Tropical Shock, Again and Again

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I just cannot get used to it.  Sweating profusely in swim trunks even on our ground floor, our coolest area, I turn the fan on me as I open a cold beer from the frig.  The humidity is back to its normal uncomfortable levels.  The huge shock is when I look at the wall calendar which tells me it is January!  January back in the northern USA was hard frost!  This is so hard to conceive.  If this is our winter, what will the hot season be like?  My computer is over-hot and making alarming noises.  I'm dripping wet.
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I think that the few nights of sleeping without a fan blowing on me are over, as our brief record cold snap was too good to be true.  We sweat away the day from mid-morning through night, with a brief semi-tolerable temperature in the morning. As we have no hot-water heater for our plumbing, waking up is a harsh cold shower.  I realize that hot and cold are relative concepts, but as one transplanted from the north of North America I will always experience the Tropic heat as profoundly alien.  Whew!
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-Zenwind.
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In the Cold Grip of Winter

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This week has seen the coldest temperatures that Bangkok has experienced in 30 years, experiencing a shocking low of 60*F!  I have actually slept without a fan blowing on me for the last several nights.
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I fear a new Ice Age is coming.
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-Zenwind.
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January Note

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The Thai caretaker government has issued an Emergency Decree for 60 days. We are not affected too much. Mainly traffic gridlock due to the protests.
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My computer is making death rattles again, after a spell of smooth running during the early part of this Cool Season, so I am back to typing this on my phone. I have been advised to replace the computer rather than repair it. I am not sure what to do. I need a decent keyboard.
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-Zenwind.
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Violence in Bangkok

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I’m sure that we all knew it was coming.  The anti-government protesters have had their “Bangkok Shutdown” marches all week and have been generally peaceful.  But nights have begun to be dangerous in some areas of the city, with several incidents of protesters being shot near their rally points and bombs thrown at the homes of prominent anti-government figures. 

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But today a bomb/grenade was thrown into the midst of anti-government protest marchers during broad daylight, sending dozens to hospital.  If history gives us instructive lessons, this will get much worse.  Tensions are building.

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The caretaker PM Yinglick (little sister of convicted fugitive Thaksin) and her caretaker government are being cornered by a number of corruption investigations by the courts that look to be quite sound, and their power base, the rural rice farmers whose numerous votes they’ve ‘bought’ by economically unsound populist policies (e.g., the insane guaranteed “rice-pledging” scheme), are angry and up in arms because their unreasonably expected goodies have not been -- and can never be -- delivered as promised.  It will get uglier.  This is Thailand. 

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We try to stay out of major trouble here on the city’s outskirts. 

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-Zenwind.

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Artist’s Show at Warren Library

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My brother-in-law, Dan Clement, has a one-man exhibition of his artwork featured at the Warren (PA) Public Library’s Wetmore Gallery through January 31.  I wish I were in the States to see it.  Go see it if you can.  Dan’s website is HERE.

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-Zenwind. 

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Bangkok Shutdown

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I don’t know where this massive anti-government protest is headed, because I’ll never understand many things about Thailand.  A loudspeaker started playing music and speeches at 07:00 today right outside on the street below our windows, and by 08:00 a modest crowd had gathered before marching off to block intersections in the city proper.  Again, they were middle-class folks, and it was a festive atmosphere. 

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The key thing in common that draws tens upon tens of thousands of Thais into the streets is an absolute loathing of Thaksin, the convicted former PM, and the culture of corruption that he represents.  For sure, Thai politics has always been massively corrupt – and uprooting this tradition will take generations – but Thaksin was the brazen master of it. 

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It is more complicated than that, but save it for another time. 

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I created a Twitter account, @Northwindhermit, a while ago at the beginning of this round of political upheaval – mainly to get up-to-date news flashes of transportation jams, potentially violent places to avoid, etc. Twitter throws a lot of junk at you, mainly vanity postings, but it is a novel form of speedy connection. 

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Today’s Twitter feed is almost impossible to keep up with.  News of key intersections being blocked has radically restricted traffic into the city.  The boats, subway, and elevated rail are crowded.  Many people cannot get in to work.  Some folks suggest just saying to hell with it and go to the beach. 

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-Zenwind.

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Where Did Our Cool Season Go?

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Perhaps to North America?

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I know that at times I’ve teased my temperate zone friends and family about how warm and comfortable it is here while they are freezing up in the Great White North – and I realize they are at this moment suffering a full winter blast at well below 0*F (-18*C) and worse – but the heat and humidity here right now is dreadful, and it’s not funny!  This is supposed to be our one comfortable time of year.

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Today has been 95*F with increasingly humid air coming in.  At sundown it was too humid to be outside, as I was dripping with sweat after sitting out for five minutes, with mosquitoes having a feeding frenzy on my mostly bare body.  Now I’m inside treating my wounds. 

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In the Northern latitudes they are sitting close to the fireplace or heaters; here we huddle in front of fans.  Everyone longs for that perfect zone of comfort. 

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-Zenwind.

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Book Reviews

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I've been cleaning up some of my draft files of philosophy book reviews and posted them on my main Zenwind site, linked above. Starting the New Year right!
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-Zenwind.
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