Thailand 13: February 27, 2002

What's happened over the past 3 or 4 weeks . . .

Chinese New Year is a major holiday in Thailand, certainly in the Bangkok area with its huge Chinese and Sino-Thai population. Liz's company is controlled by a Sino-Thai family and they had the day off. However, as Chinese New Year is not an official Thai holiday, the Embassy was open for business. There were major celebrations in Chinatown, with dragon processions, food festivals etc. We never made it down there. It attracts mobs of people and Bangkok's traffic means a possible two hour trip each way. However, driving around town, I saw Chinese shop owners in front of their small stores burning fake money and other paper products in little fires on the sidewalks. Instead of attempting to navigate Chinatown, Liz and I went to a friend's house for a small Chinese banquet. That's my kind of celebration: a lot eating, followed by a nap.

For a city of its size and relative wealth, Bangkok sometimes seems to have a dearth of modern cultural offerings. However, we've been making the rounds of a few art galleries and are looking to purchase some art. One nice thing is the Sunday evening concert series in Lumpini park. We've gone a few times to hear the Bangkok Symphony and traditional Thai musicians. While its beginning to get warmer, its still bearable to be outside as the sun sets and we've gone with picnics to sit on the grass. Its a mix of Thai and Western families, sitting in front of an open air bandstand.

I got to experience a different sort of cultural experience last week. After our monthly bowling outing (I swear, bowling is considered cool in Thailand), a few coworkers went to the Beer Arena. Though billed as a brew garden, it only served one type of beer -- Heineken. However, that's not its real attraction. It sits in an oversized hangar-like building, packed with large fake monuments. The center piece in the entry way is a sculpture of a large can of beer pouring into a fountain. In the bar itself, there are two humongous Mt. Rushmores "carved" into the walls. One is the traditional U.S. version with the U.S. Presidents. The other is of recent Thai politicians, Chuan, Thaksin, Chavalit, and, of course, Banharn. The bar also features a live variety show, featuring prize drawings and, the night we attended, two singers belting out a Ricky Martin medley.

No Olympics coverage in Thailand. Only one Thai athelete, so no TV at all. I didn't miss the smarmy human interest stories that seem to clutter the telecasts, but it would have been nice to see the downhill or the hockey. Instead, the sports channels maintain their 24 hour soccer coverage, mixed in with the occasional cricket broadcast.

Our softball team continues to battle in the rough and tumble Bangkok softball league. We're about .500, but have suffered a few embarassing defeats. However, for those truly interested, you may want to check out www.bangkoksoftball.com. Our league maintains extensive stats, and if you look under batting leaders (at least as of 2/25), you might see a familiar name.

This month's travel adventure brought Liz and me to Singapore to visit our friends Joe and Julie. Singapore makes quite a contrast to Bangkok. Its clean, green, well-ordered, non-polluted, and efficient. Some people find it a bit sterile (Liz might agree with that), but I enjoyed the parks and sidewalks (after Bangkok, a real sidewalk is a definite luxury). The government is also spending a lot of money on the arts and is redeveloping lots of old shophouses into restaurants and bars. Singapore used to be fairly drab, but now is much more colorful. Its an interesting ethnic mix, with 75 percent Chinese, 15 percent Malay, 8 percent Indian/Sri Lankan, and 2 percent Western and the four groups mingle well on the streets and in the malls. The official language is English and almost everyone speaks it in public, though the generally speak Mandarin or Malay or Tamil at home. I kept catching myself using Thai to greet and thank people. The food is terrific -- great Chinese and Indian and, like Bangkok, you can get pretty much anything else you like. We visited Little India and bought some chairs, which I then lugged around town and onto the airplane home. We also went to the "night safari" at the nature park. You can walk around the area with a cocktail in hand observing tigers, rhinos and other animals do their thing.

Work has been somewhat busy. I finish my econ tour in July and switch to consular and am trying to make some progress on some issues before I go. The U.S. has been trying to negotiate a new, more liberal civil aviation agreement with Thailand for some time and I spend much of my day trying to work for that. However, its slow progress, with some Thai officials saying they're ready to start negotiating and others saying they are not. A lot of wheel spinning. I'm also working on telecom issues. Liz and I have sat in on some of the same meetings, which is a new experience. I've also got energy, tourism, customs, fisheries, property, privatization, and UN projects. Its enough to keep me going.