Tropical Essentials

In this Hot Season, one appreciates the small comforts and bare essentials.  First, a pair of shorts with pockets, then sport sandals or flip-flops, then a bandana sweatband.  Going up in tech, I love a waterproof smartphone that resists massive sweating, as well as rain later in the year.  (I have had three wives and several girlfriends testify that I am too stupid to come in out of the rain.) 

A new essential in this Time of Plague are face masks.  We have long had good N95 dust masks available to protect against the toxic smog and PM2.5 pollution during our “winter” when there is no wind or rain.  They fit tight, are hot, and I don’t like the uncomfortable fit of the loops around my ears.  Also, on long marches I wear a sweatband bandana which covers the top of my ears, so putting the mask on and off is pure aggravation; I solved that by connecting the two ear loops with elastic cord around the back of my head.  This has always been good for neighborhood marches. 

Now, with the virus scare, we wear a mask every single time we step out, even briefly.  Surgical masks, which are also easy to get here, are much easier and comfortable to wear when I don’t wear a bandana – going to the store, Immigration, a doctor’s appointment, etc. 

Hand sanitizer is now essential, and besides using it religiously at home I have small bottles of it for when going out.  I reassure my Thai neighbors when entering stores, masked up, by cleaning my hands as I enter.  All of it is part of being polite and considerate here as well as being cautious. 

Re:  neighborhood markets, etc.  The convenience stores are still open at the moment, as are Tops food markets as far as I know (although I haven’t been that far from home for quite a while).  Neighborhood street vendors are thinning out a bit because of less foot traffic.  But my popcorn vendor next to the police station was still there this last week. 

As for more traditional tropical essentials, I would list fans as high on the list.  A/C is great, if it works.  Refrigeration is a modern marvel, and I make plenty of Ice in our new fridge.  Drinks are important (stay hydrated!):  beer, tea, chocolate milk, iced coffee, good clean water, etc. 

I have a treasured collection of stainless steel, wide-mouthed Thermos bottles, by Laken (.35L, .5L, .75L).  They keep liquids cold for an incredibly long time.  For the big .75L I throw in a lot of ice & fill with a pint of Beer Chang.  

Blessed Coolness.  Zen Delight. 

-Zenwind. 

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National Curfew

Starting tomorrow there is a nationwide curfew in place, keeping everyone in Thailand, except absolutely necessary (mostly medical) personnel, at home from 22:00 hours to 04:00. 

And in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, the Songkran holiday season is cancelled.  This is like cancelling Christmas!  Songkran, traditional Thai New Year, is in mid-April at the absolute hottest time of the year, and celebrations include throwing water on folks to cool them down.  Usually there are massive street water-throwing parties downtown, and even here one expects some water thrown at you when out and about.  There are a number of additional holidays this month before and after Songkran, and they are often linked up to provide very long periods off from work.  So, because it is a time when schools are usually out and folks are off work anyway, it is not a time of great productivity and thus fits a bit more easily into this stay-at-home scenario. 

It's too hot to move, and yet April is only beginning.  This heat and humidity remind me of 51 years ago in my first months in Vietnam.  The first thing I noticed landing in Nam was that Marines all had green towels hanging around their necks.  Medium-sized towels, dark green.  (All our white clothing, skivvies, etc. were confiscated, and we were issued green substitutes.)  The towels were for constantly mopping up the sweat from your face and hands.  If possible, you never touched your weapon until drying your hands first.  Those days were my first experience with horrendously wicked heat and humidity – tropical hell. 

These days a sweatband – a bandana rolled up as a headband – is essential equipment for dealing with sweat when moving, both inside and outside.  If it is a long fitness walk in the neighborhood, I add to the headband a wide-brimmed hat, and of course shades.  Now, with the mandatory face mask, I must look like some cowboy outlaw. 

The neighborhood folks are almost certainly accustomed over the years to this strange old gray-beard farang alien who strides rapidly over the sidewalks several days a week.  If I were another person, I might feel uneasy about being so different, but I’m long used to being oblivious to most expectations, and marching to different drummers is second nature.  

I am 70 years old yet feel tremendously young at heart.  Aside from a somewhat aged body, I still feel like a kid.  I never grew up, and by this time I guess I never will.  What’s the point? 

-Zenwind. 

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April Fools Day Cancelled

And I am NOT joking.  Anyone reporting false information publicly about the Covid-19 pandemic as a joke is looking at a possible two years in a Thai prison.  And a Thai prison during this Hot season is no joke at all.  Similar bans on joking about it are announced in India and Taiwan. 

Our province of Nonthaburi has just declared a Partial (nighttime) Curfew where no one is to leave their homes between 23:00 hours and 05:00 (11PM-5AM).  Southern Nonthaburi, where we live, is part of greater Bangkok.  One can hardly tell you’ve left the Bangkok city limits until you’ve gone far enough north to reach the province’s countryside. 

We are doing fine here.  Tuk may or may not be working from home after this week.  The heat is almost unbearable. 

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city located up in the north, has been rated having the absolute worst air pollution in the world.  Farmers burning crops are the main culprit, and a big forest fire there is out of control.  Our toxic haze down here in Bangkok has eased up dramatically because of more winds – small blessings! 

-Zenwind. 

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Weekend Update

No absolute curfew here yet, but we are under an Emergency Decree, which is confusing in its interpretations.  Stay at Home is strongly urged (or is it ordered?), and movement is said to be limited quite a bit, but it is baffling on what that really means.  This government, like all of them anywhere, is hopelessly inept while being puffed up with power-importance, and it would be great comedy if it were not so tragic. 

Recent Immigration Office cluster chaos: 

I had to go to Immigration again this week for additional petty bureaucratic paperwork bullshit, and I found horrendous crowds there, probably because of sudden pandemic-related panic about new visa requirements, etc.  What happened to the “social distancing” so strongly recommended?  It was early in the morning when it is usually not terribly crowded, but lines were already outside the front door – in the sun.  I tried a side entrance, went upstairs to the relevant floor, and found a closely packed line of people going into infinity.  Not only would it be impossible to receive service before noon, but this stockyard, Petri-dish environment repelled me. 

So, I turned around, exited the building and found a taxi home.  Screw it.  I will have to pay a hefty fine for not doing the (utterly ridiculous) paperwork on time, but it was worth it just to get out of there.  Bureaucrats everywhere can go to Hell – a Hell with a torturously impossible queue as in the film Betelgeuse (1988)!   

Other than all that, we are trying to keep cool and civil as the temps go up toward 100*F with deadly dewpoints.  Music, books, and DVDs save the day – along with fans and iced drinks.  Cheers! 

-Zenwind. 

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Hot Morning Outing

I thought I would be out of the tropics by now, but I probably won’t be going anywhere for quite a while.  We are in stay-at-home lockdown, with such exceptions as Tuk walking to work and me foraging the neighborhood for food on foot – just as I did during the massive flooding in 2011.  (Thank the gods for 7/11 convenience stores, always well stocked; we have several within walking distance.) 

Today’s most urgent anticipated task was to try and find cat litter for our two felines.  I had to see if the little pet store down the road was still open during this round of forced closures, and if it wasn’t then I would have to figure something else out.  Then I got a call from Tuk just after 08:00 from her office.  She had forgotten an important data-drive in her home computer and needed it at work; could I take it to her?  So, I quickly showered and put on some of my more presentable clothes – but still short pants rather than long ones in this heat. 

I stepped outside at 08:30 and it was already sweltering beyond belief.  My face mask, quasi-mandatory wear now, just made it worse.  There was sweat stinging my eyes after going only 20 meters, in the shade.  I had a rolled bandana/headband in my pocket, but planned to use it only when I left the office campus.  There was some wind and a little shade, but the sun was brutal.  I handed off the thumb-drive to Tuk outside her office and then headed off campus by a back gate nearest the pet store, which I was happy to see still open for business. 

Now carrying two really heavy bags of cat litter in my backpack, I head down the road towards the 7/11 store.  I start feeling a bit faint and wonder why.  Holy shit, am I sick?  Then I realize I hadn’t had time to eat or drink anything and was most probably dehydrated from sweating so abundantly from the heat plus the heavy load.  I usually eat a decent breakfast with well over a pint-and-a-half of liquids, but not this morning. 

The 7/11 store has a powerful a/c and I am drenched.  Mask still on, my glasses fog and drip condensation.  Then I lift my head up a bit to see some upper shelves, and sweat that had been trapped by my mask streams down my neck, under my shirt and pants into my crotch.  Damn! 

As soon as I step out of the store, I mop the sweat out of my eyes again and put my headband on.  I arrive home soaked clear through.  And this entire trek was only one kilometer.  Sweat City. 

Once in the house, our feline masters briefly open their eyes and raise their heads just enough to glance at me.  I’m quite certain of what they were telegraphing to me with those looks: “It sure took you long enough; and, oh, do turn on the fan.”  Then heads back down and off to regal feline slumber.  And we think we are at the top of the animal kingdom’s hierarchy? 

-Zenwind. 

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Thailand Closing Its Doors

The noose is tightening.  In the efforts to stop the spread of the dread Covid-19 virus, the Thai government is starting to lock down the borders.  They are demanding before you can enter Thailand (even Thai citizens), that you present a medical certification that you have been tested and found negative for the virus within the last 72 hours. 

The US State Department has warned American citizens abroad that they should return to the USA right now before borders close down and they cannot return.  Well, I’m hunkered down here in Thailand, hoping that this crisis will eventually end and that I can possibly travel to the USA for my family reunions in the summer. I do not want to be trapped in America indefinitely and blocked from returning to Thailand.  

In addition to the bars being closed here, all movie theaters are closed as well as (gasp!) the massage parlors.  All Songkran celebrations, the traditional Thai New Year with water-throwing during the hottest part of the year, have been canceled, and this is a very big deal.  (All fun has been canceled in the Land of Smiles!) 

Face masks are worn by almost everyone, although many medical experts say that it is not of supreme importance to prevent you from getting the virus and many in Asia do not realize this.  Rather the masks are definitely good for stopping the spread of infection if you already have it.  So, wearing a mask is polite, it shows that you are concerned about the health of your fellow neighbors, and it puts folks at ease.  But the masks are so damned hot to wear in an already hot and humid climate. 

One possible glimmer of hope for us here is that these viruses tend to be less contagious in hot humid weather.  This may possibly be a reason that Thailand has a comparatively low infection and death rate so far.  Maybe.  Yet these reported rates look suspiciously low to me.  Is our Thai testing for the virus lagging and not telling the true picture of infection (just like the case in the USA)?  A prudent government would not want to hide numbers and later be revealed as lying about it.  Do we have a prudent government?  Anywhere in the world?  

We live in interesting times. 

-Zenwind.

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Hot Season Comes Round Again

It is getting hot again.  Sweltering, dripping, exhausting.  I just finished a successful visit to our provincial Immigration office for my annual renewal of an “Extension of Stay in the Kingdom” based on retirement.  Paperwork beyond belief.  I had it all in order, and it went smoothly.  An additional hassle was having old visa stamps from my old passport transferred to my new one, but that went well too.  The office is new, spacious and air conditioned, and everyone there wore face masks. 

Re:  The Virus.  I had been planning to bail out of this heat-infested tropical hell before April, our hottest and most horribly humid month, and fly to America to see the springtime blossoming from April into May.  But the Covid-19 pandemic is making travel anytime soon questionable.  I have two cousins’ reunions, one in June and one in August, and I will have to wait and see how feasible it is then to travel. 

I have stopped going out unless absolutely necessary.  The pubs, such as my beloved Rock Pub, are all closed in Bangkok for the rest of this month at least.  I’m not sure about movie theaters as of today.  My father-in-law is 87, frail and with a long history of breathing problems, so I do not want to bring a virus home to him. 

I have books aplenty as well as DVDs.  My exercise routines always peter out in the Hot Season when it’s just too damn uncomfortable to move. 

We are all well so far and can’t complain that much.  I will try to update this blog more often in the future. 

-Zenwind.

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Toxic Smog

In the last couple of years, this, usually our most pleasant time of year – our “Cool Season” – has been completely spoiled by toxic air pollution.  The level of dangerous tiny smog particles (PM-2.5) is off the charts.  From our third story window I can see the yellow-brown haze obscuring the view of buildings only a kilometer or two away.  I have industrial-grade dust masks to wear when outside for long periods. 

The causes are many.  Farmers burn the stalks of their recent crops, and sugar cane farmers are burning their cane prior to cutting it (in order to more cheaply and easily cut and harvest it).  This creates smoky haze throughout all of Southeast Asia.  Add to that the rapid industrialization and the huge increase in vehicle traffic, and you get a toxic mix. 

There is virtually no wind to blow the bad air away – and of course there is no rain this time of year that could hose down the smog.  I yearn for the Rainy Season (June through September) when the air is fresh. 

There are laws against such burning of crops and causing pollution, but no government officials will enforce them because the farmers lobby, with huge vote totals, makes it politically incorrect to act. 

So I restrict my going outside during this, the most comfortable time of year.  I’m using my treadmill more, although when using it I wear a dust mask because our old house is so poorly sealed.  Next year I think I may join a gym during smog season. 

In other news:  I have been trying to keep up reading and reviewing books as an Early Reader volunteer for the Libertarian Futurist Society, screening recent candidate science fiction (sf) novels that may qualify for the Prometheus Award.  I’ve read some interesting works.  I also continue reading a lot of history and biography, as well as other readings that catch my fancy. 

-Zenwind. 

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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.)