boomerangutang
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Posts posted by boomerangutang
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Considering that Thailand copies US drug laws, here's a tidbit that may be adjusted in Thailand.
Currently, growing hemp is illegal in Thailand (following US dictates), but that could change. The US is gradually liberalizing its hemp laws. The following is an excerpt from an online newsletter I get from [email protected]
"We've seen hemp cultivation significantly expand in the U.S. in 2017, with over double the number of acres planted in hemp compared to last year and the addition of 4 more states with hemp pilot programs," said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. "The majority of states have implemented hemp farming laws, in clear support of this crop and its role in diversifying and making more sustainable our agricultural economy."
Boomer continues: Those of us familiar with hemp, know that it's great for providing a slew of useful products and highly nutritious food items. It can't get you stoned, even if you smoke a trash can full of it. Yet, in accordance with politicians' ignorance, it's classified as a drug (federally in the US, and in Thailand) on par with heroin and possession of a tiny amount can land a person in prison.
Allowing Thai farmers to grow hemp (as Chinese farmers are allowed to do) would be a boon, because compared to rice growing, hemp:
>>> grows well on wet or dry inferior soil
>>> needs no chemical fertilizers, bug repellent, herbicides, etc. Rice needs lots of that crap, and you and your children are ingesting those chemicals when you eat rice.
>>> has higher dollar value than rice, and is useful for an array of useful things, including edible nutritious oil. One of 1,000 uses: Volvo uses hemp hurds in their upholstery.
>>> dry stalks can be useful as fuel for power generators.
>>> Canada has a tasty nutritious cereal called 'Hemp Nuts.' In contrast, rice is mainly white starch with very little nutrition. LINK
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Another example: yesterday, in front of 7-11, lots of people around, I saw a 20-something woman striking a child. I was about 7 meters away. I stared intently at the scene. The woman (probably the kid's mom) held the boys right arm, while striking him hard, once on the back left shoulder (that's all I saw, when I started staring). She then struck him moderately softly across his left cheek. I said to myself, 'if she strikes him once more, I'm going to run over there and protect the boy.' Luckily for them both, the woman then took the kid by the arm and brusquely led him away.
I assume the kid was caught doing something wrong, ....perhaps he stole a candy bar, or said something rude. Whatever, there's no excuse for an adult striking a child. No excuse. Nada. I don't care whether I'm in Mali or Iceland or N.Korea, ......if I see such abuse, I'm going to act like lightning.
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12 hours ago, Thongkorn said:
Thai culture, Not my business, Up to them
If you find trash, including soiled baby pampers, on your lawn (it's happened to me), is it your business? Or is it not your business because this is Thailand, and you're not a Thai citizen?
Soiled baby pampers offend the sense of smell, similarly to how loud ingratiating sounds offend hearing.
I tried educating a local head monk on this topic, trying to explain to him how each person has various senses (hearing, smell, sight, etc) which detect various inputs (which can be abused or overloaded), .....but all he could say in response; "Thai people like music." ......as if farang don't appreciated music.
8 hours ago, wildewillie89 said:And he was exactly right as there are a few different legal avenues a resident can go down regarding nuisances. 'Relevant' authorities in nuisance cases are the municipality, not volunteer tourist police. Thai police even are generally only responsible for fining people after the municipality has investigated the nuisance. So I'm not sure what you thought the tourist police were going to do. The fact they were there would indicate a high tourist area, so it would more fall on you choosing a parry place to sleep near than any Thai needing protection from noise.
We have different perspectives. You seem to be advocating always taking the ponderous, time-consuming legal avenue, whenever you have a grievance in Thailand. I'm ok with that in some instances, for example, if there's a property line dispute. However (for example), if some punk kids are parked in front of my house at 1 am, making loud noise, breaking bottles on ground, ......I'm going to deal with the situation in the immediate moment.
In the OP, I mentioned the 2 fruit vendors who were disturbing the entire market (blaring v. loud sales pitches), all its vendors and all its customers, well over 100 people. If I had gone to a municipality to lodge a formal complaint, I would have been laughed out of their offices, or, at best, it would have been a long drawn-out process needing an interpreter, possibly some money paid to officials. And then what? Maybe, in a few days or weeks, something would have been done to lessen the market people's annoyance. .....or maybe nothing.
You see the pattern here? What I'm advocating is: farang and Thai stand up for what they think is right. Similar to if you see a young girl getting accosted late at night in an alley. A Thai would not do anything unless related directly to the victim. A farang might do something, but would take a chance on getting yelled at, or stabbed, or worse. Would you take the chance? I would.
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I spoke with a Thai lawyer, and he suggested I take grievances to relevant authorities. Yea, uh huh.
I once went to Tourist Police office to mention about noise so loud it actually rattled my windows from 9 pm to 2 am. As soon as I stated my concern, a cop (Tourist Police are required to speak some English) chastized me in a loud voice, "If you no like. You go home to your country. Go away. We don't want to hear from you."
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I met a Thai man who, when completely annoyed by a guy across the street from him, practicing electric guitar on his front porch - blasting throughout the community, of course. ......took a gun and shot at him. The bullet went through the guitar player's shorts. So, I guess that disproves my theory that Thais never take action to lessen annoying noise - yet it shows the primitive way that particular guy dealt with it - with a loaded gun. There was an article, a few years ago, of a Thai person who went over to a raucous outdoor party and complained about noise. I don't know who shot who, but a few people were shot dead from that scenario.
So, next time a Thai says 'mai pen rai' or 'be Buddhist, and tune it out.' in response to you complaining about annoying noise, .......tell that person, 'IT DOES MATTER.' People have been killed over this issue. And then tell that person that there are better ways to deal with neighborhood problems, than shooting people with guns.
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1 hour ago, wildewillie89 said:
In terms of ceremonies, meetings, more private events, from what I see, Thais will tell people to turn down the speaker if what is playing is incredibly annoying or excessively loud (for Thai standards). So if someone's voice for example is annoying, people will ask for it to be turned down. But, if not overly annoying, they will obviously consider it rude to ask for it to be turned down.
The level of noise has probably naturally increased due to the speakers fighting everyone's incredibly rude chatting whilst people are talking on the microphone. Thai manners always seem a bit backwards from what we are used to.
In a public situation, like a market. if Thai find it an issue, they will just complain to the local authorities and they will go and deal with it as a nuisance case (that's if the locals have the relevant knowledge - many do not). So it happens more behind closed doors rather than directly in front of people. Contrary to what people think, complaints are quite frequent. Would be daily complaints in bigger cities.
Complaints are also on the increase in rural areas as people are starting to have better understandings of the different avenues they can take. Rural areas are a lot closer community though (cousins a lot of the time), so they don't see the point in fighting people they have to see everyday just to walk past the speaker for a few minutes. City people obviously have less of a care factor.WildeWillie, You appear to be more in tune with complaints, than I. I have never heard or seen a Thai complain about loud and/or annoying noise. I've been visiting Thailand for 34 yrs, and resided here for 19. For sure, I've seen Thais grin and/or roll their eyes, in response to loud noise, but never seen one take the initiative to complain. I'll be glad if I'm proven wrong.
Similarly, I have never had a Thai manager/owner of a restaurant/shop ask me if I wanted the sound turned down. ....let along what type of music I wanted to listen to, even if I'm the only person in the restaurant.
Additionally to the OP: I know of a farang in a rural setting who has cut wires to overhead horn blowers. His neighbors like it, but they would never do it themselves. They're Thai. They like the lower levels of annoying noise, but they'll leave it up to the crazy neighborhood farang to stick his neck out and do something about it.
And then there's dog noise. That's a whole giant topic in itself. P.s. Dog barking is less problematic in Burma, than in Thailand. I have a theory why, but won't expand upon it here and now.
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As we all know, noise pollution in Thailand is everywhere. Recently, I was at a small rural market with about 60 vendors. I'd been there for years, and everyone knows everyone. Recently, however, a p.u. truck parked across the street selling fruit. A loud drone voice was being pumped out its sound system - all about adverts for its fruits. It was very annoying for everyone at the market. I had a choice; either leave, or confront the polluter. I chose the latter. There were two Thai men there. One was in the truck driver's seat with window half open. I told him, in Thai, to turn off the loud sound. He was on the phone. He nodded in the affirmative, but didn't do what I demanded. I said it again. He did his thing. This went back and forth about 9 times, each time I demanded he turn off the loud noise. He thought that, by just nodding his head in the affirmative and staying on his mobile, that I would walk away. But it didn't suffice. Finally he turned off the offending noise, and hasn't been broadcasting in the days since.
Side note: I'm middle aged. The two guys were probably in their 20's and could have floored me in a few seconds. I took a chance. I won.
Side note 2: why don't Thai folks speak up when something annoying like loud noise permeates the region? Those of us familiar with Thailand know the answer: Thais would rather suffer noise assaults than confront another Thai. Part of the reason is, some Thais are very quick to offense, and some carry large knives and other weapons. I experienced that once, while driving, when a truck driver waved a sword at me. Because Thais are too cowardly to deal with blatant incursions into their well-being, perhaps it's up to half-crazy farang to step up, and do the dirty work that Thais are afraid to do.
I've got other stories (of me protecting Thais from noise- or other types of pollution), but this post is already longer than I planned.
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- Popular Post
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some photos in and around Tachilek......
notes: mimi03 (2nd from top) is Mimi at her 3rd b'day party.
we3 (2nd from bottom) is at Valentine's Tea House. From left: David/Seattle, Slim/local guide, me.
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10 hours ago, samsensam said:
OP, if you're going to post second hand information it would be useful if you supplied as much information as possible, simple things like when and where...?
Sadao, 6 days ago.
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4 hours ago, Cletus said:
OP, there are at least 3 border crossing Malaysia-Thailand that I'm aware of.
You don't name which one you are referring to, so you don't even know what you're talking about. Based on something you have no knowledge, you start bashing on Thailand, showing the typical colonialist mentality of someone who wants to set his own rules in a foreign country. It's really that simple, just avoid Thailand as a tourism destination, or stop complaining and take it as it is. There're things I don't like in this country, but I don't go on a public forum and start severe criticism based on my western country supposed superiority. Anyway, there's many people like you in Thailand, so that may comfort you.
I spoke again with my Brit friend. The crossing was at Sadao. He also mentioned how the people waiting were in the sun, without shade, middle of day.
As for me being a Thai basher, according to Cletus: Yes, you can say that. I've been visiting Thailand for a third of a century and have been residing here for a fifth of a century. I can say many good things about Thailand and its people - and can also wax negative. Since you don't want to hear the negative, I'll refrain, so you can relax in your bubble without annoying thoughts coming from me.
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Perhaps Imm officials need to go back to basics. What do they really need to know about people who enter:
>>> full name, nationality, passport#
>>> if they have visa, is it bona fide?
>>> are they criminals and/or wanted for breaking the law?
Not much more than that. They don't need to know gender, where they plan to stay (it's easy to lie about that, anyway), or how they entered (that's inferred by the port of entry).
Best of all would be a plastic ID card and/or swipe strip on their passport - which I believe already exists in some countries, probably Europe.
I go back and forth between Thailand and Burma with a 'multi-entry.' One of the most noticeable differences is how personable/friendly Burmese officials are, and how impersonal/cold Thai officials are. Night and day. Thai officials don't even want to be seen. They position kiosk windows so that the tourist can only see the crotch area of the official, and the official can only see the belt buckle (crotch area and stomach) of the tourist.
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I don't know details. I just related what my pal related to me. One thing for sure, he was v. exasperated and bummed out.
If Thai Imm had a halfway intelligent boss, he would go out and/or garner info on all the border crossings into Thailand, including airports - and start to get things working. Concurrently, he would get info on in-country Imm offices, and streamline their operations. More than a few times, I've heard how Chiang Mai Imm office is seriously backed-up and inefficient. There are certainly other offices which could be improved. He could also look closely at Thai embassies and consulates. Same for procedures. As is, it's not working.
I know how bureaucracy works (and doesn't work) in Thailand. Bureaucrats' main aim is to do as little as possible, and still get their weekly paychecks. I've seen it on many levels.
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48 minutes ago, RickG16 said:
I'm coming in via Malaysia soon. What time of day did these queues occur do you know?
no, sorry, don't know.
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Spoke with a Brit friend last night. He had to come through the Malaysian border into Thailand the day before. He said the lines there were horrendous. Apparently (in his view) there were mostly Thais. That sounded odd to me, because one would think Thai Imm would make things less-than-horrible for fellow Thais coming back to their own country. Anyhow, he said after a few hours standing in line, people in the back started freaking out and pressing toward the only two kiosks handling the traffic. He's a foot taller than most, and (when in Rome.....) he also pushed his way forward. Maybe he also played rugby as a boy, I don't know. He was also suffering food poisoning, but that's another story - but it exasperated his bum trip coming across the border.
When is Thailand going to improve things, from awful to bad? I've got another friend coming to Thailand for his first time, next month. He already booked a flight to arrive at Suwanbum, before I could advise him to get a flight to arrive in Chiang Mai, closer to my home - and much quicker exit time from airport. So, I told him to expect about 2 hrs in line at Swampy. It may be as little as 1 hr or as long as 5. Who knows?
In sharp contrast: I went to visit Austria a few years ago with an American passport. I went through Imm so fast, I barely broke stride. The stamp in my passport was about as big as a 1 baht coin. Easy peasy. Why is Thailand still in the stone age re; Imm problems?
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On 8/22/2017 at 2:47 PM, DoneTravelling said:
Note that tourists MUST carry 20,000 Thai baht per person when entering Thailand.
It's one of hundreds of rules which are rarely enforced. There's a photocopy of the same garbage rule in Mae Sai, and in the scores of times I've crossed into Thailand, I've never seen it enforced. At best it's a signal to pick pockets that "every adult farang who comes through this turnstile has at least 20,000 baht in their pocket."
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Thai Imm officials reflect a bias against Indians. A month ago, 3 Indian friends came to Thailand. They all have good jobs with Toyota Corp in southern India. They had formal visas. They wanted to take a day trip with me to Tachilek, the Burmese town across from Thailand's northernmost town, Mae Sai. They were turned down, apparently because their visa only allowed for one entry into Thailand. Not surprisingly, the Thai Imm authorities were curt and wouldn't/weren't able to discuss the issue, and of course, offered no options.
It was middle of the say, and we drove 1 km south to the Thai Imm office. It was closed. One scores of holidays which Thai officials skip work. We did find one official there, and she at least conversed for a minute - but still offered zero options. I could sense the bias against the dark-skinned Indians (dressed in business suits, clean shaven, polite). Indeed, Thai officials have a way of not having any eye contact with (or even looking at) people they think are below their social status.
Mai Sai immigration is probably one of the places Thai bureaucrats get sent when banished to 'inactive posts.' I think it's the farthest point from Bangkok, that's still in Thailand.
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I never liked the Shinawatre crowd, who ruled Thailand for over a recent decade - but at least they didn't put vice-grips on the print media in Thailand. The current junta appears to be doing that. Up until the most recent coup, the 2 Eng.lang daily newspapers had provisions for online comments. Ever since the coup, no comments possible. In the past week, there's been a further tightening of the screws. The Nation newspaper, online version, doesn't have current 'Letters to Editor' letters. A perusal of their site shows the most recent letter is 5 days old. Does it take junta censors 4 days to decide which letters should or should not be censored?
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in today's Nation newspaper, article on Mae Sai and Tachilek flooding...
nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30324182
I'm going to Tachilek monday, but am not worried. I've only seen the crossing bridge closed once in the past 20 yrs, and that was when water was actually lapping over the bridge road, and that was only for a half day. One of the photos gave an idea of the extent of today's flooding, and the water level appears to be several meters below the bridge roadway. It's small solace for the dozens of vendors who have been flooded, but it's no impediment for border crossers.
also; I recently got an online visa for Burma. It was us$50 and rather painless process. If applying, you'll need a passport-like photo of your face, on computer file (.jpg). When the online visas were initially introduced, about 1.5 yrs ago, they only allowed entry at Yangon or Mandalay. Now they allow entry at Tachilek (and a few other border crossings).
Still no re-instatement of day-only 'VIP passes'. The Burmese authorities would like them, but the restriction is from Thai Imm authorities. My opinion, for the reason they're banned is: Thais figure tourists can buy anything on the Thai side, so they want to forbid tourists from going over for the day. Thai authorities, in their great wisdom, are afraid tourists will spend money in Tachilek, that would be spent in Mai Sai. It's primitive (thinking that tourists are only about spending money, and nothing else), but it's what we've come to expect from brain-addled Thai authorities.
One exception: Chinese tourists in groups are allowed to do day-trips. Go figure.
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There could dozens of species (non protist, and larger than an earthworm) in Thailand which are not yet scientifically described and named.
I see interesting things nearly every day. In Chiang Rai region, I've seen;
>>> a worm, half inch thick, light purple color with muffled yellow stripe down its back - about a foot long. One guy I described it to, thought it was a legless lizard, but it's not. It has worm-like skin, and no noticeable lizard-like head.
>>> two dung beetles mating. They were small and black.
>>> Two separate times, a wasp pulling a stunned tarantula up hills. One was a week ago. The wasp had bright light blue wings and was immensely strong for its size. Its tarantula was on the small size. I followed its travails for several minutes, about 20 ft up a steep mud trail.
>>> Two types of owls: one is dirty white, medium size, with brown speckles. The other was light golden brown and quite small. Owls are getting rarer by the week. Hill tribers will steal their eggs, or even their chicks from the nest - to eat.
>>> several types of very large black beetles. One had a body nearly as fat as a small computer mouse. The other was long and thin, like a 6 inch long (not counting its legs) stiletto knife.
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On 8/7/2017 at 6:30 PM, sanemax said:
You can only stay in the town , cannot go more than a few K's , due to road blocks and security and not a proper visa
More than a few times, I've skirted around border patrol kiosks at the edges of town. It's mostly for the little thrill of doing it. One time recently, I strolled for 2 hours through hills NW of Tachilek and it was nothing by rubber trees. Barely anything else growing for dozens of acres of hills. They must spray chemi heavily to keep down weeds. It was somewhat depressing, when there's but one viewable species in such a vast area. Methinks it was a Burmese general who came along, maybe 20 yrs ago, and just commandeered the hills, and put in a million rubber trees. I only saw 3 people in 2 hours, and they were just gathering sticks for firewood.
On 8/8/2017 at 10:38 PM, anto said:Anything worth buying in TACHILEK market these day ? Some thing significantly cheaper than in Chiang mai .
If a person is in to wild animal parts, there are still some vendors for those. No more full tiger or leopard pelts (not on public display, anyway), but lots of dried bear bile sacks, tiger teeth (probably dog teeth), pieces of large cat hide, Buffalo horn, and what looks like baby elephant tusks. 20 years ago, when there were tiger skins hanging at the market, I took some photos and posted them online. Not surprisingly, the vendors looked at me angrily while I was taking pics. 3 months after the photos went online (with commentary) no more pelts were displayed openly. Perhaps Burmese authorities got shamed into shutting it down to some extent. Next step: the aforementioned bear bile sacks, and tiger teeth.
My Burmese friend, Slim, told me about an Englishman who he guided, who was searching to buy monkey skulls. Yuk! Another guy, from Indonesia, contacted Slim about rosewood lumber. Of course, rosewood is a highly restricted item, but Chinese businessmen are desperate for all sorts of restricted items. The Indonesian was hired by a Chinese company to get rosewood from Shan State - by any means, ...money was no problem. Note: I saw a photo of a nice double bed online, made from rosewood. Price: $1 million ! It wasn't antique, but it had 4 posts, like what a rich man would buy for his princess daughter. A cubic meter of rosewood planks can cost up to us$60,000 !
A hill tribe friend of mine, in Thailand, near Hoy Mae Sai, says he knows of a giant rosewood tree near his village. He knows I have access to a chainsaw with a long bar (and know how to use it). At first, I was interested, but more recently, I've advised him not to cut it down. It can serve as a mother tree for seedlings. There's a very large rosewood tree at the Thai side near Laos. It has a permanent 24-hr guard of Thai soldiers camped there. The guards' sole duty: make sure the tree doesn't get cut down.
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13 hours ago, sceadugenga said:
How did you cross, on a multiple entry visa?
Yes. I go often. I call it 'my 24 hour vacation.' I stay at the Erewan Hotel. It's middle-quality, inexpensive, friendly staff. Probably my fave thing about Erewan is it has large windows which cover nearly the entire ext. wall. Much of the window open, with screens - which enables fresh air. Most 5-star hotels (in big cities) costing 20 times as much don't have fresh air option. Instead, all interior air is processed, along with carpets which harbor all sorts of fungi and bacteria.
To get to the Erewan: go right on the main road from the circle at the entry bridge... one long block. Take left. Erewan is 20 meters on left. I think 'erewan' is another word for elephant.
More popular is a new place called The Nich Hotel. It's also low cost. It's 130 meters east (right) from the bridge. You get to it by walking through the Tourist Market. It's the only place in town with Bangkok Post, though they're 2+ days old.
p.s. I like to tip clean-up crew at hotels. Try leaving some snacks (yogurt, chocolate, etc) or clothes (t-shirt, blouse, whatever). A little gifting goes a long way. Plus, smile, and tell them they're doing a fine job. That's another reason I like Tachilek; little acts of kindness always get genuine smiles in return. I go there so often that even taxi drivers smile and wave when they see me.
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I spoke with 3 Indian men who tried crossing last week into Tachilek. They weren't allowed to leave Thailand. Apparently their visas allowed them to leave Thailand only once (to return to India). The officers at the border were rude about it. At the Imm office, 1 Km south, the office was closed, but there was one female officer. She was also a brick wall about it. Not one Thai official offered one scintilla of options to remedy the situation. All they could say repeatedly was 'mai dai' 'mai dai' 'mai dai' P.s. the Indians weren't hippies. They were executives with Toyota.
Other changes in Tachilek: lots more boutique coffee houses and eat places. motocy taxis are still very reasonably priced. Speaking of them, I found it costs about $2,000 to be able to be a motocy taxi driver and wear the green vest. The guys have to buy their own bikes. Some corner stalls (for waiting for customers) are costlier than other corners - the difference between Bt.20k for an out-of-the-way place or Bt.60k for being allowed to park at the circle at the end of the bridge. I wonder who rakes in the big bucks for that? It smells like mafia.
There's one place for swimming. It's at Tachilek Hotel - tucked away on the left as you're going up the hill to the golf course building. There are 2 large pools there, incl. water slides. You can rent bathing trunks and towel there.
Behind the Golf Course building (sorry, I don't know its real name) are dozens of acres of mud. Subdivisions are being built, and entire hills are being flattened. There's one house in the middle of 10 acres of mud. It looks rather like a survivalist's fortress, with (armed?) towers at each corner. All very primitive, and not one green leaf within two hundred meters.
Even with its quirks and faults, I still like Tachilek and its surrounding region more than I like Thailand. There's noise pollution galore, and barking dogs, but neither are as bad as one finds in Thailand. I spent one night in Mae Sai, and the next night in Tachilek. To me, the biggest difference was: Mae Sai at night was almost a ghost town, with few people around. Tachilek at night had people everywhere; talking, laughing, gossiping, joking.
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If anyone hears whether 'VIP pass' (day pass) gets reinstated, let us know. It's been several years now that it's been stopped for farang, except for Chinese groups with licensed guides.
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It brings to mind the time, several yrs ago, that a US armored personnel carrier was barreling down a S.Korean road, turned a corner at speed, and crushed two Korean schoolgirls. Big war machines require big responsibilities.
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Is Thailand ready to allow its farmers to grow HEMP?
in General Topics
Posted
Here's another link from googling 'hemp cereal' LINK
Look at all the brand names. I wish we could get at least one of those products in Thailand. But alas, not one (that I know of) is available in the Land Behind the Eight Ball. Note: The King's mother and sister are on record as being in favor of allowing hemp to be grown in Thailand.