in my home city of Toronto. In short, I’ve never seen so many unattached, unhappy 30-something people, both sexes. And if there are liaisons, they appear more like business relationships: he is a graphic artist, she an interior designer and both go into business together. Oh, that sounds like fun.

Most popular post

That’s easy, all you have to do is write about bar girls, eh? However, I did not write this one but wish I had. My Bangkok friend and film director Paul Spurrier wrote all the important bits in Wise advice on relationships with Thai bar girls l, a sensitive and balanced post that may have some surprises in it. That is my current No. 1 post by far.

Most beautiful post

I decided to go to farthest Isaan, Nakhon Phanom on the Mekong River after Stickman and Talen wrote positively of the place over a couple of years. And I took to it immediately and wrote Beauty comes in many forms in Nakhon Phanom. I think it has as much to do with the view into Laos across the river (see photo at top) than any one thing about the town on the Thai said. But the town has its attractions, too, being a cross-culture of Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese and Chinese.  And maybe being as far away as possible in the northeast from Bangkok also played a role. 

Most helpful post

When you’re over 50, as I am, it’s a good idea to get the “usual” blood tests such as PSA, blood sugar, cholesterol and vitamin B12. After a six-month stay in Thailand, I returned to Canada and followed my own advice. I was deficient in vitamin B12, which comes mostly from red meat, little of which I ate in Thailand. It happened again after a recent extended stay. The first post, Keep eye on your vitamin B levels if on Thai food diet, got linked on a Russian language web site and has been popular ever since. The second one, Vitamin B12 deficiency recurs after long Thailand stay, has been picked up by many.

Successful post that surprised me

My post on a cheap haircut -- The 100 baht haircut that will last a lifetime  -- managed to draw out long-time friends and admired bloggers who have never commented on my blog. LOL. Must be something about the universality of getting old and hiding that fact as best as one can.

Post that didn’t get the attention it deserved

I got a lot of comments on my lengthy post, Canadian boys need to toughen up, but none from Canadian readers or (presumptuously on my part) authorities or other interested parties. Maybe no one outside of Thailand read it.   I am surprised that this post didn’t get linked to here and there. Did not even get any objections to my slandering of Canadian men.

Post I’m most proud of

I suppose I’m most proud of this post, Make changes and the world changes with you, because I was changing for the better. I wrote it from my home city Toronto (although Bangkok is my home now). On my fourth trip to Thailand, I resolved to look under the hood of Thai culture and see what I could see and hope to take the best of it into my soul. On that 2007 trip, I think a made a few small breakthroughs that I’ve continued to feed off of. I was chilling out.


Conclusion
When I looked at the requirement for 7 example posts, I thought it would be  real challenge and frankly, not very fruitful for readers. I looked through the headings of the 290 plus posts and realized, hey, this is an interesting list. Maybe I could find 7 if I stretched. Well, I had trouble narrowing the list down to 7.

 

I'm also supposed to nominate five bloggers for this Tripbase challenge. Some of my faves have already been nominated but I am very very happy to recommend the following:

Boonies Thailand Photos  When I want to relax, be amused and just take a break from the seriousness of world, I love visiting Boonsong Somboon and his village where he and his wife tell stories through photography with often very amusing results. This Thai writer has sure hand for a  English and Thai word play that will have you chuckling and laughing out loud. There's much to be learned about Thai culture here, too.

My Thai Village Life  The Village Farang's blog, set in Chiang Rai province, is written by an American who moved to Thailand more than 30 years ago and has made a life here and achieved wedded bliss. But don't expect a view of the world through rose coloured glasses. He doesn't write often but this posts are very thoughtful about farang and Thai cultures, and sometimes provocative.  Although recently he admits he has mellowed a bit. Always worth reading, especially if you're a motorcyclist!

LTO Cambodia There are not many blogs on Cambodia that I have found but LTO Cambodia author Casey Nelson collects news bits, photo stories, opinion pieces and amusing anecdotes on life in Phnom Penh and Cambodia.

Life in Rural Thailand - Ubon Ratchathani  Author MeMock has a home in Ubon and Australia and business in Laos, as well as a young family.  His blog mixes delightful and serious family stories with local issues, history and just life in general. You will also find much amusement as his two daughters and new son grow up.

The Thai Pirate Ben Shingleton writes a wry amusing and sometimes serious blog about Thai life in Suphanburi province, often using pictures and video

 

 

 

Vitamin B12 deficiency recurs after long Thailand stay

 

A blood test here in Canada showed that yet again, I am deficient in vitamin B12. This comes after spending seven months in Thailand and Cambodia. Why is this important? It’s lack of red meat.

I thought I’d update this topic, which I reported on back in October, 2010. In this post, Keep eye on your vitamin B levels if on Thai food diet,  I said that a doctor would normally check for vitamin B12 if you’re over 50. He did and discovered that I was on the low normal side of the numbers.

This time I was lower in the low normal range. Not surprising because, again, I hadn’t had much in the way of good sources of B12. Also, adults over 50 are more susceptible and need to take supplements or fortified foods, the latter is a source of readily absorbable B12.

Specificially,  good sources of B12 are: shellfish (clams), red meats (lamb, beef),  fortified cereals, freshwater fish, fast-foods (believe it or not), each of which provide more than 30 per cent of the daily value of B12. Yoghurt, haddock, clams, tuna,  milk, pork, eggs, some cheeses and chicken breast provide the lowest daily values. (See the entire list  at the brilliant U.S. National Institutes of Health website.) The first two in the list are the top sources of B12.  

During my recent stay in Southeast Asia, I was occasionally taking a supplement, sourced in Canada. Maybe I wasn’t taking it often enough. It was a good brand but it didn’t seem to be doing its job. I was suspicious of its potency and wondered whether it was a poor knockoff, when I considered the segment of town I bought it in. It was cheaper than what I would normally pay for this brand. This is all speculative.

This time I bought a similarly respected brand at a legitimate health food store. And I will take the supplement (1,000 mcg per tablet) regularly. This regimen worked before after the first diagnosis.

Vietnam confirms Hanoi film festival for October

The Cannes Festival was a news-maker  for  Asia as Vietnam confirmed  Hanoi’s  new competitive film festival for mid-October, following right after the Pusan event, a highly regarded screenfest  in the big, bustling city on the southeast coast of Korea.

Maybe Hanoi can do what Bangkok couldn’t seem to do, which is run a film festival  with a strong Southeast Asian component and not be overwhelmed by a European onslaught. Oh, and not be blighted by U.S. corruption charges.

The two festivals -- Pusan is presenting its 15th edition Oct. 7-15, 2010 -- announced they will  co-operate on a number of fronts, according to Film Business Asia website. Lai Van Sinh, head of the Vietnam Film Department, will be director of VNIFF.  He appeared at the  announcement with PIFF director Kim Dong-Ho. The Pusan folks will be helping out on every front in Vietnam.

The Viet Nam International Film Festival runs five nights from Oct. 17. It’s just one plank in the republic’s celebrations of the capital city’s 1000th anniversary. Yes, that’s a 1 and three 0’s.

VNIFF will put 60 movies on the screen at a new cinema complex to open this year. There will be a mountain of categories, well, seven actually, plus eight prizes. There will definitely be a spotlight on Southeast Asian directors.  More VNIFF announcements are on schedule for the end of May.

In other Cannes news, the first  prizes were out on Saturday. The South Korean film Hahaha topped the side competition, Un Certain Regarde, directed by Hong Sang-Soo.  Two South American films, Peru and Argentina, won the category’s other prizes. Critic Derek Elley of FilmBiz.Asia doesn’t think much of this latest Hong film (“more much ado about nothing”) as a guy tries to get a girl in bed. 

The Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is up for the big Cannes prize, in the main competition. Most reviews are highly complimentary, according to a summary at Wise Kwai’s Thai Film Journal.

One contrarian is found  at Film Business Asia, a new website run by veteran Asian film watchers. In a withering Derek Elley review of Apichatpong’s film, he says, in part: “this is pretentious, elitist filmmaking without point or human pathos.” Up to you.

LINKS:

• Film Biz Asia reports on VNIFF
• The Cannes Festival
• Original  announcement on the VNIFF at Screen Daily news
• Vietnamese actors and directors were in full force at Cannes, according to VietNamNet. 
• Film Biz Asia report on of South Korean film Hahaha.   Review of Hahaha by Derek Elley at FBA
• Wise Kwai Thai Film Journal report on Apichatpong's Film Uncle Boonmee, a highly touted candidate for the Cannes main prize. A contrarian review at FBA.

Trouble in Thailand: bugs, coffee beans, language and women

Had more freedom  to roam the web this past week and came across the darnedest things, like features on the edible bug industry in Thailand and Cambodia (this is going to get me one and maybe two  more readers!),  how Thailand is getting into the coffee business (more farmers to grow quality beans), a blog report on Thai nicknames (extensive and “inventive”) and another one on Thai provincial names (Abbreviations ‘R’ Us), and finally, a web item that aims to clear up some ideas on Thai women’s taste in men (the following statements are the opinions of the writer and do not reflect those of this station, er, blogger ). 

If you have a taste for bugs, raw, whole or fried, find out about how the edible bug industry works in Thailand. Just leg it to the Bangkok Post for a  thorough and crunchy feature. Surprises?  Most of them come from Cambodia, live ones preferred. It’s good to know, I think, that dead bugs are frowned upon in the big Talat (market) Rong Kluea  in Sa Kaeo province. It’s said to be the biggest insect market in Thailand. Another surprise: giant water bugs are said to be getting very expensive now and people are downsizing.  Me, I prefer identifiable food, as displayed in the picture.

If you have a taste for  tarantulas, then skitter on down to the photo blog Leo Laksi's Bangkok and Back and feast your eyes on those hairy legged web spinners -- not to be confused with any bloggers I know. Yes, when fried, they taste like chicken. Okay, just kidding.

If your taste is more ordinary, like mine, you’ll brim with nervous anticipation as you crack open the SEA Globe web portal and read about the mighty coffee bean trade in, well, Southeast Asia. Most of the growth in the south of Thailand is of the robusta variety, which is cheaper. But, due to an opium crop replacement program in the  north, Thai producers are being encouraged to grow  quality arabica beans in the hillier north. But the variety takes more work and there's a risk of the produce being contaminated by cheap imports.

If by any chance you’ve lost your appetite, you can read all about Thai nicknames. Boonsong Somboon's Thailand Photos gives us hundreds with English explanations. Bonus! He provides interesting alternative and inventive nicknames. A favourite Thai nickname of mine is Beer. It’s a fascinating blog overall for he puts up a new picture regularly, explains what’s going on, which leads him to a Thai language tip. He regularly makes up “new” English words and My Buddha, he has me buying the new word, because he’s so convincing. Informative and entertaining.

If you have a secret desire to explore more of Thailand but don’t dare because you can’t read the signs, the esoteric but fascinating blog  Changwat,  Amphoe, Tambon (province, district, subdistrict) has all the provinces listed in English and Thai scripts, including the abbreviations and postal code. Perfect if you forgot your Lonely Planet back in Sudbury (Canadian joke, akin to Fargo, or Manchester  -- I just made this up!)

If you fancy Thai girls, er, women, Thai female blogger Kaewmala has charted in detail the types (classes) of women who may or may not be seeking foreign husbands. (I wonder where martial arts action star Jija Yanin, inset image,  would fit in?)  Actually Kaewmala's info applies to all seekers and seekees. Don’t be shy, just visit ThaiWomanTalks. You’ll find lots of unrelated material, too, all well written and insightful.
LINKS:

• Everything you wanted to know about eating bugs in Thailand
• Everything you wanted to know about eating tarantulas in Cambodia
• SEA Globe feature on coffee beans in Thailand:
• The (almost) complete list of Thai nicknames:
• All the abbreviations in Thai and English for 76 Thai provinces:
• Thaiwomantalks.com summary chart on Thai women types

Behind the Noodle Curtain: By the numbers and more

I’m writing this to really convince myself that I ought to continue this Thailand blog. I touched on the subject  two posts back, April 3. That was the short version of a much longer piece. But I've since reread the long version and decided to throw it all on the table -- reasons and stats.

Come July, 2010, it will be two years since I started Behind the Noodle Curtain. My readership has been going up.  I’ve enjoyed many days writing, editing, taking pictures and redesigning the blog. It was very satisfying during those periods.

During the latter part of  last year, my page views started exceeding 1500 a month. I thought that was okay -- although nothing matches those early days of excitement when I actually discovered one day that someone else read my blog.  I went back to Thailand and Laos in mid-December for six wonderful weeks. I imagine I can credit that with the fact page views went blasting by 2,000.  The blog hit over 2,500 in January, a month in which I spent three weeks in Thailand and Laos.  Writing from the field is a much more exciting and interesting  occupation and I think it shows in the more inspired writing, which, in turn, draws more readers. Put another way, the writer is living it.

February page views were so so. Martyn, at the very popular blog, Beyond the Mango Juice, attributed the January jump partly to the fact that folks were paying for their Christmas-New Year’s expenditures that came home to roost in January. So they stayed home and surfed. Good call, I think.  In February, travellers left the virtual road and hit the real road.  March has been superb, heading toward 3,000. Some days page views were well over 100. Doesn’t seem like much when compared to some of my work colleagues here in Canada (occasionally hitting 20,000 in one day!) and fellow bloggers in Thailand.

 
At the same time, the source of my traffic has been changing significantly. The end of last year, people came to Behind the Noodle Curtain from four directions: about 30 per cent or less by search engine (Google), about 30+ per cent by referring links (people arriving via links to my blog at other blogs, forums and online services), about 15 per cent direct arrivals (bookmarks and typing in the URL) and a bit less traffic from news feeds.  

Now Google and Yahoo search engines (the latter has really come on) bring me 50 per cent of my page views and many new visitors.  Referrer and direct traffic  are up a few points, but news feeds  down quite a bit. With the big jump in visitors via search engines, my bounce rate has risen -- it means people stop by, but more likely they hit the road quickly.

Looking at the most popular search terms, I can speculate as to why the bounce rate has risen. The most popular key words that bring readers to my site are: Washington Square (top photo of girls eating), Wild Country bar (inset), Huay Kwang (inset, above left, traffic scene) and a few  other night life  brand names and locations, such as the Soi Cowboy (bottom photo) Bangkok Motor show (inset, lower right). Of course, these Bangkok spots are full of regular restaurants and businesses but are notable for their night life activities. So I expect male readers were looking for specific information that I simply do not publish. So, off the travellers go.

Still it’s nice that the search engines bring them here. Among the top 10  key words are Asian films and iPhone apps for learning Thai, the latter I hand off to expert Catherine over at Women Learning Thai. It’s amazing how many hits my site gets when I publish film news and reviews. The reaction is almost instantaneous, unlike many other search terms. I recently did something on Tai Orathai (inset, below left), the luktung superstar that many farangs know, thanks to their upcountry wives and girlfriends. Barely a statistical murmur. I’ll probably get some regular site visits over time, if the search engines co-operate.

Newness, however, doesn’t seem to spur visitors. Old stuff seems to be just as attractive. I’m always surprised at how often I get visitors for old posts. I can thank search engines but the fairly recent addition of LinkWithin widget has really made an impact. Their crawler indexes your site and when a reader clicks on something in order to read it, three or four (somewhat) related posts are popped up at the bottom of the article. Most bloggers use this service now and it’s really paid off, I think.

So that’s the numbers summary. But why am I unhappy with the blog? Or is it blogging? I think my first challenge is that I spend so much time away from Southeast Asia, I can’t get new material. New material is the life blood of a blog. New material comes harder when you’re so far away. It takes a lot of research time to produce one piece, but if you’re on the ground in SEA, the material is all around you. You just have to observe, analyze a bit and write. In the meantime, while sitting here in the west,  I’ve been neglecting other things, such as, oh,  studying my Thai language materials and  reading good books to sharpen my sadly declining vocabulary and knowledge base.  

Second, personal stories are a life blood, too. Maybe even moreso.  You can get all kinds of basic info on Southeast Asia on various websites, albeit some of them are rather too commercial and mercenary. What’s in short supply is the personal story that’s entertaining and also informative. In many stories, I tended to distance myself from the subject of a post, being the type of person who always likes to stay in the background. I think that if I reformulate my blog, I’ll make it more personal and hopefully interesting. Oh, and maybe informative, if I believe what I write above! 

Third, I haven’t settled on a consistent style.  I admire so many Thailand blogs and most of the reason is the writer’s personal style. The writer is always  “in-style.”  See Beyond the Mango Juice or Thailand, Land of Smiles or Retired in Thailand and Loving It, or Women Learning Thai. There are times when I think I’ve nailed the exact style for me. Then I post another during a tired or lazy period  and that sucks the life right out of a post.

Speaking of writing, I’ve spent most of my working life editing copy. So this blog has been a great practice sheet for getting back into the writer’s head space (200 plus posts, the most I’ve written since, um, the late ’90s). Believe me, in order to write well, you have to write. If you don’t do it for years, you really do lose your writing muscles. I typically write six  to 10 words, which are all that’s required for news headlines.   This is not a good thing unless you want to write for wiener packages.

Blogging is fun and I’ve “met” so many great folks, especially my fellow Thailand writers. But I’m feeling the itch for a “different”  personal enrichment. I think I may have to  put blogging aside for a while or at least restrict my posting. I really should spend more time in the language books  and get back to reading some good fiction and just good writing.

I know the coming year will see vast change, particularly since I’ll be officially retiring from the daily grind.   The extreme might be quitting blogging altogether, or I might just find inspiration when I move to Southeast Asia in September.  I somehow think the latter will rule.   After all, a blog is an exploration of self as well as subject. The two might work well together. And I do have ideas for another blog or two. As well as longer forms. How it all thrashes out could make for interesting reading. And maybe I'll end up at a different destination. Or not!

Below, is yet another photo from the Bangkok motor show at the Impact Centre. Below that is infamous Soi Cowboy go-go bar strip.

 

Not the Bangkok photo album

I was pacing through some of my photos from my last visit to Thailand and Laos this past winter. I was attempting to transport myself there as a kind of replacement therapy, as I wait out my next trip, which will be the start of a semi-permanent residence. Exciting prospect, as you can imagine.

Some of these you may have seen before. If not, all the better. I certainly enjoy looking at them again. My favourites are the ones from Isaan and Laos. The countryside, in fact, where the smiles are more real and welcome warmer -- as if these two countries need any more heat.

I'll put up some photos from time to time, may even post some words. As you may have read here, I am planning to ease off the blog till I return to the Land of Smiles when I can dig up more worthy stories.

Above, the morning starts at sunup, with a (quite lousy) Nescafe coffee and some cigs in the train food/booze car. Out the window the countryside on the Korat Plateau passes by, on the way to Ubon Ratchathani. Beautiful sights along there. I think I hit the coffee bar just around Sisaket. The sign in the third picture, top row, says Nakhon Ratchasima, I think, back to where I came from and forward to, well, I don't know exactly, but I think it's Sisaket. Between this point and Sisaket is Buriram and Surin.

   

     

   

 

Looking for Lao in all the wrong places

Been bouncing around the net this weekend. I usually don’t stray from my appointed rounds but needed to shake the cobwebs off. In doing so, I came across some interesting sites offering news, propaganda, advertising, esoterica and sex (DOWN boys! -- look at the screen capture above).

I haven’t found much on Laos, so I decided to look harder. First, there’s not much Lao info even at Thaivisa.com in the Southeast Asia Forum. The main source there has moved to Singapore. But he still keeps in touch, as only a man with a Lao wife would have to.

Another big expat site, Teak Door, has only two pages  of threads on Laos from the perspective of visa runners from Thailand.

When I was visiting Vientiane in January, I liked to read the Vientiane Times newspaper. There are two of them on the web though. The Vientiane Times (dot com site),  apparently beginning in late 1997, is an aggregator of news from newspapers, news agencies, propaganda machines and state communications departments. The Vientiane Times (.org.la domain)   creates most of its own articles, often focusing on government and community activities. So it reads a bit like a government handout sheet. Then again, being in Laos, the paper, operated by a foreigner, has to tread a fine line with the authorities.  The latter is the better one for local Lao news and is very up to date. But, if you don’t read the stuff fresh off the “presses,” the articles disappear behind a paywall, a very expensive paywall. Might be worth it but its only method of subscription is a wire transfer and they are expensive and complex. (In Canada, recent money laundering prevention regulations mean I have to appear personally at the bank to arrange the transfer.)  Two “expensives” make me feel lazy. 

A real disappointment is finding an intriguing URL with Laos in it and finding it’s just a tour and hotel site. So many of these cheats. Also came across some private blogs that hadn’t been updated for months or had only just been added to within six or eight months or year’s gap.

However, there’s one (partial) exception, Travel to Laos Tips. It has some pretty good info. The operator, however, doesn’t make it easy to find out who created it (I did find one reader comment with an answer by Mapanoy, who appears to be the creator of this one, as well as the blog How to Lose 50 Pounds. Hmmm.) Nor does the site provide visible article dates (although the URLs contain year/month dates). In a nutshell, it seems like the site had a very good start but has pretty much been abandoned (no answers to six-month-old reader queries and nothing’s been posted since October 2009). A shame.

A change of countries now . . .

I kid you not, there’s an English language blog on Thai governmental administrative regions. It’s thorough, detailed, up to date and full of esoteric statistics and administrative orders. When I saw a link for Changwat, Amphoe, Tambon, I raced there to see what intrigue may lie in wait. I imagined a merry soap opera romp following the hijinks between first-level administrative officers and the village headman’s daughter. And who’s paying off whom.  Uh, not so much!  Instead, I spent almost an hour reading about “Wrong Tambon numbers in preliminary census 2000 reports;”  “National symbols of Thailand;”  “Muban administration modeled after British colonial model;” “Subdistrict name romanization.”  Talk about esoteric. It’s an impressive piece of work.

Again from the "I kid you not" department is a fresh blog called Sextalk by a Thai woman writing in English -- at a level that would shame many (so-called) native English posters on a certain large expat forum. Her focuses are Thai language,  romance and foreigner-Thai relationships -- and she also answers readers' questions. Rather than rhyming off compliments on her observations and entertaining writing style, read this from her About page: "Before you get any wrong idea, no, I’m not offering any type of erotic services, so you may put away that credit card now." Yes, she has a keen wit. too. She has also written a book by the same name, which is available on her website and is reviewed in detail here at Women Learning Thai. The site appears to be just over a year old, going by the date of her introductory page. By the way, she's an avid and thoughtful commenter (nickname, kaewmala) on some Thailand blogs such as you'll find in my sidebar below right, Favourite Asia Sites, in particular, Women Learning Thai. (Whether you’re a beginner or advanced Thai speaker, I can’t think of a better resource for learning materials, spiced with cultural features and interviews with fascinating people who tell about their paths to Thai language education.)

I’m always happy to indulge myself by reading  really good blog writing. If the subject also happens be Thailand or Southeast Asia, even better. And that’s what I found following a link at Women Learning Thai.     A gentleman who signed a comment DrWill caught my attention. His site, simply called Religion, Sex and Politics, I almost didn’t bother reading once I saw the title. I dove in anyway and would say it is well worth the visit for his clean and straightforward writing style. His analysis of the Red Shirt protest over the past year  might give you a different  perspective.  

It was at  The Thai Report  that I found Changwat, Amphoe, Tambon. The Thai Report collected links to the news of the day and it became really handy. Notice I said everything in the past tense.  In a recent email exchange with the site owner, he said the site was growing rather slowly.  Next thing I knew he had posted an announcement that he didn’t have time to keep it updated, but left up many good links to news sites, news blogs and cultural and Thai life blogs.   A shame really. The Thai Report was not a fancy site but who needs fancy, frankly, as long as it’s simple to load and easy to navigate.

A story of profoundly brainwashed nation, North Korea

 VBS reporter Shane Smith is the only patron at a North Korean banquet hall, the whole lame thing being staged to show the wealth of food in a country thought to be unable to feed its people.

This post doesn’t have anything to do with Southeast Asia but the subject of North Korea is fascinating, like a car wreck, like from the “what were they thinking?” department. And since North Korea represents a “threat” to Asian security and has been branded a rogue nation, it’s kind of important.

The subject is a video news feature from inside North Korea and is a must-see. It’s done by a gonzo reporter-camera team from the United States. What’s gonzo? It was a new-wave way of reporting in which a reporter  immerses himself in the story and tells you what happened to him. Think of Hunter S. Thompson. The method is used sparingly thankfully these days, but the style is thoroughly illuminating when  the team -- using only a point-and-shoot camera to conceal their task -- tries to outwit handlers, spy agents, soldiers and guards, waitresses, karaoke singers, you name it, in their effort to reflect at least part of  life in the  People’s Republic of Korea.

 It turns out that yes, it’s  an entirely brainwashed nation. They think they have food (nope), they think the world loves them (nope), they think they have technological marvels (nope), they have a glorious leader (nope), the U.S. wants to bust their asses (well . . ., not just the U.S.). Etc.

There’s an improbable scene, among many, in an empty restaurant that reminds me of an almost identical scene during my two-week trip to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, well before the wall came down. Twenty-five of us, mostly freelance writers, were herded into a vast empty banquet hall for lunch. It’s a scene that was repeated throughout our trip to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev. We went to the finest restaurants, the most lavish banquet halls, the best “cafes.” In all cases, we were the only “customers.” One back alley restaurant we were taken to was clearly for those with money. The tables groaned with food and vodka. Except for the latter, we never met any Russians. In Russia.

We once got brave and escaped our hotel and jumped on the Moscow metro and went to the end to see what there was to see. We arrived at one of those huge shabby apartment complexes in Moscow, went into one store in which there was almost nothing. Some thoroughly unappetizing  cuts of “animal,” a few cabbages, some toiletries and the ever present lineup in front of the clerk with the abacus. Some voices were rising, agitation was in the air so we bolted.

In the video scene, VBS reporter Shane Smith, in the Vice Guide to North Korea (yes, that VICE, the underground Montreal/New York magazine), sits alone in a vast empty banquet hall. After being served absolutely inedible “matter,” waitresses come in, setting tables and dropping off food, ready for a big crowd. At the end of Smith’s meal, no one else has arrived. He asks out loud when others would appear but it appears as though he’s being ignored, staff too embarrassed about what they were really doing.  By the time he leaves and looks back at the room, the wait staff are taking everything off the tables and presumably storing it for the next big show.

So there we were in a Moscow hotel banquet hall. We sat at maybe two tables out 50 or 60. We were served steak, vegetables, potatoes and bottled water.  One fellow traveller looked down at the burned meat in front of him and said, “Oh no, steak again!”  It became a running gag because we were served steak pretty much every day, the best foods, best drinks. Meanwhile, in the suburban Russian neighbourhoods, stores were close to empty of things to buy. Reporter Smith experienced countless identical scenes: a tea house on an empty lonely road in which he was brought to and it became clear he was probably the only customer in six months; a karaoke with Christmas lights in which it was clear the whole thing had been a staged for him.

If you wondered about conditions in North Korea, this 60-minute video report may open your eyes and possibly confirm your worst suspicions. The video was released in 2008 and I came across it in a fresh post this week on CNN.com. It went nova on CNN and Vice posted on the phenomenon.

Below is the report in three parts. .

LINKS:

• Vice Guide to North Korea, part 1 of 3
• Vice Guide to North Korea, part 2 of 3
• Vice Guide to North Korea, part 3 of 3
• Original CNN posting on the North Korea film
• VBS TV website

Musings on friendship bridges and rush to build them

It always amuses me to read about “friendship” bridges, the ones that tie Thailand and Laos.  The two peoples are natural constituents, sharing a similar language, culture and geography. The two Thai-Lao bridges, at Nong Khai-Vientiane and Mukdahan-Savannakhet, are symbols of their ties.

A third one is under construction (Artist's sketch,  right). The first was finished in 1994. The next was in 2006 and third, based on news last weekend from the Lao government, is three or four months ahead of schedule. The bridge linking Nakhon Phanom province, Thailand, on the west bank of the  Mekong, and Tha Khek, Khammouan  province, Laos, according to project coordinator Xaysana Fasavath, will be finished roughly the end of summer 2011. It’s 30 per cent completed overall. Immigration facilities are also being built.

A fourth is about to get underway in March. It will link Chiang Rai province, Thailand, with Bokeo province, Laos.

That’s three major bridges linking the two countries in the span of about 8 to 10 years. The third was begun in May 2009 and will be finished in 2011. I’m guessing No. 4 will be finished in 2012, a similar  two years and handful of months. What’s the rush?

Laos, with such a small population of a bit over 6 million and a few agricultural and metals exports, couldn’t afford a couple of planks across a creek. But it never seems to be short of infrastructure cash for such things as highways, railways, bridges and hydroelectric projects. Funny that, but they all seem to connect China and Vietnam, with the south, namely Thailand.

And this just in, Thailand is supplying more than $300,000 for a design study for a rail link inside  the Lao border, running the roughly 17 km from Tha Na Lang to Vientiane, the Lao capital. (A Thai-Lao overnight train from Bangkok runs to Nong Khai, where you go through Thai departure immigration, get back on and cross the Lao border to Tha Na Lang for Lao arrival check-in. You guessed it: no further rail line into the city, but it looks like there will be. Thailand is covering 30% of the funding and offering a low-interest loan for the rest, according to DPA, the German news agency. By the way, March 5 is the first anniversary of the Thai-Lao train.)

If you marry up this little generous gift to the Lao PDR with the announcement by Thai PM Abhisit that it recently signed various memorandums of understanding with Lao for its future electricity production (from controversial Nam Thuen Dam 2), well, you get the obvious. That’s small scale.

China is playing big and for the long-term.  If you were a big exporting country with a big bottleneck on your southern border, namely Lao, plus the Mekong,  you might try to do something about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair hunk of Chinese money is being spent and will be spent on clearing the bottle neck. (Japan has put a lot of money in these bridges, too -- all over SEA, in fact.)

With three new bridges and one old one connecting arterial routes through Chiang Rai (future), Nong Kahi, Nakhon Phanom and Mukdahan, south- and northbound traffic some day will increase. The region, at first, could serve as a thoroughfare, with possible subsidiary industries and maybe even factories setting up. 

Suddenly, my amusement turns serious. It wouldn’t surprise me that China is manipulating everything in its favour. But I guess the Southeast Asian nations will ultimately benefit. I hope the Isaan people will benefit, too.

As always, I’m just talking into my bowl of noodles.

LINKS:

• Pretty good travel report on the rail link and wonders of Isaan from The Guardian.
• PM Abhisit speaks during laying of cornerstone for third bridge, mentioning the rail link and several memorandums of understanding regarding the purchase of future electricity from Laos.
• Nam Thuen Dam 2 project problems at International Rivers website
• Thailand offers rail aid to Laos.
• The happy website for Nam Thuen Dam 2.
• Laos seeks China aid for huge transportation projects
• Thai government’s release announcing the third bridge.

A long haul to Land of Smiles

It is not hard to believe it’s been eight long months waiting for this moment. I think I’ve felt every day of the wait for my return to Southeast Asia. The return begins Sunday morning when I jump a morning Air Canada flight to Hong Kong.  I hang out for a couple of hours at HK and catch a Cathay Pacific flight for Bangkok, arriving early evening the next day.

The airfare is half of what I have paid in the past. First, the Cathay flight is on points (20,000 for a return trip). The Air Canada flight I booked in early July after receiving one of the airline’s web mail discount pitches. Get this: $373 Canadian one-way to HK. Double that and add the surcharges and taxes and it comes out to less than $1,000. Amazing.

There’s a broad range of airlines running from Toronto to Asia, including the class of services, Cathay. Have to say sometimes AirCan has impressed me. Other times it made me so unhappy I vowed never to return to the airline again. Hence the Cathay points. But saving cash rules over my conscience. AirCan and Cathay must have a hundred ways to get you to Asia. Every  week.  The airfares between them are about the same, although in non-discount periods, Cathay has the airfare edge. Which is odd for such a premium service. Then again, the routes to Asia are competitive and both airlines put some of their best planes and crews on the routes. Europe is just a bus route.

I’ll try to keep a positive mind because you need it for the 15.5 hour trip to HK. Cathay used to drop into Anchorage, Alaska.  Sometimes they made you get off the plane, go through passport control just to sit in a boring lounge (at 3 in the morning!!!) and other times you could stay on for the refueling.  That was miserable. Now, Cathay flies straight through both ways.

Both airlines have completely updated cabin seating and services. I’ve admired the new business class and first class seat/beds. But I don’t have $5,000 to $10,000 to spare. So it’s the cattle shed for me. But it’s not so bad on Cathay. Nice new 9-inch LCD screens; plug-in jacks for power; more wiggle room as that highly annoying knee-scratching magazine pouch is now removed  and replaced by one behind your calves; and the food tray is very adjustable. I’ve left the best for last. The seat back (shell) is fixed. In other words, the passenger in front of you can recline his seat-within-a-shell but the back stays put. Before, a passenger reclining his seat would serve your Heineken into your lap.  (I believe Air Canada has very similar cabin setups.)

Cathay food  and “beverage” services are pretty good. AirCan has been hit or miss. If its food is sourced in Asia, it’s much better.  Sometimes AirCan attendant service has been, well, this is so hard to say, but wonderful. Buuuut, I’m going to give Cathay the edge, a very big edge, because they hire some beautiful attendants. OK, girls! AirCan attendants look like my uncles and aunts. From the better side of the family, but still uncles and aunts. We’re so politically correct it’s  nauseating.  (Whoa, that was close. Almost began a rant there . . . phew, you’re so lucky, dear reader.)

It’s been excrutiatingly busy at work, what with more business and fewer staff. Then throw in my own personal projects and I’ve been working seven days a week since April. Some of it mightily enjoyable, the personal stuff, of course.  But I need a break. I started losing my edge about the end of November, partly as my company is looking to shed staff. I may very well become “retired” in the new year. No problem, just let me have a vacation first.

Bangkok has been a bit cooler, I see. With 30C days and 20-22 evenings, it doesn't get much better than that.