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FROC’s highway to… Both the Bangkok Post and the Nation covered, albeit briefly, complaints about FROC’s invasive ramp into the Energy Complex. Bangkok Post: Froc’s ‘VIP pass’ irks residents Residents living near the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc) say a raised road built to allow access by VIPs is causing them flooding problems. The special [...]

Five things to change about the Thai character… In Thailand, if you don’t read or speak Thai, or know someone who does, you miss out on all sorts of goodies. For instance, several weeks ago a Thai friend arrived all excited about a radio talk show. During the show a Thai politician expressed an interest [...]

Tiger, lion, bull, rino… politicians are WILD BEASTS! After writing about Thai politician Chuvit in two posts: Thai Politician Chuwit Kamolvisit: A Man. His Dog. Their Park and Chuvit’s Angry Man Campaign Posters Translated, it’s now time to feature another star of the Thai political show, the Vote NO! animal posters upsetting many Thais. The [...]

Chuvit: The Angry Man… The Thai press is calling Chuvit the colour of the election: สีสัน การ เลือกตั้ง /sĕe-săn gaan lêuak-dtâng/. And comparing Chuvit to the other candidates, who can argue? Chuvit is colourful, dramatic, and evocative. In your face even. So it’s no surprise that Chuvit’s powerful posters are the talk of the town. [...]

Just when we went back home the street we were on came under fire from very close. We were running for our lives. Later troops were screening every corner, house, hotel and all roofs in the area from pockets of “terrorists”. We have not been allowed to leave our house for the rest of the [...]

Here is a short update… At the moment we have power most of the time. There have been only a few blackouts so far. Mobile phone signal is off mostly and the internet signal is very unstable. Lots of interruptions – sometimes for hours. Water is still running with few interruptions. Our neighborhood is completely [...]

Topic: Thailand. Understanding Thailand’s political crisis… During my research for an earlier post, Staying Safe in Thailand: Streetwise Advice + Twitter, Newley Purnell introduced me to his grand new site: Topic: Thailand. Understanding Thailand’s political crisis. Now, I love world history, but I haven’t always been fond of politics (or does my fondness stop at [...]

Red Shirts, pink shirts, yellow shirts… or no shirts… With Thailand’s political skuffles deepening, I’ve had daily rethinks about the contents of my posts. You see, there are three weeks + of product reviews waiting in the wings. And understandably, no one wants their feature to go live during a time of bloodshed. Boggles the [...]

What’s going on with Thai politics… Some westerners in Thailand see the Red Shirts as an inconvenient pain in the butt (but so are volcanoes). Others feel that the Red Shirts have a valid point (a number of Pink Shirts believe that too). To top it off, knowledgeable expats plugged into the mainstream of Thai [...]

What I see in my neighborhood… I live in an apartment right in the middle of the Ratchaprasong area, so I am able to give a firsthand report about what I see. Several times a day, my wife and I go on the streets around the Ratchaprasong intersection, out among the reds. From our windows [...]

So, am I Red, Yellow, Pink. Or Blue even?… Thailand is awash with colour: Red, yellow, pink and blue. And as most everyone knows, on Mondays we used to watch seas of Thais heading to work wearing yellow shirts. But now the wearing of yellow is no longer seen as just supporting the King because [...]

The Red Shirts are coming… When I woke up yesterday morning, there were no plans to go running around Bangkok looking for protesters. But when the termite company poisoned not only my condo but my lungs, go I did. Calling my favourite taxi driver, we headed out. I’m near Victory Monument but we skirted around [...]