DivineMadman

Some high powered guns are banned but these are allowed. They can be pumped up quite a bit. What the difference is between these guns and the banned guns I do not know. This guys got the idea.

You're right. That's exactly the problem and why nowhere is really safe from the water play. Little neighborhood kids on the corner of every soi. But it's a Thai national holiday so when in Thailand....

The goggles have been available for many years. I've noticed that particulars the foreigners spray in your and eyes with high powered guns. That's why I thought it was important to mention it.

Yes, but I figured the people who aren’t using waterproof phones know how to protect them.

If this is true for young people then it has to be true for people of any age. Including, of course, the readers of this forum. Everyone should turn off his computer right now. I think it's silly to say that anyone who wants to talk about the need to save the environment has to stop using his or her phones for entertainment - again, if it's true for young people it's true for all. And if it's true for phones, then it's true for everything else that's using electricity or, manufactured, as phones are. No more TV. No more movies. No more Hornet app. "No more fun of any kind" as Dean Wormer said in Animal House. I think the climate change activists are pointing out that there are very big policy decisions that governments need to make at the macro level. And with climate change deniers in power, they are saying "Wake up people! This shit is serious.!" These important decisions need activists - young and old - to energize and inform the electorate in democracies. So at this level, the environmental activists are not saying give up your toys. They are saying, for example, yes, we need electricity, but lets develop renewable resources. Let's regulate greenhouse emissions. Etc. So, at the macro level, there's no hypocrisy and no "do as I say, not as I do." They're talking about big boy policy decisions. At the micro down-to-earth, level, what the activists are saying is all of us individuals can "do better." Recycle your plastics. Be aware of the carbon cost of that airplane flight. Etc. But you can still live in the world. They are not saying that every single aspect of someone's life has to be measured by "it is absolutely essential that you use that dollop of electricity," and "you can never be photographed near plastic." So if they didn't actually say that, then we can't really accuse them of "do as I say, not as I do." And it is wrong to put those words in their mouths. Human beings with brains that can think and process and draw reasonable standards that don't end up with people having to sit in the dark at night. (Remember - lights at night = greenhouse gases so have to be turned off if they meet the [silly] new test for activists. The "absurd" in reductio ad absurdam.) Societies do that all the time. There's a reasonable point where environmental activists young and old can still live in the world while still consuming electricity and things, even for entertainment. That's all anyone is saying. People don't have to live off the grid. Just try to do their best on the grid. I truly cannot think of any globally-known environmental activist who could possibly meet the new tests that are being proposed here to judge our new generation of activists. Hmmmmm. I can't think of any U.S. environmental activists who possibly meet the new tests that are being proposed. Dalai Lama. Massive carbon footprint. Frequent flier with entourage. Now he has to be silent on climate change? Pope Francis - the same. Silencing him now are we? All the scientists who are endlessly fighting to raise awareness. I guess we're silencing them now also because they fly instead of taking a train, watch TV at night, check Facebook on their phones, go to conferences where there might be water in plastic bottle. A young (or old) person can do his or her activist stuff and still use a phone, go to a movie, etc.. all without being accused of being a hypocrite. And the problem if he or she checks TikTok on the phone, goes to a movie, etc., isn't that he or she does that, it's with the attempts to shame them and silence them for doing what is perfectly reasonable and consistent with what they are saying. Yes, but the actual words they use do make it clear, beyond any doubt, that they do not share the opinion that she's a hypocrite. So my point still stands.

I deliberately left out the phone because now most phones are waterproof. But if someone still has a non-waterproof phone, definitely!

Gym shorts or similar are fine for the water sports (hehehe). They sell special Songkran shirts - bright colored floral shirts - for a few hundred baht along the street. You can also easily pick up plastic glasses to protect your eyes- essential - and a waterproof carrier for your wallet if you don't already have one. Flip-flops or similar sandals that don't get slippery when wet are advised. For a young 'un such as yourself you might seriously consider heading to one of the gay Thai cubs' special open air night time Songkran parties. It's where the young gay Thais will be. Fake Club usually does a big one. This is the first Songkran I'll be missing in 10? years. Now I'm starting to feel bad.

We seem to to have veered off the rails into something about those darn kids and their smartphones and, I guess, vegans. The world is full of frauds, I guess. A planet of disappointing people. Sad indeed. I'll just repeat that I don't think climate change activists of any age need to live off-the-grid wearing homespun clothes and cooking with methane made from their own waste, which apparently is the new standard that she or any other environment activist has to meet. Because the cycle of criticism "I can imagine a more eco-friendly alternative" can go on and on. Did Greta wear a winter jacket with a polypropylene shell? Unbelievable! Does Bill Nye (the Science Guy - scientist, TV personality and activist in the U.S.) drive a car when he should only be riding a bicycle? Fraud! The Dalai Lama (another advocate for climate change) flies in jets all over the world and eats meat! Shame! How can any green politician actually get elected If - and this seems bonkers to me - he or she can't have a phone or apparently use the internet, because ... electricity?? I'm not saying anyone has to like Greta. I find her tone off-putting and like most zealots and all 15-17 years olds, rather tedious. But I certainly don't hate her. I would never give her that power over me. And I still can respect what she's done to keep climate change in the fore and I hope she keeps at it. I take some comfort that maybe I'm not alone in my views and the folks at Time Magazine who thought long and hard about it decided that she's not the horrible creature it seems some people want to say she is. Once again, just worth maybe meditating for a moment or two on the fact that Time Magazine did recognize her for who she is and what she's done, warts and all, real world and all. And so do a lot of other people. Maybe that's just a bit of sanity check? I think "breathtaking hypocrisy" is a vocal anti-gay minister or politician who is hitting up Grindr at night for gay hookups. Greta and all the other environmental activists young and old out protesting for climate change but still using their smartphones, maybe occasionally being in the presence of a plastic bottle (!), etc., etc., aren't anything like real hypocrites.

Same for me. But I often ended with extra bags. I do buy the biodegradable trash bags but I think (but am not sure) they only degrade very very very slowly in landfills. One reason we got rid of single-use plastic bags where I live in the U.S. is that they don't recycle well. They gum up the regular plastic recycling machines and have to be separated and burned. So it might be that consumers will end up using net-net the same number of plastic bags for trash (ideally biodegradable) and the savings is from the "extra" bags.

Great report. During Songkran the gogo bars etc are all open as usual and it's a big party weekend and the gorgeous gays from all over SE Asia who are just now recovering from the New Years parties will be starting to plan their outfits for Songkran soon. Some people like Songkran. Some don't. I happen to like it. If you've seen the videos then you already have an idea. Try it once. For the people who do enjoy, it is immense fun. For the people who don't, I think it is a bit of fresh hell. Would hate to see you miss out on it if it might turn out to be something you do enjoy. (That's my standard advice.).

1. Technically it's not an actual government ban. It's a voluntary agreement among most of the large grocery chains and mall groups and convenience stores to stop giving away single-use plastic bags for free. Bangkok Post. Maybe there's not much of a difference, except street food vendors and independent mom-and-pop stores aren't covered. I suppose the government may make the current voluntary agreement law. 2. Most of the stores have been selling inexpensive re-usable bags for a while. Tops, where I shop (hehehe) have been having no-plastic-bag days a few days a month leading up to this and there have been constant announcements about it, usually blaming it on "government policy." 3. I'm pretty sure I heard an announcement at Tops that if you wanted the usual a plastic bag the cost would be 1 baht, which they would donate to hospital or something like that. I haven't observed anyone insisting on plastic, so I don't know how difficult it is get them actually to hand over a plastic bag under from lock-and-key. Bangkok Post says some stores are offering paper bags instead of plastic.

Sitting in front of a plastic bottle illustrates breathtaking hypocrisy? Really? Really? So you're saying that people who advocate for climate change CAN NEVER BE IN THE PRESENCE OF PLASTIC BOTTLES. Really? Seems like a rather silly statement to me. I doubt she personally - a 16 year old girl - provisioned the boat, but presumably you know she did. Or you must have copy of her "rider" (as they would say in the entertainment industry) insisting only plastic-bottled water. Because she has to be directly responsible for that one bottle that she's sitting in front of before you can say it's her breathtaking hypocrisy. But I don't really think that's the case. Frankly, I don't think being a fierce advocate for climate change means never being photographed in front of plastic bottle (duh). She and the rest us live in the real world. The point is to minimize the use when possible, and recycle what you do use. I agree that there are carbon costs to her attention-raising sail. But that doesn't mean the costs weren't outweighed by the benefit, which is (or should be) the test. Do you know for a fact that she or her team didn't do anything to offset the carbon costs? I think she has raised attention for climate change and done a great job driving home the fact that our (and preceding) generations' inactions will be borne by her and succeeding generations. She gets the attention for the topic that no one else has recently. She's a young 16 year old girl living her life in the real world. That means sometimes she'll make mistakes. Sometimes using plastic. Sometimes an ill-considered tweet. When she gets her driver's license, I bet sometimes she may sit in the car with the engine running. Who knows. What's she supposed to do - live entirely off-the-grid? She a girl (young women) living her life with friends and family and being an advocate for her generation. The good news is that she seems to take the personal attacks quite well, and has proven herself more than a match for Trump and others.

According to the folks at google, the BTS route to chatuchak is about 7 minutes faster than the MRT route. (Put another way, MRT is about 18% longer.). Up to you. The stairs down from the BTS station are right at the MRT Chatuchak Park station. There's a a short cut through the park at the MRT entrance that gets you the North/east part of the market quickly - and faster than swimming through the market crowds if that's where you're going. The station after that - Kampheng ? - definitely gets you right into the southern end of the market. (Art galleries are more to the northeast, and the fascinating but too often overlooked fish market is north around the "top", which is usually my first stop for picture taking.) Peak Chatuchak time, I think the MRT is probably less crowded and when it's really hot here it has better A/C. Personally, I prefer traveling above ground. More of a view.

People act like the photo is of Greta maniacally throwing the plastic bottle into the ocean while bathing in a coal-fired hot tub filled with the blood baby seals. I'm glad that the silly attacks on her have not drowned out her message.

Thanks for your great report!. For a Bangkok first-timer you're a pro! You're doing everything right* and it's working out for you. Always nice when that happens. The guys at Banana Boys do have fun with each other during the show and it helps make it all a bit more fun, I think. You could be writing the guide book now. *One quibble: FYI (In case you didn't know) MRT to Chatuchak is the long way. Faster to take BTS and change at Siam. But, as they say, up to you.

+1

Yangon Pride runs 17 Jan - 2 Feb More info Facebook

Maybe things have changed, but as far as the emphasis on lighter skin, at least it used to be that the common perception was that Koreans were the best looking, so that might resonate here more than saying "Chinese looking." Korean bands, pop stars, etc. are big here and lots of Korean TV programs air here on TV. (Of course there are lots of reasons - perceptions of working class/poverty, etc.). Just in my experience talking with Thais - men or women - they will almost all admit to finding Koreans attractive, but not so true vis a vis Chinese, as long as we're generalizing.

Anyone in BKK for the Lunar New Year can see him [again] at Moonlight on the 25th.

FYI https://southeastasiaglobe.com/the-many-faces-of-khlongtoey/

It's straight. I've been inside only because there's art gallery space that occasionally has shows upstairs. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Great post. I'll admit I enjoy enjoy them but I seldom set aside the actual time to watch, but now you've inspired me.

Glorious! The videos are fantastic. This goes on the short list for best reports ever. Thanks for the report and so glad you guys had a good time.

The main entrance is on Silom.

Great report! Wise words indeed.