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Dear Readers, It has been a difficult time here for the Bangkok Gazette Staff. As you all know the Asian Earthquake and resulting Tsunami has been unfathomably awful. It has been an especially surreal last few weeks for us. We had decided to go to the beach for a part of the holidays. (Luckily we decided to go to Ko Samet which is in the Gulf of Thailand and away from the quake rather than down to our usual Southern destination where all of the damage took place). The beaches here are really lovely, and it was so easy for us to feel the dramatic swing between the sense of holiday and the sense of disaster as we had been to such a similar environment just the day before. Maureen and I have been tutoring English to some nurses at a nearby hospital, as a favor to a Thai friend of Maureen's. One tutoring session took place the afternoon after the quake had hit, so we were teaching them words like "evacuation," "total devastation," "storm surge," "no chance to escape," "wiped out" etc. The nurses told us of staff being sent down to help from the area hospitals, but they also seemed grim about the chances for many of the survivors. Bidadi, the niece of one of the nurses, had brought in some homework (a summary of an article in English) that had items about World Records in Thailand, which included one about the world's biggest joss stick, but it fell over at some point burning and killing five people. More Death. Weird. There was also the shock of the BBC having complete coverage of the disaster, meanwhile on Thai TV very inane game shows seemed to rule the airwaves with little coverage until the next day. Later in the week, there was also beauty contestants (in tiaras and gowns) taking pledges for help on the South on television. Lots of people were in public places taking up collections. People on our street (food cart venders, mom and pop store owners, the chicken on rice shop couple) gave us the "glad you didn't get washed away" smile. The tragic pictures in the papers here are so astounding and the constant barrage of these images from televisions in restaurants and noodles shops are very difficult on the nerves. Many of the bigger New Year's Celebrations were canceled. We received many concerned e-mails and calls from Thai and International friends and we are very thankful for them. Before changing her dissertation research subject to Bangkok taxi drivers, Maureen had done much of her previous research in the South, focusing particularly on the effects of tourism on local economies and local ways of life. This included some work on the Filming of the movie "The Beach" on Ko Pi Pi (a national park that was "changed/damaged" to make the island seem more exotic, etc for the film). So, we had made a lot of casual friends down there and is difficult because we have a connection to them but no real way of contacting them or helping them out. (Sort of like if half of everyone at your local coffee shop / bar were wiped out-you would feel the loss but you might not have phone number, etc. a contact point out side of the place that no longer exists). This is what we feel right now. We would like to wish the readers a Happy New Year and look forward to your continued interest and readership in 2005. Love, Chris and Mo Ko Samet After a relaxing 3 1/2 hour bus ride (100 Bhat $2.50), and a 30 minute boat trip, (50 Bhat) we finally arrived on Ko Samet. Though Ko Samet is a National Park it feels, in the more overdeveloped places, more like Ocean City, Maryland only without the cheese fries, the bumper cars or the mini-golf. There are ironic signs like "This is a National Park: take only memories and leave only footprints" and the more frightening "Rabies Free Zone Beyond this Point." We paid our National Park Entrance Fee and headed on foot south, away from the nicest, biggest but most banana boat and jet-ski plagued beach. As it was a big holiday season, the best we could do for accommodation was the Ao Bpai Huts. It was pretty cheap but not so pretty. Basically a collection of sticks and board with some very loose window screens. The space between the slats on the floor boards were too big to keep mosquitoes out and a little too small in places to let the packs of wild chickens and dogs in. The large group of Thais crammed into the bungalow next door serenaded us with guitars, hooting, and the clinking of beer bottles all night. We said goodbye to the Ao Bpai Huts after the first night and moved to another quieter much nicer and not much more expensive bungalow further down the beach. Ao Nuan
Thai Boxing Day  The big event on Christmas Eve took place at the Naga "complex." Everyone was talking about it. It was a Thai Boxing aka Kickboxing event from 9pm to 2am featuring 17 bouts all for only 200 Baht ($5). We got there pretty early (close to nine) and a fight was already underway. The fights seemed to be ordered by age, with the youngest fighters going first. In the first bout that we saw, the kids were around 11-12 years old (weighing in at about 85 pounds). As we stood around the ring, amid the shouting, mocking and heavily betting and smoking local Thai guys, I thought what better way to spend X-Mas Eve than to watch kids in red and blue shorts beat the crap out of each other? Though it sounds brutal, it is actually quite interesting to watch. There is a ritual at the start of each fight where each fighter does a traditional dance giving respect to his teacher. There were the very bored looking European teenagers taken to the event by their "interested" parents. The very serious Rocky worthy performances of the coaches, yelling, finger wagging, hair pulling, and in between rounds, the rub down with tiger balm and an odd looking stomach massage? (intestinal damage?) All the while the announcer goes on and on, on a super-amped up microphone set to The Cramps Reverb/Echo Effect with traditional Thai horns pumping in the background. As we could no longer take the English woman who was attempting simultaneous translation of the blow by blow, we only made it up to see the 17-year-olds. See the video! Click on the photo above. (Please note for purposes of scale that the Referee is probably only about 5' 3") Merry Moon-lit X-mas with fire:  Christmas Eve Dinner. Though many of the Bungalow operations had offered a Christmas Buffet, we had opted to skip the pits of brown and yellow gravy in big metal catering troughs and had a more traditional Thai beach front meal consisting of grilled squid, bbq'd fish with lime, shrimp and glass noodle salad, and green beans in thick red curry (Thai food is very good there as Ko Samet is very popular with Thais). I saw two of the Santa hat clad restaurant workers carrying the gravy trays with a look of combined amazement and disgust on their faces. Though our Thai Seafood BBQ restaurant was close enough to hear the terrible x-mas music coming from one of the Buffet offering (offending?) restaurants, it was close enough to "enjoy" their various pyrotechnic displays. 1). Various customers were setting off close to commercial grade fire works on the beach (available at the local shops around the island). During this time there were two blonde Scandinavian kids (14 and 16 yo) who were getting a kick out of the fireworks (I think their dad was setting them off). But they were not enjoying it as much as the way too wound-up 6 year old Thai boys who were retrieving the cardboard bits left by the fire works and lighting them on fire and were chasing and harassing the much older boys, so much so that when Maureen headed off to the bathroom they stopped her with "You are speaking some Thai no?" "Can you tell them to stop hitting us with fire." Then, with the ferocity that only a former rural Thai Middle School Teacher can muster, Mo let them have it, and their madness stopped and nobody lost an eye. Starry Place Inc. Holiday Party / New Year's Celebration  For about a week there had been a sign up in the Apartment lobby and elevator area inviting all Starry Place residents to a Free New Year's Party and Traditional Chinese Dinner (on December 30th from 7pm 'til ???). How could we pass that up? The dinner was held outdoors in the compound bordered by Ganstah Auntie's house (see BKK Gazette #2). When we arrived in the compound we were delighted to see that it had been decorated in the "high multicolored balloon, flashing X-mas lights, and tinselly banner style" (as we have both come to expect and enjoy from such events). As it turned out, the Starry Place Empire was not just an apartment complex and restaurant, it included among other things a PVC piping factory (viewable from our apt window). So there were only two round tables for Starry Place Residents. The rest for workers their families and misc. gangstah cronies of Mr. Starry, who early on brought me an entire bottle the best whiskey in all of Thailand to enjoy with my meal. (Spey Skotch Wishey Blend). Now that's what I call knowing collapse! We were seated at table one, with 1) the Chinese-Thai Singha Chugging semi-resident semi-daytime-security guard assistant: she was wearing a nice silk trad-black Chinese top and did a very nice Karaoke tune in Chinese (good voice). 2) Jerry (The Beav?) from New Jersey (wore cufflinks) and his gorgeous Thai wife in a nice red dress, 3) A very large (big wide and tall shoppe) Australian man bearded and red faced sported a very tight barely belly hiding red polo shirt and snug white shorts + the sandal sock combo, along with his young Thai boyfriend. The Australian man was very ugly in appearance and in demeanor. I especially liked the way he would reach over the table and "stab" various food items with his lip-smacked chopsticks. (An alternate description of the Australian man for Star Trek TNG fans: Imagine Will Riker having let himself go -- yes, I know he has actually let himself go, but much worse -- and you will get the basic idea). The Menu was something like the following: 1) Peanuts  I've compiled a brief video collage of some of what followed (click on the photo). Maybe it was the Spey Skotch Whiskey but it was a bit of a multi-colored blur. There was a moment of silence (very moving) for those that had died or had lost loved ones in the South. There was a young 10 year-old but pretty good Traditional Thai dancer, lots of warbling Karaoke by Starry Place Executives and Special Guests. The very cool front desk receptionist guys (nicknamed "handsome" and "handsomer") did a duet. There was also a crazy balloon popping game that I could not understand that the maids and their kids played. As the whiskey level on the bottles began to get lower and lower, and the karaoke peaked with a pretty good version of "Return to Sender (address unknow!),"we decided to let the staff enjoy their company holiday party in peace and we retired to the 6th floor to enjoy the last of our remaining nights under the Starry Roof.Whisky Tree update: The man seen drinking not peeing behind the tree next to the park (see BKK gazette #3) has stopped me on the street several times since. 1) Leaping out of a phone booth with a can of Leo beer in his hand and 2). Coming out of the School Gate with a 40oz Beer (still capped) in his front pocket. He always seems to catch my eye and comforts me with his strange language of laughs, yawps, and giggles. Because of his striking resemblance to my pediatrician, he does not frighten me in the least, and I wish him well. Japanese TV.  On New Years I turned on the TV and the Japanese Station seemed to have a 2004 Year in Review type of show on. I was instantly taken by the bas-relief behind the announcers with Seattle's Ichiro and New York's Matsui clearly at the top. Weird. If anyone can identify the remaining figures in the relief, the Bangkok Gazette staff will be happy to send you a special prize.Next Issue: Dharma TV, Putnam goes to Language Class, Samsen Court, and Pigman! |
