planes, trains, n tuk tuks….

Diner was at the local hole n the wall or moreover the tent in the parking lot with only 1 item on the menu.  Noodle Soup w/ chicken or beef.  I had the chicken.  B had the beef.  No stone left unturned.  Hers came with the added delight of suspicious “fish balls”.  dinner and a fish anatomy lesson.

still suffering from crazy jet lag, settled into our guest house courtyard read books, drak tiger beer with the owner.  A Swiss guy named Roger who married a Thai woman and has a beautiful little girl named ViVi, who i tried to help with her kindergarten homework.  A little over my head, but I breezed thru the matching the number of ducks witht the picture lesson.

As a foreigner or “farang” he isn’t allowd to own property so its titled to his wife, and he needs to make visa runs every 4 months.  As Pom explained, “this is necessary to kept you wealthy foreigners from buying the whole city and turning it into Dubai.”  Fair enough Pom.  Sorry folks but Chang Mai is off the market, try HoChiMin.  I hear it’s hot this time of year.  He also informed me that the seperatist war in the south of thailand is not getting any better and there are still daily shootings, bombings, and even public executuions.  Seems the malaysian border inhabitants are demanding autonomy from thailand as they don”t even speak the language and are primarily muslim not budhist by faith and have long since been looked over by the gov.  There is no end to this in site as thailand isn;t about to give away a good chunk of its territory and they aren”t planning on assimilation anytime soon.  

Rebellions and soft coups are hardly a new concept for thailand.  Since a 1932 coup overthrew the monarchy to establish a constitutional monarchy ( a la uk) their have been 19 attempted coups.  10 have been successful.  Seems th emilitary is not all too pleased when any elected official / prime minister is not their candidate and simply overthrows the elected gov. and replaces it w/ themselves / and or their officials.  Representative democracy thailand is not.  2006 saw the peaceful overthrow of the “”thais love thais”” party prime minister  elected by a landslide in 01 and well loved.  He is now in jail, forced out by the general of the Royal T. Army still awaiting trial for corruption.  Meanwhile the military installed gov. blames his zelot supporters for th random bomb attacks in bangkok.  They”re not having an easy time convincing the people and gaining support, but then again….guess they don”t have to win their votes anyway.

 This tumultous legislative legacy helps understand why thai people have an almost idolic fascination w/ the king.  He is seen as protector, father, and a practical diety.  It”s hard to walk five feet w/out seeing his face in gilded frames, on walls, calendars, posters, 50 ft billboards, and painted on sides of bldgs.  He does seem omnipresent…definitely a trait fit for a diety.

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