Moral Bus keeps on coming

Just when you thought that moral outrage as hit Def Con 5, along comes the new Nok Air calendar. Following on from the very recent Saturday Night Live Sketch showing a spoof of a Rosetta Stone video for sex tourists this is too much for some in Thailand.

Nok Air is the Easy Jet of Thailand, being owned and run by Thai Airways. Their new calendar as raised many eyebrows! Showing scantily clad ladies with several of their aircraft.

Prisana Pongtatpitakkul, the Ministry of Culture's Permanent Secretary is throwing a fit, explaining that this calendar is an afront to womens dignity. I believe, this is something else that certain people are trying in vain to dictate what Thailands image is oversea's. They may be able to censor the press and public at large in Thailand, but not what people think overseas.

Also at the end of the day, it is only a calendar. When I usd to visit some of my previous engineering clients, the calendars on the wall were far, far worse. Some even made me blush! This is just a marketing calendar and in all fairness, all of this publicity is antastic marketing for Nok Air.

(Does anyone know where I can get one please?)

 

 

 

 

Latest outrage in Thailand

This week In Thailand the main news as been the reaction to a YouTube video released by the US comedy program, Saturday Night Live.

The sketch is basically a parody of a Rosetta Stone advert. Rosetta Stone being a language software company that teaches people to learn the worlds languages.

In the sketch, there are several geeky looking American white males learning phrases that will help them on holiday in Thailand. Phrases such as "How much for short time?" You get the picture.

It is a funny sketch, one that pose fun at the American bloke going to Thailand for sex. Unfortunately, certain members of the Thai government have taken exception and are very angry that this video will tarnish Thailands image. What!

The image of Thailand that I believe most people have is one of it being a world player in the sex industry, although as a normal tourist, you probably won't see to much of it, it is out there and in certain parts is very much in your face. Also, for every bit of prostitution you see as a tourist far more goes on for the local Thai population. Anyway, the cultural minister as summoned the US Ambassador to give he a talking too and they have tried to get the video clip banned on YouTube.

Banning and censorship seem to be a Thai pastime at the moment, being as they just came 135th in the world league table for the freedom of the press.....

Anyway, below is a link to the video clip. Make your own mind up.

The Video






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UK Drought 2012

Below are a few pictures of the effect the recently declared drought is having on the UK...

Apparently, May is going to be cold and dull....

No surprise then.

Drink and Drive, nearly compulsory

During the time I lived and spent in Thailand, I was never able to comply with the near expectation that I should drink and drive!

At times such as Songkran, the road death rates in Thailand sore to nearly 300 in five days. The carnage is shocking! Most of these road deaths involve at least one party being drunk. It is the norm to drink and drive.

Should you ever get stopped, a few hundred baht given to the Officer that stopped will solve any issues involving you being pissed. In the UK shame is used as a tool to stop people drink driving. If the shame doesn't work, then loosing your license, higher insurance policies and even jail deter most people.

I have been told by close friends in Thailand not to worry about drinking and driving, "everyone does it". Sadly I can't bring myself to do it! I couldn't cope with the guilt for the rest of my life.

Has the picture shows, even large breweries like Carlsberg endorse drink driving! I'm not sure our Advertising Standard Agency would like this advert.

More Shocking News from Bangkok

I seem to be a little behind current affairs in Thailand. The above picture first appeared a few days ago as a viral going round the Thai web sphere.

It shows a group of 13-14 year old thai girls in a state of un dress and in provocative positions. Thai opinion is split, with most of the population going off in their usual explosive tirade of public lynch mobbing, whilst most Thai male teenagers are using it as their PC wallpaper.

In my opinion, what do you expect? Every day these young girls see their idols in various states of undress and models avertising everyday products using their female form as the selling point. Modern life Thailand, get used to it.

Shocking News from Bangkok

In a shocking development over the weekend, Bangkok as been plunged into a state of near panic!

It all stems from photos coming out of several illegal Casino's showing dealers topless!!!

I'm not sure what people are so alarmed at. Illegal Gambling or Topless ladies in Bangkok? Like everything in Thailand, it needs the occassional outrage just to keep certain people in check.

Bangkoks top Copper said he is shocked to see topless ladies in Bangkok. WTF!

Chances are that its one of his Officers who is running the Casino, not withstanding even I know where there are illegal Casino's in Bangkok and i don't even live there. Has far as topless ladies go, he will only need to walk down any entertainment area in Bangkok and he'll get to see a bit more than topless girls!!!

I think that the biggest outrage is that the pictures put online are pixelated!

Here comes summer..

Today in the UK the temperature is set to hit a massive 27C and be sunny. This is a record temp for the UK in October, sadly three months too late to be called a summer.

I'm not complaining, I love hot weather, especially when my new bike is due to be picked up today!

However on a seperate weather forcast, it is also predicted that we will see some snow by the end of October, and people from other countries wonder why the British have a fixation with the weather..

Thailand is also experiencing some saviour weather, they have nearly a month of flooding that as claimed over 150 lives and with no rest in sight, things look set to get worse until the rainy seasons run off from the North reaches the sea.

Scary Man Chuwit

When I lived in Thailand there was a particular politician who at the time I always referred to as "The Scary Man" Khun Chuwit was a very outspoken, loud and aggressive fellow who always spoke at 3 times standard decibels.

His past is very colourful! One time being known as "King of Commercial Sex" in Thailand, he owned and ran several of the biggest commercial brothels in Bangkok,his cliental included all the movers and shakers in Thai society. Even though the industry skirts legallity in Thailand a brilliant network of bribes and paid police networks kept the business's going. He used to be an MP, but in 2005 he lost his seat and I remember seeing him flooring a reporter who was asking the wrong questions on TV. All this and a very public eviction of squatters next to his HQ on Sukhumvit 10 and 2 failed attempts to become Bangkok Governer made him take a back seat for a few years.

Now everything is different, or so we are made to believe, the brothels have been sold and business is of the legitimate side. He is now trying to launch himself as a bastian of anti corruption. Give this guy his due, his recent antics in the Thai election that saw his party ( Rak Thai ) win several seats. His election posters were by far the best, showing him frustrated in traffic, in despair and with his favoyrite trusted English Bull Terrier "Moto Moto". He promised to end the endemic corruption that prevades the whole of Thai society. Up until now he as kept his word, more so than any other of the political parties that were contesting the election.

His latest crusade is against illegal casino's. He made a video of a massive gambling den which was operating right under the nose of the local police. The Police denied the casino existed, so Chuwit showed a video in Parliament with pictures showing were the Casino was. Low and behold, the next day the police raided the place and found the remains of a Casino, it seems they had had a tip off of a raid and had moved. It seems it was in the interest of the local Police to let them know, it seems they were running the Casino. No matter, Chuwit had a video of the Casino being moved and were it had gone, it took the Police three days in which they denied the existance of thenew Casino to raid the new location, only to find yet again it was gone. Things were going to far, The Bangkok Police Head Office had to act, but instead of suspending 3 high level Officers and 5 Juniors whilst the crime was investigated and possible charges against them, they have been moved for 30 days to Inactive Posts! Which means in 30 days, they'll be back at their day jobs, running Casino's. Only in Thailand!!!!

So its hats off to Chuwit, this type of actions are earning more respect than scorn. His goal of making Thailand graft free are probably three generations off ever happening, but if this poacher turned gamekeeper is serious in his new quest, good luck to him.

He's still a bit Scary!

The Prince and the Plane

This as got to be one of the strangest tale from Thailand to date. It involves the Crown Prince of Thailand, a defunct German building company and certain members of the Thai Government. Strangely due to the lack of press freedom in Thailand, very few people in Thailand know that anything as happened.

For several years there as been rumours about the Prince and a ir Hostess Mistress in Munich, I don't know the facts but if you check out Wikileaks there is plenty on the subject.

Well the Prince landed in Munich in his 737 and the plane was immediately impounded by administrators for a now defunct German construction company. They claim that they are still owed $30million from the Don Muang Express Way, despite several attempts to get the money out of the Thai Government they had to resort to drastic measures of impounding the thai Air Force jet.

The Thai Government has gone ape shit. Anything to do with the royal family then they react. Sadly over react! The Foreign Minister as flown to germany to help the Embassy sort this out. The german court will rule on the case monday. Sadly for the Thai delegation, Germany is ruled by the law and who you are as no bearance on preceedings. The FM as told the German Government not to risk a diplomatic spat with Thailand, Germany quaking in its boots as said bring it on.

The sadest thing about this affair is the fact it began on tuesday and it didn't break in Thailand until Thursday evening, and then only in a small way. Twitter and the net have been on top of it all the time. The bangkok Post ran a small story about it, but let no one comment on the forum. The Thai Press need to grow a pair....

They should use some of the 100's millions taken from Thaksin to pay the 30 million or prove they don't owe the money.

Very Strange Slavery Case

In today's Bangkok Post there is the weirdest story I've come across in a long time, even by Thailand standards.

A Ukrainian National "Anatoliy Vdovychenko" age 57 claims to have been held captive in a Factory at Rangsit in Bangkok for the last 14 years!

He claims to have come over in the mid 90's to work as a specialist for an oxygen company "Combitex Corporation Ltd". Whilst he was working there he suffered an accident and this is were the story becomes a little jaded, he couldn't return home. The company offered him a position with them with a very nice package. After a few months everything went pear shaped and Mr. V was confined to the factory and received no wages. From then on he was guarded and spyed on by other employees. He was only allowed to leave the Factory to buy food from a food vendor across from the site.

His family struggled to find him because at the time Ukraine did not have an embassy in Thailand. However, a recent letter was received a letter from a Burmese worker arrived at the new Embassy and an investigation was launched and the Embassy went directly to the Factory and confronted the owners. After a confrontation, Mr. V was released in to the custody of Embassy officials. Mr. V is in a poor state of health and can hardly speak his native tongue.

All this is being investigated by the DSI, which is the Thai version of Special Branch. This begs another question, why aren't the Police involved? In short, the local Police were probably aware of the situation and were receiving a cut back to turn a blind eye.

Thailand Immigration has granted Mr. V leave to stay in the country till the end of next month. (That's kind of them). Others are telling him to pursue the company for the very least payment of un paid salary. There is something underlyingly strange about this story, it will be interesting to see if any international news groups pick up the story, and if that will have an affect on the out come.

Super Hero?

I saw this story today and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

The man, called Phoenix Jones, wears a bullet proof vest, and also has stab protection as well as being armed with a taser and tear gas. He says when he walks into an area, criminals leave because they see the suit and do not want to take him on.

Uummm? My first thought is that he is making himself a prime target for some one to make a name for them self by taking him down. It would be great to think that this gimmick will make a difference to the streets of Detroit. If it does then hats off to him. It appears that Phoenix Jones is one of nine people in the city walking round in superhero costumes.

If I was to walk around the streets of Belper dressed in this outfit, I would reduce crime by making people laugh so much that the thought of committing a crime would be at the back of their mind!

Retro

Thirty years ago, I was just starting year ten at High School. I was just getting into fashion, music and being a teenager.

Fashion like today was really a uniform and one item cropped up that every lad had to have, whether punk, rocker or mod. That was to own a pair of Adidas Samba trainers. They were supposedly for indoor 5 a side, which they ideal. As a fashion item they were in the same league as Doc Martins, Levis jeans and Wrangler jackets.

Low and behold on one of Nuch's trips to Westfield in Derby I saw that JJB sports still sold them and this time in difeerent colours. I only remember the black leather ones, now there are Blue suede which I bought and also a bright green which is an acquired taste. They are still really comfortable and at £39.99 they are still the same price as they were 30 years ago.

Who knows, maybe Mohair jumpers and permed hair will come back into fashion as well.

Even more important

For the last four years Thailand as seen more than its fair share of problems with a coup, several PM's, mass demonstration with a huge loss of life. Add this to the on going troubles in the south with Muslim Insurgents, tourist staying away due to high currency, poor service and scams and thailand very poor reputation abroad for corruption.

However, never Mind! Most Thai's are more concerned about the on going battle between over paternity with one of its hottest stars, a guy called "Film". Yes that is his real name and a starlet of mixed race (Thai/Swiss) called Annie.

The allegation is that last year they had a fling whilst Film was filming and Annie was his co-star. Low and behold four months ago she gave birth to a baby boy. Film is said to have denied any chance of him being the Father, but then the Thai press got hold of it and all hell as broken loose.

He has been suspended by his record label and Studio, the press has turn against him cullminating in him accidently taking an overdose last week. (Sadly he didn't take enough). Both Mothers seem to have become ill due to the media pressure. One big difference is that Films Parents are Hi-so Chino/Thai stock that are thought of as elite. Whereas Annies Mum is from the salt of the earth division of life, one that most Thais identify with.

Latest developments are Annie is refusing to take a DNA test because she knows who the father is. Films management team has announced publicly that Annie was seeing at least four other men at the time. This as gone down like a lead balloon in Thailand with online forums organising a boycott of Films companies (RS) films and records.

As an outsider looking in, I can only shake my head in wonderment that Thailand is more worried about this story rather than the emerging social, political, military and financial problems that people in the west are concerned about.

Maybe the Thai's have got this right, perhaps other peoples problems will block out problems stareing them in the face..

Watch this space.

Royal Mail

Yep, Royal Mail made it on to my shit list!

Yesterday I had a letter pushed through my door saying their was a parcel that needed an extra £1.01 postage. I knew what the parcel was, I left one of Elizabeth's jackets at an Hotel when we went down to Stonehenge.

I sent a stamped addressed envelope with £1.50 postage on it. I was only guessing the amount, but thought it plenty. OK, so I had to pay another £1.01 postage, oh well. It wasn't till I looked at the card from Royal Mail, that I found out that of the amount £1.00 was an admin fee, which means the extra postage was only 1p. Can you believe it? 1 fucking p.

I asked the guy behind the counter to weigh the parcel, but he wouldn't and said if I didn't want the parcel they would get rid of it for me! Tosser!!!

Spam wonderful spam

I seem to be getting alot of spam email at the moment, the one below is a prime example:

Hello My Dear,
I am writing this mail to you with tears and sorrow from my heart.With due respect trust and humanity, i appeal to you to exercise a little patience and read through my letter i feel quite safe dealing with you in this important business having gone through your remarkable profile, honestly i am writing this email to you with pains, tears and sorrow from my heart, i will really like to have a good relationship with you and i have a special reason why i decided to contact you, i decided to contact you due to the urgency of my situation,My name is Miss. Blessing Kipkalya Kones, 23yrs old female and I held from Kenya in West Africa.

My father was the former Kenyan road Minister. He and Assistant Minister of Home Affairs Lorna Laboso had been on board the Cessna 210, which was headed to Kericho and crashed in a remote area called Kajong'a, in western Kenya. The plane crashed on the Tuesday 10th, June,2008. You can read more about the crash through the below

site:http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/10/kenya.crash/index.html

After the burial of my father, my stepmother and uncle conspired and sold my father's property to an italian Expertrate which the shared the money among themselves and live nothing for me. One faithful morning, I opened my father's briefcase and found out the documents which he have deposited huge amount of money in one bank in Burkina Faso with my name as the next of kin. I travelled to Burkina Faso to withdraw the money for a better life so that I can take care of myself and start a new life, on my arrival, the Bank Director whom I met in person told me that my father's instuction to the bank is that the money would only be release to me when I am married or present a trustee who will help me and invest the money overseas. I am in search of an honest and reliable person who will help me and stand as my trustee so that I will present him to the Bank for transfer of the money to his bank account overseas. I have chosen to contact you after my prayers and I believe that you will not betray my trust.

But rather take me as your own sister. Though you may wonder why I am so soon revealing myself to you without knowing you, well I will say that my mind convinc ed me that you may be the true person to help me. Moreso, I will like to disclose much to you if you can help me to relocate to your country because my stepmother have threaten to assinate me. The amount is( $5.8 USD )Million United State Dollars, and I have confirmed from the bank in Burkina Faso on my arrival,

You will also help me to place the money in a more profitable business venture in your Country. However, you will help by recommending a nice University in your country so that I can complete my studies. It is my intention to compensate you with 20% of the total money for your services and the balance shall be my capital in your establishment. As soon as I receive your positive response showing your interest I will put things into action immediately. In the light of the above, I shall appreciate an urgent message indicating your ability and willingness to handle this transaction sincerely.

Am waiting your urgent and positive response. Please do keep this only to your self for now untill the bank will transfer the fund. I beg you not to disclose it till i come over because I am affraid of my weaked stepmother who has threatened to kill me and have the money alone ,I thank God Today that am out from my country (KENYA) but now In (Burkina Faso) where my father deposited these money with my name as the next of Kin.I have the documents for the claims.

Yours Sincerely,
Miss Blessing Kipkalya Kones.

Do these people think i'm stupid? Don't answer that.......

Bloody Cats

I'm not sure what is going on round our way? We seem to have a cat problem!
From nowhere about half a dozen cats have appeared. They're shitting every where, digging up gardens, killing birds and sitting on cars.
A day of reckoning is quickly approaching for this cat crew.....



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Fight

Today at work I witnessed a serious fight between a Director and a sales manager! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Weapons used included a calor bottle, spirit level and a dog. Luckily things stopped just before things got totally out of hand and someone was seriously hurt or worse.

Oh well, let's see what happens tomorrow?


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Lights in the Sky

Last night just as I was going to bed (12.15am), I heard fireworks close to the house, so I opened the front door to check it out.

Due east I saw a orange shape in the sky, I immediately thought it was a plane and went to bed, not thinking anything about it. In the morning when I spoke to my Mum, she had seen several such things, also my sister on the canary Islands saw lights in the sky too. Several of the news services are also reporting similar sightings.

One explanation are chinese lanterns, maybe!

Sex on the Beach

Friday night saw an Iranian couple caught up in a bit of sexy antics on Jontiem Beach in Pattaya. Whilst a large crowd looked on and took pictures. A spoilt sport copper then broke the fun up and escorted the couple to the cop shop. They were both told off and given a 500 baht fine each. The end of the story you might think?

Oh no, back in sunny Terran, the Mulla's are well pissed off and the talk is of stonings when the couple get back, well for the woman anyway. The bloke will probably get a pat on the back.

Just goes to show that even rigid strict Muslims like to let their hair down occassionally. Maybe next week two Jovi witness's will be caught in a lady boy sting......

Prick splitter

A strange but all to often occurance was aired on the popular Pattaya One News feed today, A man reported to the main Pattaya Hospital with half his dick hanging off!

He claims to of been woken up with the wound already in place, the cut was very deep. Unfortunately this is a very common occurance in Thailand. It seems Thai women believe in the old saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold". Stories like this are common place, so if your'e married to a Thai woman, you'd better be careful.

Oh shit! I am.......

Get the full story at Pattaya One