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.

Songkran - The Day After

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly things are put up and taken down in this country. Even during my time traveling with the big sound production crew here, I was amazed how fast things go up and then come back down again. Yesterday the streets were filled with people, food and goods vendors, concert stages, and every possible bit of merry making activity going on. This morning at 10AM I went out, and was amazed to see that once again Chiang Mai had been transformed back into the semi-sleepy little city that I have come to love so much despite the hardships of living here. All the vendors were gone, the streets had been swept clean, and the monolithic celebration of the week was all but forgotten. Absolutely amazing.

As per local tradition, I went out with some friends today to officially ring in the new year, but in a much quieter and subdued manner. We went across town to the big ¨Wat¨ or temple on the banks of the Ping river. Local customs include the pouring of water, burning of insence and candles, releasing small animals into the wild, and other traditions that are said to bring good luck for the new year and wash away any bad luck of the previous one. It was a great and peacefull way to spend a day. It may seem strange to folks back home, but just everyday stuff to the folks here.

The really great news of the day is that I found a battery charger to borrow for my camera!! I was able to get some great pics of today´s outing and I have uploaded the pics to Facebook. Below is a link to the public gallery on facebook which doesn´t require an account to view. Enjoy the pics. All things considered, I feel very lucky to have experienced this once again and be able to share it with all of you. Life is about to get very difficult very soon, so this was a nice prelude to whatever comes next.

Songkran - the day after - Photo gallery

Songkran and a Word of Warning

The new year Songkran water festival is still going strong, but I did venture out into it briefly. I went across town to visit and old friend and fellow American here in the city who contacted me and wanted to offer me some advice. He was reluctant to chat online about it, and even more so to speak on the phone. He insisted that we speak in person so I began to cut through all the little zig zag streets that honeycomb through this city. All of the major streets are full of people dancing, throwing water, and just all around having a good time. I had to cross through a couple major streets, and got hit repeatedly with buckets of water when I did, but for the most part avoided them. It´s kind of strange to be surrounded by all this happiness and festive partying, but feeling like I just want to crawl in a hole somewhere and avoid it all.

Upon arrival at my friends house, he greeted me and asked me inside. He then proceeded to tell me a story that I had heard a little about, but was always too polite to ask. He himself been been imprisoned here in what the locals call the ¨monkey house¨. It´s the larger prison just outside of town. The fact that he is no longer there (and still in Thailand) reveals that he did manage to get himself out somehow, so I asked him how long he had been there. The answer was a staggering four years!! It took him four long years in prison to clear his name while awaiting a potential prison term of 35 years!! After his release, there were no reparations and he had lost everything he had worked for his entire life. He has, however, managed to rebuild and was kind enough to share his experience with me.

He had kept meticulous records over those four years and we spent the afternoon going over legal documents and informal records he had kept. He was able to offer me a wealth of information on legal processes, and also the inner workings of the local prison system. He gave me lists and names of who can be trusted with what and who to steer clear of. Oddly enough, most of the information was not about fellow inmates, but regarded prison staff and the various ¨goodwill¨ organizations that visit prisoners there. One of these that I want to inform everyone about back in the states is a particularly nasty little operation.

Various groups have set up NGOs or non profit charity groups to help out foriegners stuck in Thai prisons. Their advertised goal is to assist the prisoners by bringing them food, toiletries, books, offer them spiritual advice, and assist them with contacting family and friends on the outside. Sounds great, but here is how the scam works. Sadly they are almost always run and operated by foriegners (American or European) who of course speak perfect english. They operate under the guise of a church or some other religious organization, and get donations from their supporters back in western countries to assist with the prisoners here. Most get a ¨per prisoner¨ amount that they visit per month. Out of that amount, the prisoner might recieve 20% of the assistance that the folks back home in Sunday service so generously dropped in the offering plate. The rest goes to creating a lavish lifestyle for the lovely ¨God fearing¨ folks who were kind enough to ¨volunteer¨ their time and visit these poor lost souls.

The second part of the plan is much more sinister. After gaining the trust of the inmate, they ask for family contact information, and offer to start getting some help from back home. These guys (and ladies) are sweet talkers, know the scriptures by heart and know all the catch phrases and lines to pull at a family member or friend´s heart strings. They of course just want money, but will offer to help ¨save the soul¨ of that lost and misguided loved one who is locked away so far from home in a ¨heathen godless country¨. Any money sent (of course) is kept by the ¨do-gooder¨, and the family or friends receive a lovely letter once in a while about how their loved one is ¨doing so well with his new found faith¨. Most actual correspondence from the inmate is intercepted and never posted to their home country. Nearly 150 letters over four years in my friend´s case. Reminds me alot of the ¨Sponsor a Child in Africa¨ programs I used to see on the TV. They have similar things here too, and many of them are just as corrupt.

As a safeguard, I have already implimented a system with a small network of trusted friends both here in Thailand and back in the states. You all know who you are, and you know the validation and authentication protocol. As far as the rest of you goes, I can only offer one piece of advice. If and when the phone rings and the person on the other end is saying they are trying to help me, simply ask for the message authentication. If they give you something (anything) you know it´s a scam. If they don´t give you anything, it´s a scam. HANG UP! Don´t waste your time, and certainly don´t waste your money. If I need to get a message out when the time comes, it will be from a valid and trusted source, and not one of these ¨flim flam¨ artists.

I must admit, I was skeptical at first when he first started telling me the story, but after going over the letters, bank records, and court documents I was shocked and appalled at what I saw and read.

I hope you have read this post carefully, and understand the meaning. I will answer questions as long as I can, so please ask soon if you have any. The holiday will be over in a few days and the government will be back up to speed on Monday. From there anything can happen. I just keep hoping for the best and planning for the worst.

Take care everyone,
Matt

Waiting for the Call

I´m getting alot of people asking what my status is right now. To be perfectly honest, I really don´t know. I´m still waiting on the call for my next court appearance. I´m kind of dangling by a thread knowing that at any time they give me a one way ticket to immigration detention to start what will most likely be the longest and most difficult part of my journey so far. It´s almost like standing in front of a firing squad only they can´t quite seem to decide on what bullets to use, and then they all go on vacation leaving you tied to the post.

The other question I get alot is ¨aren´t you scared???¨. Well, I stopped panicking about life over a year ago when I was living here on the streets. If I didn´t make any money during the day, I had to wander the streets all night arguing with street dogs and prostitutes over half eaten plates of food in garbage cans. After that I´d sleep on a concrete bench in the relative safety of the morning sun for a few hours before going back out to look for work. It may sound extreme to some, but that was only the ¨tip of the iceberg¨ when it comes to what I´ve been through and endured here. Someday it will make a great book, but I have to live through it first.

I´ve been doing some math here again lately trying to figure out what I´m looking at. So far through savings, hard work, and a few generous gifts (thank you all) I have managed to put together about 20% of what It will take to keep me from starving in a third world prison and get me back to legal working status. Ironically enough, I have to keep working illegally while out on bail in order to make money for my penalty for working illegally. Everyday is a gamble. Going out to work gets me about $10 a day, but I risk breaking my bail agreement and receiving additional charges and fines that are thousands of times greater than my wage for the day. I just get up every morning, hope for the best and then do my best (albeit very quietly).

The Songkran (New Year) festival is getting into full swing. I made my way on foot to the market and do the daily drinking water run today, and only got assaulted twice with squirt guns. Tomorrow will be a different story as the whole thing officially starts. That´s all for now, I´m going to do my best to stay dry and out from behind bars during the festivities here. Hey, at least if I were in jail, I could avoid the water war going on outside. Joking of course, but I found it to be a funny thought.

Take care everyone.

Songkran and Happy New year

Nothing new here to report yet from the good lieutenant of Chiang Mai´s finest, but I suspect that may have something to do with the upcoming New Year Festival. Most city and Gov´t offices will be closed for about the next week. Good luck for me as far as time goes, but it does stretch out the waiting game which is the hardest part.

Yes, I know that most of you had your New Year´s parties back in January, but here they do things a little bit different. The New Year Festival is called ¨Songkran¨ here and the festivities last for about a week starting this coming monday. It´s also called the ¨water festival¨ due to it´s origins, but they do take it to the extreme (especially up here in the north). The entire country goes into a NATIONWIDE waterfight that can last up to a week. I remember last year quite well. I didn´t get dry for nearly a week even though the temps were in the 100´s. The only way to stay dry is to stay home. Even going to the corner market for eggs will get you soaked 10 times over.

The video below was posted after the 2009 Songkran festival, but was filmed only about two blocks from where I live. What you see is not just contained to one street or area here. It happens on every major street in the whole city and lasts a week. One of the wildest (and wettest) things I´ve ever experienced. Absolute chaos.

If you want to learn more about the history and festival traditions of Songkran, check out this video. It explains it alot better than I can and saves me alot of typing for which I have to pay for the privilege.