The FARANG Speaks 2 Much

"Like it or not, we live in interesting times". A quote that certainly fits if you’ve lived in Thailand the past few years. I was here for the Tsunami, the Karr mess, and now a military coup. Come to think of it, it’s been pretty interesting globally over the past decade. Being in San Francisco during 9/11 and for a few earthquakes was no walk in the park and I’m sure if you’ve live in the Middle East or Budapest you’re getting your share of interesting times.

Last night was the latest of these interesting times. I was at the
Mango hanging out with a few friends and my buddy was in the middle of
telling me his most interesting bargirl story ever, which turned out to
be less than interesting, when someone at the bar requested we put on
CNN because there was a military coup happening. Sure enough tanks were
roaming the streets of Bangkok. As with any military coup there is
uncertainty and rabid speculation. Most of the early reports though got
it right because the ousting of Thaksin was the most logical choice.
The following quote sums it up nicely:

"I don’t agree with the coup, but now that they’ve done it, I
support it because Thaksin has refused to resign from his position,"
said Sasiprapha Chantawong, a university student. "Allowing Thaksin to
carry on will ruin the country more than this."

I am certainly not a political analyst but owning a bar does keep me
up to date on politics. From what I can gather Thaksin and his family
are as evil and greedy as they come. As investigations proceed this
will most likely become painfully evident. Stories and allegations were
rampant for years but Thaksin had a strangelhold on the media and kept
the right people in his pocket. Some of my favorites:
- A Developer
was trying to get final approval for his multi-billion baht project
from the Government and more specifically Thaksin’s wife. Exhausted by
the rejections he finally bottom-lined it and asked what it was going
to take to get approval. At this point Taksin’s wife held up a piece of
paper that simply read "30%". This typified the greed of the Thaksin
family and who really wore the pants. Apparently it was the wife and
the females in the family that powered them. You can probably apply
this to Thailand in general. It’s unofficially a matriarchal society.
-
The origin of the curfews in Thailand apparently goes back to Thaksin
having a disagreement with the owner of Chang Beer. When the Chang Beer
company owner wouldn’t give Thaksin a piece of the company, Thaksin
decided to put the curfew on to hurt Chang Beer sales.
- In order to gain favor of the rural country folks, Thaksin gave each family 10000 baht.

Many more stories exists and surely new ones will now emerge. The
dark cloud has now been lifted. Although, it was very strange how the
events unfolded. The local TV and Radio stations were blocked and aired
early footage of the King and the Majestic top 40. Cable and Satellite
TV stations were generally up except when the rain, as it normally
does, interrupts Cable service. CNN and BBC were on but details
reported were uncertain. Nobody was sure until today what the deal was.
The Internet was working and Mobile Phones, despite not working
sometimes due to heavy traffic, were still operational. Some
areas/businesses were being closed down (the 24/7 Subway where I
usually drunk-snack at 6 in the morning was closed) and rumors of a
curfew and orders to stay indoors floated around but the streets around
Soi Nana looked like they did any other night, but with about half the
normal buzz.

With all this going on the only logical action was to get drunk, hit
some go-go’s, and then party until the sun came up. Which is exactly
what we did. The go-go girls were apparently oblivious to the fact that
their democracy had just been overturned by the military, or maybe they
knew and were just used to this kind of political action. I can only
imagine what was going through their beautiful little heads: "Ho Hum,
those military guys are at it again. Step, Step, Sway, Sway. Boy this
pole is cold. Wow, my ass looks good in that mirror. Hmm, I can tell
Farang that me take care of him during Coup attempt. Yeah, he stupid,
he believe me for sure. Especially if I rub boobies in his face". We
did try to get some Coup discounts but that didn’t go over very well.
We also learned the thai word for "Coup", which is Rat Ha
Pra Haan or something like that. Being the drunk idiots we shouted it
out everywhere we went. Did I mention we were drunk.

Anyhow, the dust has cleared today and life is pretty much normal.
Many places are closed for the next two days like banks and government
offices, which has already led to more party plans. The Mango should be
open tonight although there are still rumors of a 6pm curfew so we
shall see. We have our Pool League game at the bar tonight. It would be
a terrible shame and injustice if the Coup caused a postponement.

Life goes on and all is well here. We’ve received many emails and
calls from friends and families who were concerned about our safety.
Thanks to all. I will be sending them the update above which should put
them at ease, or disgust them, it’s a fine line. The dark days of
Thaksin are hopefully passed for Thailand. Hope and optimism seem to be
emerging. The Thai people are very resilient and I’m sure the country
will forge ahead. It’s not known as Amazing Thailand for nothing.

The rest of the weekly is coming in the next day or so…

-pmmp