You can read the Bangkok Post : Terry Fredrickson's Bangkok Post Blog

Today at Khlong Toei market

Update: November 13 - The protest described below received almost no media attention until early this morning when a bomb was thrown into the gathering, injuring 15 people, two seriously. The protestors have now opened the Rama IV, but this appears to be our of respect for the funeral for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. The bomb has clearly not frightened them away and the road in front of the market is closed off and full of protestors.

I just passed there on my way home from work and I talked to several people. They say the bomb was thrown from the overpass heading towards Queen Sirikit Convention Centre. There is a rather high wall there so it was impossible to see who threw the bomb.

I now understand where there are signs saying "mai aw mafia" -- "we don't want the mafia". The owner of the company that won the bid to manage the market is said to be a former military officer with a criminal record.

(November 12) Below is a scene you won't see very often. That is Rama IV, normally one of Bangkok's streets, at the beginning of rush hour a short while ago. I took the photos on my way home from the nearby Bangkok Post building. What was going on? Scroll down the page and you'll find out.

ramaclear

Today, the Khlong Toei market vendors shut down Rama IV in front the market in protest against the landlord, the Port Authority of Thailand's plans to develop the area under new management. The vendors fear, very likely correctly, that they will be forced out, either through very high rents or because the land will be developed into yet another upscale commercial centre.

protest2

The sign below reads "The Port Authority has opened the bidding - Area development project - Commercial building and the Khlong Toei market - To find money to fill their purses before their term ends Hee Hee Hee. (If someone wants to help me on the translation, use the comment section below.)

sign

The speaker sounded like he had been talking for a long time because he was very hoarse. Like all such rallys, however, there were a lot of breaks for music, keeping the crowd upbeat. Meanwhile, the traffic was backed up all the way from Khlong Toei market almost to the Hua Lumpong station. I know, I was caught in it for over an hour earlier in the day.

speaker

All in all, I'm not sure the vendors picked a very good day. Today is Loy Krathong and it was also the day when the Bangkok governor was forced to resign after being implicated in a corruption case. Thus, they got almost no media coverage. Will they stay until they do? We'll just have to wait and see.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bangkok Halloween

The halls of our condo have been filled with the excited sounds of children tonight. With two buildings of 26-storeys each to cover, the pickings are very good indeed. Our troop came back with five bags filled to the brim. The stomach aches will inevitably follow.

Most of the youngsters in our condo go to international schools, so they have a pretty idea of what Halloween offers. But we also have Thai kids coming from outside, largely children of people working here. They don't really understand what is going on, but they like it.

We have four youngsters from the Northeast of Thailand staying with us for a few days, all relatives of my wife, and, of course, they joined in the fun. Two of them are in the photo. This was their first Halloween and I imagine they'll want to be back again next year.

Halloween is also an young adult thing in Thailand and the nightclubs will shortly be filled with wildly dressed revellers. Since I'm not a young adult, I'll give that a pass.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rebel leaders from hell

I knew there was a radio station aimed at Bangkok taxi drivers but I had never listened to it until today on the short ride from my home to the Ekamai BTS station. My taxi driver was quite old and he seemed to be in a foul mood. Perhaps it what he was listening to.

At first, it seemed like an ordinary station with the presenter bemoaning the lack of unity in the country. It quickly became clear, however, that he put the blame on one group and one group alone That was the People's Alliance for Democracy who were being led by the แกนนำกบฏจากนรก (the rebel leaders from hell). They and their ASTV channel were ruining the country, refusing to listen to anyone and deliberately creating trouble for their own benefitt. The presenter praised the police and had some very harsh words for the military.

That is when my trip ended. I was in a foul mood mysefl.

Book fair update: I'll be on the main stage at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) so if you are at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, come by and say hello.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Weekend at bookfair

I'll be at the bookfair at the DK Today booth (section A, plenary hall) signing copies of my new book from 11:00 a.m. to noon both Saturday and Sunday. I'll also be at the Post Books booth in section C before and after. Come by and say hello. The young man in the photo, incidentally, is a teacher from Maha Sarakham whose English is remarkably good for someone who began speaking the language as a university student here in Thailand. His grammar is almost perfect and he has very good vocabulary as well. I wonder how he did it. I've always had an interest in successful adult language learners and I wish I had a chance to talk to him longer.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jumping elephant

It's the term break and in our house, that means an invasion of the little ones from Khon Kaen. Like all kids in the 3- to 4-year-old age range they need to have things to occupy them or we hear about. Cartoon network and the Disney channel help some, but it isn't long before they are chasing each other noisily around the house.

They are pretty good about leaving me alone in my office, until I finish my work. When they do come in they always want to turn on youtube to see their favourite video about a very talented animated elephant (link below). อยากดูซัางกระโดด they say. (We want to see the jumping elephant) If you have little ones at your house, the video is certain to be a hit with them as well. Adults too, for that matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK27aknWVI4

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Book signings and radio

I've been signing my book at the bookfair every day this week. Today I was at the DK Today booth for an hour. DK Today, of course, is probably the number one bookstore in the country for English language learning and teaching material, so my book was an easy sell. Students and young office workers are probably the number one group of buyers but there are a lot of parents buying for their children as well. Then, there is my favourite group, the older "life-long learners". I always have them in mind when I write my materials. Tomorrow I'll be at DK again starting at 2:30 p.m. so if you are at the bookfair, please say hello.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by Modern Radio 100.5, an MCOT station. The interviewer, Saichol Kiatgungwalgri, is quite experienced and she did a very good job. It ran about 20 minutes and it is scheduled to be aired on Sunday at about 4:00 p.m in their "World of Books" programme. And yes, it was in Thai.

If you listen, you will hear that while I am quite fluent, I still do not express myself like a Thai. Like many other people who have lived in a foreign country for many years, my language has become fossilised and it is very difficult to correct old, bad habits. I can still learn new vocabulary easily enough, but it seems almost impossible to reach that last stage of complete grammatical accuracy. I think what has held me back is that I work mainly in English, not Thai. But, again, maybe that is just an excuse.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bookfair opens

I got to the bookfair at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre about 11:00 a.m. this morning which is a good time because you can actually breathe. By 2:00 p.m. when I left, the fair was packed.

bookfair4

At about noon, I did a short TV spot for our satellite channel. When I say short, I'm mean like 30 seconds. That's much harder than a two or three minute spot because you don't really get a chance to explain yourself. Doing it in a second language also makes it more difficult. I have to concentrate a lot harder in Thai and I can't think ahead as much as I can in my native language. In the end, we did three takes and they will take bits and pieces from each one of them to make up the 30 seconds.

We ended up selling quite a few books today, more than I expected really. There was one period were I was signing book after book but then things slowed down a bit. There is so much competition at a fair of this size that some times I'm amazed that we can sell anything at all.

I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, so if any of you are at the fair, come over to Aisle C in the plenary hall and say hello. Most of the books on display at Post Books are Thai-language pocketbooks and they are really quite good -- and not very expensive.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bookfair

Just a quick note about tomorrow's bookfair. Our Post Books booth is in the Plenary Hall on Aisle C, right next to the main Bangkok Post - Post Today booth. I am supposed to be there around noon for a short TV interview and I'll be staying around for a couple of hours to talk to people who wander by the booth. If you are there, say hello.

My book will be on sale, of course, and I'll be happy to go through it with you. Basically, it is a complete guide to reading the Bangkok Post designed for people whose first language is not English. For most people here, that first language is Thai and that is why we have Thai explanations throughout the book.

The book gives you an introduction to the newspaper, the styles of writing it uses plus its most common content. Everything you learn you can apply immediately to any issue of the Bangkok Post.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thaiprisonlife.com

This morning I got an email from Richard Barrow, probably Thailand's most prolific and successful blogger and independent website manager. I first met Richard in 2002 when I visited his school in Paknam for the very first feature I did as editor of the Bangkok Post's brand-new learning post section.

The reason I went there was that Richard had set up what was, and still is, Thailand's best school website. As the learning post editor, I wanted to showcase some of the best the Thai educational system had to offer and this was the perfect place to start.

While I was there, I met one of his star students, Panrit “Gor" Daoruang (photo below). At 16, Gor was already "veteran" webmaster drawing in thousands of visitors a day from all over the world. In looking at his work I was very impressed with his creativity and his interest in introducing all things Thai to the rest of the world. I felt he would be an excellent columnist for the learning post.

Gor1

I was right. He quickly became our most popular columnist, but not exactly for the reasons I had anticipated. At first, he wrote about his life as a typical Thai teenager which was interesting enough, but it soon became apparent he was a teenager living on the edge. Drugs and girls came into his life and with them came run-ins with parents and police. His columns began to come in sporadically despites Richard's best efforts to keep him disciplined. Finally, he had to give up his column as his problems become more and more serious.

For the past two years Gor has been in prison serving a three-year sentence for a drugs offence. With Richard's help, however, he has maintained his huge international following. The reason for Richard's email was to alert me that Gor had been featured in the world famous Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

This is a story you will definitely want to read and you can access here.

For a chronical of his life in prison, go here.

And to see my original story on Richard's school, go here.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Strategy questions

Photo: APICHIT JINAKUL

The concepts of strategy and tactics came up in the first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama with both candidates claiming his opponent didn't understand the difference. To set the record straight here is a dictionary definition of both:

strategy: a plan or method for achieving something, especially over a long period of time
tactic: a particular method or plan for achieving something

We might say the strategy is the overall plan while the tactics are the particular step-by-step ways of achieving it.

In Thai politics we are seeing tactics played out every day, but it is hard to figure out what, if any, strategies are behind them. For example, what do the PAD leaders really have in mind for the long run? They clearly have the support of a large and dedicated membership, but they are also hated in many parts of the country. What would happen if a PAD-dominated or supported government ever came to power? What would stop PAD opponents for organising protests and strikes throughout the North and Northeast and in Bangkok as well for that matter?

What do leaders of the Democrat Party have in mind? How will they ever come to power if they can't expand their support into the Northeast and the North? And how long will their members remain satisfied with being in the opposition?

And what about the pro-Thaksin forces? They have the ability to win election after election but they do not seem to have the power to truly govern. How will they ever be free of PAD protests? What do they have in mind for the end game?

I would love to sit in the shadows listening to strategy sessions among all three groups.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Non-stop news

For photos of today's morning violence click below.

Sarot Meksophawannakul

Jetjaras Na Ranong

To see the Bangkok Post's news room this afternoon, click here.

jet5

Photo by Jetjaras Na Ranong

This has been a day of non-stop news. It seems pointless to simply cover a story from the morning paper and let it go at that. On historic days like this one, I like to do updates throughout the day. This way, English language learners can get a good idea about how to understand and explain the news they are seeing in the Thai media in English as well.

To do this, I usually depend on television. Waiting for reports on the Internet is too slow and the television news here is actually quite good and remarkably free -- probably the result of a weak government. Since I've been here for almost 30 years, the language is not a problem. In fact, for news reports I process Thai just about as well as I do my native English.

The one channel covering today's events non-stop was the new public channel, Thai TV which took over for ITV. Unlike its precessor, it tends to be quite straightforward, certainly not slanted towards the government. In fairness, the government was probably unhappy with all the channels today as they showed quite graphically what happens when teargas shells are fired into a crowd. It's not pretty as you will see from the photos taken by two Bangkok Post photographers, Sarot Meksophawannakul and Jetjaras Na Ranong.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Terry's new book

We are launching my latest book this weekend at the book fair at Queen Sirikit Convention Centre. It has the same title as this website, You can read the Bangkok Post, and it is a quite a thorough guide to reading our newspaper. This time, it's bi-lingual with explanations in both Thai and English. I'll have more on this later, but I'll be at the book fair just about every afternoon, so if you come by our booth, you can say hello.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Election Day in Bangkok

Today was election day in Bangkok. Although the result wasn't in much doubt, people still went to the polls in large numbers to choose the next governor of the city . Democrat Apirak Kosayodhin, the previous Bangkok governor, was expected to win easily and all three exit polls released so far indicate that is what happened. The big question hanging over the election now is whether Mr Apirak will be disqualified for by the Election Commission for what appears to be a minor infraction involving public relations posters. Disqualifications are quite common in Thai elections, so you can't really be sure what will happen.

ballotbox

About noon, my wife, son and I wandered over to our local polling station at the school next to Wat Pasi near Ekamai Road as it passes over the Saen Saeb Canal on the approach to Petchburi Road.

candidates

Voting was light at that time, but I imagine it picked up a bit later before the polls closed. In the photo above, you see a voter about to enter the balloting area. You can also just see the ballot box at the top. On top of it is a clock and at exactly 3:00 p.m. the voting ends.

As you enter the polling area, there is a large board with the photos and numbers of the candidates. Near the back of the area is a list of eligible voters and that is where people head to find out if their names are included. Since we only officially moved into the area several months ago after buying a condominium, my wife's name wasn't on the list. We found out later that you need to be a resident for one year to be eligible to vote.

wat pasi 4

Wat Pasi itself is an interesting place to visit. It is located in the shadow of the huge Charn Isara Tower, a landmark that can be seen for many kilometres. I'm sure the temple predated the tower by many years and the immediate neighbourhood is still relatively quiet, especially on a Sunday.

The temple itself is quite unusual for Bangkok. From the outside it seems ordinary enough, but as you go inside it is quite unlike any temple I have seen here in Thailand,
looking much more Indian than Thai. Does anyone know anything about its history? There is a place for comments at the bottom and you are welcome to add your voice -- in English or Thai.

From the temple, it's only a short 10-15-minute walk home. This is typical of Bangkok where voting is extremely convenient. It will be interesting to see what the turnout was.

watpasi5

Now at 7:30 p.m, Mr Apirak has built a commanding lead with 260,000 votes, double that of his nearest opponent, PPP representative Prapas Chongsanguan. For me, I'm about 10 minutes away from a meal of sticky rice, som tam and fried pork.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2008

Today at Khlong Toei market

October 31, 2008

Bangkok Halloween

October 21, 2008

Rebel leaders from hell

October 17, 2008

Weekend at bookfair

October 16, 2008

Jumping elephant

October 15, 2008

Book signings and radio

October 11, 2008

Bookfair opens

October 10, 2008

Bookfair

October 09, 2008

Thaiprisonlife.com

October 08, 2008

Strategy questions

October 07, 2008

Non-stop news

October 06, 2008

Terry's new book

October 05, 2008

Election Day in Bangkok