Delay

Another temporary delay. My laptop battery died a few days, and I've ordered a replacement from Dell. Might be up a week before I can get back to regular blogging.

Carl

Singapore Bans Gay TV

Singapore has laws against gays and lesbians, and their activities are monitored to ensure public safety and that no overtly gay behavior might be observed in the country. So far, so good. And to crack down on those sexual deviants, Singapore now goes after TV programs that flaunt the law and threaten to bring down the system. Singapore: The Country that Hates Gays.

A Singapore television station has been fined for airing a show that depicted a gay couple and their baby in a way that "promotes a gay lifestyle," the city-state's media regulator said Thursday. The Media Development Authority fined MediaCorp TV Channel 5 $11,000, it said in a statement on its Web site.

The station aired an episode of a home and decor series called "Find and Design" that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby. The authority said the episode contained scenes of the gay couple with their baby and the presenter's congratulations and acknowledgment of them as a family unit "in a way which normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup."

The episode was in breach of rules on free-to-air television programming, which disallows content that promotes, justifies or glamorizes gay lifestyles, the statement said.

Earlier this month, the authority fined a Singapore cable television operator, StarHub Cable Vision $7,200 for airing a commercial that showed two lesbians kissing. Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail.

Boston.com

Shanghai Superman Window Washers

Isn't this a great photo? Apparently, the enlightened management at the Shanghai Sheraton thought it would be cool to dress up the window washers in Spiderman outfits. And why not? I'm sure everyone was having fun with this one, as reported by Shanghaiist.

The idea came up in a brainstorming session with housekeeping staff, possibly taking inspiration from the human Spiderman who climbed the Jinmao last year. So far Spidey is receiving a thumbs up from the boys in the suits and guests alike, so if you live in Hongqiao, it looks like your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman is here to stay!

Shanghaiist

Chris Coles, Bangkok Artist

Chris Coles is a Bangkok-based artist who filters the completely surrealistic scene of life in the city through Germanic expressionist eyes, inspired by the twisted visions of European artists of the early 20th century.

He gets it right. Bangkok is not normal, but if you're in the mood, the city that never sleeps seems like his wild imagination and the character sitting on the barstool next to you in Nana looks just like one of his portraits.

Chris recently got a great promotion in the aptly named Dali House.

Flickr Quiz

Both are my photos as posted on Flickr, and guess which one is the "most favorite?"

Calcutta Bookstore?
Ko Phi Phi?

Getting High with HaiBao

Great post from Shanghaiist:

Am I the only one in Shanghai who thinks the EXPO mascot HaiBao looks like Mr. Towelie from South Park? Every time I see a poster in Shanghai I think of Mr Towelie's trademark line "Anybody wanna get high?"

Shanghaiist

Texas Polygamist Surrealistic Video

Nothing to do with Southeast Asia, but here's a surrealistic little YouTube video of those wild and crazy Texas polygamist wives. Would any man in his right mind actually have sex with these homely creatures? I don't care if you're 50 and she's 15, this is just too much.

YouTube Clip of Texas Surrealistic Polygamist Wives

Budget Pensionnes in Manila

Malate Pensionne by Ivan Henares

Here's an excellent summary of a few budget options in Malate, Manila, as prepared and photographed by the always amazing Ivan Around Town. I've stayed at the one pictured above several times.

Since I reside in the Metro Manila area, I've never tried out the backpackers accommodation in Manila. But I do get queries about cheap accommodation. So I checked out the backpackers haven of Manila which is in Malate to find out where backpackers can stay. Here are some of them:

Ivan Around Town

Singapore: The Buck Naked Terrorist

Talking Cock Poster

No Pants Bears by Mr. Miyagi

Singapore's most famous escaped, suspected Islamic terrorist not only runs with a limp, he's also naked from the waist down. You'd think Singaporean officials would have mentioned this important detail before now. My best guess, he's over at Sentosa Island, sunbathing his butt.

Singapore said on Monday that a suspected Islamic militant managed to escape from a detention centre two months ago mainly because of an unlocked window in the toilet -- and fled without his trousers.

Wong Kan Seng, Singapore's deputy prime minister, told parliament that Mas Selamat bin Kastari flipped his trousers above the cubicle door before escaping through a window.

Reuters

Thailand: Lese Majeste as Political and Legal Weapon

Thailand has some of the world's toughest lese majeste rules in the world, and it's not a good idea to insult the royal family in any way as you travel around the country, even if you're a Westerner on vacation.

One of the curious but traditional forms of honoring king and country is to stand during the national anthem, which is played prior to the showing of every movie in the Kingdom. But is it required by law? Does it really indicate disrespect for the king?

An important test case will be coming up soon, and the defendants recently spoke with Prachatai about their rather serious case, and how they intend to fight the charges.

Chotisak: On September 20, last year, we went shopping and saw a movie [in Central World shopping complex]. We didn’t stand up for the Royal Anthem [which precedes every movie in Thai cinemas], as I had usually not stood up. A man whose seat was two seats away from us turned to us, saying ‘Stand up’ [in English], as he probably understood us to be foreigners, but we sat still. He waited until the anthem finished, and then he went to call the cinema staff to deal with us, while the movie was starting. However, the staff didn’t do anything, but, instead, tried to calm him down. We later knew his name was Navamintr.

Is this really a tradition? I remember reading an article, probably published on a website, that says previously the Royal Anthem used to be played after the movies finished, and no one bothered to stand, but just rushed out to go home. That was back in the reign of King Rama V, when the anthem was first introduced in theatres. The idea the anthem should be played before movies is even newer. So at what point are things considered tradition?

Talking about traditions vs. rights, one finds that there are many traditions which people do not follow, and no one seems to bother. If violators of tradition are to be punished, many more jails need to be built.

Traditions are man-made, not unlike laws. If they’re not appropriate, not right, anachronistic, or against people’s well being, they can be revoked.

For the legal case, it has to follow the rule of law. I’ve sought for help from the Lawyers’ Council, and they provided lawyers for me. And I’ve also consulted with my lawyer friends. My friend has received assistance from Muslim lawyers, as her line is different from mine.

And we insist that it’s our right not to stand. Not standing is not a crime, and it is not an act of insult. We’re going to launch a public campaign about this.

This law should be revoked, really, because so many people have been affected by it. Lèse majesté allegations have been very politicized. Sondhi Limthongkul has been accused of this by the pro-Thaksin camp, and Thaksin et al have also been accused of this. This offence carries a severe penalty, as much as 15 years in jail, but it has been exploited, and its interpretation has become broader and more arbitrary to the point that one can easily find faults with one’s enemies, and accuse them of lèse majesté, so one doesn’t have to take any responsibility.

But if this law is to be kept, I think the royal family or the Royal Household should be the plaintiff, not anybody suing anybody freely like this.

Prachatai

The Suspicious Accounting of Buddhist Charities

Art by Chris Coles

I've long wondered about that AIDs hospice near Lopburi, but have only read positive articles about the good works performed by monks and volunteers over the last 15 years. And so it was a shock to see this recent article that largely uncovers the reality of not only this charitable foundation, but also implicates to a larger degree the suspicious financial arrangements of Buddhist charities within Thailand.

Do read the entire article, but here are a few snippets:

Is the temple of Buddha’s footprints the temple of doom?

It’s a Buddhist temple that cares for dying Aids patients. It’s also a hugely successful money-making operation, attracting thousands of tourists with its displays of mummified corpses. So where does all that money go?

Ideally, the temple should have two doctors and three registered nurses, says Bassano. The last doctor to work here was a Belgian volunteer named Paul Yves Wery, who left in 2004. He wrote a parting account of his years at the temple, describing it as unsanitary, ill-equipped and mismanaged. Wery calls the staff “slaves” and the tourists “cannibals”; the abbot is an ambiguous figure who runs “what has become a death factory [like] a small family enterprise”. After Wery’s book was published, all foreign volunteers except Bassano were asked to leave.

Many HIV patients get Aids dementia, a degenerative brain disorder that can make them moody, incoherent or violent. Due to the lack of staff, unruly patients are sometimes kept in steel cages next to the shower area. When I visited, one cage was occupied by a patient who had been ripping up the ward’s mosquito nets. Some people are caged for their own protection. One dying woman screamed so much that she was beaten and gagged by other patients.

The lone adult supervisor is Nuanchan Hassanam, 43, a weary-looking woman with a “Love Forever” tattoo on her arm – an unwelcome reminder of the estranged husband who gave her five kids and HIV. Nuanchan says raising orphans is like “trying to keep crabs in a bucket”. They are short of staff and basic clothes. “The children need vests, underwear and shoes,” she explains. So why has £80,000 been spent on a football machine? “I don’t know,” she shrugs. “The abbot wants the children to exercise.”

Alongkot says the temple has tried and failed to recruit medical staff. “Thai doctors prefer to work at private hospitals. Even the government ones don’t have enough medical staff.” It still seems inexplicable that, in a prospering country of 65m, there is not a single Thai doctor for hire.

Yet the temple hardly seems in dire financial straits. Pradit Yingyong, the temple’s PR officer, says the abbot plans to build a sports centre (cost: the equivalent of £1.6m) and carve a meditation path through the hill above the temple (£8m).

“There’s lots of money coming in,” says Bassano. “But how it’s distributed, who benefits, who gets what – I have no idea.” Why, he asks, build the Aids Human Body Part Museum – a room in which hands, feet, hearts, kidneys and other organs are kept in perspiring jars of formaldehyde – when the temple has no ambulance? “And the neglect of the kids… Not just the kids, but the adult patients as well.”

It is hard to ask a celebrated monk about money without seeming to accuse him of dishonesty. But then this is one reason why the finances of Thai temples are traditionally so opaque and donations so easy to misappropriate. (“Half for the temple, half for the temple committee,” goes an old Thai song.) It costs 4m to 5m baht (£64,000 to £80,000) a month to run the temple, excluding the second project, says Alongkot, and the temple receives “the same” in donations. The finances are not made public. “It’s not our duty to make a public declaration,” he insists, “but we have a good [accounting] system.” Alongkot suggests I ask at the secretary’s office to learn how much is spent on the temple. I am then shuttled between four offices before being given a print-out with a totally different figure from the abbot’s. Pradit gives me another figure, a committee member yet another. Nobody can explain how the second project, which includes the orphanage, is funded, never mind the sports centre or meditation path.

Times Online

Bali: Cry, The Beloved Island

Hello everybody. I've finally got DSL in my place, so FriskoDude will now be returning to the stage.

In honor of Earth Day, my return post will feature an editorial by my friend Jack Daniels, who, among other things, publishes the highly informative email newsletter Bali Discovery. And boy, is he pissed:

Cry, the Beloved Island

Editorial: Bali Leaders Must Do Much More to Protect this Very Special island.

(4/19/2008) As Bali joins the rest of the world to mark "Earth Day" on Tuesday, April 22, 2008, it is timely to reflect on the quality of the environmental stewardship, or lack thereof, that reigns on the island of Bali.

www.balidiscovery.com routinely carries reports taken directly from the local press of hotels and villas being built illegally in restricted green zones; violations of set-back rules along rivers and seashores; blatant disregard of building height ordinances; overbuilding that seal off mandatory open space open-ground areas needed to permit the rain to replenish a diminishing water table; and even the demolishment of religious temples to make way for a new holiday resort.

These reports sadly remind that gone forever are the days when a strong Bali Governor compelled developers to build their resorts in Balinese-style architecture and even required staff to wear Bali-inspired uniforms. Those Bali-stlye hotels of yesteryear are becoming a rarity in "modern" Bali; lost behind an avalanche of Golden Arches, Seattle coffee shops and nondescript strip malls.

And, while reports of violations of the rules established to protect the Island's heritage appear in the local media on almost a daily basis, the actual instances in which developers are brought into line and made to rebuild or demolish structures to conform to local rules are as rare as a Bali Starling in downtown Denpasar.

Bali's tourism business has been pejoratively likened to a "soccer match conducted without benefit a referee." In Bali, zoning laws and environmental codes are held in deep contempt and rapaciously disobeyed by many. Disingenuous developers know that the key to unrestricted building is to break rules as quickly as possible; once caught, to smile sheepishly while being scolded by posturing officials; and to then wait for the inevitable official exemption to the rules, generally issued with the speed of an opening wallet.

Adding to the turmoil overtaking this once beautiful island are the many local lawyers and colluding notaries only too willing to create complex agreements that assist foreigners wishing to hold permanent claim to Balinese lands; contravening the absolute prohibitions on foreign land ownership that exists under Indonesian law.

Meanwhile, land prices rise and water table drops with no one seemingly overly concerned as to how the next generation of Balinese will be able to afford to live on their increasing crowded and waterless island.

Perhaps the ineffectiveness of local officials and the tragic consequence of such bad governance is no better demonstrated than at the once popular destination of the Kintamani volcano in Central Bali. Local businessmen who have erected illegal commercial building that now almost completely obscure the majestic volcanic-lake panorama have been "reprimanded" and then given a ludicrous "15 years" to remove their offending structures. Nearby, unregulated local vendor harass and, in some instances, even physically attack visitors who refuse to buy their birc-a-brac. Not unexpectedly, the word has spread with an increasingly fewer number of tourist visitors interested in visiting what once had the potential to be a world-class tourist attraction.

Sustainability Takes a Back Seat to Greed

Whether or not these visitors will ever return to Kintamani remains an open question. Perhaps in 15 years or so, after wiser men and women assume positions of power and decide to enforce the rules for the common good, can Kintamani begin the long-delayed job of reviving its endemic natural splendor.

Returning to our earlier soccer analogy, it seems there may be deeper and more profound insights into what ails Bali tourism no further away than the next televised Indonesian soccer match. The uninitiated witness to an Indonesian soccer may be shocked by the regularity with which players and spectators brutally attack referees, the reluctance of the abused officials to enforce the rules, and the resulting general state of havoc which prevails at football matches played across the archipelago. On a very real level, the state of play of Indonesian soccer sadly mirrors the current state of tourism development on the island of Bali. Rules do exist. But no one is prepared to enforce them.

In the firm belief that pictures have the power to speak a thousand words, we include some recent images of developments now underway on along the Bukit Peninsula in South Bali.

These pictures were taken at an area once known as "Dreamland," on a an island once called "Paradise."

Listen to the wind, you can sometimes hear the sound of the Island crying.

Earth Day – April 22, 2008.

Bali Discovery

Blog Hiatus

Yes, I have moved yet again from the Harcourt, to the St. Paul in North Beach, and now to the Civic Center Residence in downtown San Francisco. I don't have an internet connection in my room, so blogging will be very light until I get things set up with DSL, landline, and cable TV. Probably sometime later this week, or next.

Carl

Why is Backpacker Philippines Twice the Cost of Thailand?

Ivan Around Town is a Filipino blogger in Manila who covers much of the tourism section in his country, with a much appreciated touch towards the backpacker approach to travel, and for this I must thank him.

The Philippines is another struggling nation trying to atract more foreign tourists and so it's strange that the completely political controlled Philippines Tourism Authority would ignore their most important source of present and future high-spending tourists: today's backpackers. They come back. They get richer. They later spend their money in a country where they once had some experiences. It would be smart to understand the importance of the backpackers. They will be back.

And why in the Philippines most budget backpackers tourist destinations and guesthouses overpriced? I've seen it, during my research trips for Moon Publications. It's a fact: the Philippiens should be priced the same as Thailand, but the Philippines for the backpacker is twice the cost the Thailand.

Bangkok's Lebua Hotel and Rasri Bualert: Another Day, Another Controversy

Lebua Hotel seems to thrive on controversy. The hotel is now involved in a lawsuit with the general manager of The Oriental over a message Kurt sent to his managers to escort Lebua spys out of his hallowed property.

Last year, Lebua sponsored a very expensive dinner for very rich people, and they will repeat the gaudy display with a touch of humility again next month.

Not everybody is please with the Lebua for their background, nasty temperament toward their more venerable neighbors, and their insatiable appetite for publicity, no matter good or bad. And most of it is bad.

The International Herald Tribune had this to say about their upcoming feast.

Bangkok's Lebua hotel, which is organizing the dinner, is no stranger to publicity - or to Michelin-starred chefs. Last year, it put on a decadent feast billed as the meal of a lifetime for $25,000 a head. Six three-star Michelin chefs were flown in from Europe to cook the 10-course meal, each plate paired with a rare vintage wine.

On April 5, the Lebua is offering another 10-course spread, this time for free. The hotel has invited 50 of its biggest-spending customers to the dinner prepared - it hopes - by three top-ranked Michelin-starred chefs.

There is one twist. Before dinner, guests will be jetted to a poor village in northern Thailand to spend the afternoon soaking up the sights of poverty. The dinner and full-day excursion will cost the hotel $300,000.

The Electric Newspaper goes over some of the lawsuit filed by Lebua Hotel against the general manager of The Oriental.

IT'S a battle of the stars. Bangkok's five-star hotels, that is. With back-stabbing, snubbing and animosity worthy of a TV soap opera, Bangkok's famed Oriental hotel is now embroiled in a defamation suit filed by a competitor.

The lawsuit, filed on 17 Jan, highlighted the nastiness behind the scenes at some of the world's top luxury establishments. News of the spat was made public yesterday after The Oriental's general manager appeared at the Bangkok Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing.

Mr Kurt Wachtveitl, the general manager, is accused of defaming Bangkok's lebua hotel in an internal memo warning that the competitor was on the prowl for qualified hotel staff. The lawsuit is a first for Thailand's hotel industry and stands to harm the reputation of hotels across the country, the Thai Hotels Association said.

According to The Nation, Thai Hotels Association president Chanin Thonawanik was quoted as saying: 'What will the world think of Thailand when the world's best hotel is involved in a lawsuit? 'This is (a) first in Thai hotel history and will certainly damage our reputation.'

In the memo dated 30 Nov 2006, Mr Wachtveitl accused the lebua of poaching 26 employees from The Peninsula Hotel, another five-star competitor, and expressed concern that The Oriental could be targeted next. 'Effective immediately, no management members from lebua ... are allowed at The Oriental,' the memo signed by Mr Wachtveitl and sent by e-mail to department heads said, according to the court complaint. The memo added: 'Should you come across any of their management members in the hotel, please make sure they are escorted out of our premises immediately.'

The Nation reported that the lebua has filed two complaints, including a criminal case accusing The Oriental of forwarding the memo to general managers at nine other Bangkok hotels.

The International Herald Tribune also reported on the messy lawsuit by upstart Lebua against Thailand's most historic hotel.

Bangkok's famed Oriental hotel is embroiled in a defamation suit filed by a competitor, highlighting the back-stabbing and animosity that thrives behind the scenes at some of the world's top luxury establishments.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 17 but only made public Tuesday, a day after The Oriental's general manager appeared at the Bangkok Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing. Kurt Wachtveitl, the general manager, is accused of defaming Bangkok's lebua hotel in an internal memo warning that the competitor was on the prowl for qualified hotel staff.

The lawsuit is a first for Thailand's hotel industry and stands to harm the reputation of hotels across the country, the Thai Hotels Association said. The Oriental consistently ranks among the best in the world in surveys. In the memo dated Nov. 30, 2006, Wachtveitl said the lebua poached 26 employees from The Peninsula Hotel, another 5-star competitor, in two months and expressed concern that The Oriental could be targeted next.

But Chris Baker, guest columnist at New Mandala really gets down to the details of what's going on, but leaves much unanswered. So who is this Rasi Bualert?

The principal owner of lebua is the family of Rasi Bualert. She always gets tagged as “arms dealer” which seems a bit unfair. Too narrow. Their real estate empire went spectacularly bankrupt after 1997, but they kept going by refusing to repay their creditors. Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that they had to repay 10 billion baht to Bangkok Bank, but I don’t know whether they complied. Their biggest debt was to Krung Thai. The Bualert acquired the building now housing lebua from the developer and architect Rangsan Torsuwan after he was charged with masterminding the attempted murder of the chief judge of the Supreme Court.

The Nation has some background on Rasi Bualert financial problems a few years ago.

Bangkok Bank has filed a bankruptcy suit against high-flying businesswoman Rasri Bualert and her associates for failing to honour debts totalling almost Bt10 billion. Nine other defendants named in the lawsuit are D Five Co, Charoen West Enterprise, Royal Charoen Krung, Kongchai Bualert, Anand Chanthrakul, Sa-nguansri Dejpornthewan, Parichart Puchatham, General Sawat Phatchuenjai and General Prathuang Wongchan.

The Bankruptcy Court has agreed to hear the case and scheduled June 22 for the first hearing. In its court filing, Bangkok Bank charged that D Five and Charoen West Enterprise had borrowed money from its branches, with the other defendants acting as guarantors. The total debt, principal plus interest, owed to the bank is Bt9.72 billion. The bank said it had asked the defendants to settle the debt but had not received any payment. It believes the defendants now have more debts than assets, making them liable to bankruptcy proceedings.

The New York Times also mentions Rasri Bualert and her financial shenanigans, along with other Thai millionaires who refuse to repay their debts and somehow stay in business to the present day.

Workers are, for example, putting the finishing touches on the 63-story Royal Charoen Krung Tower. Promoted as Southeast Asia's largest building, the tower, a 3.6-million- square-foot monolith with residential time-share and commercial space, looms over the pharmacies and jewelry shops around it.

First scheduled to open in 1996, the Royal Charoen Krung fell behind schedule in part because Rangsan Torsuwan, the flamboyant architect who designed and owned it, was forced to sell it.

The buyer was Rasri Bualert, a real estate tycoon and Thailand's only female arms dealer. Ms. Rasri helped pay for the project with a loan from the government-run Krung Thai Bank, a loan that is now among the nonperforming loans that account for at least 60 percent of the bank's overall portfolio. Last year, auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers, reporting that the bank had weak lending standards, singled out the loan as a glaring example.

Ms. Rasri declined to be interviewed for this article. Krung Thai officials did not return phone calls.

Laos: Xiengkok, Mongla, Nam Fa, Jakune and Trekking Only for the Serious

I once trekked from Mae Hong Son into Burma on a seven-day adventure to visit the military headquarters of the Karenni people, who just happened to be celebrating their cultural week during my visit, but it doesn't really compare to a Laos trek taken a few years ago by Lao Bumpkin. If you're looking for something completely unique to do on your next visit to Southeast Asia, read the link for more ideas on a trekking agency and some background on this remote region in a still remote country.

This is real adventure.

The wildlife survey down the river by Wildside was the first known instance of outsiders entering the area. I don’t know if they were able to find any takers for their proposed 7 day raft trip. In 04 a mixed group of kayakers including Japanese and Lao nationals also paddled down the river. The rapids are rated at class IV, not too difficult for experienced kayakers, but not the kind of thing for the inexperienced. What they did do was document the variety of large mamals living in the valley.

Beginning in the dry season of 06 Tui the manager of the tourism office in Muang Long started to take trekkers over the mountains on guided walks into the valley. He first took a pair of unknown hikers, then his friend Somjit took a very fast lone Scandinavian guy. Early in the dry season of 06/07 I hiked in with one of Tui’s students, Si Phan guiding me. Later in February 07 Tui hiked in for a second time with a trio of Italians. Even though the Italians were young fit twenty some things they didn’t reach Mongla on the second day until late in the evening. Just after that I too took my second hike, my guide this time was Somjit also his second walk into the valley.

Lao Bumpkin Goes Trekking in Laos

The Thai Elephant as Self-Portrait Artist

Elephants in Thailand have been painting abstract images for some time, but now they've moved on to self portraits and landscapes that resemble Picasso in his blue period, or Van Gogh slightly before he lost his mind and sliced off his ear. This talented fellow comes from Chiang Mai, and is so artistically inclined that he now longer needs to work the tourists and drunks on Soi Cowboy.



YouTube Clip of the Thai Elephant as a Young Artist

North Korea Video Tour

North Korea is actually open for tourism, but you'll need to sign up with a group tour and then pay big bucks. Bring along your video camera, and perhaps you'll capture your tour as recently posted by the Vice Guide. Neil Woodburn at Gadling also went to North Korea and provided an outstanding series of essays and videos of the closed country.

Getting into North Korea was one of the hardest and weirdest processes VBS has ever dealt with. After we went back and forth with their representatives for months, they finally said they were going to allow 16 journalists into the country to cover the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang. Then, ten days before we were supposed to go, they said, “No, nobody can come.” Then they said, “OK, OK, you can come. But only as tourists.” We had no idea what that was supposed to mean. They already knew we were journalists, and over there if you get caught being a journalist when you’re supposed to be a tourist you go to jail. We don’t like jail. And we’re willing to bet we’d hate jail in North Korea.

But we went for it. The first leg of the trip was a flight into northern China. At the airport the North Korean consulate took our passports and all of our money, then brought us to a restaurant. We were sitting there with our tour group, and suddenly all the other diners left and these women came out and started singing North Korean nationalist songs. We were thinking, “Look, we were just on a plane for 20 hours. We’re jet-lagged. Can we just go to bed?” but this guy with our group who was from the LA Times told us, “Everyone in here besides us is secret police. If you don’t act excited then you’re not going to get your visa.” So we got drunk and jumped up onstage and sang songs with the girls. The next day we got our visas. A lot of people we had gone with didn’t get theirs. That was our first hint at just what a freaky, freaky trip we were embarking on.

VBS TV Video of North Korea

Bangkok Dangerous 2008

Bangkok Dangerous, starring Nicolas Cage to be released this fall, is a remake of the original Pang Brothers film from 2000. Generally, American remakes of great Asian films don't turn out very well, but with the original directors onboard, and Nicholas doing his nutcase act, this might be a winner.

Here's a short YouTube clip with all the necessary ingredients: strippers on Soi Cowboy, a transvestite review, fast motorcycles, Thai boxing, big guns,and a targeted politician who looks like a slightly older and plumper Abhisit.



YouTube Clip of the upcoming Bangkok Dangerous

Phuket Stories

What's going on in Phuket this week? The local Phuket Gazette has an update, and it's mostly drug busts and new CCTV cameras to keep an eye on people. Something about a motorcycle thief and an ice bust. And a memorial for a murdered tourist. Any comment would be superfluous, as Trink would say.

Phuket Police Seize 10K Speed Pills

Phuket Police Nab Motorcycle Thief

Phuket Police Arrest Ice Dealer at Big C

Phuket Auto Plate Auction Nets 14M

Patong Police Expand CCTV Surveillance Cameras

Swedish Murder Victim Memorial at Mai Khao Beach Phuket Attended by 50

Malaysia: Pussycat Dolls Fined

Pussycat Dolls took their family friendly girlie show to Malaysia, and what do they get for their efforts? Major fines. I doubt that any of the accusations are true (flashing pussies in KL?), but perhaps they'll show up on YouTube.

In the meantime girls, try burkas.

ALL-girl US pop group the Pussycat Dolls have been fined for a gig in Malaysia that displayed more than their singing talents. The group has been fined $3400 for a show in the capital Kuala Lumpur in which the group let it all hang out - literally.

During the routine Carmit Bachar flashed a breast and Ashley Roberts - wearing a very short pair of shorts - was accused of a different kind of flashing that would have done Britney Spears proud. The group was fined for performing "sexually suggestive" routines.

Under laws in the strict Muslim country, a female performer must be covered from her shoulders to her knees. Jumping, shouting or throwing of objects onstage or at the audience are all also banned. Last year Gwen Stefani's concert in Malaysia was picketed by protesters amid fears her act would corrupt the nation's youth.

Adelaide Now

Woodstock? In Seoul?

I'm fairly skeptical about this concert planned for May, but if it actually takes place, I expect every expat-former-hippie in Southeast Asia to make tracks to Seoul.

Woodstock, the legendary music festival from 1968, will be revived in Korea with a participant from the original event, Neil Young.

The festival in Seoul will open in front of the DMZ, will move to Jamsil. It brings together singers from the 1960s and 1970s, including Rod Stewart, a Hall of Famer in 1994, Don McLean, Judy Collins, Janis Ian and Melanie Safka-Schekeryk. Also on stage will be Linda Ronstadt, the Alan Parsons Project, Janis Ian, the Brothers Four, Donovan and Crystal Gayle. The organizer said Elton John is another possible participant.

JoonAng Daily

Indonesia: Jakarta's Jalan Jaksa Going Upscale?

Jalan Jaksa in Jakarta has been the backpackers center since the early 1970s when Bill Dalton stayed in one of the hovels and worked on the first edition of his Indonesia Handbook. It's still the center of Jakarta's small backpacking universe, and where local expat bloggers sometimes like to get together for a beer, but it seems that major changes are on the horizon. Like a shopping center.

Big deal. The neighborhood will probably continue to support guesthouses and attract the limited number of international backpackers, who will then do their beer and banana pancake shopping at the new complex.

Last month I had a chat with an expat on Jalan Jaksa who told me he’d seen plans to develop the famous little street, including a huge hypermarket on its corner with Jalan Wahid Hasyim.

I should state at this point that the talk occurred during my once-a-week afternoon visit, when - contrary to wishful thinking among hostiles - I have three or four beers and head for home before nightfall. So it was a clear-headed chat, not one of those rambling discourses that ensue as the night rolls towards chucking-out time.

Has anyone else heard of this proposed development? It would change the character of Jaksa, which is one of the few places in town where non-rich bules can enjoy a beer at a reasonable price. A Carrefour-type emporium would have a knock-on effect, bring in glossy catering outlets and quite possibly squeeze the little cafes out of business. Even now, there is a quite posh hotel under construction at the far end. Doesn’t Jakarta have enough such plush institutions- let’s leave Jaksa for the back-packing kids to save their pennies at.

Indonesia Matters

Jollibee TV Show in the Philippines

If you've been to the Philippines, then you probably know about the chain of fast-food restaurants called Jollibee. They are everywhere and one of the few Filipino food enterprises which has held their own, and often won, against the international chains such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

Now, any self-respecting Filipino will tell you that Jollibee food is crap, but I have news for you: their pork based burgers beat McDonalds any day of the week, and their outlets are clean, and the service is great. And so, I think it's good news that Jollibee will soon have a TV show with the characters pictured above.

My second favorite fast food outlet in the Philippines is KFC. Last places goes to those places that serve "native" Filipino food.

This summer school break, children can start enjoying the company of Jollibee and friends not just in their favorite fast-food stores, but on television, too. The brand that gave Filipino children the Jollibee Kids Meal, Jollibee Kiddie Party, Jollibee Kids Club and MaAga ang Pasko sa Jollibee, as well as their favorite spaghetti, fried chicken, sandwiches and desserts brings forth another innovation they will surely love— Jollitown, the new kids’ show on GMA7 featuring the fun and insightful adventures of Jollibee, Yum, Hetty, Popo and Twirlie. Each week, the five friends interact with the children who live with them in Jollitown through stories and music that those watching at home can also sing and dance to.

Manila MetBlogs

Blaming Mass Tourism

Lao Songtao by Stuart Towns

Oh no, another article lamenting the decline of once-untouched forgotten paradises in Southeast Asia, this time focusing on Luang Prabang in Laos, Pai in northern Thailand, and Siem Reap in Cambodia. And yes, once again blaming Lonely Planet and Joe Cummings for the increase in tourism, new hotels, and too many banana pancake cafes.

Get over it. Telling the present generation of travelers "you should have seen it when" is just irritating and self indulgent, and deprives the new arrivals seeing these places with fresh eyes. It still looks like paradise to them, so please don't spoil their show with your know-it-all comments.

Yes, Southeast Asia has changed dramatically over the last few decades, but such is the pace of tourism progress around the world. And most of the locals don't resent the arrivals of tourists or modern amenities such as schools, paved roads, hospitals, clean water, and all the other "evils" of advancing civilization.

It's the author of this article who should examine his attitude and opinions, and not the travel writers such as myself and Joe Cummings, who didn't "spoil" these untouched paradises, and don't regret that once impoverished regions are now enjoying the benefits of cash flow and tourism. Luang Prabang and Pai are still beautiful places, and Siem Reap hasn't been ruined, just changing.

Maybe the package groups and top-rung vacationists, with their high-maintenance demands, leave a bigger footprint than backpackers. But in Asia, backpackers have served as the industry's reconnaissance teams, penetrating rural hinterlands to colonize idyllic spots and pave the way for upmarket travelers. The banana pancake circuit it's called, after one of their requisite staples.

Take Pai, a village embedded in an expansive, mountain-encircled valley of northern Thailand. It used to be a great escape into an easygoing, exotic world, with tribal settlements scattered in the hills — until the global migratory tribe appeared in droves, dragging its own culture along.

Bamboo and thatch tourist huts hug the meandering Pai River as far as the eye can see, gobbling up rice paddies and clambering up hillsides on its left bank. On the right bank, high-priced resorts have begun to mushroom.

The short downtown strip is jammed with Apple Pai and nine other Internet cafes, video and tattoo parlors, bars, yoga and cooking classes, countless trinket shops and an eatery featuring bagels and cream cheese.

There's even an English-language newspaper, published by Joe Cummings, an author of those Bibles of shoestring travel, the Lonely Planet guides, which probably did more than anything to put Pai on the circuit. In a wicked daydream, I condemn Joe to eating nothing but banana pancakes and lugging a 500-pound backpack through all eternity.

USA Today

Thailand and International Drug Patents

Will the Thai government go ahead and break international patents to import medicines used in the fight against AIDs and cancer? A final decision hasn't yet been made by the latest government, but it's going to be a major firestorm if they proceed with their plans to save some money, and badly piss off the world's pharmaceutical companies, who will then bring enormous pressure on the US and European nations to downgrade the trading status of Thailand.

It's one thing to rip off tourists when they visit your national parks and museums with specially inflated "tourist" prices, but something else when you do it on an international scale.

When it comes to public health, Thailand's former government leaders would like the world to think that they're a collection of 21st-century Robin Hoods. Last year, the unelected military-backed government gave Thailand's state-run pharmaceutical firm, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), permission to manufacture generic versions of drugs that fight heart disease and AIDS, even though the medicines were still patented by Western firms.

Robbing the rich to give to the poor, right?

Not really. Sick Thai citizens have yet to see any benefits and the move has set a dangerous precedent that will stifle medical innovation and endanger the health of millions.

Thai officials broke the patents by using "compulsory licenses," a legal maneuver afforded to poor countries by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the event of a public health crisis. If a local government can't afford a pertinent patented drug, it can issue a compulsory license to produce it before the patent has expired.

But these provisions were never intended to be used by countries that could afford the medicines but are simply choosing to pay less in order to make other purchases - like tanks for example.

Last year, for instance, Bangkok spent $9 million on pay raises for military leaders. Since 2006, the nation has increased its defense budget by over 30 percent.

The reality is that the former military government officials used compulsory licenses to pursue their own economic development. Their scheme is just protectionism by a different name - and world governments and trade bodies should see it for what it is.

Giving the GPO permission to manufacture patented drugs is part of the Thai government's plan to establish itself as a globally competitive producer of generics. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the government wanting to encourage its own industry - but not when that's done at the expense of patients and other countries who abide by both the letter and the spirit of the law.

So far, the gambit has proven quite lucrative. In 2005, Thailand's GPO reaped $35 million in profits by copying medicines. Only 2 percent of that went toward research and development.

Belleville News Democrat

Are the Thai Police Organized Crime?

Nick Cheesman (pictured above) is Awzar Thi, the pen name of a member of the Asian Human Rights Commission with over 15 years of experience as an advocate of human rights and the rule of law in Thailand and Burma. His Rule of Lords blog can be read at http://ratchasima.net.

Nick recently wrote another scathing article about the state of the Thai police, and it's a dozy, a real keeper, a great source of background about one of Thailand's most serious problems.

Next up, I hope Nick writes an equally information article about the connection between the Thai police and the Thai military, and their ongoing political connections and quest to control the underground sources of income in the country. And the upcoming second "war on drugs" and which group will come out ahead in that virtuous struggle.

In a nutshell, the Thai military is affiliated with the former military government, while the police are tied to Thaksin and Samak. There is no love lost between the military and the police, and both seek to control major sources of income in the underground economy. That means drugs, prostitution, border politics, stolen cars, etc.

According to the United Nations, the Royal Thai Police are organized criminals. That, at least, is the inference to be drawn from looking at its Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which was adopted in 2001 and which defines an organized crime group as involving at least three people acting in concert over a period of time "with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences… in order to obtain… a financial or other material benefit."

Thailand's police did not become an organized crime gang by accident. The modern force was from the beginning intended both as a criminal and political agency, monopolizing the drug trade and murdering or detaining opponents, including other police. It quickly became unstoppable as, historian Thak Chaloemtiara notes, while people whispered about its crimes "investigation was impossible, for the crimes were committed by the police themselves."

Its heyday as an unsurpassed crime venture may have been in the 1950s, but until now the police force remains beyond the law and answerable unto itself. The institutional features of its criminality, including the routine use of force and self-financing of individual officers and stations, speak to how incidents of the sort described above are organized, not haphazard.

These conditions present persons interested in improving the work of the police with profound and peculiar difficulties. For some three decades there has been talk of reform, and a few attempts, including one by the interim prime minister of the recent military government. But all have failed, in the same way that attempts to turn any other organized crime group into a legitimate enterprise against the will of its members could not possibly do otherwise.

UPI Asia Online

Karachi Port Tower

Pakistan isn't a place where imaginative, modern architecture immediately comes to mind, but the Karachi tower pictured above has apparently been approved and construction will start this year on the 78-story building just outside the country's primary port city. Nothing really revolutionary about the design, but still surprising that a country with so many internal problems and economic woes can get it together enough to pull off such an ambitious enterprise.

Construction is soon to start on Aedas’ new landmark scheme in Mai Kolachi, Pakistan. Plans for a landmark waterside development at Mai Kolachi adjacent to the Port of Karachi in Pakistan have been received and are currently being evaluated following the implementation of Aedas’ international competition-winning design for a mixed-use scheme. Endorsed in 2007 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the development will command an iconic presence and provide a recognisable beacon to Pakistan’s principal city of Karachi and the country’s largest sea port.

World Architecture News