Going by my house at Phaya Thai station
I went to the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand last night with some writers I interviewed who invited me along, and I learned some interesting things about the Red Shirt protests. Here are some things that were said: * There was a stand-off last night between the reds and the army. The army set tear gas on the reds, but misjudged the direction of the wind. It blew back in their faces. The reds came to them with water and towels and tried to help them get the tear gas out of their eyes. * The conflict is not between the reds and the police or the army....it's all taking place behind the scenes, and no one really knows what's going on. * The army soldiers are being referred to as "Watermelon soldiers" - meaning green on the outside and red on the inside...many of them are thought to sympathize with the reds, if not be closet reds. * Many of the reds don't actually know what they're fighting for. If you ask them, they'll say "Abhasit out" but if you say, "Ok, then what?", they wouldn't know what they wanted to happen next. * Though some people are being paid to protest, many are not - many are here on their own accord and at their own expense. * There is uncertainty whether Thaksin is really in charge of all this anymore. * Some people think the government is not having its troops use force on the reds because they are unsure where their sympathies lie (*see Watermelon soldiers) All this, I found to be very interesting. You certainly would never get to read it in the Bangkok Post or any other newspaper. The Bangkok Post is reporting today that Abhasit is going to get tougher on the reds. So far, there have been a few injuries but no casualties. There was a grenade blast this morning but no one was hurt by it. My friend who lives on Soi 31, where Abhasit also lives, says that it appears to be ready for war - there are an unbelievable amount of troops lining the street.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 April 2010 05:49 )
So I kinda forgot about the whole ‘red shirts occupying all of central Bangkok’ thing when I went for my run yesterday. I always go to Lumpini Park, and to get there, I take the skytrain to Siam, and then run about 10 minutes to the park.
Siam is red shirt central right now. They’ve actually managed to shut down Bangkok’s major upscale shopping malls – Central World, Siam Paragon, and Siam Discovery. Unbelievable. A woman I know who’s working in the Central World business tower said her boss had to order in pizza for the employees' lunch since nothing was open in the area. I’m surprised she had to go in to work. The whole place is closed down. Imagine how much money those malls are losing.
I ran through the thick of it – the red shirts were all over the streets, sitting, chatting, and waving these red clapper toys that they were also selling on the street. There were vendors selling red shirts (that appeared to be used), and food vendors to keep everyone fed. There were even port-a-potties, though I’m not sure that there were enough. The stench was pretty bad.
And as I continued to run, I also noticed police officers lined up along the sidewalk, with shields and everything. I guess they were just there to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. They seemed to be in good spirits though – many of them smiled and waved to me, and gave me a thumbs up as I strode by.
The crowd was even thicker on my way back, and I was glad to be out of the chaos when I finally hit the home stretch.
Today, the Bangkok Post has been reporting a huge variety of conflicting information. But this article, which said the final showdown would be today, was slightly worrying. However, since then, the Post has reported that force will not be used against the reds, and even that the police have agreed to move further away from the protesters, which will lead to the closure of a major skytrain station.
Indeed, my friend who lives at that skytrain station (Ratchadamiri) says that he cannot get out of his street.
Furthermore, a friend of mine who also runs at Lumpini Park (the same park I went running at yesterday) wrote this on his Facebook status today: “Just went for a run in Lumpini park, it was going well up to the halfway mark when the riot police/army (approx. 200) and their trucks/humvees entered the park, locked us all in then began to block off the red shirt rally on different [streets] around the park... It was disturbing to note that at the end of the riot police marching thru the park there were soldiers carrying stretchers!!!”
Good thing I went for my run yesterday and not today!
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 April 2010 07:14 )
Me in Kanchanaburi, last weekend
Life in Bangkok continues to be as amazing as ever. I went to a little town called Kanchaburi last weekend with Gabrielle (my roommate) and Swanti (a friend and fellow Wolfess). Swanti drove, so it was fun to be in a car again (that wasn't a taxi, anyways). It was a nice escape from the big city. We chilled in the town, got a fish massage (it was CRAZY), had dinner at an amazing restaurant on the river Kwai (which, it turns out, is not actually the river Kwai.....the author who wrote the book Bridge Over the River Kwai had never been to Thailand, and mistakenly wrote that the famous death railway bridge went over the River Kwai, but actually, it goes over the Mekong...when tourists flocked to Kanchanaburi to see this famous bridge, the locals finally decided to rename part of the Mekong "Kwai" just to satisfy the silly visitors...funny story). We also went to see the waterfall and the Jeath (not Death) Railway museum. Things at BangkokDiary have been going really well. You can check out my column here. As you'll see, it's my job to interview all kinds of interesting people. Already this week, I've interviewed the marketing guru of Bangkok, and a former World Heavyweight Boxing champion turned Chiropractor. I've also gotten to eat for free at one of the best restaurants in Bangkok. There are some new possibilities on the forefront too. First of all, I forgot to mention that my English teaching job is no more - the owners sold the business and I decided that I don't want to do it anymore even if the new owner wanted to keep me on. And they say that when one door closes another one opens...literally the day after I found out this news, when I was wondering how exactly I was going to pay my rent, my boss, Wat, told me that there was a marketing director of the Thailand Chamber of Commerce University who was interested in hiring me on as a lecturer. So I went to meet with him, and he said that he was interested in having me lecture classes on Communications and PR. DAMN! That's kind of, like, my thang. I told him I'd do it. The program is still being worked out, so we'll see what happens with that. And then Wat called me again today, and said that he'd spoken to a lady at Assumption University, which is the number one business University in Thailand, who is also interested in having me lecture there. I had to send in my picture, for whatever reason. There are a few other big things that may or may not come about, but not all of them can be discussed!! Furthermore, yesterday I was interviewed for a radio show! Apparently I am a person of interest in Bangkok. I hope I sounded articulate. The guy who interviewed me was an ex-BBC employee. The radio show is RadioBangkok.net, but the interview won't be up for a few weeks. ALSO, and this is BIG news, I've finally decided on the design of my tattoo. Oh, did I not mention that I've been wanting to get a tattoo for the past 11 months but have not thought of anything that spoke to me? Well, I was sitting on a rock at the waterfalls in Kanchanaburi (shortly before the above picture was taken), and I saw an interesting design on a rock in front of me, and it inspired me. I came home and drew it out. I can't really describe it to you, but let's just say it involves the Mekong, Thai flowers, and Thai and Indonesian script. I want to get it done by either bamboo (the Thai way, and apparently it hurts less) or by the guy who Angelina Jolie flew in to get her tattoo done by...who lives not far from my office but the wait-list is apparently one year long. See if I can make some connection. Oh, it's going to be on my shoulder blade. We are going to have a full house this weekend - Gabrielle's boyfriend Carl comes, and my friend Maou (who I stayed with in Cebu, Philippines) is coming on Thursday for four days, and Anita is coming on Friday, to stay for three weeks!!! I'm so excited to see everyone. And then at the end of this month, I'm going HOME!! But only for three weeks. It will be nice to see my home country again after being away for a year - this is the longest I've ever been out of Canada. The first thing I'm gonna do is get an Ice Capp from Timmy's. It's my tradition. Sadly, Gabrielle will be gone when I return. She's only staying until May 4, and then she's moving back home. It'll be so hard to see her go, because we get along SO well. I couldn't have asked for a better roommate. We have so much fun together. But alas, she must move on - she starts law school in the fall! And I am pretty excited that my friend Matt is going to move in to take her place. Matt is part of the Wolfpack - very cool guy. He's American, and I met him through Dave and Nate. He's a teacher - slash - male model (and not the other way around). Should be fun! Finally, I feel compelled to mention just how FREAKING hot it is in Bangkok. April is, apparently, the hottest month, and I can believe it. I mean, I have been in some HOT weather on my trip, but today and yesterday have been two of the hottest days I can remember. The BBC says it's only 35 degrees, but I beg to differ. It must be hotter than that. I had to wear a suit yesterday because I went to this press conference where the King's Uncle was, and the lining was basically glued to my body for most of the day. And on that note, I'm out.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 March 2010 08:33 )
Good question! I guess you’ve been watching the news lately, and you’ve heard about how Bangkok has been taken over by millions and millions of protesters who could turn violent at a moments notice. Let me start off by saying that the international news often gets most of the facts about Southeast Asian news completely wrong, and also that the entire event has been grossly exaggerated even by Thailand’s government and media, and it’s most Bangkokians actually just view it as more of an inconvenience than anything else.
Let’s break it down.
Who are the red shirts?They’re mostly people from the northern provinces who have been paid a certain amount of money to come down and protest. Many of them truly do support the former prime minister, who they are rallying for, but some of them are just excited about a free trip to Bangkok, a city where many of them would have never been before. Their formal name is the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). Who is in charge of them?The ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. What’s his deal?A communications billionaire, Thaksin was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. While in power, he achieved some important changes for the country, including Thailand’s first Universal Healthcare programme, and a range of policies to alleviate rural poverty, they did – reducing it by half in just four years. Thaksin was immensely popular among the rural poor: his reelection in 2005 saw the highest voter turnout in Thai history.
Unfortunately, his time in office was soured by allegations of corruption. He was also accused of authoritarianism, treason, conflicts of interest, press censorship, and violations of human rights. He was not very popular among Thailand’s rich elite.
Needless to say, the topic of Thaksin in Thailand is immensely controversial.
In 2006, the sale of the Thaksin family’s $1.9 billion share in Shin Corp. angered many urban Thais, who observed that the Prime Minister had avoided paying tax, and had now passed control of one of Thailand’s most important assets to Singapore. Massive street demonstrations were held in protest.
Thaksin called an election, which the major opposition parties boycotted. Later that year, when Thaksin was out of the country, the military seized power. Upon his return to Thailand, Thaksin was given a jail sentence based on corruption charges. He fled the country and now splits his time between London and Dubai
The Supreme Court recently decided to take away a portion Thaksin’s fortune - $1.4 billion, to be exact. He remains a wealthy man, but it is becoming less and less likely that he will ever return to Thailand. What is their aim?The red shirts have been rallying to force the current coalition government from power. The red shirts say that the current Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, is propped up by conservative interests. They also claim that the top royalists, including the Privy Council members are impediments to democracy. The protests are meant to be non-violent.  The red shirts have many street-side supporters Why are people so worried about the protests?The last time the red shirts protested in large numbers, their rally turned into a riot, and two people were killed. People are worried the same thing will happen again, but because the numbers were predicted to be so huge this time (though the actual numbers did not measure up to predictions), people assumed any kind of degeneration of the protests could have resulted in some extremely deadly violence. What’s the reality?The reality is that the red shirts are riding their caravans around town, waving their flags, calling out into loudspeakers, singing karaoke, and generally seem in good spirits. Yes, there was the incident where they bottled their blood and spilled it in front of parliament, but that was non-violent as well, and merely symbolic. A couple soldiers have been wounded, but so far, the protests have been nothing more than a traffic nuisance for Bangkok’s residence. What is the government doing in response?The Thai government has invoked the Internal Security Act, which gives the military the power to support the thousands of police who have already been deployed. With the news that the red-shirts will be holding yet another large-scale rally this Saturday, the government has extended the Act by another seven days, to last until March 30th. About 3,500 military, police officers, and civilian volunteers have been mobilized to guard the ministry. Should all this discourage me from going to Bangkok?Hell no! There is absolutely no reason to avoid Bangkok. The rallies are peaceful and the only disruption is the traffic and a slightly higher percentage of police and military on the streets. But they're pretty chill too, for the most part. Buses have been rerouted and the skytrain is still running as it always did, albeit slightly more packed. Bangkok is still the fun, buzzing, crazy city it always was, so get your butt over here!
Last Updated ( Friday, 26 March 2010 11:57 )
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I am tanned (ok burnt) and refreshed (ok recuperating) from my three days on Samet. Here's a frivolous recap for you. Friday Me and Gabby left the house at 9am to hit up the bus to Rayong, where we were going to catch the ferry to Samet. Unfortunately, because of the protests and such, the bus driver told us that his bus would not be running that day, but he would happily take us on a private drive there for only 3000 baht ($100). Um no thanks. So as we were getting out of the bus to try a different route, the bus driver points to this random Thai lady who happens to be standing right outside our bus, and she motions us to follow her. Gabby and I just looked at each other, shrugged, and followed along. She took us to a nearby bus terminal where we bought our tickets and were on a bus within 30 minutes. It took us waaaaay too long to get there though. I think all in all, our travel time was six hours, which involved a long ferry wait and a loopy bus ride. But that's kind of boring so I'm gonna skip to the good stuff. We met up with Swanti and Dave (we were in Samet for Dave's birthday, which is actually next week but anyways), and immediately threw on our swim suits and ran out for a dip in the ocean. We were staying in two bungalows on Sai Kaew beach, which is the party beach. It was pricey, but worth it. Samet certainly does have gorgeous sand, but unfortunately the turquoise water is made less luxurious with all the trash floating in it. We were throwing a tennis ball back and forth to each other, and I looked down to find a piece of floss floating by me. I have this thing about floss and it really grossed me out. There were also plastic cups and bags and things. Ew. 
So then we got ready to go out, and go out we did. The boys kind of peaced out early - AJ was jetlagged cuz he'd just gotten back from New York, and Dave had a headache. So it was girls night!! SUCH a fun night I can't even explain how much craziness went on. We definitely almost got into a fist fight with four British girls who were all up in our face because Gabby accidentally tossed her bottle at one girl's chin and kind of sort of busted her lip. It really was an accident though. Obviously they did NOT see it that way. Saturday The fact that we were pretty hungover did not stop us from enjoying the sun. I, personally, enjoyed it a little TOO much, sans protection, and definitely paid for that later. Couldn't find beach volleyball to save my life but managed to have some good pad thai at a place called Jep's. More friends came to join us - our superstar tennis player Nate, who'd just won his match but had to take a brief trip to the hospital with cramps, was a trooper and joined us, as well as our buddy Animesh. We were celebrating Dave's birthday for real that night, so we got out the tequila and brought it along with us to this restaurant, which forgot our order and we sat there starving and drinking tequila for two hours. Finally we canceled the rest of our order (they'd brought us like 3 out of 10 things) and headed to Lamp Bar down the beach to drink buckets and play truth or dare. 
After that, we headed to our favourite haunt, Silver Sand, which is really where the party goes down. It was filllllllled with gay men!! They are great dancers. We danced like crazy and had another fabulous night. Sunday Today, our bodies were not happy with us for the last two nights of partying, but we gave the beach another go, and tossed in a few massages for good measure. 
We all had a lovely lunch together (once again at Jep's) and then we hopped on a boat/bus back home. And that was the end to a fabulous weekend, with fabulous friends on Koh Samet.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 March 2010 10:17 )
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to head to the International Dance Festival. Gabby and I had gone on Friday to see the opening ceremony at Bensajiri Park, but I was pretty disappointed to see that it was just one group of Thai girls after another, prancing around on stage, pretending they were in a music video. Not much creativity in those dances.
But I was so happy I went back on Sunday. There was some incredible dancing. The first was a modern dance by a group of Singaporeans, who were attempting to depict the modern day Singaporean family. It was dramatic, overacted, and even violent at times – just how dance should be. Another highlight was the four scantily clad, muscly men who came on stage and did some neat tricks, including painting a canvas. They were soooo gay, and soooo fabulous.
But my favourite of the whole night was when the Chinese dancers came on stage. They started with some amazing acrobatics, and then they had these guys:
Hip-hop dancing to Chinese-inspired street beats. It was AWESOME.
God I can’t wait until I pay off my damn credit card and can finally afford to take some dance classes in this city!!
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 March 2010 17:19 )
 This is Gab and I with some pillows that my housekeeper (yes, we have a housekeeper) put on my bed when she was doing laundry... You know what? I rarely write on here after I’ve been drinking. Mostly, until now, it’s been because I haven’t had a decent internet connection past 12am, so it hasn’t even been an option. But tonight, I was at this drinking games party where they FORCED you to do shots of Sangsom. Now, I am sitting at home, reliving my ride home.
Chatting away, Gab (that’s my roommate) and I realized that the taxi driver was taking the FARANG (foreigner) route. It should only be 70 baht from Dave’s and the meter was already on its way to 90. We were not impressed. So were started yelling at him in English, with a little bit of Thai thrown in, in other words, “You take us farang route, ka!” “WTF, ka!!”, etcetera.
He was hilarious – he just kept laughing at us, and saying “sorry, sorry, wrong way.” We paid him and got out at the 7-11. We got Tuna sandwiches, which are seriously the best 7-11 food that exists at 3am. Oh but it’s 2am. Anyways. So then these Thai boys – they must have been 17- they were buying some kind of soup, and it smelled DIVINE. So we leaned in and took a big sniff, and then asked them where we could get it. So we got it, but then we realized they had two. So we asked them where to get the other one. We got that too. The Thai boys had turned an interesting colour of red.
Ummmmmm what else. OH YEAH. I’m going home April 29th. Oh but don’t worry – I’m not staying there (trust me, you would not be interested to read this blog if I stayed in Courtenay!!). Anyways, no I’m excited. I have lots of people to see, and a Visa to renew.
Oh but even before that!! Anita comes to visit! Hell ya! She comes April 1- 23, and our apartment is going to be a full house, because that’s also when Gabby’s boyfriend Carl comes to visit, and when my other friend Maou comes to visit!! Oh lordy. Oh well the more the merrier.
I’m sooooooo excited to go home though. It’s been almost a year!! Wow. I’ve never been away from home that long.
But damn I love Bangkok. Seriously. What a city. My friend AJ is in Manhattan right now and he keeps talking about how much he loves Manhattan, and I feel the same way about Bangkok.
 You can't see it very well, but this sign says Thanon Kraizi....as in Kraizi Street...it's mine Well I’m coming up to week 8 of life in Bangkok. So far, so good. I’ve now got four jobs: columnist for BangkokDiary.com (watch for my interviews, which should be posted shortly!), blogger for Agoda.com, English teacher (very much part-time), and of course, writing for ISEdb.com, which I’ve been doing for a while now.
Suffice it to say that I don’t get a lot of time off. But actually, I thrive in this kind of environment. It’s when I’m busy that I do my best work. I haven’t had a day off in like three weeks, and I love it. I love my writing jobs so much.
BangkokDiary is a start-up online magazine (actually just today we were sitting around the office looking on Thesaurus.com, trying to figure out a great way to describe it) that will, as I came up with, be the contemporary hotbed of Bangkok information and current events. I also came up with these gems: the marrow of the bones that make up Bangkok, and the axis of information for Bangkok's metropolitan lifestyle. We left it at “eyes and ears of Bangkok,” though that wasn’t as verbose as I’d hoped.
My boss, Anuwat, or “Wat”, is great. He speaks excellent English and he is my biggest fan. Wat is extremely well-connected in Bangkok, and I can tell that this site is going to take off in no time. I’m pretty excited to get to be a part of it. Wat is going to see what he can do about getting me that elusive work visa, and there are some pretty exciting things in the pipeline.
This week, I get to cover the midnight flower market (which, incidentally, starts in the afternoon). It may sound boring, but apparently you can buy a whole armload of orchids for like $3!! I also get to cover the Bangkok International Dance Festival, which I am very, very excited about.
My job at Agoda is less involved. I’m basically writing about “chick travel” around Southeast Asia. Ummm…I think I know a thing or two about that!! (see BlondeTraveler.com). On Monday, it was my job, neigh, my duty, to spend the entire day at a shopping mall, and work out a girl’s guide to the best finds and deals there. Oh what a tough life.
Teaching English is, well, teaching English. The kids are adorable, but I am slightly frustrated with their unwillingness to speak anything above a whisper. I am reminded of my Japan experience all over again. But it’s nice to have a change in pace one day a week (unfortunately that day is Saturday!).
This Sunday will be my first day off in a long time, but even better than that, the weekend after, I have booked Saturday off, and the Wolfpack has plans to go to Koh Samet to celebrate two March birthdays. I haven’t been to a beach in so long it seems!! I can’t wait.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 March 2010 18:13 )
** Some of you may have noticed that the site is undergoing some maintenance. Please bear with us. We're trying to make the site much more userfriendly - we think you will appreciate it. It was my first day at my new writing job yesterday. I’m the new columnist for BangkokDiary.com, and my editor, Wat, wanted me to meet the staff. They were shy but smiled heartily as I shook their hands, before returning their eyes to their keyboards to tap out the next paragraph of their story. The office is tiny – about the size of a very large bathroom, but the girls seem to coexist happily, and the large window overlooking the Silom business district makes it seem bigger than it is.
Three of the girls, Dong, Noc and Nan, took me out for lunch. We went to a yummy Thai cuisine restaurant in fancy Siam Paragon (a big, fancy shopping mall), where we shared three entrees and three desserts. Such a girl thing to do.
Noc, Nan and I had been assigned to cover a press conference in the same mall, and Dong was to join with another girl, Jane, to interview the GM of the Grand Millenium Hotel. I was to stay at the press event for an hour or so, rub elbows with some ambassadors and other sorts of VIPs, and then join Dong for the second-half of the interview.
The press conference was not what we’d thought it would be, and after I’d met Baiba, the lovely and astute wife of the Dutch Ambassador to Thailand, and a few other organizers, I scooted out the door and headed to the Grand Millenium.
Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the interview with the GM was over, but Dong and Jane were sitting in the restaurant, having high tea with the hotel’s marketing manager, Nan. Beautiful, confident Nan brushed her long, stick-straight hair to the side as she gushed to us about how much she loves her job.
Soon, we moved on to more personal matters, and Nan and the girls asked me about my experiences in Asia. When I told them that I had spent nine months backpacking around Southeast Asia, the three girls paused and looked at me in awe. Without them even having said anything, I could see the envy and utter amazement on their faces that I could have done such an incredible thing as traveling freely and uninhibitedly in a foreign land for such a long period of time.
“I can’t even imagine doing that,” said Nan. “Thai people never have the chance to do such a thing.”
It wasn’t the first time I’ve realized how much my lifestyle is a godsend, and my Canadian passport, a golden ticket to see the world. But it was a gentle reminder that I am among the few with such privileges and opportunities and that I should never take them for granted.
Nor should any of us.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 February 2010 17:25 )
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