Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas

Christmas Bangkok-style; enjoying roast turkey in the garden with Andy & Sarah & family. No imminent signs of snow.

Useful People to Know

Nice Place

The parents of one of the kids in Sara's class insist that we come down to their holiday home at Jomtien Yacht Club. It's definitely a case of how the other half live. I mean, this guy's got a cinema in the house, and a $100k+ stereo that makes even Giles's look like a ghetto blaster. Luckily, they're also very generous, down-to-earth people, and I really enjoy getting to know them and learning from their insights from the top of Thai society.

A Sober Recollection

A curious aspect of Thai elections is that all alcohol is banned over the 2-3 day period surrounding the vote. Bangkok's normally buzzing nightlife hotspots are deserted, save for a few confused tourists forlornly searching for a drink. It's amazing how important a beer becomes when you can't find one.
According to a Thai friend, the rationale behind it all is to stop party candidates throwing big free-beer parties and then bussing the amenably tipsy voters off to the polling stations. The Labour Party's focus groups should take note.

Déjà Coup

The results are coming in from the general election here. As most people expected, the party allied with Thaksin, the chap the army deposed last year, has won the most seats (after all, he was always a majority-elected leader). With various PPP candidates openly calling for Thaksin's return in the New Year, one can't help feeling that history is repeating itself. In Thailand's turbulent political history, all governments bar one have failed to complete their 4-year term. I've yet to hear anyone dare to suggest this one will be any different.

Happy Birthday King

The entire country takes the day off to celebrate his majesty's 80th birthday. Unlike the West, where decade birthdays have significance, Thai's don't generally consider your 30th, 40th, etc to be special. What is important here is every 12th birthday; once you've reaced your 24th, 36th, 48th..., you've completed a full 'cycle' through the 12 zodiac animals. (thus this February will be a biggie for me). However, someone spotted that 80 was the age at which Buddha passed into nirvana, so that's been taken as an excuse to go large on the celebration front.
Obviously, pretty much everybody is wearing their yellow polo shirts in honour of the King, but in an interesting twist, there's a few people starting a counter-trend by donning pink polo shirts. This new look has been inspired by the King's recent departure from hospital in which he was seen dressed in a bright pink suit, on the advice of his official astrologers who said wearing pink would improve his health.

Young as You Feel

Jackfruit

We're delighted to have Donald & Clare staying with us as part of their Laos Adventure. I can't believe it's nearly 20 years since we started Uni. But in our minds, we're still young, and on a Bangkok Friday night we set out to party like it's 1988. I'm pleased to report that we made it through till 3am. Best not to ask Don what happened to his breakfast though.