Thailand Protests

Well, it looks like the government and the military were able to disperse the protests by the Red Shirts from their central area. But I think they may well have fanned embers that fall throughout the country.

This is sad. Thailand is a wonderful country with fun and welcoming people ("The Land of Smiles"). Seeing a country tearing at itself is one thing but to see a country that I have visited about 10 times and enjoyed doing this is never fun.

That said, the struggles that we see going are on are in many ways proxy fights between the real powers that be in the country. Certainly we can all hope the situation improves soon.

Back Home

Well despite what you have seen on the news Thailand was fine, for me at least. There are serious fissures in Thai politics and in society in general that have been on display for the world to see. It would take a long blog entry for me to give the political problems the air time they deserve. But it should suffice to say that the news has not done well at providing the complex view that is necessary.

Thailand is a young democracy and it is going through turmoil and still working to define itself. The news has shown this as two sides, Red Shirts and the government, facing off. If only it were that simple--then it would already be over. From my count there are at least 4 sides and each of those sides has multiple internal divisions and competing agendas. Pictures of the violence make for good news but the real story is much deeper and involves fundamental political changes that are afoot in Thailand.

All of that said, I was in Bangkok from Tuesday night until early Friday morning. Not once did I see a protester or encounter any violence. Bangkok is a large city and the protests are confined to a limited area. So other areas are not impacted. Yes, there was a degree of tension in the city but by in large life went on as usual and away from the protests you would hardly know what was going on.

With the exception of one meeting in the vicinity of the protests I was in the safe zones the entire time. Still on Thursday night things seemed to be going south so my colleague and I made the decision to play it safe and leave a little early on Friday. Now I'm back in Taiwan and all is well, for me at least.

Thailand

Well now I'm in Bangkok. The protests here seem to have died down and the word on the street is that the situation will be resolved. Still I am staying away from the affected areas. When I get back to Taipei (Friday) I'll try to provide more updates about this trip.

Back in PP

I'm back in Phnom Penh for the first time in almost 6 months. But it has changed a lot so it feels like I've been away a long time ago. Yes, today is Mother's Day but I was able to talk with my mom yesterday on Skype to make sure that she heard my best wishes.

I thought Taiwan was hot. I was wrong. It's 38-40C here and humid. Unreal.

I'll be here for a few days then, despite the protests and apparent danger, I am going onward to Bangkok. Things are smoothing out there so hopefully all goes well.

Summer is Here?

There have been multiple times this year where I have fired up the AC at night. Then, almost inevitably, within a day or two I have to break out extra blankets since the weather is cold again. Such is life in Taiwan during the spring. A few days of warm weather and a few days of cold.

Now, I think, that dynamic is changing. It is getting closer to summer. When I say a Taiwanese summer what I mean is ~90 degrees hot on a normal day with oppressive humidity that makes saunas unnecessary.

I can feel it coming. The last few days have been really hot and have been increasingly humid. The summer is on it's way. Luckily for me there will be a good period this year where I will be outside of Taiwan for the hottest of the heat, but that will be discussed later.

Thoughts From a Nobel Mind

Even if you aren't into economics jargon, I would hope that you take the time each day to read Paul Krugman's blog (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/), Conscience of a Liberal. He is indeed liberal and his best economic work is behind him having taken the mantle of an endowed Princeton professor and New York Times columnist. Still it's not every day you can read the thoughts of a Nobel Prize winning economist written in accessible prose. He has recently had some great stuff about the Greek debt crisis, the Euro-zone, and Republican excesses.

While I'm at it I also have to give a plug to the other blog on my daily reading list, The Best Defense (http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/), which is written by defense expert Tom Ricks. If you are interested in defense issues this is the place to go (if you are really interested in defense then peruse "The Small Wars Journal" http://smallwarsjournal.com/ as well ).

Trip to Taichung

This weekend I took a nice trip to Taichung in central Taiwan; otherwise known as my girlfriend's hometown.

I got off of work a little later than I wanted on Friday and hurried home to get a backpack ready. Before I could even eat dinner I was off to catch the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Taichung. It is very fast, on time, convenient, and has a stop near my house. Except for talking with my girlfriend's parents (who are very good to me) I took it easy and hit the sack for some sleep.

The next day started a little earlier than normal for me at 6:50am because I had to join my girlfriend, her friend, and a friend of her friend for a day trip to the near-by Sun Moon Lake. The nice thing is that it is more than just a scenic lake. There is a big amusement park, gondola line, and Taiwanese aboriginal shows to see.

The amusement park was fun. The first ride I was on lifted you about 200 feet into the air then dropped you for about 2 seconds. Scary as hell but fun. Then there was a small roller coaster that I sat in front for. No problem I thought its only about a minute ride. But dear God, that thing was insane. Would I do those again? Absolutely

After that it was off to see the aboriginal cultural villages and culture shows. In a way it made me feel bad that they were being reduced to attractions on the level of a theme park. Sing and dance all day then do it again the next. So then we all headed off to the gondola to the Sun Moon Lake. It was great scenery and lovely views...but only if you like fog.

We had the fun we could then went back home for dinner. Before going to bed my girlfriend's mom taught me the basics of Chinese calligraphy and gave me a shot. It was my first time and despite my best efforts I was atrocious but after some practice improved to the level of pretty bad.

The next morning I went on a hike with my girlfriend's parents in jeans and nice shoes. Needless to say the hike wasn't hard.

So when I got back I cleaned up a bit and then made a french toast breakfast for everyone. I hadn't cooked french toast forever, which is sad considering I used to wake up early on the weekends back home and cook it for my family. Well it tasted just like the french toast back home. So I was quite pleased. On that note, I returned back to Taipei