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Written by Voicu Mihnea Simandan

Those interested in archery already know that one of the most important and most expected events of the year is Thailand Princess Cup Archery Tournament 2009, which will be held between 25-26 July 2009. The event is organized by ThailandOutdoor Archery Club (TOAC) in joint venture with the Sports Association for the Disabled of Thailand and the National Archery Association of Thailand.

Thailand Princess Cup Archery Tournament 2009 is open to all local and international archery clubs, no matter of affiliation. A few archers from Southeast Asia have already announced their participation. Parin Archery Club will send about 15 archers to compete.

The tournament, the 11^th of its kind, is open to compound, recurve and traditional archers. All adult recurve and compound competitors will shoot at the 18-meter target, with a 40cm 3-spot target face. University and secondary school students, plus the traditional archers, will have to send their arrows at a 40cm 1-spot target face. Primary school students will shoot at the 10-meter target with a 40cm 1-spot target face.

Being an event organized by a private archery club, there are some entry fees too: primary and secondary school students will have to pay $7; university students will have to pay $US 10; while recurve, compound, and traditional bows will have to pay $US15.

The winners will be rewarded with the following equipment: Recurve Hoyt Nexus + Limb 990TX, Samick Recurve and Traditional Bows, Shibuya Ultima V-Bars, Cartel stabilizers and many more.

Thailand Princess Cup Archery Tournament 2009 will take place at Island Hall in the Fashion Island Shopping Center from Bangkok. The mall is located at 587 Ramindra Road, in Kunnayow District, Bangkok (see the map below for further directions).

Due to the fact that the facility can hold only a certain number of competitors, it is a good idea to register your club as soon as possible. For more information or registration queries contact Mr. Pratheep at pratheep[at]naracot[dot]com.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan is a Romanian writer who has been living and working in Thailand since 2002. He is the author of “The Ironman. A Play”, a book for children well-received in educational circles.

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Posted by Voicu Mihnea Simandan

BookCrossing has become a major cultural event that takes place all over the world. It links people who have in common one interest: books. According to BookCrossing.com, almost 800 thousand people in over 130 countries like to share their passion for books with the world, including Thailand and Romania.

The Bangkok BookCrossers group holds informal gatherings for bookcrossers and other avid readers in Bangkok, where they talk and swap English-language books. Bangkok BookCrossers was inspired by the concept of BookCrossing.com. Anyone who loves to read and share books is welcome to join in.

They normally meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm. Joining in is free, fun and easy. About 11 people participated in the June meeting, exchanging books like The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan, The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seiserstad and many more.

Due to the July 7th holiday, the July meeting will take place in June, on this Tuesday! Hope to see you there!

Date: June 30^th
Time: 6:30 pm
Locations: Bert’s (a cafe on the ground floor of the Zen department store at Central World)
Directions: Take the skytrain to Chidlom station and follow the skywalk to the first Central World exit. Instead of taking the escalator directly into Central World, go down the stairs and walk along the plaza in front of Central World. Bert’s has a separate entrance near the skywalk exit. You should be able to see the purple sign from the skywalk. If you go to Bert’s through the main part of Central World, Bert’s is on the left as you enter the ground floor of Zen, in the cosmetics section.

“BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure.

Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym — anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book’s journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

Help make the whole world a library and share the joy of literacy. Reading becomes an adventure when you BookCross!” (Source: www.bookcrossing.com)

For even more details, join the Bangkok BookCrossers Yahoo Group.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan is a Romanian expat who has been living and working in Thailand since 2002. He is the author of “The Ironman. A Play”, a book for children well-received in educational circles.

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Well this does explain a lot about Thaksin’s popularity.

Thais ok with corrupted government

By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 28/06/2009 at 12:02 PM

A latest survey reveals that many Thai people would accept a crooked government if it can make the country prosper and raise their standard of living.

The Abac Poll Research Centre conducted a survey on people’s well-being, involving 1,228 households in 17 provinces nationwide.

84.5 per cent viewed that corruption in businesses would not be unusual and 51.2 per cent said they would tolerate a corrupted government if it can improve the country and their well-being.

73.9 per cent agreed that living self-sufficiently can help ease the economic crisis.

On the continuing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, 84.6 per cent wanted both sides to negotiate peacefully and jointly improve the regional economy. 4.8 per cent wanted either side to use force to solve the problem.

52.9 per cent supported the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship’s anti-government rallies under the condition that they must be held peacefully.

16.3 per cent said they would support the UDD unconditionally. 21.1 per cent opposed the group.

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Photos and text by Voicu Mihnea Simandan

Ayutthaya is one of my favorite places in Thailand, located about 70 km north of Bangkok. I have been there on several occasions and I never get bored of it. On a very recent day-trip to Ayutthaya, I stopped at Bang Pa-In Palace, located in Bang Pa-In District, about 10 kilometers away from the city of Ayutthaya.

The palace dates back from the rein of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and was built between 1872-1889.

The security is quite tight as the palace is occasionally used by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand as a residence and for holding receptions and banquets.

King Prasart Thong Shrine holds the statue of King Prasart Thong. It was built during 1872-1876.

Aisawan-Shipaya-Asana Pavilion is located in the middle of a pond on the palace grounds. It was built between 1872-1876.

Varobhas Bimarn Residential Hall used to function as a throne hall. It was completed in 1872 and renovated into a one-story building in1885.

Uthayan Phumisathian Residential Hall is considered the principal building in the palace. It was completed in 1877.

Wehart Chamrun Residential Hall was built in Chinese architecture and took 10 years to build. It was completed in 1889.

The Nine-Chamber Mansion is a large colonial-style building located behind Wehart Chamrun Residential Hall.

Withun Thasana Tower is a three-storey tower, soaring 30 meters above the palace grounds. A total of 112 steps on a spiral staircase will take you to the top roof, but only the first two floors are open to the public. It was built in 1881.

The Mansion for H.M. Queen Sukhumala Marasri was built in Western architecture.

The Mansion for H.M. Queen Sri Savarindira is surrounded by green vegetation.

The Memorial to H.M. Queen Sunanda Kumariratana honours her death and that of her children in a boat incident on May 31, 1880.

The palace gardens are beautifully decorated with vegetation that looks like animals.

But, don’t be surprised if you see live animals too!

How to get there by car: Both motorways and highways that go to the two airports from Bangkok have exists to Bang Pa-In. Just follow the signs.

Costs involved at the palace:
Car park: 20 baht
Entrance fee for foreigners: 100 baht (brochure included)
Cart rent: 400 baht / hour (100 baht for every extra hour)

Amenities: snacks, soft drinks, coffee, clothes, books, postcards, and souvenirs

What to bring: sunglasses, hat, sun block, umbrella (for both rain and sun!), camera, and plenty of water.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan is a Romanian expat who has been living and working in Thailand since 2002. He is the author of “The Ironman. A Play”, a book for children well-received in educational circles.

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Posted by Voicu Mihnea Simandan

Not so long ago I wrote about the benefits of archery. Today, we will briefly look at some of the health benefits of yoga. The pictures were taken in one of the many parks in Bangkok.

Yoga increases body flexibility.

Yoga keeps your joints, ligaments and tendons in good condition.

Yoga helps with detoxification.

Yoga makes your muscles strong.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan is a Romanian expat who has been living and working in Thailand since 2002. He is the author of “The Ironman. A Play”, a book for children well-received in educational circles.

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I ran across a slew of bad news for Thailand:

First from the Wall Street Journal is news that Ford Motor Company plans on moving its operations in Thailand to China.

Ford Motor Co. confirmed Thursday it plans to move its Asia, Pacific and Africa regional headquarters to China from Thailand.

While the move will improve management efficiency, according to the auto maker, it also places Ford in what is becoming the biggest car market in the world. China is expected to surpass the U.S. this year in car sales.

Ford didn’t disclose which city has been selected, although published reports suggest Shanghai.

Thailand will continue to serve as the regional headquarters for Ford’s operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, Ford spokeswoman Whitney Small said in a statement.

Ford Motor China reported sales of 306,306 vehicles in 2008. The company makes the Ford Fiesta and Transit in the country and sells a variety of its other products there, including Lincolns and Volvos.

The move comes five years after competitor General Motors Corp. moved its regional headquarters to Shanghai from Singapore.

This seems to run in contrast to a story run just the other week in which Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said that Ford and GM were thinking of expanding their operations in Thailand.

Ford Motor plans to make Thailand its sole overseas base in order to trim its expenses although it is concerned about the political turbulence in this country, he said.

In recent years Ford closed more than a dozen plants and cut more than 40,000 jobs. The car maker lost more than US$15 billion in 2006 and 2007. The Michigan-based company is trying to secure hundreds of millions in direct loans and loan guarantees to aid its credit line and to comply with environmental regulations in North and South America, Europe and Australia.

Despite a bankruptcy declaration on June 1 by Detroit-based General Motors, its subsidiary GM Southeast Asia Operations Ltd., including General Motors (Thailand) Ltd., announced earlier this month that its units in Thailand and elsewhere in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region would not be affected. (TNA)

Even at the time I found myself wondering how GM could possibly say that units in the region wouldn’t be affected when the company is in the midst of a gut-wrenching bankruptcy in which huge sacrifices are being made across all of their business units.

In other bad news, Thailand’s exports plunged in May.

Thailand’s exports slumped at a record pace in May and could fall by nearly a fifth this year as global demand remains weak, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.

Exports from Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy plunged 26.6 percent from a year earlier to $11.7 billion, their biggest monthly drop ever, the ministry said in a statement.

To be honest, I’m not even sure how Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij has a job. I don’t lay sole blame on him for the state of the economy but the guy seems to have a pretty worrying history of bad predictions and his forecasts for May were much cheerier than they actually ended up being. Of course, he was trying to downplay the bad performance in April when he made those predictions because he had been wrong about those too. And the April estimates were an attempt to downplay March’s bad numbers. And so on and so on.

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Interesting story in The Nation about a poll which indicates that more and more Isaan women are seeking a Western husband

Bagging a farang

More than threefifths of women in the Northeast surveyed in an Isaan poll said they wanted to marry farang husbands, mainly because of their wealth, faithfulness and respect for women.

Of 484 women living in 19 northeastern provinces surฌveyed in March and April, 61 per cent said they deemed Western men rich, 53 per cent said they thought farang men were kind and respected women more than Thai men, while 16 per cent said they wanted to marry and live abroad.

Englishmen were the favourites, gaining 32 per cent of respondents’ votes, while Americans and Germans trailed behind with 21 and eight per cent respectively.

The survey found that women who were already married to foreign husbands spent a large portion (20 per cent) of their monthly income on electricity and water bills as their homes tended to be large and full of domestic appliances - another factor that attracted single, northeastern women.

The last part about electric bills seemed a little out of place but what do you expect from The Nation?

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A really interesting documentary by a filmmaker who’s 60 year old father decided to marry a bar girl only two years older than himself. He travels to Thailand to meet his new mother, attend the wedding, and figure out if his dad has found true love or has simply gone off the deep end.

Mee and my Dad from UWE Bristol Media Practice on Vimeo.

Personally, as I watch this video I can’t help but think of how many marriages in Thailand are based on the same pragmatism. I got this sense that there is nothing in the relationship one normally calls love but rather a mutual understanding that he can support her and she needs supported.

In fact, during the film they ask her if she finds him attractive and she says no. They then ask her if he didn’t have any money would she still be with him and she says no.

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If you haven’t heard the advice already allow me to tell you now that starting a physical altercation with a Thai is suicide. Thais very seldom one on one and they are known to be very patient in plotting their revenge even if you get the upper-hand the first go.

In this video we see some idiot getting out of line with a Thai and learning the hard way that when you fight one Thai you fight them all.

Believe it or not this guy is actually lucky. If the bar lady hadn’t stepped in the rest of the Thai guys would have continued to beat him into a bloody pulp. With Thais the fight doesn’t end when you knock the other guy down, that’s when it really gets started.

So let that one be a lesson for you guys who like to pop off. The Thais will put up with a lot of crap from us farangs. They usually try to avoid conflict but once you cross that line expect no mercy.

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I want to start off this post with a very strong disclaimer: The goal of this post is not to minimize the risks of unprotected sex in any way. The goal is to look at facts and attempt to determine what is true and what is a myth in regards to AIDS/HIV in Thailand. Wear a condom. Always!

With that out of the way, let me give you some background. I’ve been reading various websites over the years and the people constantly mention the high HIV infection rate, especially in girls involved in prostitution. At the same time, Stickman has been quoted as saying that a large number of people he knows engage in unsafe sex (I believe I remember reading he said it was close to 50%). Rumors abound that many working girls will go without a condom for an extra tip. Stick also warns that there are several girls who are well known to be HIV positive and are still working.

If all of this is true; why isn’t there an AIDS/HIV epidemic in the farang community? With the amount of sex that goes on in Patpong, Soi Cowboy, Nana, Pattaya, Patong, and so on why are there so few stories about large numbers of farang men testing positive for HIV?

Now some might claim that the Thai authorities keep it hushed up or that someone who tests HIV positive isn’t likely to broadcast their status to all their friends. But that doesn’t explain why large numbers of men aren’t simply dropping out of the Thailand scene never to be heard from again as their AIDS begins to take hold. Surely people would notice this trend and comment on it, no? Nor does it explain why US, UK, other European, and Australian health officials aren’t sounding a loud bell warning the world about a large spike in cases from tourists recently returned from Thailand.

I don’t mean to propose that people aren’t contracting HIV in Thailand. I’m just asking why the societal impacts don’t seem to match up to the risk being reported.

First off, not everything may be as it seems. Do a large number of women go with farangs without requiring a condom? I don’t think anybody is ever going to be able to do reliable stats on that but my anecdotal evidence is that I’ve met not a single go-go dancer or bar girl who will let you party without a hat. I’ll even joke around and ask how much and not a one ever went for any reasonable offer (up to 1000 baht extra - over that and I guess people will do anything for money but I doubt few regulars to the scene are shelling out that kind of cash per session). By the way, I ask them both for educational purposes and to weed out anyone who would.

Of course my evidence is anecdotal as is Stick’s and others who make this claim so the only thing we can take away from this is maybe I’m too optimistic and the others are too pessimistic and the truth lies somewhere between.

Likewise I don’t know anybody who has ever told me they like to sleep with bargirls without protection. I’m sure some of my friends have done it from time to time or might make a habit out of it but they’ve never discussed it with me. Again, I think my anecdotal evidence runs the opposite end of the spectrum from others so somewhere between our two groups of friends must be the norm.

Lastly, when we see all of these numbers published about HIV/AIDS in Thailand and especially when the numbers concern women engaged in prostitution there is no distinction made between farang prostitution and Thai prostitution which may give misleading numbers. Just due to the sex education available to farangs back home they are far, far less likely to have sex without a condom than say a Thai army conscript who is losing his virginity in a brothel. For that and many other reasons (such as better outreach programs and regular testing) I think it would be safe to assume that sex workers servicing Thai clients are much more likely to contract and spread HIV than those servicing farang customers. So when you hear numbers being thrown around like “X% of Thai sex workers are HIV positive” it doesn’t necessarily mean that that X% of girls working on Soi Cowboy or Nana are HIV positive.

For instance, according to the WHO:

However, problems remain. Infection rates among injecting drug users remain high at 20%-45% nationwide. And in rural areas, HIV infection rates among sex workers have increased. In 1997, 20% of sex workers in rural areas were HIV-positive compared with only 7% in Bangkok. To make matters worse, studies carried out in rural areas reveal that only 50% of men who visit sex workers consistently use condoms. And as risk behaviour increasingly shifts from commercial sex to unprotected casual sex, efforts will be needed to sustain reduced infection rates.

I know this is an old report but it demonstrates how using one infection rate across the entire country is flawed logic. Let’s say the combined total is 14% (since most of the population in Thailand is rural and places like Chiang Mai at one point had rates as high as 40%, I’m assuming the numbers skew to the high side). Saying you have a 14% chance of meeting an HIV positive sex worker in a brothel in Buriram is way too low and saying you have a 14% chance in Nana is double the rate for Bangkok as a whole.

Also, as mentioned before, even in the 7% Bangkok number there is no breakdown between sex workers who service Thais and farangs. I think it would be safe to assume that a Thai brothel is more likely to adopt the Thai casualness towards requiring condoms than would be a farang owned bar on Soi Cowboy. And seeing as that there are more sex workers working in the Thai sex industry than in the farang sex industry, again, assuming a 7% infection rate for your average Nana go-go is likely to be a huge overestimate.

And on top of all that, there’s the tendency to automatically assume a sex worker is a female. There is a vibrant transgender and gay prostitution industry in Bangkok as well. Unfortunately, most educational and awareness programs are aimed at women so, again, I think one would have to assume that HIV rates would run higher in the gay and transgender sex industry which would inflate the Bangkok numbers (the number of gay brothels outside of Bangkok is assumed to be very small compared to within Bangkok) as they too are sex workers.

We may never know the actual truth about what the infection rate is in farang sex venues. Nor is it likely that we will ever hear any sort of accurate numbers regarding how many farangs are contracting HIV from sleeping with Thai prostitutes. Actually we might if there was an alarming trend but barring that the NGOs and other groups who gather this type of data would be doing Thailand a disservice if they were to indicate that the chance of contracting HIV in farang oriented sex venues was relatively low. Better to report the overall number so as to put enough scare into potential customers that they either think twice about going with a prostitute or concerned enough to insist on using a condom.

Again, I would like to close by saying that none of this is meant to downplay the likelihood or the consequences of contracting HIV. If anything it is more for the person who normally practices safe sex and has a condom break during intercourse with a go-go dancer and is wondering what the real chances of him contracting HIV might be without all of the hype and also without all the crazy conspiracy theories that purport everything from you can’t catch HIV from heterosexual sex to there being no link between HIV and AIDS. After reading way too many threads and websites with people giving inaccurate data on both sides of the argument I simply wanted to take a neutral look at the subject and invite people who may have found better data sources than I was able to to comment and better educate people on this important topic.

Wear a condom. Always!

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