Crime in The Golden Triangle

The region I live in is called the ¨Golden Triangle¨. It is the mountain range where Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma all meet borders just south of China. Years ago, this was a hotbed of criminal activity on a local level, but most of that has been stompted out. As my own court case drags on, I have had plenty of time to think. Here in Thailand and southeast Asia in general, we do get a fair amount of news about foreigners who get into trouble with the law. The headlines are always a bit sensationalized, so I thought it was time to dig a little deeper. I did a little research and combined it with some of my own insights and experiences. I wanted to see exactly where I stood now that I am classified among the criminal element here, and found a few surprising facts. So, without further ado, here´s the top three in my book so far.


First up is one of the most notorious and highly publicized foreign criminal types here in Thailand. He is known as the ¨Sexual Predator¨. Often banned or shunned in his own country already, these are criminals of the most despicable nature. They prey on the poor and sometimes naive people of third world countries to gratify their own desires. Often, I see the headlines touting the capture of another child molester or rapist here. Thailand has done good job in finding and prosecuting these individuals. While they do make good headline fodder, they also make the rest of us look bad at the same time. I know some foreigners here who have great families. It pains me a little when I see people talking under their breath when one of my friends walks his 10 year old daughter to the school bus every morning. I happen to know different, but can see how some people get the wrong idea. Surprisingly, Thailand falls into about the #36 slot as far as countries with sex crimes per capita just below Kazakhstan and Costa Rica. Even more shocking is that the United States is still around #10 on that list with triple the offender rate.

Next up, we have the second most publicized foreign criminals here Thailand. Their crime of choice is illicit drugs, and I have seen a few headlines where foreigners have been arrested and prosecuted for these offenses. This is a particularly dangerous game here in Thailand because many drug related crimes still carry the death penalty. It hasn´t been imposed for several years, but the laws are still on the books. Most these days are just sent to prison for a very long time. Thai nationals and those from surrounding countries accused or suspected of trafficking drugs in Thailand often never see prosecution. That´s not because they were not charged, but because they did not survive the arrest. Tactics by local authorities on the local drug trade can be brutal at best. Normally when a foreigner gets involved in this business it is when he or she is down on their luck and has no other options to make some cash. Believe me, I considered it but the risks were just too great.

So, now we get down to me. We covered the sex and the drugs. What´s left? Oh yeah, rock and roll. That´s where I fall in. My charges are for ¨working without a permit / playing a guitar¨ and letting my visa lapse. I spent my fair share of time being down and out in this country. Over a year ago, I had to make a choice. I could either just roll over and die, or do whatever I had to do in order to survive. I chose the latter. Although I knew several locals in the ¨sex trade¨ from my days of living on the street, I doubted that I would be able to make much money there. My friends in the far north offered to let me stay and work on the family opium farm in the mountains, but that seemed far too dangerous. Instead, I stuck to what I knew and amazingly managed to keep myself alive for another year. In the end, I have to say that I´m not exactly proud, but at least I can hold my head high when the charges come down. I had few options and did the best I could. By all rights, I should have been a dead man a long time ago. It´s unfortunate that I get lumped in with all the above, but at least I know in my own heart that I did what had to do.

Living here has changed me in many ways. Some good and some bad, but I always try to make the best of whatever situation I get stuck in. That´s all for me now. Take care everyone no matter where you happen to be.

Chiang Mai Post Picks up the Story

It´s been nearly two months now, and the local press has finally picked up the story. We actually do have a bi-monthy English newspaper here. All 12 pages of it. The issue out this week has an article addressing the local immigration crackdowns that I have been caught up in. The issue is not yet available online, so I grabbed some photos as best I could when I got a copy for myself. Don´t let the front page photo scare you. I wasn´t in the burning car pictured. The article pertaining to my situation is back on page 8. Hopefully the photos are clear enough for you to read some of the text. The photos below have been placed on Facebook and also here on Blogger. I tried to get them clear enough to read the pertinent parts, but you may need to download the full images to read the text.

Front Page. Story on P.8 titled ¨When is it Work?¨.

Full Pg. 8 Article

Headline and quote from a spectator on the night of the arrest.

I´ll let you figure which one is me.

Look for the line ¨reasonable commercial success¨. Nice to be recognized in the press that we were a good band, but not exactly the outcome we had hoped for.

That´s all for now here. Just trying to digest the idea of this whole thing going public on a local level. There is another provincial full color English monthly magazine put out here and distributed throughout northern Thailand as well. They contacted me, but I declined to do an interview. They are planning their own expose´ on the story, but I chose to stay low profile. I´ll see what the reaction is on this publication before considering any further media involvement. The press is a funny animal and a double edged sword as I learned back in the states. It is even more so here.

I hope everyone is well, and I just keep plugging along here as best I can under the circumstances. My stress level is about a 6 out of 10 with the recent media coverage. Brings it all back into my concious thinking that, yes, it is serious and it´s going to get very ugly before it gets any better.

Fun With 3rd World Dentistry

As mentioned in my last post, I´ve been battling a nasty tooth infection this last week. Today was the day to go back to the dentist and get done whatever needed to be done. My appointment was at 10:00am and once again I made my way down through Chang Puak district to the little dentist shop. There are plenty of high class dentisty places here in Thailand, and many of them can do some amazing things. Unfortunately, high class is not my style or budget for that matter. High tech dental work can be done here at pennies on the dollar for what it would cost in most western countries. With that said, I´m starting with pennies. ¨High tech¨ was not one of my options. This however does not limit my choices. In fact, it gave me many more to choose from. Little hole in the wall dentist shops are in every neighborhood here and more than happy to serve as best they can.

The guy I found has a little shop just on the main road through Chang Puak. The office is small, not fancy, but clean. My intial impression was that it actually looked more like a barber shop than a dentist office. The waiting room seats about 4 and looking into the back of the shop I could see 2 dental chairs and a small assortment of tools and supplies. The staff was very pleasant. The doctor himself was a fairly young man. My guess would put him in his early 30´s. To my suprise he greeted me in English, and asked me to take off my shoes and sit down. His English was actually quite good especially as to conversation that pertained to his field of work. Not uncommon for most younger college educated Thai people. His assistants were the usual pair of younger girls who spoke no English, but were quite polite and very competent at their jobs.

Today, I sat down, the doctor looked the tooth over, and gave me my options again. His recommendation was to do a root canal and cap over multiple visits. Total cost would be about $120. The second option was to just pull it and hope for the best. He told me that (while not the best option) it would probably be OK. So, on we went. Healthy amounts of Novocaine were injected and he went to work. I was nervous to say the least, but through simple meditation practices learned over the last year or so, I was able to sail through. Within minutes, the tooth was out and I could feel a huge pressure released in my jaw. Nothing more dramatic than that.

Start to finish, the whole time involved was less than 30 minutes. Total out of pocket for the office visit, extraction, and meds: exactly $15.21 (478 THB). Heck, I even got some free Colgate mouthwash samples!

Most memorable moment of the experience was actually paying the bill. In local currency, it was 478 Thai Baht. I paid cash with a 500 Baht note. The assistant promptly took my money and then went running back to the doctor who was already working on another patient. He had to stop what he was doing, and open his wallet to get my 23 baht in change. At that moment I remembered where I was. Oh yeah, ¨This is Thailand¨.

With that I´m going to close this post and get some needed rest. Tomorrow is another day, and there´s plenty to be done.

Pain and Profits

I apologize in advance for the long post. It´s been a long few days of limited and sometimes non existent internet connections here. The rain storms have been tremendous, and even the electricity has been going in and out. The last big power failure on saturday sent something haywire in the computer I have been using at home here, and I just finally fixed the problem today. As mentioned before in a previous post, it´s a tiny little netbook runnng a Linux operating system in Spanish of all things. Not an easy one to troubleshoot and get running again, but I managed to get it done.

Work last week was productive despite the hardships. I have managed to add another 4,000 Thai Baht (about $130 US dollars) to the legal defense fund through hard work and thrifty living. That´s nearly a month´s salary for most Thai people, and I did it in a week´s time. Respectable even by local standards. For anyone that doesn´t know, I have added a page for the fund on the top menu bar so that you can track my progress. My goal is to get through this current crisis with limited jail time and get back to legal working status wherever that might be.

As an additional sacrifice, I have also sold the only thing of monetary value that I own. Some readers may remember when I was gifted my bicycle by a nice Dutch girl before she went back to Holland last year. The front wheel had been in a bad accident, but with a little work I was able to fix it up. I put a good many miles on it over the past year, but I still have my two feet, so the wheels were a luxury and had to go. Final sale price 1,500 THB (that´s about $45 USD ).

This weeks major annoyance so far was a bit unexpected but troubling none the less. I will try to give a bit of a ¨back story¨. About last winter, a good friend of mine asked me to dinner. His sister in law cooked ¨steak¨ for us, but what they call beef here is closer to buffalo. She might as well have cut my steak off a nearby rubber tree. Tough as heck and even harder to eat. The end result was getting a strand stuck inbetween two of my molars that caused me a great deal of pain for quite some time. Not long after that was my infamous street brawl back in January. The little Burmese guy that finally managed to land a good punch on me did a huge favor!! The piece of rubber (steak) finally was jarred loose from my jaw, but so were a portion of the two teeth surrounding it. The pain went away for a good few months, but is back again. I went on Sunday to a local dentist for a consult. He told me that it was extremely infected and attempting to pull it would risk blood poisoning and even death. Unable to do anything at the moment, he prescribed antibiotics and Ibuprofin, and told me to come back in three days when the swelling goes down. Total out of pocket for the office visit, exam and meds: $6.00. Now I´ll have to decide between a $15 ¨yank it¨ and hope for the best, or a much more costly root canal as suggested by the dentist to eliminate any future issues. Not fun either way, but then again neither is the way I feel now.

CASE NOTES AND EVENTS

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Well that´s certainly not all, but this post has become long enough. I´ll have some shorter posts up in the next few days.

As always,
Take care everyone.

Still Kicking

Yes, I´m still here. Still kicking along, and making due the best I can. I´ve been pushing my self to the limits trying to prepare for the inevitable, but it is starting to pull me down. I´m finding it difficult to eat and even more tricky to sleep. There have been some details come to light in recent days, and I´l be doing my best to get those posted here in the next day or two. Some good, some bad. At the end of each day here, I´m still just hanging in the balance. Every day that passes is just another hurdle, and another day closer to the end of this part of my journey.

One of the most difficult things I have had to deal with lately has been the culture gap between here and the so called modern world. I have made my best efforts lately to stay in contact with people back where I spent the majority of my life, but I do find it painstaking at times. I hope that statement doesn´t offend anyone because it certainly wasn´t meant to be. After spending the last two years here, I realize how little the western world really understands the true majority of people on the planet. Just as an example, less that 6% of the world´s population speaks English as it´s first language. In contrast, about 90% of the internet´s content is in English. That is a huge gap, but one that´s easy to understand here. Only about 26% of the world has internet access. In another contrast, 42% of the worldwide internet users are in (you guessed it) Asia as opposed to the mere 14% that come from North America.

It´s just more of the same from a history point of view. Western countries have done their worst in trying to colonize, conquer, and destroy the cultures of so many others that were deemed inferior by whatever powers that might be for whatever political, financial, or religious gains. The English, Spaniards, and French from colonial days all come to mind and the effects can still be seen here, but the most recent and worst offenders have been Americans. The ¨average Joe American¨ doesn´t have a clue. Even worse yet, he probably doesn´t even care as long as he can still get the NFL game on Sunday after church, and fill up his SUV for less than 5$ a gallon. I´m not pointing any fingers here, but I just want to express the sentiments from here in on my side of the planet.

I do not consider myself to be UnAmerican, but I have certainly gained an understanding of why so many people are. Most of my fellow ¨falang¨ (foreigner) friends here are British and Australian. Whenever we encounter another American the end result is always the same. He or she eventually goes along his or her way, and the guys shake their heads in unison saying....¨freakin´ Americans.......sorry Mattie¨. My response is always the same. ¨yea yea....I know¨. I usually end up spending my time with Thai people here. Some introduce me as being ¨Thai-American¨, but I mostly get compared to my Burmese and Tai Yai friends. Burma is Thailand´s Mexico, and many people here just see me as another sorry sucker here illegaly trying to make a living. Sad, but true.

Just as a frame of reference, the Australians have a long standing slang term for us. The name is ¨Seppo¨. It´s a reference to a septic tank because they think we´re all full of ¨you know what¨. Funny, but I´ve learned to deal with it.

I suppose I am just thinking out loud, but my brain is just overloaded at the moment so it was time to put a few words down. Again, my goal is not to offend but to enlighten. Back in the states we are all brought up to be feel so self important, when in reality there is a great big world out there with cultures, languages, societies, and lifestyles that are much larger and older than our own. I used to think it was so cool when I could visit a city in the northwest US that was over 100 years old. Now, I live less than 100 yards from a fortified city wall that was built 600 years ago, and ¨recently¨ renovated about 200 years ago.

I hope all of you are well. I am trying my best to understand and communicate when we do talk, but it is difficult at times. Please bear with me. There are many things that I must refrain from talking about and I have to choose my words carefully. Sometimes it is just easier to go visit neighbors and friends and have a conversation in something other than English because they at least understand the way things work here and can give me some feedback appropriate to the circumstances.

Take care everyone,
Matt

Skype Info

For those of you who use SKYPE, I have good news. I have finally found a way to access my Skype account here in Thailand again. My current machine is running Linux here, but I have managed to get the app runnng on it and access my account. This allows me voice and video calls for free from around the planet, so feel free to add me if you have an account.

My Skype username is: matt.bunch83301
or can be accessed by adding the email listed in my Facebook account

Coronation Day in Thailand

Allow me to take a moment to introduce you to the man on the left here. He is respectfully known as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the current reigning King of Thailand, and has been officially since May 5th, 1950. That´s right, today is ¨Coronation day¨ in Thailand, the celebration of His Majesty´s 61st year as Thailand´s monarch leader. As Thailand´s longest serving King in history, he is also currently the longest serving head of state on the planet. No small feat, and one that does deserve a great deal of respect. The King was actually appointed to power in 1946 at the age of 19, but the official coronation was postponed by his mother until 1950 when he had finished school in Switzerland.

Now, here on the left is a great portrait of the man circa 1950. Soon after his appointment in 1946, he changed his studies from law to political science, and later returned for his official coronation on this day in 1950. His list of achievements since taking the throne is staggering, and studying them gives me a great deal of respect for the man. He has always ruled justly and fairly in a country where chaos always seems to be around the next corner. I have read a good many books about him. Some authorized, some unauthorized, and some outright banned here in the kingdom. The end result is always the same. I will always have a great amount of respect for the man and what he´s done for this country.

I would also like to point out one of my favorite things about the man. He is, among other things, an accomplished musician and composer. His forte is jazz, and he even rubbed shoulders with Elvis Presley back in the day. To guys like me and my fellow musicians, that gives him a true sense of credibility. He is, and always has been, a man of the people and quite possibly one of the most respectable leaders in world history. Living in a country ruled by a king is one thing, but living under a King who knows how to rock and roll is a true privilege.

And now, a word about ¨lèse majesté¨. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is the criminal act of violating royalty or committing an offense against a royal. In plain terms, cracking a rude joke about a member of the royal family here, will likely land you in jail. Even the simple offense of accidentally stepping on a coin containing the King´s image is a punishable offense. In this culture, the top of the head is most sacred and the bottom of the foot is most offensive. Just as a reference to the foot issue, I will give you an example. In America people tend to ¨flip the bird¨ when we want to express our utmost disgust with another human being. Here, you hold up the bottom of your foot. Sounds ridiculous, but it´s about the most offensive thing you can do to someone here. I have only seen it done twice in two years, and both cases were quite extreme. So, in getting back to the original issue at hand, the action of placing the bottom of ones foot on someones head or even image of someones head is about the worst thing a person can do. Doing it to the King´s image is enough to make even the most rebellious of people shake in their boots.

Now, with all that out of the way, I must say that even the King himself has spoken out in recent years against the ¨lèse majesté¨ laws here and on several occasions has issued a King´s pardon to those accused or convicted of the crime. So, why do I have such great things to say about the man? I was always taught that if I didn´t have anything nice to say, then don´t say anything at all. In all my reading and research, I have yet to find any good reason to speak ill of the man.

So, long live the King, bring on the 21 gun salutes, and let loose with the fireworks!!

Tonight is going to be a noisy one, but not without good reason.

Just Checking in

It´s been a few days since I posted anything here, so I thought it was about time to check in and let people know what´s going on. Just a few new details on the legal front. I´ve been trying to stay busy and continue to get my affairs in order as best I can. Further details can be found by using the passkey at the link below.

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Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead.
Which old Witch?
The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong!
The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head,
rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.

Yes, it may sound a bit odd, but this image was the first thing I thought of when I caught the news this morning. Both online and on the television, people are jumping up and down for joy that the infamous Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan. While I am glad that he has been found and some sort of justice served, I pause to think about all who paid the ultimate price during the last 10 years. I am, of course, talking about the brave men and women of the coalition forces, but I also want to give you a few more numbers to ponder. Do with them what you will. Just food for thought.

• Sept 11, 2001. American civilians killed Approx: 3,000
• Oct 2001 to April 2011. US and coalition forces killed in Afghanistan: 2,340
• 2001 to 2009. Lowest estimated number of Afghan civilians (not counting insurgents) killed as a direct result of US and coalition actions: 5,664

The last number is a compilation I have made from the lowest year by year numbers that I have found by various independent watch groups. The actual civilian death toll in Afghanistan is likely to be astronomically higher if and when official reports are ever released.

So, for now, let´s just revel in the moment that one more evil man in the world is dead. Yes, he was a particularly evil man, but lets not forget all the innocent lives lost in the process on all sides. War is, after all, a terrible thing, but deemed necessary by the ¨powers that be¨ on occasion. Some will chalk it up to the old slogan of ¨Sh!t Happens¨, but it´s far from over yet.

Lets sing along shall we?

She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho
Let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!

Things That Should Have Killed Me....but didn´t

As promised, I have comprised a short list of some of the things I have been through here where I have defied the odds and still managed to live. I´ve had this list partially completed and sitting in my drafts folder for a while, but I figured it was time to throw it out there. Tomorrow is Monday, and opens up the possibility for the dreaded phone call regarding the next court date. My sources are telling me to be patient because the legal system works very slowly here, but have also told me that it will be soon. For now, enjoy the list. Passkey is required at the link below. Take care everyone!

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