The Rock Pub: Bangkok’s House of Rock

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Back again!  The curfew has finally been lifted, so nightlife in Bangkok is slowly getting back on its feet.  I hadn’t been to the Rock Pub in a long, long time, and finally got my chance. 

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I had taken the express boat into town at noon and soon had a rucksack packed full of books, making my back ache badly.  I then met with good friends in Bangkok for dinner conversation, the high point of every month for me.  But, as everybody was going to leave for home early, I made quick plans for an alternate location to get a taxi home.  I took the Skytrain straight to the Rock Pub, which is on the way home with good taxi spots. 

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I walked into the Rock Pub at 23:00 hours sharp, and the band had just ended a number.  Only a half dozen people in the whole place.  I went to an empty front table, put down my heavy pack, stretched my hurting back, and ordered a beer.  I was horribly thirsty and in great need of pain relief. 

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The band was Munson and they immediately started the next number:  “Smoke on the Water” (“fire in the sky”).  I knew that I had found the right spot.  Then it was AC/DC’s thundering “Highway to Hell,” and I knew I was on that old familiar road.  The beer was cold and went down well. 

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Munson are masters of Rock.  Long hair right out of the 70s, they looked like they were tough veterans of the Rock and Roll wars with years under their belts.  I walked into a perfect time warp.  Without missing a note or a beat, they pounded out great covers of 70s and 80s Rock.  The sound was a torrent of thoracic-thumping, Heavy Metal thunder, shaking right through to my core.  It was a beautiful night. 

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I don’t know all the details of Heavy Metal songs or bands, because I wasn’t collecting albums in those days.  I only heard the songs on car radio while on the road.  So I can name only a few bands or tunes covered from Munson’s set:  Metallica.  “Iron Man.” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (by Bob Dylan, but a Guns N Roses cover).  AC/DC.  “Sweet Child of Mine.”  Guns N Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.”  And on and on with great Heavy Metal covers until 01:00 closing time. 

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Rock lives on! The Rock Pub endures!  

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-Zenwind.

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Peaceful Expression in Bangkok

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The Royal Thai Army military junta, holding absolute rule since the recent coup d'etat, has prohibited public protests against their seizure of power.  Their clampdown is reasonably effective, in that they are nipping any flash mob protests in the bud.  (I guess they are adapting to modern social media immediacy and launching rapid response teams to potential protest sites.)  Sundays seem to be the biggest day for protests, so they are active today.  A couple of city parks have been closed by troops because of rumors of protest activity.
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Protester tactics have been evolving quickly.  One silent protest gesture from several days ago is the "three-fingered salute" from The Hunger Games movies, in defiance of the martial law regime.  Damn, it's also the traditional Boy Scout salute, so be careful who you greet in the city!  They have been arresting anyone who gives the three-fingered salute.  Really!  Arresting them. No lie.
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Getting around this cause of arrest, flash mob participants have been gathering in public places with the military only finding them "eating sandwiches and reading books" (no three-fingered salutes).  That's got to be frustrating for a "Fed" to find only peaceful folk doing peaceful things.  Can't bust them for that.  Maybe, if they are diligent, they can bust them for littering their sandwich bags.
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There is a lot of irony and subtle humor in these actions, but this signals what everyone knows:  that martial law must someday give way to civilian law.  The sooner the better.
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So far, few have been killed or maimed in these protests, making it much safer to be about than before, but this state of affairs will get old soon.  These days ahead will be a test of Thai character and reasonableness.  "May you live in interesting times!"
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-Zenwind.
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Easing into the Rainy Season

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We have occasionally cooler weather when the clouds block the sun, and a strong rain usually relieves the constant heat.  The monsoon rains have been late this year, but they are welcomed whenever we can get them. 

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Our neighborhood Royal Thai Army “Emergency Rapid Deployment Force” that is bunkered down at the corner police station is well-armed.  As well as some sort of Humvee-like vehicle, they have a light machine gun as well as multiple assault rifles.  I passed their bunker today when they were changing guard, and I caught a look at their standard weapons drill, e.g., checking live ammo from the last shift, etc.  

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Because of my own super-strict Marine training, I was a bit alarmed at the random way they were pointing their weapons as they locked in a live magazine into their rifles (if not, hopefully, having a chambered round in them).  I think that this military institution has not had enough bad historical experience with accidental live fire disasters to get truly radical with weapons safety rules.  Our standard Vietnam War weapons rules were rigid and uncompromising.  I cringed as I walked past their relatively careless procedures with weapons and ammo, and I will in the future avoid being anywhere nearby at their change of guard. 

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Other than that, most of us feel more secure and safe now – except for that inconvenient curfew of midnight to 0400. 

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Movie Review:  X-Men: the days of future past (2014).  It was a great film, making good use of several of its fine actors.  What I really loved was the travel back to 1973, a classic year, one that I somewhat remember.  Yet I wish they would have picked better representative examples of the music of that era.  A bit of harder rock and Southern rock would have made it perfect. How about Elvis' "Aloha from Hawaii" broadcast?  Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"?  The Who's "Quadrophenia"? And most importantly, the Allman Brothers Band's "Ramblin' Man," and also the birth of AC/DC?  

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-Zenwind.

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Siam Is One of a Kind

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As we transition through into absolute martial law under this most recent and temporary military coup d’etat regime, not much really seems to have changed, at least from my perspective outside Bangkok.  The curfew has been adjusted down to only midnight to 0400, and we still have essential services.  I can buy milk, eggs, cold beer, and ice with no interruptions of service.  Traffic is only jumbled in the city proper when certain protests/ military responses happen at isolated spots. 

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Locally, the only presence is a squad of armed soldiers at the corner police station, and they have built up a low bunker of sandbags, from which they monitor the main road intersections.  No one pays them much mind as we go about our business. 

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Here is an unrelated mystery that has taken me eight long years to comprehend.  I always wondered why our supply of eggs that I buy at the market depletes so quickly.  I buy a “dozen” eggs routinely, but they run out immediately.  Why?  It just dawned on me.  A “Thai dozen” of eggs, in a transparent plastic container, is not an English dozen.  It consists of only 10 eggs!  I only just now counted them.  I’m a slow learner. 

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As usual, it is hotter than Hell here and infinitely more humid.  But we get occasional relief from the stray thunderstorm that the monsoon season graces us with.  The rains are awesome.  They cleanse the nostrils and sweep away the filth under our feet.  A renewal.  Blessed coolness.  Zen delight. 

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-Zenwind.

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Disgusted, Bored, and Sick of it All

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Protests, martial law, curfew, coup d’etat.…  I am disgusted with the speeches and behaviors shown on almost all sides of these Thai conflicts.  I’m bored of reading the news and trying to keep up with all of it.  Just when I thought the country couldn’t dig itself into a deeper hole….  It is truly a cultural civil war, and I see no end in sight. 

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So I’ve been reading books on mountaineering history and trying to stay offline as much as possible.  I did check my email briefly this morning and then the weather report.  The latter said that there was only a very low chance of any rain – followed an hour later by a deluge that sent us scrambling to close windows and bring laundry in. 

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I’m writing this in case anyone back home is worried about us here.  We are okay and most likely will be.  I am sick of covering the news here, bored to death with it.  In case I don’t update this blog much during this Thai crisis, I recommend two English language online new sites here: 

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The Bangkok Post:

One of my favorite columnists there is Vorani Vanijaka, who writes every Sunday and Thursday.   In this post he appears to be about as disgusted as I am. 

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The Nation.
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And, finally, some astute observations by social scientists. ;-) 

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Oh, and to any of you cosmic hitchhikers:  Happy Towel Day!
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-Zenwind.

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Surprising Normalcy

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One day after General Prayuth, the chief of the Royal Thai Army declared a coup d’etat and suspended the constitution, few things appear to have changed – at least in our neighborhood. 

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I went out today (in the midday sun) to buy groceries and to check on the availability of essential items.  If the nationwide curfew says that no one can be out of their house from 10PM to 5AM, how will stores get re-stocked?  Coming home from late-night excursions in the past, I have seen many trucks and workers re-stocking.  I don’t know if there are exceptions made now or if stores get around it.  Time will tell. 

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Traffic patterns were normal today.  The only neighborhood extras were armed soldiers at the police station and at a key intersection.  I had easy access to the essentials, finding adequate supplies of milk, eggs, ice, and cold beer.  Civilization endures, at least for the moment. 

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-Zenwind.

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Coup D'etat in Thailand Today, Again

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Late afternoon news here informs us that the Royal Thai military establishment has declared a coup d'etat, a taking over of all government authority.  A curfew has been decreed:  we cannot venture out of our homes from 10PM to 5AM.  That's really gonna disrupt our infamous nightlife.  All radio and TV stations seem to have been taken over by the military, and they are playing patriotic music perhaps to inspire everyone.  (Eek!)  The local internet news is slow-to-dead, as everyone is trying to get the word.  Apparently, the two major sides on the fundamental political divide cannot compromise after two days of Army-mediated pow-wows, and General Prayuth says, "Okay, we'll do it my way."
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As a radical lover of liberty, I can complain about the injustice of such a seizure of absolute power, and I could cite centuries of philosophical argument to back me up.  But since Thailand is my adopted home and I'm used to it, what in the hell do I expect?  Gotta live with it, albeit with embarrassment.  Sometime, somehow, all this will pass.  This is part of "normal" here.  Yet, as for the immediate future, all bets are off.
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The question on everyone's mind is:  what will the Red Shirts do next?  Earlier, they had vowed to draw the line if their complete elected government was ousted, threatening to take violently to the streets against the Army again if this happened.  Well, it happened.  Or did it?  I'm reading confusing stuff in the news, sometimes reading that the military claims that the government officials are to continue in their everyday functions.  Some news reports say that the Red Shirts at the west Bangkok protest site are returning to their up-country homes.  Will they stage a massive assault on Bangkok later when they can organize? Who knows?
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Apparently, the military agrees with a minority that true constitutional reform must come before new elections are held.  The present constitutional milieu allows anyone with enough votes to assume all the power of a tyrant, and the court system allows the elites to hold power far beyond their numbers.  It's a constitutional nightmare, a loose cannon situation.
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Thomas Jefferson's take on the importance of extra strong constitutional restraints on any political power is relevant here:  "The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."
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Our life here is not disrupted too much.  (Except for that dreadful martial music!)
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-Zenwind.
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Martial Law Update

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(See today’s earlier post below.)  I walked the neighborhood loop this noon, and everything looked normal.  The only soldiers I saw were two positioned in front of our corner police station with their M16s.  They looked uncomfortable in the heat. 

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As a voluntaryist libertarian, it is a repugnant experience for me to witness the military seizing absolute police power, even if temporarily.  If we really must kneel down and have any government (with its policing power) to lord over us at all, usually an elected one is better than an unelected one.  Democratically elected governments often -- but do not always -- shuffle the better of the wolves to the top of the pathetic power heap.  That doesn’t seem to work here in Thailand where a weak constitution allows majority-elected wolves to be rampant loose-cannon despots who think they have the mandate to plunder what they can and punish whomever they oppose. 

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As F.A. Hayek pointed out, when immense power is constitutionally available, the worst of the wolves get on top.  If the constitution severely limits power, then the wolves are not interested; they will turn back to their underground Mafioso ways. 

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What is the lesser of the many political evils today in Thailand?  The Thaksinista regime wants a tyranny of the majority with a mandate to do anything they please.  Suthep and his anti-government legions want an ill-defined “reform” under unnamed unelected authorities.  Neither side will budge from their dogmatic (and equally special-interest) positions.  And the country is divided behind them. 

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A lot of folks here are relieved that the Royal Thai Army has stepped in to stop the building cycle of violence (if they indeed can stop it).  This seems to be somewhat true of both sides of the political divide, since things are at an absolute impasse. 

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The Army’s seizure of power through martial law – which they insist is only temporary – has an analogue in the ancient Roman Republic, where a Roman citizen was appointed as temporary military “dictator” in special emergencies and only for the duration of that emergency, after which he would stand down and give political power back to the Roman citizens.  (I am not excusing it.  I’m merely pointing out the Roman Republic, with some of its constitutional restraints, was infinitely better than the following Roman Empire that crushed all liberty.) 

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But who appointed Army Commander-in-chief General Prayuth as dictator here?  (Well, he did, with the might of the military as his strongest backup argument.)  Will he return power to civilians after he has the two sides talk it out?  History says that the Thai military usually does so after things shake out, and few think that Prayuth has the ambition for further power in the future.  But times are a-changing and the “old ways” are not as satisfying to a modern citizenry who has heard of more peaceful means.  The Army is not going to be able to pull this one off many more times. 

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General Prayuth is a royalist conservative, so the Red Shirt Thaksinistas do not trust him.  They demand that he treat all sides in the conflict fairly and equally if there is to be any negotiated reconciliation.  The Reds have complained of being victims of “double standards” and unequal treatment in the past from the courts and the entrenched elite power structure, and they have a very valid point.  The doctrine of the Rule of Law, from Hammurabi to Moses to Cicero, Locke and Jefferson, has evolved to demand equal standards before the law.  For everyone. 

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As General Prayuth and the Army try to bring all sides together to hammer out a fair political solution, it is a historic opportunity for the Thai military to prove its worth as a respectable national institution.  But today, it’s the only game in town. 

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-Zenwind.

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Thailand under Martial Law

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Early this morning the Royal Thai Army declared martial law throughout the kingdom, but it insists that this is not a coup.  The present caretaker government is still in place, but the Army is taking control of all security and will censor whatever media it sees fit for the time being. 

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In 2006 the Army did stage a coup, ousting then Prime Minister Thaksin and his government.  As they did today, the Army moved in the early morning hours, and the nation wakes up to the news. 

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Since the anti-government demonstrations started six months ago, over two dozen people have died and hundreds wounded in violent clashes between them and the pro-government Red Shirts.  Neither group will stand down.  Evidently the Army thinks it can stop the cycle of violence, but that will depend on the Reds next move.  The Reds are hard-core tough, and they have no love for the Army. 

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Here is a good article from The Nation about “What the Martial Law Entails.”  Here is an article from the Bangkok Post. 

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I plan to take a cautious walk about the immediate neighborhood today to check things out. 

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Latest news:  Army prohibits TV broadcasts from radical stations on both sides of the political divide, those of the Red Shirts and of the anti-government camp.  (This is where Twitter is actually useful:  up-to-the-minute news flashes.) 

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-Zenwind.

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Recent Readings

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It has been the hot, hot season here, and it’s been too hot and humid to type.  But I have been reading like a maniac.  I had hoped to review, if only briefly, what I’ve been reading, but I lost track of all of them. 

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The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006) by Lawrence Wright is a masterful work of investigative journalism.  Wright goes right to the heart of the matter:  the religious-ideological background of modern Islamic terrorist jihad.  He first covers the life, the “martyrdom,” and the vast influence of Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), the Egyptian academic who inspired Osama bin Laden and his fundamentalist comrades.  He traces the sequence of radicalization and plotting, also showing what agents in American intelligence agencies were thinking at this time.  Highly recommended. 

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No Shortcuts to the Top:  Climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks (2006) by Ed Viesturs.  Viesturs is one of America’s greatest high-altitude mountain climbers, and he is the first American to climb all 14 of the earth’s summits that are over 8,000 meters, all of which are in Asia’s Himalaya and Karakorum ranges.  And he climbed them all without using supplemental bottled oxygen. 

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I already had Viesturs’ book, Himalayan Quest (2009), which covers the same climbing campaign but is a National Geographic edition with large format photography featured.  Reading them both together was a treat.  Viesturs had other writers contribute to the text of both books, but most photos were his.  My favorite quote is from Viesturs’ sometimes climbing partner, the late great Jean-Christophe Lafaille, who once climbed the huge Himalayan mountain Shishapangma by a new route, solo, in winter; Lafaille said, “Never in my life have I been so cold!”  Whew!  That takes me away from the tropics for a bit. 

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Parkland (2013) by Vincent Bugliosi, tells the story of the “four days in November” (1963) in which JFK was killed as was Lee Harvey Oswald.  Bugliosi was a top prosecutor who became quite famous for prosecuting the Charles Manson family murders and writing about the case.  I have read quite a bit about the JFK assassination, but his details about Oswald and his family, about the criminal investigation, and about Jack Ruby are fascinating.  This book is more of a movie tie-in edition since the film of the same name recently appeared, and all of this is based on his huge 2007 work on the subject. 

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Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) by D.H. Lawrence is perhaps the most infamous dirty book of the early 20^th century, since it was banned in places and there were high-profile court cases surrounding it.  I finally read it and was surprised that it was not all bad as a story.  Rated X for language and sexual scenarios. 

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Under the Skin (2000) by Michel Faber.  I saw that the new film version of this was coming soon, and I wanted to see it because critics said it was unusual in many ways, and also because Scarlett Johansson stars.  So I quickly get a Kindle version of the book and read it before seeing the film.  I liked both, but they are not for everyone.  Kinda weird.  After reading this book, I got another Faber book, The Fire Gospel (2008).  I liked his earlier book better. 

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I have collected a lot of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein, both in paper and Kindle.  I will review them on Zenwind eventually, as I am finding them to be among my favorites in my long life of reading. 

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-Zenwind.

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