Bob

Please feel free to ask any other questions you might have once your travel dates get closer and/or when you get here in Chiangmai. A couple of us live up here and we can likely answer any questions you might have.

No flooding here at all (which is surprising given that Lamphun and Lampang - not all that far from Chiangmai - both have had some flooding issues). I was down by the river a couple of hours ago and observed that the Ping isn't very high at all for this time of year. It'd take a whole lot of rain in the next couple of weeks (typically we're past any flooding issue by October) for there to be any problem here at all. Last year, there was flooding by the river for only 2-3 days. And I would note that the flooding that occurred last year was due solely to the release of a ton of water by a dam well north of here (the flooding wasn't due to local rainfall around here).

If you can find a ticket to Chiangmai, you'd enjoy the night parades during Loy Krathong, I think. Quite impressive. I'd note that they have three nightly parades with the third night being the biggest. As to what date the first parade occurs, you'll have to look around (normally it started on Loy Krathong day itself but last year was slightly different). While in Chiangmai, a visit up to the temple on Doi Suthep (name of the "mountain" west of the city and visible everywhere) would be enjoyable. If the air is somewhat clear, quite a view of Chiangmai from the veranda up there (and the temple is rather nice too). If you want to see some tigers, the Tiger Kingdom at Mae Rim is fun (just don't go into the cage with the larger tigers as it's simply too damn dangerous). If you have specific questions about restaurants (type of food, please) or other activities, just ask and one or two of us ought to be able to provide some information.

I rather agree with that although I think the way we typically phrase it sounds like "resignation" versus "acceptance." They just see it as normal and very few of them demonstrate any irritation at all. When riding with a Thai driver pal who's stopped for no reason and then extorted a few hundred baht by a greasy cop, I've subsequently reacted rather negatively (such as "it pisses me off that that dirty bastard just stole your hard-earned money!") whereas the Thai driver calmly just responds without any anger: "hey, he has to eat too!" While I like the concept of Rogie's suggestion that change must come from within the ranks of those grabbing the patronage/spoils, it seems a bit far-fetched to me that the idea is realistic. I've never read any comments by anybody "within" that's condemned the practice at all. And those few that might have raised the issue with some impact haven't done so because they'd be criticizing their own support structure.

I don't think it's a language thing at all but simply that the Thais we hang out with and/or all Thais gab a lot. The Thai language phrases oftentimes are shorter than our English as they typically cut everything down to the bare essentials (often omitting subjects, objects, etc.). For example, "bpai nai" is Thai for "where are you going" and "bpen arai" is Thai for "what's the matter/problem?" Another example you've all heard is the word "ao" used in restaurants.....it means "I want" (but they skip the "I" part). Can't quite imagine going into a western restaurant and saying to the waiter "want cola" (we'd typically say "I would like to have..." or "I'll have...").

For trivia buffs......initials for the co-creators of the candy (Mars, who was president of Mars Candy which I think provided the hard-shelled covering, and Murrie, who was president of Hershey Chocolates which obviously provided the chocolate).

Every country has different issues underlying endemic corruption and, in Thailand, I firmly believe that the Thai history and situation have much to do with why the issue is not being dealt with or considered by most Thais to be either unusual or even wrong. Wyatt, in his "Short History of Thailand" (which is neither short nor all that easy to read), discusses at some length the beginnings of the patronage system in Thailand. A thousand years or more, the most powerful king* sent his people out to rule far off places (in those days, I suppose a "far off" place then was 50-100 miles away). The king* had no money to pay them - heck, it was the emissaries' job to gather goodies and wealth for the king* - so they were encouraged/told to simply take a cut of what they collected for the king*. Those in power in Thailand have done it ever since....from paying for royal patronage (those royal symbols over bank bulidings and other places aren't free), taking a cut of the security systems at the airport or wherever, cops grabbing money from the citizenry, etc. There's a sense of entitlement by the rich and elite to grab what they can and it's always been that way. Big trouble always brews (and often occurs) whenever that bloc perceives that some other group (even those nasty "masses") might be even thinking about grabbing any part of the same piece of pie they've grabbed for years. In my view, the 1996 coup can be directly linked to this type of system and thinking. The "yellow shirts", the upper echelon of the military, and other elite are, in my view, all have the same motivations and work towards (and in some cases together) to retain the old order of things. There has been a deep historical and cultural effort to teach Thais from birth to respect and not question their elders and the various elite blocs and, until the average Thai believes otherwise (or even begins to question the program), I can't see any significant chance of uprisings or substantial change occurring in how things are run or done in Thailand. Thai Rak Thai and its progeny have been a threat to the old order and that's largely why they're not around any more, largely neutered, and/or inherently fearful of pushing very hard for any meaningful change. *I'd note that when I refer to the "king" above, I am not referring to the current King. The current King, no doubt, is hugely revered by the Thais and the general citizenry and other elite blocs afford him utmost deference. And it's my belief that the current King has been the glue, so to speak, that has kept much of the societal peace in Thailand for the last 50+ years. It's probably unwise/impermissible to discuss or speculate about what may occur after succession occurs (heck, I'm not sure we can even discuss the notion that succession might occur someday) but, to me, that event might be the beginning of a completely different ballgame that might allow conditions to exist to begin to deal with the issue raised in this thread.

A discussion about what may occur and/or what events might trigger some dramatic changes in Thai society probably can't be complete or make any sense without discussing that which we can't discuss.

I actually think I saw him in a speedo at Dongtan beach one day..... For mammals, I think it's the blue whale. For plants, I want to say some kind of moss or lichen but, similar to Rogie's response, I'm not sure if we're not talking about a whole lot of individual organisms clumped together.

I'm not sure how one substantially reduces corruption when it's so endemic to the history of the country. And law enforcement (if what one means by that are the cops, prosecutors, judges or even the legislators who make the laws) is right in the middle of it and unlikely to behave any differently without a major change in the attitude of the Thai people. While a few academics or editors might think corruption is a real problem, I don't believe that the average Thai cares much about it or even thinks it's either illegal or unusual.

That helps.....not! Whatever it is, it seems rather small (not much bigger than a rice kernel). Condoms for cockroaches?

Could be a lot of things....rice, oats, barley, plastic beads, etc. Think we'll need some hints. While it may have nothing to do with helping to answer the question, anybody recognize the button the lady (if it is a lady!) is wearing?

I knew it was a pencil sharpener and, being possessed of an unsound mind and remembering the recent circumcision thread, I dreaded the answer. Didn't really pick up on the Pinocchio bit until near the end. And was hoping that nobody else "wood" get it right away so you could "string" them along....

Now, don't tell me that Mr. G either circumcized or sharpened some appendage of his "son" with it!

Too seriously? Nah. But puzzling nonetheless. Torture device by Brando as the Godfather? (wild guess)

Similar to dear ol' mom. With 8 boys, one can understand the placard she placed over the bowl: "I aim to keep this bathroom clean. Your aim will help!"

It's getting more confusing. I originally thought the "device" was exactly what Khun Thaiworthy mentioned....sure as hell looks like the mechanism found in every classroom I was in back in the 50's. And, as Khun Thaiworthy noted, the "wheel" allowed different size pencils, crayons, or whatever to be sharpened. My "geez, I hope it's never been used for that" comment related to the bizarre notion (fostered by a recent thread here and/or elsewhere) that some idiot used it to circumcize some unfortunate boy(s). Hoping that notion is dead (skin) wrong, it's used to sharpen or shred whatever you stick in the appropriate hole while you're cranking the handle. Beyond that, I have no idea what somebody stuck in there to sharpen/shred.

The worst thing about them, in my view, is you get to show up at immigration with a horde of people. I understand the supposed cost savings - carrying more bodies for less fuel per person - but I wonder if the immigration hassle and the cost to fix up the terminals to service the planes is really worth it.

Remember, this was handled in juvenile court. Even in the states, the max a juvenile court could have done was to hold the kid in some kind of detention (not an adult prison) until the kid was 21.

Hmmm. I know what the "device" is and what it does to something when it's used. I sure as hell hope it was never used for removing unwanted skin.....

In the states, most if not all of the states have what we call "owner's liability statutes" which, absent a pure theft situation, provide that the registered owner of the vehicle is civilly liable for whatever the driver does with the vehicle. If there are two registered owners (normally, both parents), they're both liable. If the victims' families are lucky in this case, maybe Thailand has a simlar law.

Tragic crash and outcome; on the other hand, I see no purpose at all in putting the stupid little girl in the slammer due to the accident. Absent her ever driving again, I'm doubtful she poses any danger whatsoever to anybody. I have no knowledge about whether she and/or her family have ever offerred any apologies to the victims. I'm wondering how you know that they didn't (was that reported somewhere?). It's difficult for me to believe that an adult (parent here?) wasn't fully aware that the kid was driving the van and didn't have a driver's license or any driver education. If either or both of her parents or some other responsible adult aided or abetted this event, he/she/they ought to be the ones given a few years in the slammer.

Just read an online article in which United was announcing which domestic routes (Houston to Chicago first) it would use it's first 787 (which they said they'd have by the end of this month).

I'm not sure what it is about the "sophisticated" French but the public urinals were installed to try to keep the masses from pissing on all their monuments. Originally, they chained off the areas around the monuments to keep the pissers away but that apparently didn't work out too well.

Generally, yes; however, the definition of the term itself ties itself to time (a light year being the distance that light travels in a perfect vacuum in one julian year). We see a star located 10 light years from us but, at the moment we see it, what we're really seeing is how that star appeared/existed 10 years ago (it took the light from that star 10 years to get here).