From Monday to Thursday. And as such, the Thai authorities have been cracking down on all of the fake goods until well after he’s gone. Happens every time. They get to show they’re really tough on the trade, then the vendors are allowed back out into the open immediately afterward. They’re being very thorough this time, though, as the wife and I were on Khao San Road last Saturday, and there were no fake CDs and DVDs to be seen anywhere. I doubt I’ve ever seen that before. The police launched a raid on the fake-goods vendors in Patpong last Friday night, and the vendors actually fought back!
It will be business as usual after Bush leaves, though. This IS Thailand, after all. See story here.
But this is what chaps me: They can do what they want with the pirated goods, I couldn’t care less. But whenever some major dignitary comes to town – and I mean REALLY big, like the US president or UK prime minister – they go around to all the bars and tell the girls no nudity and the lesbians no live sex shows until they’re gone. Really, I’m not kidding, it happens every single time. I mean, do they think that George Bush is going to go bar hopping in Soi Cowboy one night and then suddenly stumble into Suzie Wong’s or Sheba’s at showtime and have his brain warped by the sight of a passle of live nude lesbians bundled together? Hey, maybe it will give him an idea for a suggestion to Laura, I dunno! But this has got to be one of the more annoying aspects of major state visits to Thailand. :mad:
I think it’s all wrapped up in the fact that while Bush is here, the spotlight will be on Thailand, and reporters out hunting for a story might grab on that reliable old standby: pirated goods. And since Thailand is always trying to convince the world that it’s jumping on the anti-piracy bandwagon, they’ve cracked down temporarily, like they always do.
Thailand is not this hypocritical about everything, mind you. The crackdown on underage prostitution has been in earnest and highly effective. And major drug dealers have a much harder time nowadays than ever could have been imagined 20 or 25 years ago. There may be some work left in those areas, I’m not saying it’s perfect yet, but the crackdowns have indeed been effective. However, pirated goods have proven to be extremely difficult to eradicate. A theory of mine is that whereas underage prostitution and drugs equate to real and immediate hardship and degradation, it’s difficult to convince fake-goods dealers and even the local police that taking money away from already-wealthy companies while putting it into the pockets of needy Thai citizens is such a bad thing.
Actually, I’m curious. Bush was here in 2003 for a big Apec meet, but the wife and I were on a trip to Cambodia at that time. (Apec is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.) Before that, Clinton was here in November 1996, right after his re-election. He gave a speech at Chulalongkorn University. He really packed them in, and people crowded outside. Two cousins of my wife in particular were positively swooning. I even know the guy who wrote Clinton’s speech. A fellow American who was a professor at the university at the time. He never met Clinton in person but was given a list of points that the president wanted covered. My friend heard later that Clinton really liked the speech.
But I digress. When Clinton was here in November 1996, it was a quick day trip and then off to somewhere else. He gave the speech, met some government officials, stopped at the palace to see the king and queen, then bye. I was told that US presidents did not stay in Thailand, because no hotel could be sufficiently secured. My source said that for instance, the US Embassy in Paris had an underground tunnel leading straight to the Ritz Hotel. He could travel between his suite in the Ritz and the US Embassy without ever having to see the light of day. Still can, I guess. But then Bush did stay here in 2003 and is about to spend three nights here now. So I wonder, assuming that my source was not full of shit – and he’s usually not – what has changed in the intervening years.
Well, he’s not going to be here three nights after all, just Wednesday night. But they’ve started cleaning up the streets. Lower Sukhumvit was completely devoid of vendors yesterday afternoon, at least the part I was on. I could actually see the sidewalk again! There did, though, seem to be more beggars, at least four between Nana Skytrain Station and Bully’s just past Soi 4.
Well, so much for cleaning up the streets. The vendors were back out there yesterday, including some of the fake-goods ones. Then I remembered it was Monday when I saw the vendors gone; I’m not usually down there on that day, and so it was probably only the day they clean the area. :smack: They do that.
We’re heading out of town early on the day Bush arrives, tomorrow (Thursday), so we’ll miss the dear boy. I just hope the traffic is not screwed up like it was when I almost missed a flight to Japan in 1996 because Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were here. Fortunately we’re taking a bus from the other side of the river.
Just heard the Thai authorities rounded up a group of Burmese earlier this week who had snuck across from their country for the express intention of trying to speak to Bush about the situation there. I think they shoved them back across the border. Lovely.
And of course Bush leaves tomorrow, not arrives. He arrives today, Wednesday. I wish I could keep his schedule straight.
Well, he’s in Bangkok now. Here are his planned remarks later today (Thursday).
Laura plans a visit to the Mercy Centre in our Khlong Toey slum community, which is actually quite a worthwhile project. Khlong Toey is the largest of Bangkok’s many slums. Has something like 50,000 residents last I heard, which was awhile back, so it’s probably larger now.
I never link to the Bangkok Post, because they show you their articles for free only for a day or two and then want you to pay to see them! But the Post says: “[Laura Bush] plans to visit the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot district in Tak province and the Mae La Karen refugee camp near the ThaiBurmese border in Tha Song Yang district in the same province, which houses 60,000 refugees, most of them Karen. The clinic is run by Cynthia Maung, who received the Magsaysay Award for community leadership last year and was named one of Time magazine’s Asian heroes in 2003.”
Mae Sot is where the Burmese refugees I mentioned were rounded up and pushed back across the border, the ones reportedly planning to try to talk to the president or his Mrs. But the president will be meeting with some representatives of the Burmese community, including the editor of The Irrawaddy, which I’ve linked to often and is the voice of a free Burma.
Really, I’m not kidding, it happens every single time. I mean, do they think that George Bush is going to go bar hopping in Soi Cowboy one night and then suddenly stumble into Suzie Wong’s or Sheba’s at showtime and have his brain warped by the sight of a passle of live nude lesbians bundled together? Hey, maybe it will give him an idea for a suggestion to Laura, I dunno! But this has got to be one of the more annoying aspects of major state visits to Thailand. :mad: