The Nation versus Bangkok Post

[Guest Cedric]

Im not sure what's going on with The Nation.  Im absolutely sure it was my favourite read of the two Thai English language news-papers, in fact I always insisted it was. 

 

Last week on my very first morning in Bangkok I was horrified to discover in my little newspaper box of my hotel room a rather thin miserable Bangkok Post! A blunder of the first order. This from a hotel that never ever needs reminding. I could drop out the sky and they would know exactly how to prepare for my landing. Yes there was no fluffy duvet, just a single crisp starched sheet laid out on the bed neatly, ends untucked. Yes the flowers were purple and orange orchids. Lychees but no apples or Chinese pears in the fruit bowl. Four towels, six face cloths, eight bottled waters, a large silver jug of fresh iced mandarin juice, aircon on low, terrace doors slightly parted, net curtains drawn and gently blowing.......they even remembered green and never black umbrellas. 

 

But there it was, the Bangkok Post!

 

The very first course of action was to find out if there had been a change in management. And yes sure enough it was true, a German manager had replaced the Dutch one. She was also a woman their very first. She appeared cool as a cucumber, tall, slim in her loose flared open light grey pant suit. Hair swept back up in a shiny blonde French roll, aquiline nose, eyes like Daniel Radcliffe, young and very charming. Engaging in a completely disarming manner. She beckoned to pour us each a glass of cold sparkling and we moved outside onto the terrace. I learnt of how much she loved being in Bangkok and managing the hotel, where she had been before, about staff changes and who was where. I completely forgot to mention I had been given the wrong newspaper but on leaving she winked and pointed to the Bangkok Post lying on the table saying "you wont need The Nation anymore but if you would like I will get them both sent up for you".

 

 Sure enough The Nation was even skinnier than the Post and the headliners were identical. On reading I discovered The Nation had indeed lost its soul and spirit which was rather sad I thought. Im like most men a creature of habit and found nothing nicer than a pot of steaming coffee and The Nation to read every morning, it's my way of easing myself into the day. Reaching for the ipad is not, so Im only comparing the physical thing, and how right she is. It looks like they've lost all their journalists too, what's left still haven't graduated from the Sukhumvit school of English. Articles look they've been badly copied....what a complete and utter difference to what it was! The Post wasn't much better I must say but it at least made me want to turn the page!

 

The newly hired waiter that brought my coffee on the other hand was absolutely the right edition, tall, perfect smile, perfect arse in tight black trousers and waist coat. He couldn't keep a straight face either, so I got a gush of beautiful smile, though what was quite so amusing Im not so sure. Definitely a case of is that a rifle in your pocket or are you just happy to be serving me. The newspaper hardly seemed to matter.

 

 

[Alexx]

Hilarious, keep it up!

[Smiles]

WHAT!!! No Chinese pears? Well fuck me. 

 

And ... 

 

" ... The newly hired waiter ... couldn't keep a straight face ...  though what was quite so amusing I'm not so sure ... "

 

 

Perhaps he had never, ever, stumbled upon a farang so laughably anal as your aquiline self.

[steveboy]

Im not sure what's going on with The Nation.  Im absolutely sure it was my favourite read of the two Thai English language news-papers, in fact I always insisted it was. 

 

Last week on my very first morning in Bangkok I was horrified to discover in my little newspaper box of my hotel room a rather thin miserable Bangkok Post! A blunder of the first order. This from a hotel that never ever needs reminding. I could drop out the sky and they would know exactly how to prepare for my landing. ...

 

I have to empathize with your ordeal.  I don't know what hotel you checked in, but I would hate to be HORRIFIED on doing so.

 

I usually check into my favorite place in BKK before 9AM.   Even if normal check-in time is around noon, they usually have a room ready for me, and I settle in without problems.  Ten minutes later I am in the breakfast room enjoying a well supplied buffet breakfast with fellow gay visitors, usually greeting people I know from previous visits.  We discuss the latest about the BKK scene and issues of overseas travel,  and one hour later satisfied with food and conversation I retreat to my room to hook up my laptop and get on the Internet.  First priority is to "skipe" with my friend in the US before he goes to sleep and tell him about my trip and inquire what is new at home.  Next I check my email, with not too much interest.  Then I browse at the news at my usual sites and feel happy to be away from all that.   At last I review my activities for the day and check back on the locations and times of the sinful places I am attracted to.  Then I fall in bed and sleep for as long as sleep lasts, usually the early afternoon.  Then I go downstairs to get my ticket for the sauna and go in to check that nothing has changed there.  I start at the well equipped gym with some workout, followed by a lunch at whichever restaurant in the sauna is open at the time.  After that, I make a first cruise through the steam rooms open at the time and warm up to the ambient.

 

Ah, the newspapers!

 

I could have looked at the newspaper/s in English in the breakfast room if I was not so busy with conversation.  Once in the sauna I could also pick up a readable newspaper.  I really don't remember which ones they have there.  After I leave the sauna my opportunities to see the news on TV are gone since I have no TV in my room.  Thank God!  Now I have to get ready to leave the place and find my way to the gay scene, and then the rest of the world and its news completely vanish from my mind. 

[Alexx]

Don't be shy, post which hotels you are gracing with your presence, so that we can put your reviews in perspective.

[steveboy]

My favorite place in BKK is the bead-and-breakfast at Babylon, its "barracks".

I have stayed there six times, and I feel there like at home away from home. 

[Guest FASAJIP]

Do You remember Thaïland is a dictatorship country since 2 years ?

Nation has lost his spirit because Nation has lost his best journalists who want to keep their professional freedom and write what they want to write. This is no more possible nowadays.

[ggobkk]

When I stayed at Tarntawan in early May, I noticed the International NY Times is no longer provided.  Since I get the paper on line, I neglected to ask why.  For English language readers, there was the Bangkok Post.  

[Guest]

During my holidays, I sidestep the wrong newspaper issue by reading The Nation & The Bangkok Post in coffee shops. 

As I'm still saving for retirement, that reading is generally starting with the finance pages & there I hadn't noticed a great deal of difference between the papers.  Although The Nation does at least post a P/E ratio next to the stock prices.

 

Taking a broader perspective, I'm pleasantly surprised that 2 English Language broadsheet newspapers are still published in the age of the internet.

The UK has a similar population to Thailand and if we include the FT, we have 4 national quality broadsheet papers in English. These are the FT, Telegraph, Times & that left wing rag, The Guardian. The Independent stopped publishing on paper recently, so the number reduced from 5 to 4.  

Of course in Thailand, only a very small percentage of the population would speak enough English to consider purchasing these newspapers, so to sustain 2 of them is doing well.  

Enjoy this while it lasts.

[bkkguy]

I noticed the International NY Times is no longer provided. 

 

blame the publishers, the local printers or whoever you like but the International HT/NYT is no longer printed in Thailand and the subscription rates and delivery times for the print edition from Singapore are not likely to win them many customers here!

 

bkkguy

[bkkguy]

Nation has lost his spirit because Nation has lost his best journalists who want to keep their professional freedom and write what they want to write. This is no more possible nowadays.

 

to be fair the Nation lost its way years ago when they decided they were now a business news publication not a general news publication and the Bangkok Post (and other local press) seem to have no problem keeping an interesting stable of op-ed, editorial and even news journos

 

bkkguy

[Guest ronnie4you]

The NY Times, the Guardian, and the Bangkok Post were my daily reading in Thailand, but I would read The Nation when I saw it. I can never get enough newspapers. (I read the Times and the Guardian online.) It's a shame whenever a newspaper declines.

[Guest Cedric]

WHAT!!! No Chinese pears? Well fuck me. 

 

And ... 

 

 

Perhaps he had never, ever, stumbled upon a farang so laughably anal as your aquiline self.

 

 Quite likely not, as it was his very first day. I guess he also couldn't have known in that first flirtatious meeting that it all depends on who is doing the offering, that despite appearances I have been known to be happily rather versatile. Im often used to break in new recruits, perhaps it puts them at ease. Though this definately wasn't the case when I had my first massage the next day. I've never heard so much screaming in my life, surely my thumb isn't so very much to expect from a virgin arsehole, it was pulsing like a pressure hose?

 

Besides Im also an absolute delight to have as a quest, apart from a rather silly little misunderstanding between American hamburger cheese and real English cheddar on the breakfast buffet, Im quite the easiest going of customers around.

 

These hotels make a point of making their regular guests as comfortable as possible and as I've been staying here since I was almost eleven years old they probably know better than I do about such things. That's quite honestly also the way I like it. 

[Guest Cedric]

Do You remember Thaïland is a dictatorship country since 2 years ?

Nation has lost his spirit because Nation has lost his best journalists who want to keep their professional freedom and write what they want to write. This is no more possible nowadays.

 

Yes, quite.  Exactly. The nation has lost it's spirit and is even at breaking point in my opinion.

 

Far as newspapers and journalist go the same applies, yes.

 

The very face...of The Nation is haunted and mentally unstable, who couldn't notice. Not even air-brushing can remedy that. I think the immediate future is not looking terribly bright all said and done.

 

I just wished to say I miss it's chronicling, those rather important little perks of democracy.

[Guest Cedric]

According to jonfernquest, over on

 

Sad and has happened so very quickly, I barely had time to register this fact. The loss of press freedom......what with book sellers being abducted across the border too busy wondering what China is thinking for Hong-Kong I suppose.

Newspapers in Thailand are like little beehives with drone reporters not allowed any originality, recirculating verbatim quotes from Pu Yai bigwigs at ministries. Exposing the dark underbelly of the tiger temple for example took foreign NGOs.

Do any original investigative reporting then get dogged with defamation lawsuits like Wyn Ellis or Supinya.

Thai studies could be a wealth of info but it is currently engaged 100% with social movements, political activism and explaining everything that happens in Thailand as the mysterious influence of Vessantara Jataka.

 

[Guest Cedric]

Over on  asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2016/05/04/lessons-from-a-dictatorial-neighbour/

[Guest ronnie4you]

That's a sad article, Cedric. But, thanks for the link.

[Guest Cedric]

Yah but that site is more news than anyone's going to get in Thailand. Im not sure it isn't blocked there. It says it like it is. I was in Myanmar ten years ago, it's like déjà vu in Bangkok, where will it end. All smiles in Myanmar now, was there last month, still very poor though as the tourists are just getting places.

 

Stagnation retro etc its sad yes very sad. Thailand was going places despite politics, inspite of politics?

[Smiles]

" ... These hotels make a point of making their regular guests as comfortable as possible and as I've been staying here since I was almost eleven years old they probably know better than I do about such things. That's quite honestly also the way I like it. ... "

Yes, and as I mentioned above: " ... WHAT!!! No Chinese pears? Well fuck me ... " 

Your charming 'lack of comfort' knows few bounds. Perhaps you would find yourself much more comfortable sipping Darjeeling tea in season at Simla (circa ~ Raj time, over cigars ~ 1883).

 

Cedric, meet Michael.

Michael, say 'tut tut old boy' to Cedric.

[Guest Cedric]

Yes, and as I mentioned above: " ... WHAT!!! No Chinese pears? Well fuck me ... " 

 

 

Aaaaah yes. Im but a poor boy....lost nomadic child of the ex-colonies, born in Kenya living in Bonkers and everywhere inbetween.

 

I seem to make a difference no matter how small, though.  I suppose that makes "everywhere" seem more like home. 

 

Yah you got me there. :help:     I do I have to admit, perhaps appropriately and with very little effort that I am indeed responsible for having revolutionised the hotel's fruit bowls and quite a lot of its gardens and other essentials.  

 

Apples, oranges, Chinese pears and bananas, maybe the odd rose apple, without fail, sigh. Now we have a veritable cornucopia of, yes its true "seasonal" delights. Things visitors can try for the first time, and probably can only find with quite a lot of trouble back home in the likes of blighty. Much like Maggie Smith's temperamental Stilton cheese, many "old fruits" don't travel very well. Rambutans, sapodila, mangostene, salak, longan, langsart, custard apple, ma prang just a few exmples now liven up each room and suite's fruit bowls......I can almost hear the squeals of delight! Unlike myself many are of course also first time visitors remember. Those memories are the ones that last, I know.

 

Given the ridiculous rates charged and luckily the real negligible effects on such things as bottom lines it was smiles all round. You know when there is a problem when it costs more to launder your smalls than it does to buy new ones which I seem to end up doing anyway.

 

Far as tea is concerned I don't drink much of it anymore. Hot chocolate followed by an expresso for breakies.... yes even in Thailand, a hard habit to crack, one I picked up living on the continent for five or six years.  I also prefer deliciously spicy Chai when Im in India. However a pot of freshly brewed Orange Piko after a hard days Bangkok is still essential around four. It does surprise me that I had to educate the pool boys to boil cold water freshly each time. They keep changing the pool boys which is not a bad thing, but they revert to bad habits which need constant attention and shouldn't honestly be the guests problem. They were using a hot water decanter thing and serving my worst nightmare selection, Earl Grey, Green tea and English breakfast. Least they weren't bags. Happily a good selection and cup of tea is now also readily available at the pool, has been for years.

 

I've visited Tumsong Estate in Darjeeling and many other tea estates, many in what is now Sri Lanka too, even one in Thailand. Tea was quite important in my career, now it seems it's all things wine to China amongst other things are. So Im spending quite a lot of time in places like France again which is nice and rather refreshingly interesting. I like a project when I visit a place it structures my time which is also strangely comforting.

 

But how very sad it is that Cathay is retiring it's Jumbo fleet, the last flight will be in September! I flew Jumbo to Bangkok this time, upstairs, old style, nothing better. They made a wonderful effort, with the service, food and the wine in particular 

[steveboy]

But how very sad it is that Cathay is retiring it's Jumbo fleet, the last flight will be in September! I flew Jumbo to Bangkok this time, upstairs, old style, nothing better. They made a wonderful effort, with the service, food and the wine in particular 

 

I have never flown upstairs in these 747-400s.  After retirement, economy is my place.  

And even in these flights that offer unlimited wine, I'm switching over to... milk!  

I get strange looks from those having alcoholic drinks when I order... a cartoon of milk!

Life is great!  I can spend 26 hours between US and BKK, sitting in economy drinking milk,

and I arrive refreshed and rested.

[Guest Cedric]

Steveboy that's very sensible. Yes as much as the wine and wine list is of interest to me I don't drink much on flights at all either. Milk is a very good one, it slowly hydrates you on a long flight, it's even better than water. I often order milk too. 

 

Upstairs is very nice, used to be my favourite on Jumbos long haul. You get a steward and a hostess or two for just a few rows of seats so service is pretty much perfect.  The food was very good on the flight to Bangkok, I had lovely rosy juicy lamb cutlets with lamb shanks in red wine sauce (loads of lamb there) so I went with the flow wine wise. They also had high tea including hot scones, cream and jam, then dessert, fruit, cheeses and preserves came out and the chocos, filter coffees. This is a very short flight remember! Just an hour or two. It took me by surprise. I didn't eat anything when I arrived, not until the next day! It did feel exactly like the Jumbo heydays which was a treat. Only difference is they've put flat beds upstairs. Before it was a large single seat. I didn't get a moment to lie flat.

 

I have been economising on short haul flights, but strangely enough even if I try and fly premium to Bangkok they still upgrade  to business both ways. Sometimes it's because they don't even have premium seats in the plane, but most times it's just because it's always so full on that leg. 

 

I used to fly to the US, Los Angeles a lot with KLM, Jumbo, like sleeping on a cloud. Think KLM has gone downhill a bit these days , not sure but Cathay is still pretty good. Sadly besides week or two ago to Bangkok I haven't flown Jumbo for years, think they were all gutted for cargo. Now going to America is just a twin engine thing that bounces around the sky, not even sure what it's called, airbus or something.

 

Don't think there will ever be a plane quite so stable and wonderful to fly in than the Jumbo. If you can get a good deal on a flight with Cathay to the US Jumbo, before September don't hesitate! They're pulling out all the stops to make it a truly memorable experience until they retire them all.

[PeterRS]

How nice to dream, for surely dream it was! Cathay's short Bangkok service rarely has the old jumbos any more, although there could be an exception. Now its all A333s or B777s. But lamb on Bangkok is rare coz some dont like it and it tends to leave a smell in the cabin. Afternoon tea disappeared years ago in favour of a cooked snack. Dessert into BKK is universally Haagen Dazs now. Cheeses are never served in biz class on short regional flights. They even gave up handing out those free chocolates some time ago. But its nice to dream.

[steveboy]

How nice to dream, for surely dream it was! Cathay's short Bangkok service rarely has the old jumbos any more, although there could be an exception. Now its all A333s or B777s. But lamb on Bangkok is rare coz some dont like it and it tends to leave a smell in the cabin. Afternoon tea disappeared years ago in favour of a cooked snack. Dessert into BKK is universally Haagen Dazs now. Cheeses are never served in biz class on short regional flights. They even gave up handing out those free chocolates some time ago. But its nice to dream.

 

Is it worth to worry over the excellence of food in flights?  How about other aspects like comfort, schedule, reliability?

Can't you always enjoy excellent food in a restaurant before or after the flight?

 

It makes a little more sense to worry about quality of food in hospitals, although it is much less important than the quality of medical care...

[vinapu]

Is it worth to worry over the excellence of food in flights?  How about other aspects like comfort, schedule, reliability?

Can't you always enjoy excellent food in a restaurant before or after the flight?

 

It makes a little more sense to worry about quality of food in hospitals, although it is much less important than the quality of medical care...

It's probably the same like tattoos or facial hair on the boys - some don't notice at all, some find it off putting and others still actually very sexy.

 

People care to a great degree about different things , this is what makes life colorful. I had an uncle in the family , since deceased,  whose main worry upon moving into beautiful, brand new house  was that when he dies it will be problem to move his coffin through a bend in the vestibule. His son sensible answer was ' we move you through door to the veranda'.

 

When I pick fights I only care about price, waiting time at connection and times of departure and arrival. Rest is just small nuisance or unexpected bonus.

But others may worry about the pitch between seats, points collected , access to the lounge etc.

 

But I love Haagen Dazs on Cathay flights- that's my bonus