Tourist Thailand - Caveat Emptor

My mate Brian booked a condo for a month on Koh Samui through a company called kohsamui.com and wired 28,000 THB to them. The idea was to sort out a place for his annual Christmas trip to tourist Thailand and after the long flight from Scotland to be able to head to his accommodation with his elderly mother and get settled down.

Five days after his arrival he and his mother are in a hotel at their own expense, no condo, no money back and nobody doing anything. I find it hard to believe this has happened. But from my own bitter experience, Koh Libong in particular, I can hardly say I am too surprised. I would never pay for anything up front in Thailand again unless I was there and was happy with what was on offer.

In the great scheme of things, we all make mistakes and most of us try our best to put them right. In business you say you're sorry and pay the money back immediately because you are fearful of the consequences for your reputation. I am staggered that my mate is still waiting for a refund and likely will have to make a trip to to the tourist police and regulatory authorities. He is being subjected to procrastination tactics: "Sorry the owner is away and won't be back until tomorrow" "It's a holiday weekend". What's wrong with a simple phone call -  give this guy his money back and apologise.

A relative is coming to Thailand soon and he too is headed for tourist Thailand. I am fearful for him. I am sorry to be so negative about tourist Thailand but it really makes my blood boil to learn about this sort of practise. As you know I don't like paying 80 baht for a bowl of noodles!

So be warned.

Update: Brian got his money back after 3 weeks' dogged persistence; there was also some police involvement. He learned a lot of other people were in the same position with this company. So once more, be warned.

Tempus Fugit

Benny at Suan Phueng, Swiss Resort

How time flies! It seems almost remiss of me not to have blogged here for so long especially as the news is that Luna is well advanced into her second pregnancy. Baby is due mid-February 2012. See the trouble a man can get into in Thailand! In view of this Lola is here, that is Granny or Nan, Luna's mother Jona. What a Godsend Jona has been these last couple of months.

Luna's 39th Birthday party

Bilingual Benny astonishes us with his boundless energy, his love of Ben 10 and his linguistic prowess. I was recently preparing a lesson for my Saturday kids. I was previewing an animation on the letter "O" and without any prompting from me he said "OCTOPUS" when this image appeared on my notebook. I heard him say "Daddy's medicine" today as he picked up my latest course of anti-biotics. Yup he got the possessive apostrophe '-s'. Benedict also speaks Thai quite effortlessly and a fair amount of Ilongo, more so since Lola has been here and Mummy and Lola converse in their local dialect. I was laughing recently because I hit Benny on his bum and his response was "Agay" which is Ilongo for "Ouch"! He really is an amazing little boy.

The last few weeks have been dominated here by the flooding in the greater Bangkok area. It has only indirectly affected us here in Ratchburi with shops being emptied by panic buying; hotels here and elsewhere are pretty full with Bangkokians trying to avoid the flooding. As I write I think the worst is over. Certainly the weather seems to be right for this time of year.

I have not been enjoying the best of health of late. I had to have a tooth extracted which caused an infection: anti-biotics. Then I came back from a trip to Malaysia and had a horrible fever: more antibiotics. Then Saturday past I had terrible diarrhoea: even more antibiotics. 36 hours later I am not sure that I am through the worst of this latest ailment.

Anyway my life is full and complete notwithstanding the occasional setback. I mustn't grumble though I would like to be free of diarrhoea!

Mothers Day 2011

I have written before about how well the Thais do Mothers Day which is celebrated tomorrow, the birthday of HRH Queen Sirikit สิริกิติ์มหาราชินี. Today every school in Thailand will have organised Mothers Day events ahead of tomorrow's holiday, (thanks Ma'am! ) and of course these took on much greater significance for us today as Benedict was involved courtesy of his nursery.

We made it to see  Benedict and his classmates dancing. We were so proud of him and as you can see he and his buddies look so incredibly cute. I think it is fair to say they were terrified as well. Clearly practising in the classroom is quite different to being pushed out in front of the assembled dignitaries and doting parents. But our boy done brilliant! I think his teachers did too! I really don't know how they do so well with these children.

We dashed back for our respective schools' activities. I really enjoyed our show. As I say the Thais do this stuff really well and the kids love getting dressed up and showing off. We had a very decent rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy by our school orchestra and the usual stuff: poems, prayers,traditional dancing and singing. What a pleasant way to start a long weekend!

Yes this is a blog about Life in Thailand!

A momentous event in the life of Benedict occured today: he had a poo in his potty for the first time! In my eyes he can do no wrong for this! As you can see we keep him busy with ironing in his spare time! My word, it's quite an experience watching him grow up.

Benny can throw things overarm perhaps suggesting he might be a great cricketer! This can be a problem. The mangostein in Benny's hand might have ended up on the dinner table as he actually threw it. Tut tut!

Benny is a great copier as the above shows. RJ is a great friend and Benny just loves playing with him. What a racket they can make. Benny can tell you the photo is of "RJ".

All I can say is Benny is wonderful even when he is naughty. He definitely doesn't like the word "NO"! But he is a real live wire, as strong as an ox with boundless energy.

Benny's teacher at nursery told me he is dancing at school at the Mothers Day events which fall next week; it is celebrated in Thailand on the same day as the Queen's birthday and it is a big event. Unfortunately both of us will probably miss this as we will be caught up in events in our respective schools. We dance a lot at home: Benny loves "Clap your hands".

And on it goes.....

The internet and satellite TV mean I have been able to watch the UK phone hacking scandal unravel blow by blow. It really is remarkable technology and of course it is this same technology that is at the centre of this sorry tale. I watched the appearances before  parliamentary committees of the senior police officers and the Murdochs live on the BBC TV. I gave up on Rebecca Brooks due to tiredness. All I can remember is her hair - as we would say in London, what a Barnet! I can follow events on The Guardian's website which has an excellent rolling blog and I have always had respect for The Telegraph's journalism so I dip in there and  also The New York Times which has broken important parts of the story. I can even tune into BBC Radio 4 which really is Nirvana! I am in small town Thailand, about 100 km west of Bangkok and I am as well informed here as I would be if I was in London itself.

It seems that the real problem here is that eleventh commandment has been broken: thou shalt not get caught! That arguably is the most important commandment of the lot in so far as public life is concerned and God help you if are caught. So what I have been watching really is the high and mighty of British public life performing a damage limitation act. I don't really have any problems with the Murdochs. I was quite impressed by Rupert's performance even at 80 years old, and hearing him assuredly tap his finger on the table as he spoke made me think of what a formidable operator he would have been in his day. I have difficulties with James Murdoch's transatlantic tones; not a real American accent, affected and insincere. I was amused to learn that Murdoch Jnr is renowned for his temper: not a trace of it on show in front of the cameras. And I would love to work in a company where £1 million settlements are almost seen as petty cash amounts and don't need authorisation or scrutiny higher up the chain. I suspect we will  learn  a lot more about News International skulduggery in the coming months.

If I was a police officer I would couch any failings in the language of operational priorities and the fight against terrorism: this makes it rather difficult to get excited about celebrity phone-hacking. I am pretty sure they were complicit with News International. Yates of the Yard had me laughing when he said he was simply a "post box" when he forwards an application to Scotland Yard's Human Resources from the Deputy Editor of the Sun's daughter. If so why didn't the candidate use any of the other post boxes, like the ones which are painted red and have "LETTERS" embossed in big bold letters on their outsides? Or even an electronic post-box? Clearly if it comes to HR via a senior manager it will be given preferential treatment and to suggest otherwise is disingenuous. I am prepared to believe Yates of the Yard was a decent cop because his record shows he has pursued a lot of bent cops in his time. But I reckon they all got it wrong here and probably thought they were home and hosed.

David Cameron really troubles me. It has emerged that Andy Coulson was only given cursory vetting both on his appointment to Conservative Central Office and also in respect of his job as PM's most important media advisor. Now in both instances it is not the case that Andy applies for these jobs as advertised and is then put through an assessment process similar to the other candidates. In both instances there were no other candidates. Coulson was sought out for these positions and in fact he was Cameron's man for both jobs. Dave wanted this guy presumably because he thought he was the top man. There surely has to be a connection between Cameron's aspirations in this respect and his decision to downgrade the vetting process. In other words Cameron must have known Coulson would not be cleared if full vetting took place. So to circumvent this Cameron authorised a basic security check and got his man. So I don't believe Cameron is in the clear on this issue. In fact I don't really think Cameron can recover from this. I think the damage has been done and he will simply be an ineffective Prime Minister.

This throws up the prospect of what damage Coulson can do to his former employers in the event he is the subject of criminal proceedings and needs to defend himself. I suspect the solution there will be not to prosecute him on the basis of insufficient evidence. We shall see. It's all great stuff and I sense we are only just getting started now.

Are you sweating Dave?

No need to blog when Dave's very own people can be as to the point and on the money as this in the Daily Jackboot. They are dropping like flies, the high and mighty. The Commissioner of the Met simply had to go. Truly frightening that British politicos and police can be so easily controlled and manipulated. They nearly got away with it too........

What news from over Yonder?

The political situation in the UK is truly mind-boggling. How can the mother of parliaments have been taken over so effectively by News International? What do David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks discuss when they go horse-riding?

While living in Thailand and Asia it is easy to be critical of governments whose ministers in many instances are crooked. It’s simply the way it is here and I think most people accept this. I often point to the crucial role the press in the first world play in keeping the three other estates, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature in line in the traditional model of western democratic government. It couldn’t happen in the West because we have a free press, is something I hear echoing……..

Of course the part of the press that has persisted with this story has to be applauded for its doggedness and persistence. It’s quite clear that as well as intimidating the leading politicians with the threat of adverse editorial comment, and withdrawal of media support, Murdoch and his minions have also stifled effective police investigations with bribes and threats. It seems to me they nearly got away with it.

I am saddened to learn about murdered Milly Dowling’s parents’ additional suffering, having their hopes raised that the poor teenager was still alive; thanks to hackers in the employ of News International deleting messages on her phone; the Dowlings have only recently been humiliated at the hands of the legal process where they have been made to feel on trial. What must they really feel? It is beyond my imagination.

Equally I am sad for the Brown family that their private grief should be so cynically and needlessly brought into full public view. From what I understand the worst that can be said of Gordon’s personal habits are that he likes to have the boys round to watch the football and rugby on TV and have a few cans and a curry. I don’t doubt that we wouldn’t have been spared the graphic details had he been found to have a few pecadillos.

So Dave hired one of the key players in this sordid business as his media adviser . Enter Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the Screws and Murdoch über apparatchnik, straight to the centre of the British government. It is beyond belief that the spooks didn’t advise Dave that Andy was a little bit tasty. “I didn’t know how bad Andy really was ……….” Dave decided to show compassion and gave Andy a “second chance”. No doubt you, like me, are hugely relieved that Dave has publicly stated he takes full responsibility for this!

We can all be wise after the event but yet again Dave’s judgement is of deep concern. Dave is the Prime Minister of Great Britain. And Dave has form in this department. Remember Tony Lit, Dave’s choice as the Conservative candidate for the 2007 Ealing Southall by-election, er hem, he had been a member of the party for 10 days when Cameron chose him. Dave told Conservative Central Office to take the proverbial flight with their candidate or else he was offsky. Dave’s inspired leadership prevailed. It was looking good as the campaign developed, fantastic campaign materials coming through the letterbox, Tony Lit family man, Tony Lit fighting crime, Tony Lit tackling drugs and then it all went wrong.  It emerged that Tony Lit had paid £4,800 to attend a Labour fund raiser at which he bid in a charity auction only a matter of a few weeks prior to being selected as a Tory election candidate. Ooooooops! Banana skin! Sounds like a dream candidate! A man of conviction! Labour won a by election which the Tories should have won.

I feel an unending cascade of questions arising from the continuing revelations. Would the result of the last British general election have been different if this story had broken earlier? Is David Cameron really fit to be the Prime Minister? Is this the beginning of Britain’s version of Watergate? What about Tommy Sheridan?

And what about Rebekah Brooks -  überüber-News International apparatchnik? The Digger calls her his number one priority. Dave has said of his riding friend that she should resign. Thanks, Dave and you can take the proverbial flight this Christmas. Rebekah (Bek?!) phoned Brown and told him he they were running the story on the sick boy. She must have known the provenance of the information as editor. To have not known would have been very reckless but criminal nonetheless. She can’t say she was very busy because the story was about the then British PM and if she was too busy to scrutinise the story then she was in the wrong job. I suspect she must have loved phoning Brown. Ultimately did this information enable us to make informed political choices? No it was a naked intrusion into a family's privacy.

So Dave associates with known criminals and criminal suspects and indeed has brought them into the heart of government and includes them as his personal friends. Rupert buys off the boys in blue and they were all busy bringing dear old Blighty back into political orthodoxy and financial solvency following that Brown fellow’s imprudence. No wonder Dave has gone rather quiet and appears to be trying to avoid radar detection.

Enough. I am following this saga as it unfolds and like most I am deeply troubled. What will happen next?  Who really knows but my instinct is this is just a beginning.