We left Wednesday just as the red shirt supporters of former Prime Minister Thaskin Shinawattra were beginning to gather en mass in a major effort to shut down the government. As I write this the protesters have succeeded in forcing the cancellation of a planned summit meeting this weekend in the resort of Puttapaya of the leaders of the Asian nations that are members of the organization, ASEAN. Their main demand is that the present Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva stand down and restore Thaskin to office. Thai politics since the end of WWII has been consistently tumultuous alternating between military coups and civilian democratic governments that are rarely in power for more than three years at a stretch. As I noted earlier politics there seems more personality based then ideological based although Abhisit claims to a populist representing rural Thais who have been left out of
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Final thoughts on the Thai political crisis
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Diving in the Gulf of Siam (continued)
Those last two dives on Monday were indeed something special. We saw a reclusive ray with a long tail nested under a large rock, more schools of silvery barracuda (small in size for a fish with such a reputation for being fearsome) and moray eels. An odd sight was a ring of rocks that had been constructed by divers to cordon off two clown fish and their anemone companions. Dominic advised us not to cross this circle as it had been specially set up to protect this fish, now diminished in numbers in the sea by the clown fish as pet mania that followed the Disney film, “Finding Nemo”.
I’ve discovered diving to be a pleasurable experience even without the vistas of coral marine life. Scuba divers work at all times underwater at achieving neutral buoyancy. That means weighing no more or less then the surrounding water and this can be difficult as it is dependent on a number of variables including body weight, wet suit, remaining tank air and the adjustments to the buoyancy control vest. I made a pretty good go of it as I swam close over the coral without colliding without it. That sensation will be the closest I will ever get in my lifetime to experiencing virtual weightlessness. And like being out in space the sounds are limited. You hear yourself breathe through the regulator (because sound travel faster under water then in air), the bubbles that that makes and maybe the noise of the boats overhead. When Gemini astronaut Ed White ended the first space walk by an American in 1965 he felt that it was the “saddest moment of his life” to have to re-enter the space capsule. When we completed that first dive what I felt wasn’t an Ed White moment but I was already rueing that we only had one more dive to go for this trip.
Dominic took an underwater camera with him on some of the dives and filmed Bryan and me along with shots of marine life of particular interest. He turned it into DVD that he tried to sell us for $100 USD. Besides the price I balked at buying it because of the awful syrupy sounding Thai music he added as a sound track. As I mentioned earlier I had problems with our video camera because of the heat and humidity. I had my cell phone camera but certainly nothing I could use underwater. I have posted a few pics we took in Thailand on my Flickr pages, including the Wat in Bangkok where the Reclining Buddha statue is located.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Diving at Koh Tao
Sunday, April 5, 2009 9:00am
We’re on the ferry that will take us to the dive boat at Koh Tao. Passengers include an assortment of farangs (Caucasians), Chinese and other tourists. There are a good number of men in Muslim dress with their women in full chador. Thailand borders on Malaysia at the tip of its southern peninsula. This is a Muslim region but we are not really close to it. I can’t imagine how they can be comfortable in this tropical heat wearing such clothing. The ferry is making way at a good clip and the breeze provides welcome relief. I’m watching a Thai woman provide a foot massage to a farang lady. She is well supplied with a box of gels and creams and is working with vigorous hands up to the woman’s shins. This has to be the mother of all foot massages. My camcorder is not working, probably because of the heat and humidity. This is all the more reason then for me to turn to pen and paper.
I don’t see any farangs on this boat who look like sex tourists. This is the first time I’ve noted their absence since we arrived in Thailand. They stick out like a sore thumb. Middle aged balding white guys, alone or with very young Thai women too young to be their daughters. As a balding middle aged white guy I’m particularly uncomfortable with the whole scene. And Bryan keeps pointing out that I’m dressed like a lot of them with my very loud but comfortable Hawaiian shirt. I want to grab these guys and shout how pathetic they look, even if the Thais don’t give them a single look. “Why can’t you just find a brothel instead of pretending that that 17 year old girl with you thinks that you’re a hottie”?
Sunday, April 5, 2009 2:30pm
We have completed two of the five dives we’ve been promised for this trip. We are on the dive boat anchored close off the coast of Koh Tao. These dives at about 14 metres down are the deepest I’ve been since I earned my diving certification in New Zealand last month. The visibility in the water here is about 10 metres and not as good as the diving is reputed to be for those resorts, like Phuket and Krabi, on the Andaman Sea or Indian Ocean side of the peninsula. Still, this is a major improvement over the murky and very cold waters near Wellington. And magnificent sea life abounds here with all manners of coral reef, anemones and colourful fish. I heard a great deal before I left for Bangkok of the magnificent whale sharks that can be found in these waters. These sharks which can reach 12 metres in length are the largest fish in the world. Dominic our dive master tells us that they are here only occasionally. And like sharks all over their numbers are being decimated by the Chinese appetite for shark fin soup. We also didn’t see any triggerfish or sea snakes on these dives. Just as well I suppose since the former are extremely venomous and the latter, while not poisonous, are very aggressive and territorial and have been know to snap their very sharp little teeth at divers’ fins and appendages.
We are going to be sleeping on the cushions on the top deck of this boat. It’s a pretty Spartan accommodation. Earlier on board there were five other day trip divers, all Germans, who have just left for hotels and resorts on Koh Tao. When German men obtain their passports they must be given a supply of woefully undersized bathing togs. I’m talking Borat and his “mankini”. And these guys are not exactly svelte and buff with their beer guts. Inflicting this sight on the rest of us tourists must be revenge for losing WWII.
5:00pm
We’ve just finished the 3rd and for me, the final dive of the day. Bryan may go for the night dive with Dominic but I’m through with this until tomorrow when we will do the final two dives for this trip. He has promised something special for those dives. I’m sitting now on the top deck of the boat looking out as the sun begins to set on the Gulf of Siam. It’s not quite a perfect sky with the ominous rain clouds off to the west and north. All but a few of the dive boats have departed with their day trip passengers and I’m enjoying the quiet. The long tail boats of the fisherman with their long propeller shafts barely extended into the water were particularly noisy. I can hear a radio below deck playing Thai pop music from the quarters of the boat’s captain and his wife. Earlier she had cooked us a delicious dinner of chicken, pork and coconut rice. We are now anchored very close to the shore but hopefully far away enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Despite the heavy cloud cover the sunset is turning into quite a show of brilliant red and orange with an almost nuclear intensity. My appetite is stirring again after a day of diving and I’m thinking of coconut rice.
We’re on the ferry that will take us to the dive boat at Koh Tao. Passengers include an assortment of farangs (Caucasians), Chinese and other tourists. There are a good number of men in Muslim dress with their women in full chador. Thailand borders on Malaysia at the tip of its southern peninsula. This is a Muslim region but we are not really close to it. I can’t imagine how they can be comfortable in this tropical heat wearing such clothing. The ferry is making way at a good clip and the breeze provides welcome relief. I’m watching a Thai woman provide a foot massage to a farang lady. She is well supplied with a box of gels and creams and is working with vigorous hands up to the woman’s shins. This has to be the mother of all foot massages. My camcorder is not working, probably because of the heat and humidity. This is all the more reason then for me to turn to pen and paper.
I don’t see any farangs on this boat who look like sex tourists. This is the first time I’ve noted their absence since we arrived in Thailand. They stick out like a sore thumb. Middle aged balding white guys, alone or with very young Thai women too young to be their daughters. As a balding middle aged white guy I’m particularly uncomfortable with the whole scene. And Bryan keeps pointing out that I’m dressed like a lot of them with my very loud but comfortable Hawaiian shirt. I want to grab these guys and shout how pathetic they look, even if the Thais don’t give them a single look. “Why can’t you just find a brothel instead of pretending that that 17 year old girl with you thinks that you’re a hottie”?
Sunday, April 5, 2009 2:30pm
We have completed two of the five dives we’ve been promised for this trip. We are on the dive boat anchored close off the coast of Koh Tao. These dives at about 14 metres down are the deepest I’ve been since I earned my diving certification in New Zealand last month. The visibility in the water here is about 10 metres and not as good as the diving is reputed to be for those resorts, like Phuket and Krabi, on the Andaman Sea or Indian Ocean side of the peninsula. Still, this is a major improvement over the murky and very cold waters near Wellington. And magnificent sea life abounds here with all manners of coral reef, anemones and colourful fish. I heard a great deal before I left for Bangkok of the magnificent whale sharks that can be found in these waters. These sharks which can reach 12 metres in length are the largest fish in the world. Dominic our dive master tells us that they are here only occasionally. And like sharks all over their numbers are being decimated by the Chinese appetite for shark fin soup. We also didn’t see any triggerfish or sea snakes on these dives. Just as well I suppose since the former are extremely venomous and the latter, while not poisonous, are very aggressive and territorial and have been know to snap their very sharp little teeth at divers’ fins and appendages.
We are going to be sleeping on the cushions on the top deck of this boat. It’s a pretty Spartan accommodation. Earlier on board there were five other day trip divers, all Germans, who have just left for hotels and resorts on Koh Tao. When German men obtain their passports they must be given a supply of woefully undersized bathing togs. I’m talking Borat and his “mankini”. And these guys are not exactly svelte and buff with their beer guts. Inflicting this sight on the rest of us tourists must be revenge for losing WWII.
5:00pm
We’ve just finished the 3rd and for me, the final dive of the day. Bryan may go for the night dive with Dominic but I’m through with this until tomorrow when we will do the final two dives for this trip. He has promised something special for those dives. I’m sitting now on the top deck of the boat looking out as the sun begins to set on the Gulf of Siam. It’s not quite a perfect sky with the ominous rain clouds off to the west and north. All but a few of the dive boats have departed with their day trip passengers and I’m enjoying the quiet. The long tail boats of the fisherman with their long propeller shafts barely extended into the water were particularly noisy. I can hear a radio below deck playing Thai pop music from the quarters of the boat’s captain and his wife. Earlier she had cooked us a delicious dinner of chicken, pork and coconut rice. We are now anchored very close to the shore but hopefully far away enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Despite the heavy cloud cover the sunset is turning into quite a show of brilliant red and orange with an almost nuclear intensity. My appetite is stirring again after a day of diving and I’m thinking of coconut rice.
Friday, April 3, 2009
A few nights in Bangkok
We are here in Bangkok, Thailand because I’m conducting a security controls assessment of some of American Express’s outsourced vendors. Because IBM is a big customer of Amex we have a contract agreement with them to conduct these assessments to ensure the confidentiality of employee data.
Yesterday there was a big political demonstration in front of the hotel complex where we are staying. Supporters of ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra were demanding his re-instatement. The hotel staff advised us to not leave the hotel while the “circumstance is still occurring”, to use their wording.
This wonk finds Thai politics particularly inscrutable. It seems to be more personality then ideologically based. As Prime Minister Thaskin governed with a populist bent but was also accused of much corruption. The present Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, was born in England and educated at Eton and Oxford. The Dann’s have more then an academic interest in this story. Last December at the height of the tourist season protesters took over the major airports for almost a week. Thailand’s critical tourist industry has taken a hit since and at a time of world wide economic recession. As we are flying this afternoon to the island of Ko Samui in the Gulf of Siam (we aim to do some serious coral reef diving) we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t be spending our remaining days in Thailand at the Bangkok airport.
Yesterday there was a big political demonstration in front of the hotel complex where we are staying. Supporters of ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra were demanding his re-instatement. The hotel staff advised us to not leave the hotel while the “circumstance is still occurring”, to use their wording.
This wonk finds Thai politics particularly inscrutable. It seems to be more personality then ideologically based. As Prime Minister Thaskin governed with a populist bent but was also accused of much corruption. The present Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, was born in England and educated at Eton and Oxford. The Dann’s have more then an academic interest in this story. Last December at the height of the tourist season protesters took over the major airports for almost a week. Thailand’s critical tourist industry has taken a hit since and at a time of world wide economic recession. As we are flying this afternoon to the island of Ko Samui in the Gulf of Siam (we aim to do some serious coral reef diving) we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t be spending our remaining days in Thailand at the Bangkok airport.
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