Koh Samet: White Sand And Black Oil Gunk

Ao Phai beach, on the opposite side of the island from the recent spill

As weeks go, the island of Koh Samet (or Samed, if you prefer... I flip-flop on some transliterations) hasn't had a very good one. The story goes that PTT Global Chemical was pumping crude oil from an offshore drilling platform to a container ship when a leak in the piping allowed somewhere between 50,000 liters (according to PTT) up to 100,000 liters (according to some environmental groups) of crude oil into the Gulf of Thailand, forming a thick layer of gunk on the relatively pristine water of Phrao Bay, on the Western side of the island.

On the map below I've added an insert that shows a little detail of where the spill occurred and came ashore at Ao Phrao. In the main map most of Koh Samet is covered by "Khao Yaem La - Mu Ko Samet", which is the national park whose boundaries cover a large part of the central area and Eastern side of the island.

I recently stayed on the Eastern side of Samet, on the beach at Ao Phai (near the asterisk on the inset map) so when the news began to leak - pardon the weak pun - I was concerned that the beautiful spot I'd visited was now awash in thick, sticky crude oil. Thankfully that was not the case, and I'll post about that resort soon.

Outside my bungalow on Ao Phai beach on the Eastern shore of Koh Samet, a few months back

While the lion's share of tourists vacation on the long stretch of beaches on the Eastern shore, the Western shore is home to some of the more pricey resorts, and I'm sure they're hurting now. Estimates are that it may be up to a year before the mess is truly cleaned up, and although PTTGC has said they'll make good on losses to the fishing and tourist industries, I tend to doubt that's really going to happen.

PTTGC has said they'll cover any damages over their $50 million in insurance coverage, but that remains to be seen, of course. Any of you who've had to deal with insurance companies know that their prime marching orders are to make you put in claim(s) multiple times, reduce any amounts claimed as often as they can and make any payments they're cornered into making for as long as possible. While the corporate resorts may do OK, many of the smaller interests will suffer. That's a sure bet.

The latest news I've read is that the island is essentially shut down at this point; the regular-as-clockwork (or as regular as anything on Thai time can be) ferries and other boats to and from the main pier of Ban Phe have stopped running and most of the people who don't actually live on the island have been evacuated.

The beach at Phrao Bay, bearing the brunt of the mess... so far.

With the oil slick now moving up over the Northern end of the island and heading toward the mainland - Koh Pla Teen, Koh Kudee and Koh Kham seem to be the "guesstimated" targets for it to hit land. Unfortunately there are important coral reefs in its path, and there's great danger of harming or destroying the delicate life there. Let's hope the damage is as minimal as possible.

Thai Signage #1: Park and Bomb

 OK... I guess I've sluffed off for three weeks, and that's probably enough. Thanks to those who sent queries and good wishes, but as was posted in the 1 March post I had (and have) no intentions of stopping. As I mentioned, part of cutting down was to live a life offline and spend more time on my other projects, as well as with friends and family. The past couple of weeks I've been fortunate enough to be spending that time here in Thailand. Now you know.

English is a terribly difficult language to learn. There's abundant proof of that throughout the West, where many speak it as their mother tongue. Urban Speak, the e-world of texting and tweeting and the overall unfortunate state of the educational system is at the core of this, most likely, but that's not the idea for the post today.

Foreign signage as a source of humor is an easy touch - especially unintentional errors - but since I can rarely speak more than a few words of the countries I've visited I try not to point and laugh. Note I said "try".

The other day I was out on a morning walk in Bangkok and came across this shop - a beautician school - with a name that sounded like a poor choice off words, considering the somewhat volatile nature of the world today.  The covered vehicle parked along side of it didn't make it any more comforting!

Working It: A Bar Boy's Collection Of "Walking ATMs"

Silom Soi 4: one of Yod's old fishing holes.

Yod leaned back in his chair, locked his strong arms behind his head and forcefully exhaled a column of cigarette smoke into the early evening air.  A bird sitting amid one of those fine examples of wildly creative Thai wiring above him chirped - perhaps in protest - and took off, dropping a generous dollop of bird shit onto the ground next to the stylish athletic shoe on the left foot he had sticking out in front of him.

"You see?" he smiled "I'm lucky!" I couldn't disagree with him. Yod was lucky; a survivor of a club life, and, as he figured it, possibly set for life.  At least as far into the future as many young people tend to look nowadays.  He knew he wasn't anything close to a spring chicken on the club market; he was, in fact, pushing the boundaries of twinkiedom. He was stunningly handsome now in his early 30s, and one can only imagine what a gorgeous figure he cut at college age.

It didn't bother him in the least that he was nearly finished with the active nightly work of being offed and having to make it seem as though he was attracted to - or interested in the slightest - in the person who had rented his attentions. In fact, it was a great relief. Granted, sometimes there were women who came into the club and offed him for his services ("big!" he said, pointing to his crotch), but he'd very rarely been interested in the men he'd been with. He could "do it", but he knew what he preferred.

Not Yod's complex, but a
good example of the type:
simple,but comfy

Some were younger and somewhat attractive, but most were nearly twice his age; faking enthusiasm or performing acts he didn't care for in the interest of a tip was often a challenge.  If he hadn't needed to be too intoxicated to agree to the tryst he could almost always "rise to the occasion," but sometimes he was merely an object to penetrate, and some customers were rough.

"Act like man, but they not," he said. "Just feel like man if they treat me same dog."  More than a couple of times he'd called the event to a halt, dressed and left, even though it meant no tip. A few times he'd had to struggle to leave, and once he'd had to fight his way out. What he said about those customers doesn't need to be repeated here.

Yod knew he was being used, and he treated his job as just that: a job. As some guys do, he also ran his own "business". Early on he'd been advised to encourage repeat business - a sound practice in any business, come to think of it - and he put great effort into what a friend had done, which was build a clientele who would send him money after they'd gone home.  Regularly.  It was then he promptly left the bars he freelanced in and started to take things easier.

It's a common story those who rent admirers hear early on, if they're listening, be they customers of of either sex.  Anyone who's known someone who has dallied overseas while in military service has probably heard the story in one form or another; the ship leaves Subic Bay in the Philippines and two weeks later the letter arrives: "I'm pregnant and it's yours".

As I said, Yod didn't work the short-term market all that long, preferring to tap the Walking ATM market instead. His rent and basics were paid, but his business was of the longer-term, better income type. As an example I'll cite a common story: "I'll leave my club life and wait for only you if you can help me with Bt ____ a month until you come back to be with me."

Yes, it's dishonest - probably fair to say morally reprehensible - so save your comments. It doesn't excuse his lies, but there are countless examples of farang saying "I want to bring you to my home country to be with me" (or variations on the theme) and then disappearing after the evening, too, and that's pretty crappy behavior, too. You hear that sort of story nightly if you eavesdrop for any length of time in lots of gay and straight bars where a farang is making their moves on a Thai.

Yod had built his business well. He currently had seven guys who regularly sent him money, thinking Yod was their Special Boy and waiting for them to return to visit him, and none knew about the other.  Two from the United Kingdom, two from Germany, one from France, and two from the USA. There were three others who were irregular contributors - Bt3,000 for his actual birthday and the likes - but these were added bonuses, as they rarely visited.

His regular monthly income was in the neighborhood of - get this - 45,000 baht per month, and he had no actual job. That's $1,500USD, or 1,100 Euro.  It might not sound like a lot where you're reading this, but in Thailand it's pretty darned good money. In addition to this regular income, two had believed they were the ones who had built the handsome home he showed pictures of where his mother, father and two brothers lived. They hired help now for the rice and cassava planting and harvesting, and his brothers attended good schools.

He said the easiest ones were the ones who came to visit on a set schedule, because the others could be scheduled around them. Only once over seven years had he needed to beg off or re-arrange a visitor's time in Thailand.  Some of the men he really did feel an affection for, and once he'd felt so sorry for a Dutch man who had fallen hard for him that Yod made up a story to end the relationship to avoid hurting the man too deeply. If he had wanted to settle down with a man, the Dutchman would have been the one. "He very very kind to me and act like Thai way," he said, but that wasn't what Yod wanted.

Yod spent a lot of time at his real home in the agricultural area outside of Bangkok proper, but also had regular stretches in Bangkok and other tourist areas where he managed his bank accounts and kept in contact with his guys from a variety of internet shops. Although he was out of the club scene, he figured he could always make room for one more farang; besides, he enjoyed time with his friends there. His one regular remaining vice was smoking tobacco.

Unlike many Thai club/bar/sex workers he spoke of, he'd dodged the drink/drug/gambling webs and had salted away a small fortune. His family was well taken care of, and he was considering settling down with a woman and making his own family.

After three hours of chatting we called it an evening. Yod wouldn't let me pick up the tab for himself, my translator friend and I. I look forward to following his story.

No, Size Isn't Everything, But Still...

A Micro 7-Eleven

On this last trip I saw a 7-Eleven store that may well be the record holder for being the smallest in all of Thailand. Located in the Mo Chit BTS station - as of today the Northern end of the Sukhumvit line, near the Jatujak Weekend Market - you might miss it if you blinked while walking by.

It was late in the evening, and I was on my way back to my room in Nonthaburi. The cheapest way to do that was to take the BTS to the end of the line and then catch a taxi for the rest of the ride.  Since it was such a gorgeously balmy evening I stopped to wander around the station before heading down to street level and my ride "home".

The sliding door was next to the candy shelf

Normally it's pretty frantic in the station when I'm passing through to or from the weekend market, but - as many stations can be after the evening commute - it was relatively peaceful and inviting. I was ready for something to drink, and was pleased to see the familiar orange and green stripes flanking the 7-11 logo, but something seemed odd about the place at my very first glance: it looked very small.

It was.

Upon stepping inside I was almost immediately nose to nose with a guy cleaning the soda dispensing machine.  As you can see by the photos, this place wasn't much over nine feet deep, at best - and maybe 15 feet long, tops.  There was almost more space behind the register than there was in front of it for the customers to queue up. Not being fond of being packed like a sardine I shuddered to think what it must be like during busy times.

Looking to the left, just inside the door

As you can see in the picture above there was just barely room for one person to get down to the magazine rack and the drinks further down the refrigerated case. My wide angle lens really couldn't do the place justice, and even one additional customer made it impossible to get a decent view of it, so these will have to do.  If you're in the station sometime, check it out.

At lease there isn't much floor to keep mopped.

Same Same, But VERY Different! Pt. 12: Businesses

A simple BBQ stand in Bangkok

Costco is currently a large chain of warehouse stores with over 600 locations worldwide (including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for you "Asiaphiles"). It's the 7th largest retailer in the entire world, and conspicuous consumption for the masses in it's finest form.

The other day I was pushing my cart away from the check-out area and happened by a computer monitor displaying some sales figures for the location I was at. Being curious, I looked at it, and saw sales goals for the unit and the results of goals vs actual sales: the day's goal of $743,000 USD, and actual sales (an hour before closing time) of $689,300 and change.  That's one hell of a lot of sales. If you extrapolate those figures out for an entire year that comes to roughly (entirely my guess here) $255,000,000.

Shoppers pushing oversize carts from a Costco checkout area. Internet image, not mine.

While wheeling my cart to the car I couldn't help but think of a family I'm acquainted with in Pattaya who operate a little shop on wheels, offering those little sticks of BBQ chicken and beef for sale. The single mother who runs the cart business buys roughly 200 baht's worth of raw product daily, cooks it on the street and - on a good day - sells enough of them to make a meager profit that helps keep a humble roof over the heads of her and her three children.

When her husband was around for the first handful of years they were a family they lived with his parents in a simple home a short distance from where many of you would probably stay while visiting Jomtien, an area adjoining Pattaya.

The father used to collect recyclable items from the streets and dump areas, but his alcoholism and penchant for other women finally got the better of him and he walked away from his familial responsibilities a few years back, leaving the mother to make the best of things.

To compound her misfortune, when her husband's family learned that their son had left they blamed her, and decided that she and their three grandchildren didn't belong under their roof any longer, and put them out onto the street. They stayed with friends briefly before she found shelter for herself and the kids, and after working some odd jobs here and there she managed to scrape together enough to buy a cart and begin her own business; a trade learned from her own parents in another part of the country decades before.

Now, I realize it's an extreme stretch to make the comparison between the cart she wheels about to wherever she feels the sales are for the day and an enormous warehouse location, but a business is a business, and if you do the dollar-to-baht conversion that brings us to a daily sales comparison of roughly $700,000 vs $12.

Same same, but VERY different.  Chew on that one a while the next time you think you're not doing well financially, and thank your lucky stars - or whatever - that you're living the life you've been graced with.

While you're at it, pass me that ten pound bag of mini-pretzels, will you?

Same Same, But Different! Pt. 12: Bud's Ice Cream

An open air Bud's Ice Cream shop on Laem Sing Beach, Chantaburi Province

OK, it's nostalgia time for those of you in the USA of a certain age, and I know there are some readers who will remember this. For the rest of you it's just a little background information about a product you're still likely to run into in the US - and Asia, strangely enough.

From the A.F.C. site

Bud Scheideman opened the first Bud's Ice Cream in San Francisco back in the 1960s. Then it was a small production facility and retail shop at 24th and Castro, and people soon learned that it was about the best ice cream around.

While Baskin-Robbins had opened in Southern California in the mid-1940s, this was before the days when Haagen-Daz and Ben and Jerry's were everyday staples of chain supermarket freezer cases. Several local dairies made their own house brands, of course, but the the brands we're talking about today have a higher butterfat content, and the "mouth feel" is noticeable.

Candied coconut, banana and sweet potato of some form were the base for my sundae. Syrups aren't often added as a topping.

Local treats in the freezer case

As a side note, Baskin-Robbins also branched out into the international market (including Asia) and they claim they also sell in Thailand, but I've yet to notice them there. I might have seen them and just don't remember it, but that's unlikely; when I travel I usually notice reminders of home.

I can see malls at home, so I don't usually spend a lot of time in them while overseas. Nothing against those who do, but I don't fly that far to see Swarovski crystal, regardless of the possible savings.

Standards aren't strictly enforced, as you might imagine, but it was still Bud's

My friend's sundae, although I've forgotten what was below the ice cream.

Alvin Edlin bought the Bud's operation from Scheideman - his cousin - in 1952. He upgraded the business and ran it until he sold it to a group of guys in 1982, who then sold it to Berkeley Farms in 1992. They were the ones who licensed it to American Foods Corporation, and that's when it truly went international, beginning in Singapore, Malaysia and, of course, all over Thailand.

"Base" options for your sundae

I have to admit - it was hot that noontime and it was a pleasant surprise to see the familiar logo sign sticking out over the walkway along Laem Sing beach on my long weekend in Chantaburi, and I told my friend we needed to stop in there after lunch. It was a happy break and a delicious - if different - treat.

Wall poster advertising ice cream cakes

Thai Smiles, Part 49: Work Is Work

Married owners of a fruit cart "stall" near the Glow hotel

Thursday. It's only Thursday.

When I was doing a fast-paced, high stress job with a publishing company some time back I'd occasionally find myself shutting myself off and hide in my office, head in hand, and wish, wish, wish it was late Friday afternoon; the freedom of the weekend just a bit too far out of reach. All too often, though, the opening scene of "Apocalypse Now" would come to mind. If you've seen the movie you probably remember it: the camera shows some dusty, ratty little room and Martin Sheen's voice-over laments in a helpless and hopeless tone "Saigon. Shit...I'm still only in Saigon."

Raking leaves, clearing tables and sweeping up, this man was preparing the Just One restaurant one morning for the day's business

While there are days I can still get myself wrapped around the axle about things, by and large my work today is a blessing from [insert higher power of your choice here]. Many can't say the same thing, and while I can both sympathize and empathize with them - I've had some jobs far beyond miserable - if I'm asked I offer the same solution: don't do it. Find something else. Push an ice cream cart around your neighborhood, if it makes you happy. You could adjust to a simpler lifestyle - we all could.

Renting sail boards on a beach North of Pattaya

I don't judge anyone by what they do to hold body and soul together financially as long as it doesn't harm or abuse anyone else and has at least some semblance of honor to it.

A couple work l-o-n-g days in an alley - setting up, cooking waffles and cleaning up / breaking down shop afterwards.

You've seen sewer workers, prison workers, construction laborers, massage and more blatant sex trade workers here (although they've never been directly identified as such, out of respect for their privacy) and a lot of other jobs you as readers might recoil from doing, but it's honest work, and I applaud them for being able to do it with a smile. As I've said before, in most cases the Thai feel if there isn't some fun (sanuk) to be found in doing something - why bother? Even begging on the street can be a legitimate option in some cases, and thank goodness for the mercy of those with an extra coin or five.

Using a weighted pipe spade a worker digs hole after hole in the hard, dry earth at a park construction site.

So, here today are some people who do a wide range of work, starting with the couple up top (who  plied me with samples of things I had never tried while selling me fruit to stock my hotel refrigerator with) to the laborers toiling in the hot sun on a day I didn't even care to be outdoors because of the heat.

Although it isn't Labor Day, I tip my hat to them all.

Working The Family Business

A boy helps his father glaze mortars for their shop

My guess is some of you grew up in a family that ran a business of one sort or another, as I did.  While it's not always an ideal situation it's often a good way to learn some healthy work habits. My family's business gave us all an opportunity to learn the meaning of dedication and endurance in addition to hard work, and while we didn't all go on to own successful businesses of our own later in life, some of us did; and that early experience has been a leg up in the business world we all appreciated later on, even if not right at the time!

Girl packaging Q-Tips for her family to sell

My best friend grew up picking coffee on the family farm in the South Pacific, as did his parents - and grandparents.  The difference was that earlier generations tended to stick close to home (my friend's mother lives five miles from the house she was born in) and the more current ones tend to strike out on their own for other places and other careers.  Today 90% of the high school seniors from that area leave their home island and head off to college or work elsewhere, as my friend did.

While many of the families I've met outside of the cities in Thailand - especially the farmers - are happy to have their children stay and help plant, harvest and keep the place going, it's seemed that traditions are being altered, as they often will be in any developing culture or country, and education and other jobs away from home are becoming less of an exception. One friend there grew up with his parents selling food from a cart near a factory, and now he's working a lucrative job in the electronics field.

Those with a healthy work ethic can be seen getting an education while still being an active part of the family business, regardless of what that is.  While a farming family may not have the income to pay for advanced schooling past the basic government education, where there's a will there's often a way.  One farmer's son I've known many years found a way to take out student loans and put himself through school, and now has a job that now only allows him more of the life he'd dreamed of but also the opportunity to help his family during slim times.  That family bond is usually strong in Thailand, and I think that's a good thing.

Partners working in their motorcycle repair shop

We're deliberately leaving the Fast Money workers out of the mix today, and just taking a look at a few regular folks - the people you may walk by and not notice while out and about; the everyday Joes and Janes.  I have a great deal of admiration for these folks, especially those bonded by blood or friendship who can make a go of things.  There, as here, I tend to be more inclined to pay a little more to help support a family establishment than a corporate one, be that a food cart, a cobbler or seamstress on the sidewalk or some other small, hole-in-the-wall business.

It reminds me of where I came from, and it makes me feel good to think that I might be helping someone rather like myself out.  It seems to work best if we pass it on.

A man working in an electronics repair shop in Pattaya

Is It Art, And Is It Ethical?

It would be foolish of me to make a generalized statement about piracy in Thailand for several reasons, but mainly because few of you reading this view such things strictly in black and white, and everyone seems to have their own level of comfort regarding counterfeit clothing, movies, music and the likes - depending on their own personal code.  It's also sometimes difficult to know for sure what is "real" and what's not in the Land of Smiles.

I read the other day that counterfeiting is big business there, especially in tourist areas, but not only there.  Designs  for clothing are "borrowed" or blatantly stolen, knock-off copies of watches appear with only minor changes - the list goes on and on, and you're liable to see copied merchandise for sale in a rural village stall as you are at Jatujak Market. Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, but when it impacts the bottom line - people get testy.

Take for example the shops who will, for a fee, paint you a piece of art from a photo you bring in.  Some also have original pieces for sale, but usually they're copies of existing images: paintings, photographs, that sort of thing.  The shop up top today was one where several people sit day after day, carefully painting canvas after canvas of reproductions such as the one of Vincent Van Gogh's painting of irises.  You can see the image of his painting in the book clipped open to the right of the canvas.

The folks working in the shop seemed a little uncertain about my taking photos in there so I won't say where in Thailand this was, and I've obscured their faces. They were pleasant people, but obviously they themselves had some misgivings about the use of their skills in this particular instance.  One man was working from a snapshot a customer had brought in, and he was pleased to show that off, but I haven't included that shot, either.

While the owners of some of these works might just say "who cares" my guess is that a huge mega-corporation like Coca-Cola might not feel that way.  Van Gogh isn't here to get a royalty check, but monies are owed to someone, and where does one draw the line?  They're not being passed off as the Real Deal Originals at market value.  Personally I don't like the idea, but I'm not a lily-white participant in this arena, either, so I'm casting no stones.

We'll address the movie and music part of it another time.  Enjoy your weekend, all.