Thailand 9: November 14, 2001

Liz has started to work. The Thai Government finally gave her a work permit, so she began as "senior business management consultant" to TelecomAsia 3 weeks ago. Getting the permit was a 4 month ordeal and in the end she may have obtained it only because one of TelecomAsia's lawyers was related to the woman who made the final decision to give Liz the permit. At the Embassy, we normally complain about the occasional nontransparency of Thai regulations, but in this instance we weren't about to argue. Initially, the Thai Government did not want to give Liz a work permit on her Diplomatic Passport, reasoning that she already had a job -- as a spouse to a diplomat. The Thais do not expect spouses of their diplomats to work and, in fact, provide them with a subsidy when they go abroad. Thus, they were in no rush to allow spouses of foreign diplomats to work in Bangkok where they might, in addition, take jobs away from local Thai (that's the logic, at least). Anyway, it all has ended pretty well and now we're back to being a two income family.
The rainy season has just come to an end. Though it varies from year to year, it usually subsides by early November. We didn't get too much rain through early September, but from mid-September until last week it rained (hard) pretty much every day. Streets flooding, power going out, humid all the time. For the last week, however, the weather has been great. Mid to high 80s, but low humidity and even the hint of a breeze. I can walk home from work without having to squeeze the sweat out of my shirts. Its great to run in. Now, if they could just do something about the air pollution.
Two weeks ago, we attended the Marine Ball, one of the highlights of the Bangkok social season. Much of the Embassy community was there. The Marines were all decked out in their dress uniforms and they go through a fairly elaborate ceremony to celebrate their founding 226 years ago. Liz bought silk in Hanoi and had a dress made for the occasion, as did most of the women. I had been led to believe there would be some astonishingly tacky outfits, but almost everyone dressed well. In many ways it reminded me of a fraternity formal, with a somewhat older group of attendees. People drank, but not to excess (OK, so that's not like a fraternity formal). Lots of security inside the hotel and in the street in front of the building. Security personnel searched underneath our cab and opened up the hood and the trunk (much to our driver's amusement). For that night, at least, the Bangkok JW Marriott must have been the safest building in Asia.
October 31 was Halloween and Loy Kratong. Loy Kratong is a Thai holiday that occurs in the last month of the lunar year -- normally in November. I'm not sure of its origins, but the tradition is to send banana leaf floats down the river. As you walk down the street on Loy Kratong, numerous street vendors sell elaborate floats filled with flowers, candles and incense. Some Thai combine the two holidays and the newspapers were full of pictures of costumed Thai placing their Kratongs in the river (or pool or pond). We had a Loy Kratong festival at the Embassy, complete with boat races. Displaying my usual atheleticism and stoic perseverence, I managed to pop my shoulder out its socket but continued to help paddle my team to a respectable middle of the pack finish. Many of the upscale department stores in Bangkok were decked out in Halloween decorations and were holding "Devil Sales." Nothing says bargain like a day when the dead are supposed to walk the earth. Liz and I joined some friends at a halloween party. Some pretty good costumes. I noted that most younger Thai women seem to favor the naughty devil or sassy witch get up (I was shocked and horrified).
Speaking of shocked and horrified, I had my first massage the other day. Liz booked us a couples' massage at a spa nearby. I was a little freaked out at first (they give you these disposable, paper underwear), but it went alright. We had the coffee bean body scrub followed by the lemon oil swedish massage. I walked out smelling like a cappuccino, but feeling pretty good.
Over the past few months, we've had several protests in front of the Embassy, usually focused on the situation in Afghanistan. Generally, the protests are very small, with the press photographers outnumbering the demonstrators. However, last week, we had a decent sized gathering. A group estimated at about 1,000 people came to protest the alleged U.S. pilfering of a variety of Thai rice (not true), US policy on intellectual property protection of AIDS drugs (not popular anywhere in the world outside of the offices of pharmaceutical companies), the WTO (lots of outside agitators here), and globalization generally (one poster, perhaps remembering fonder days for the ultra-left set proclaimed "workers of the world unite"). My boss and I snuck around back and mingled with the group. Unlike protests in say, Indonesia, Thai protests are colorful affairs seemingly designed to entertain the protestors as much as to make a point. Not to detract from the passion felt by many of the participants, many of whom were quite worked up, including one or two jackasses in Bin Laden t-shirts (now, that's a great way to convince the US to take your complaints seriously), but a bunch of the group were easily distracted. As it approached noon, many participants -- largely farmers bused in from upcountry who had rarely, if ever, been to Bangkok before and who wandered around goggling at the big buildings -- headed into the shade to eat lunch. Anger is one thing, but skipping a meal was more than many Thai had bargained for, and protesting is hungry work. A few protestors burned the requisite photo of the President, but what intrigued me most was the guy who set up a wok and stirfried some salt and chilis to put a hex (and a tasty one, at that) on the United States.