Bangkok Protests Again?

I was planning to go into Bangkok this past Saturday to hear my favorite band, Mundee, play at The Rock Pub, but I had to cancel plans when I heard there would be a big political protest that day in the very area I would be in.  This news took everyone by surprise because it was a flash mob action only announced about 24 hours beforehand.  Over a thousand people showed up. 

Are we in for another long round of protests, disruptions, and discord? 

Background for anyone not in the loop:  Thailand has a long history of democratic governments alternating with military coups.  In just my 13 years here, the Army took over in 2006, with eventual elections of a government that the Army threw out again in 2014 after months of protests in the streets.  The generals wrote a new constitution before the most recent elections, but this constitution stacked the deck in favor of the military elite, ensuring that they will dominate Parliament.  A new populist political party, the Future Forward Party (FFP) did remarkably well in last year’s election, coming in third, and it heavily criticizes the military’s grip on power.  The FFP is especially popular among young folks. 

The courts, seen as puppets of the military, have used a technicality to disqualify FFP’s young leader from his election as a Member of Parliament, and they are now moving to disqualify the entire party.  So the FFP leader called for a peaceful protest in the heart of Bangkok on Saturday, and over a thousand came.  Political protests here are illegal still, from a military-written law from the last coup.  Civil disobedience.  The FFP promises more and bigger demonstrations next month. 

What will the generals do?  Many in the rising middle class here are sympathetic with the military when it steps in to stop rioting and restores order.  But the young people who sympathize with the FFP take courage from the protesters in Hong Kong and other recent opposition movements throughout the world, and many Thais are sick of military coups.  I cannot see either side backing down.  I don’t know where this is heading.  TIT = This is Thailand. 

-Zenwind. 

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Thanksgiving, and Robin Hood

Thanksgiving is not really celebrated here in Thailand (except for amongst some expat Americans – such as my oldest friend here, Gary Dale, who invited me to his place in the city for his annually offered full-out feast, but I had to decline because I was not feeling well enough to fight my way into town during Bangkok’s brutally insane rush hour, and I had a very important visit to my provincial Immigration Office to attend to). 

So I celebrated by myself while Tuk was at work.  My aged DVD player cranked out some classics as I tried to stay cool under the fans and feeble a/c units.  My morning visit to Immigration had gone better than usual, although I arrived back home completely drenched in sweat because I “went formal”, wearing long trousers instead of my usual everyday shorts.  Being Thanksgiving (with the implied expectation of gluttony and throwing out all constraints), I gave in and stopped at a local store before coming home and bought up some of my favorite junk food:  potato chips, salty and laced with hot Thai spices!  (I usually only eat these favorites on my birthday while binge-watching the entire corpus of Firefly/Serenity.  But I was weak today.  And I crave salt when I sweat profusely.  It will take me over a day to recover.) 

I watched the DVD of a film I had not seen in years, Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves (1991) with Kevin Costner, Alan Rickman, Morgan Freeman, et al.  This is a great film, not only for its grand re-telling of the Robin Hood romantic legend but also for its excellent cast and extraordinary cinematography.  This newer DVD I got recently has a Special Features disc that I’d never seen before, and it included glimpses of some of the great classic artwork connected with various illustrated books of Robin Hood through the years.  (My sister and her husband could identify this art tradition in more detail.)  A great legendary hero is portrayed here very well, and it fits into a long tradition of fine poems, songs, novels, plays, and films.  We need heroes and heroines, who help us visualize Virtue Ethics.  We need romantic glimpses of what life “might be and ought to be” (Aristotle).  We crave inspiration. 

This movie also has one of my all-time favorite portrayals of a villain:  the late Alan Rickman plays the Sheriff of Nottingham.  As an actor brought up on the Shakespearean stage, he can get all the nuances right.  My favorite quote of his from the film is when, in an utterly villainous rage, he orders: 

“Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans!

  No more merciful beheadings!  …

  And call off Christmas!” 

I love it. 

-Zenwind. 

And remember, the Pilgrims' first bountiful Thanksgiving was only possible after they abandoned their original socialist economic scheme of communal property.  After extreme starvation and social ruin, they quit socialism and instituted a private property system and a free market, and then they thrived and only then could they feast.  (See William Bradford.) 

Waning of the Raining

The Rainy Monsoon Season is waning.  We still get a little rain but less every week.  This year’s monsoon has been weaker in general, and weather reports have been consistently over-predicting the daily chances of rain and its intensity.  Since this past week I no longer carry a huge umbrella when on an outing, although for a while yet I will still pack a small folding one just in case and also have a rain-proof pack-cover on board.  (“Be Prepared.”) 

We yearn for the Cool Season, but it is not here yet.  In recent rain-free days I have been very shocked and dismayed by the intense heat, as the sun is now out most of the time and it cooks – with a brutal humidity!  For all my years here, I still didn’t expect it.  This makes me appreciate the Rainy Season more for its relative coolness – when the clouds protect us from the sun’s blazing heat and when there is sometimes a refreshing breeze.  (Of course – as a tradeoff – a cloudy sky means zero astronomy, and I can rarely even see the Moon during the monsoon season.) 

Our living quarters face South-West and get a lot of afternoon sun.  The old brick building soaks up the heat and keeps it hot all night.  And the building’s windows and doors are not very tight.  We have two air con units in our small living room/ bedroom, but they are barely enough.  We still must have two fans blowing all the time to help.  I want to invest in upgrading our entire cooling situation, but I do not own the house and no one listens to me, so nothing gets done.  Dukkha.  Dukkha, indeed. 

Looking ahead, there will be short random bits of cooler weather in the coming months – our Cool Season.  A dry monsoon wind will bring more comfortable air down from northern Asia.  We will enjoy what brief relief we can. 

Blessed coolness.  Zen delight. 

-Zenwind. 

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Mid-Autumn Equinox

It is the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, and I miss the beauty of the season there.  The sights and smells of Fall. 

The Full Moon near this time of year is celebrated here as the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese harvest moon festival celebrated in China and wherever there is a Chinese diaspora.  This year it was on this past 13 September. 

Not that I could see the Moon.  In September we usually get the most rain, as the Rainy Monsoon clouds the skies and dumps a lot on us.  We had very little rain for most of the season thus far, much less than predicted, but this month has given us some pretty dramatic downpours.  I have a good selection of umbrellas and just got another nice large one.  I have a rain cover for my day pack because in a hard, wind-driven rain the umbrella won’t protect it.  I love the refreshing coolness, smells, and drumbeat of a downpour. 

Blessed coolness.  Zen delight. 

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-Zenwind. 

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Explosions in Bangkok

This morning there were at least six small explosions at three locations in Bangkok during rush hour, with four reported injuries.  Life is unaffected by it up here on the northern rim of greater Bangkok, but I will be going into the city next week and expect to encounter tight security on public transit. 

Bangkok is now hosting a big security meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with all the foreign ministers of those countries attending as well as US Secretary of State Pompeo and China’s top diplomat. 

My guess at this point is that some Thai folks who oppose the newly installed government are trying to embarrass it during this regional meeting. 

After years of military rule, the generals wrote a new constitution that rigged the make-up of the newly elected government.  The opposition parties have been blocked at every legal turn, and the generals still rule.  So, yeah, a lot of people are pissed off, but such violence is not the answer. 

What is the answer?  This is Thailand.  I have no clue. 

-Zenwind. 

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Rainy

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It has been a bit rainy, and at those times it is a great relief from the usual constant heat.  When the sun comes out it is wickedly hot again, and often after it rains the humidity is very uncomfortable again -- as is the norm here. 

When I step outside sometimes I feel coolness in the air.  At these times I think of my father, the lifetime farmer, who would savor the cool air and say, "It feels like it has rained somewhere." 

The temperatures have fallen from the months-long highs of 100*F-plus, and this week the daily highs occasionally never even reached the 90s.  Lows got into the high 70s, and this cooling is so welcome. 

Blessed coolness.  Zen delight. 

-Zenwind.
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Quite a Month

It was an eventful month but turned out okay in the end.  I chose to have some elective examinations done at our local private hospital, not because of any problems but because of some family history of diseases and the fact I’m pushing 70.  I stayed overnight and the next day had my upper and lower GI scoped.  Good results. 

Because I had to stop taking my anti-coagulant meds a week before the exams, my DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) came back with a vengeance.  My legs swelled up and hurt, putting me down for a while.  I was put on newer meds and after a while recovered enough to march my normal distances in the neighborhood.  The way looks clear to re-start my exercise routines in full. 

Then yesterday I had to go to Immigration for the 90-Day Report of my address in Thailand, with all the paperwork nonsense it requires.  But I was especially concerned that this may be a more difficult visit than normal because I had just discovered that an Immigration Officer had made a major mistake in my paperwork on my annual April Extension of Stay (based on retirement) visit two months ago – the most important Immigration visit of the year.  She had approved my Extension of Stay for another year and stamped my passport to that effect, but she messed up on one important (newly required) document attached to it.  She either stamped the wrong year on the stub or attached last year’s stub instead of this year’s.  I was afraid that this would be enough of a transgression against most-High-and-Holy paperwork dogma that they would make me go back home and try to find my father-in-law (who is not at home right now) for a new signature.  Nightmare bureaucratic scenario. 

But I was surprised by having one of the easiest Immigration visits I’ve ever had.  I got a taxi immediately after leaving home.  I only stood in line at the desk where they do a preliminary review of your paperwork for five minutes, and they didn’t catch the mistaken date.  I was given a number and sat down only to be called on immediately (instead of an hour).  The Immigration Officer quickly looked through my papers, stamped them with a smile, and sent me on my way.  I even got a taxi home as soon as I went out the door, rather than having to walk to the main highway for one.  I was neither broiled in the sun nor drenched in rain. 

This Immigration paperwork error still may sting me in the ass at the next 90-Day Report or further on down the line, but then they always throw surprises at you.  The surprise yesterday was that they let me out of there so quickly.  After the events of the last month, I needed that. 

-Zenwind.

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Rain

We finally had a bit of rain, and it was a small relief from the horrendous heat we have suffered under for so long.  The oncoming Rainy Monsoon Season will, hopefully, give us a break.  We finally had a day with the high temperature below 100*F, for the first time in weeks (and perhaps in months).  Yet the nighttime low has still not gone below 85*F.  But last night I actually had to put on a shirt and long pants during the middle of the night, and I turned off the fan before dawn.  

Blessed coolness, Zen delight. 

-Zenwind.
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Annual Immigration Nightmare

I am relieved to have successfully completed this year’s annual Immigration Office ordeal.  I got my Extension of Stay in the Kingdom based on retirement for one more year.  New hoops to jump through (as in every single year), new unannounced paperwork requirements, etc.  It is always my worst headache of the year.  I will spare those details. 

It has been blazing hot and humid here, week after week.  Standing in the shade for only five minutes looking for a taxi to Immigration made me drenched in sweat.  The new Immigration Office has great air-conditioning, and as I waited for over two hours I got thoroughly chilled.  That was not that bad, as it is a rare experience here, but I did shiver toward the end.  After finishing my business I reluctantly walked out again into the blazing heat, with the likely prospect of having to walk down the road to the main highway for a taxi home.  But I completely lucked out – a taxi had just discharged passengers and was now empty.  And nicely air conditioned.  I returned home cool and dry. 

-Zenwind.
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Fire at CentralWorld complex

There was a fire yesterday in downtown Bangkok at the CentralWorld complex, one of the biggest shopping complexes in Asia, but it was not overly catastrophic despite there being a couple of deaths. 

I have gone to CentralWorld a lot during my stay in Thailand, but not nearly as much as I go to the Siam Paragon shopping center which is a block or two away.  (I go to Siam Paragon more often because it is at the very hub of Bangkok’s elevated rail system, the “Skytrain”, and extremely convenient for movies, shopping, etc., before taking the train elsewhere during my day in town.  CentralWorld, on the other hand, is a bit harder to get to and requires a walk along an elevated walkway.) 

CentralWorld is huge, the biggest shopping center I’ve ever been to, and I actually have to navigate it with a store map and my wrist compass.  I only go to the original mall building, which is big enough for me.  It has a big cinema complex on about the seventh floor, as well as good bookstores (Asia Books and Kinokunia), and excellent sports shops.  It is a monster building, and they change stores so often I cannot keep up.  I might visit it only once every three or four months. 

Yesterday’s fire happened in an adjacent part of the vast complex, a 57-floor hotel, and it was put out quickly.  Parts of the complex may be closed for a while, and I’m not sure how the separate original CentralWorld mall is affected or when it will be open again. 

During the 2010 Red Shirt riots this original CentralWorld mall was set on fire by the rioters.  The Red Shirts had set up their main camp in the streets right close to it, and the mall had allowed the protestor/rioters to use some of the building’s groundfloor restrooms.  But when the Army came in to clear the streets, some Red Shirt assholes set a fire in the building, and we could see the smoke from up here in Nonthaburi.  When it finally re-opened the smell was there for a long time. 

In other news, it reaches at least 100 degrees F every day, and our nighttime lows are in the high 80s with a wicked humidity all the time.  Even the Thais are complaining. 

-Zenwind.
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Extreme Heat

Our Hot Season began with a vengeance and much earlier than I expected this year.  It is a real furnace.  Nighttime lows are always above 85*F and daytime highs are between 98* and 101*F, and it has been this way for a few weeks now.  Out in the sun it is wicked, and it is hard to find any breeze.  Add to this the ever-present high humidity and you get Sweat City.  It’s likely that it’s going to be like this right through May.  We look forward to the Rainy Season after that for some relief. 

I think that the above complaint about the heat is something I write about every year.  But it always takes me completely by surprise every year, because it is so intense.  However, it is the biggest news item in our lives at this moment, therefore I mention it again. 

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-Zenwind. 

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Mundee Is Back, with their Rock n Roll!

The Rock Pub (“Bangkok’s House of Rock”) has long been my main music mecca here, and I try to get into the city to attend their gigs at least twice a month if possible.  I like the music of all the house bands there – however, me being an old guy I tend to identify more with the bands who play older Rock music, say from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. 

And Mundee is that band.  They are veteran musicians with a mastery of those songs that I’m most familiar with, and they truly Rock!  I can identify perhaps 95% of the songs Mundee plays – and maybe, for most, tell you who wrote the song, who covered it, in what year, and where I was when I first heard it on the radio.  (Radio!…Ga Ga.) 

As for the Rock Pub’s other house bands, they are all fantastic, and one with a somewhat similar-sounding name, Munson, is also one of my long-time favorites, playing an early range of songs from perhaps a decade later than Mundee’s repertoire.  I can identify maybe 70% of the songs Munson plays by song name or band.  Munson makes Heavy Metal weigh-in way heavy. 

(I lost track of contemporary Rock by the early-1990s because I was finishing college and beginning my teaching career, and I just didn’t have time to pay attention.) 

For the younger band Jimmy Revolt, who have a stunning range of songs in their repertoire – and whom I love to hear and also consider to be good friends – I cannot tell you much about the majority of their songs’ histories because they are much newer, but I’m a major fan of anything they play because they do it so well.  And they do know an amazing variety of oldie crowd-pleasers for whenever the Rock Pub is filled with old-fart farangs.  Versatile and cool. 

But Mundee speaks personally to my own youth as an ancient devotee of Rock and Roll.  They play classic hard rock that stirs up intense memories.  Mundee had not been playing at the Rock Pub recently, because of some kind of an accident a band member had.  But when I saw that they were finally scheduled back for a recent Saturday night gig, I just had to make a special trip into town for them.  They did not let me down. 

Mundee will probably be slotted again into the regular Wednesday night gig – after many years being the Saturday regulars.  This is good news for me, because Wednesday is often the best time for me to get into the city.  I’ve planned this coming Wednesday entirely around their gig.  Rock On. 

-Zenwind. 

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