We could all gain something from the Spanish approach to life over that of the German; having a mid-afternoon siesta is far more appealing than working rigid office hours, but perhaps Thailand is where we should be looking for inspiration. The art of napping is very much alive in the City of Angels, and what a welcome relief that is given the intense heat. I remember in the UK that naps were reserved primarily for children and old people. I would often go to a friend’s house with the sole intention of taking a nap before either going back home or heading to work. People thought this odd, but a nap is often the best way to perk yourself up.

Thailand has embraced the virtue of napping. The intervals during the day in which it is possible to take a nap are many, and the justifications needed to do so are few. During my stint teaching English, I discovered that I could take at least five naps a day: one in the taxi on the way to work, one at my desk before school started, one during lunchtime, one on the bus on the way home, and finally one when I got back to my room. I was able to cancel out all the effects of any nocturnal activities by having an entire night’s sleep during the day.

My current job does not allow for much napping, but there are still ample opportunities during the week in which I can doze off and join in on the action with my Thai brothers and sisters. A pleasing number of Thai people have listed “sleeping” as a hobby when I have questioned them.

Thai people are somewhat ahead of me in the skills required to be a proficient napper. Although I have learnt to nap in most situations, I am yet to achieve the knowledge needed to be able to nap at any given moment in any given place. For a Thai person, a nap can occur anywhere: on a table, in a chair, in a nightclub, behind the counter of a shop, and almost anywhere where movement is not required.

I found this on an old, disused blog: Once upon a time, I was hunting for some new clothes at a major shopping mall in Thailand. I wanted to try some things on and I eventually found the fitting room. The saleswoman told me to wait a moment. The door was closed. I was stunned when I saw her go in and wake up about five employees who were asleep on the floor.

This came from the Associated Press on January 8: Sleeping on the job might get most people fired. But catching a few "Z's" is actually encouraged at a Bangkok municipal office. A little after noon, the lights are switched off and the civil servants take their afternoon nap. Thai officials say the snooze helps to energize the employees. They even have a nap room, with soft music, flowers and strict rules against talking or cell phone use.

I’m still waiting for a nap room to be set up in my office, but I will bring it up in the next meeting with my boss.

Zzzzzz

Techno' tags: Taking a nap, Sleeping, Thailand

It was the sort of Saturday when nothing important was scheduled to happen. I made a decision to do something I had wanted to do since I first arrived in Bangkok: I was going to ride the Skytrain… all day. Bangkok’s citizens make countless trips on the BTS without ever really paying attention to their surroundings. Typically, they pass through the barriers, drift into a state of semi-functionality, and by the time they are awake they find themselves at their destination of choice. There they are, cooped up in the same space, trying desperately to blend in with the scenery, watching endless cycles of the Preppy-G music video. ‘Tis torture!

Taking my inspiration from the great blog Overheard in New York, I decided that to keep myself entertained for the duration of my day out, I would try and eavesdrop on unsuspecting people. I imagined discovering people’s fears, their dark secrets, their anecdotes and musings and whims. It all seemed so exciting. I bought a one-stop, 10-baht ticket at Victory Monument. My eavesdropping began almost immediately:

“Let’s see if I can do this without it killing me this time,” said an awfully English-sounding lady. She was a little large and I could understand why she was afraid of the electronic barrier. I watched as she passed through without disaster. I was a little disappointed. I couldn’t tell if she was a tourist, but she looked like the sort of person who would be great to have for aunt, but a little excessive for a mother.

I walked to the platform to wait for a train heading in the direction of On Nut. My eyes lit up at the sight of a farang in a short-sleeved shirt with a tall, thin, unbelievably plain Thai girl as his companion. The girl was crying. I edged closer with one earphone in my left ear to fool people of my intentions. I was also wearing an anti-coup T-shirt in the hope of distracting people from my intrusive presence.

Read the rest of this entry »

An Australian news report has pinned the Bangkok bombings on regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah. The Weekend Australian is citing Thai intelligence agencies as saying that a central figure from JI was involved with the planning of the New Year’s Eve bombings with the intention of heightening animosity between the old and new regime, thus giving new hope and strength to separatists. If this is true, then it has certainly worked, and a lot of people, including the government and the police, are being directly contradicted here. Thaksin must be laughing his head off on his globetrotting tour.

This comes from the news report:

The reports say a meeting in December between the head of JI in Narathiwat province and a representative from the Patani United Liberation Organisation made the final preparations. Bomb materials were to be supplied from Cambodia. "Masae Useng, the head of the Jemaah Islamiah in Narathiwat province and Ruslan Yumuraenae, the commander of the PULO Sabotage Unit had met in the (informant's) home in Kuala Lumpur towards the end of December 2006," the report says.

The meeting's purpose was to select personnel for deployment to Bangkok "where they would commit acts of sabotage aimed at intensifying the dispute between the Government and the former regime", it said. "Such attacks would provide a significant boost to Separatist Front morale and would put the Siamese infidels off balance."

The whole country is off balance at the moment. This is really big news if it turns out to be true. It means that Bangkok really is in the grip of terrorism and that this is creating the confusionism I talked about before. What I don’t understand is why an Australian news report has this before anyone else. I’ve not been able to check the Thai-language press (not that I can read it), but it will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next twelve hours. If this is the work of JI then Bangkok is in a very precarious position and the situation becomes about more than just Thailand’s petty internal squabbling. For information on JI and their previous movements, check out the Wikipedia article. From the Wikipedia article:

On 5 August 2006, Al-Qaeda's Al Zawahiri appeared on a recorded video announcing that JI and Al-Qaeda had joined forces and that the two groups will form "one line, facing its enemies."

I’m seriously hoping it’s not JI, but if it was then you would have expected something a lot more catastrophic aimed at more high-profiles places. But then, terrorism is not meant to follow patterns. It evolves. What are we seeing here?

To further confuse the issue, this came in from the Bangkok Post today:

Police will today search the houses of suspects thought to be linked to the New Year's Eve bombings, including homes of several senior military officers in Bangkok and Lop Buri. Council for National Security (CNS) chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said the government and the CNS were expecting a report on the progress of the investigation into the blasts from the police in the next few days. So far, the authorities have been unable to identify the suspected perpetrators of the blasts due to a lack of clear evidence, they say.

I’m as bewildered as anyone.

Addendum: Bangkok Pundit has informed me that the journalist who wrote the Australian article (Ron Corben) would most likely have had access to very good sources. BP also mentioned that it would have been like blowing up your own HQ if you were the newspaper that broke this story in Thailand. Check BP for a more accurate take on this. I guess it makes sense why everyone has waited for someone else to start the ball rolling.

Techno' tags: Terrorism in Thailand, Bangkok bombings, Jemaah Islamiah

Jonathan Head, the BBC’s correspondent in Bangkok, made some interesting points about media censorship in Thailand at the FCC last night. The main thrust of his discussion was that the Thai government under Thaksin did not censor the media any more or any less than the current government under Surayud. The difference between the governments, as Jonathan suggested, is that Thaksin and his group were a lot more media savvy than the Council for National Security (CNS). I think this makes sense, as I said in a previous blog post. The CNS is making itself into a villain while elevating Thaksin to the status of a victim.

The current government doesn’t seem to understand the function of the media. Jonathan was exasperated because, as he said, the media want to work with the Thai government, but they can’t. The CNS is clumsy in its approach to media censorship, whereas Thaksin was a lot more subtle. Jonathan said that there is a “Failure to understand the media” on the part of the present government.

Jonathan also raised some interesting points about the monarchy that highlight the difficulties in ever successfully discussing Thailand’s internal status, but I don’t feel like talking about that on the internet.

At the moment we have a situation where Thaksin is gallivanting around the world proclaiming how bad media censorship is. It’s ridiculous. The Thai government is actually helping Thaksin. They may as well invite him back in to run in the next elections, which incidentally should be here by the end of this year, according to Kiattichai Pongpanit, senior editor of the Thai newspaper Khao Sod. The new Constitution should be drafted by July… in theory.

Khun Kiattichai was an interesting character to try and fathom. He said that there was absolutely no censorship of the Thai print media going on at the moment. He said he actually didn’t care what the government or anybody else said. This was an interesting thing to say because Jonathan Head was expressing his frustration with the censorship of the English-language media while reiterating the point that the CNS has not given us its reasons for overthrowing the government in September.

As for the Bangkok bombings, the police are due to give their report in the next few days, as The Nation reported half-an-hour ago on its website:

Army commander and Council for National Security chairman Sonthi Boonyaratglin said Friday police's conclusion over the bomb attacks on New Year's Eve would reach the prime minister and himself in the next few days.

I’m not holding my breath for this to really mean anything, but you never know.

Techno’ tags: Coup, Protest, Media censorship, Bangkok bombings, Thailand

They’re still at it: September 19 Network Again Coup D’etat has announced more protests. In their latest press release, the pro-democracy group informs that there will be demonstrations this Friday from 11.30 A.M. to 1 P.M. and from 4.30 P.M. to 7.30 P.M. in front of CP Tower on Silom Road. There will be yet another march on Sunday at 4 P.M. once again starting off in Sunam Luang. In the current climate, anything could happen, but from their latest press release I don’t think these guys have anything wildly more drastic to say than last time.

Techno’ tags: Coup, Protest, Martial Law, Bangkok, Thailand