Prime Minister's Twitter Hacked

Prime Minister Yingluck's twitter account was not the most exciting thing in the world. Unlike the perpetually hilarious and controversial Chuvit (@chuvit_online), the Prime Minister's staff used her Twitter account (@PouYingLuck) to post your standard press releases of wai-ing monks, wading through flooded streets, etc. Nevertheless, someone hacked the account and a 20-year old Chula student picked it up on 4chan or somewhere else within the "Underground Hacker Community", whatever that is. From the Bangkok Post:

Aekawit Thongdeeworakul, a fifth year student attending the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University, has confessed publicly that he hacked into Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Twitter account on Sunday.

The 20-year-old made the admission at a press conference at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology on Wednesday afternoon.

Chula is the Harvard of Thailand, but apparently the poor kid wasn't smart enough to use an IP spoofer. Now Khun Yingluck's Twitter account has vanished from the internet like boo.com. Oh well.

Whenever a politician's online whatever gets hacked, nothing real juicy ever comes up. There were no secretive direct messages between Yingluck and her older brother, Thaksin Shinwatra (@ThaksinLive), and the information revealed was as big a dud as when Sarah Palin's email got hacked back in 2008. Politicians are either too smart to know that they shouldn't be involved in shenanigans in the brave new digital world, or they are so stupid that they get in trouble being themselves, like sending unsolicited crotch shots.

Prime Minister's Twitter Hacked

Sacred Heart School Director Offers "Deeply Apologies" After Nazi Fiasco

From Prachathai - Notice the Strange Picture of John Lennon

I don't mean to pile onto the misery in Chiang Mai at the moment, because it is experiencing serious flooding that has destroyed a lot of people's homes and crops. However, the recent sports day event at Sacred Heart College where students dressed up in Third Reich regalia and marched around deserves some attention. It certainly drew a lot of scorn from the American, German, French, and British Consulates in Chiang Mai (article is in ภาษาไทย).

Obviously, the children did not deliberately mean any ill-will toward the millions murdered under the scourge of National Socialism and military imperialism. Judging by the letter from Sacred Heart College Director [pdf], I don't think the teachers meant any intentional. Rather, it appears to be a case of complete ignorance of one of the worst genocides in history. Sure, it's easy to get up on a high horse, but this is a serious problem with education in Thailand.

This is not the first time Nazi symbolism has been used as fashion in Thailand. You can walk into Chatuchak market (one of the biggest markets in Bangkok) and see tons of weird t-shirts with Hitler wearing sunglasses and the like. Also, popular band Slur has a video where they dress up in Nazi gear like some kind of joke.

A commentary in the Bangkok Post said that Thailand is over-militarized. I disagree. It's another example of why education is important, and with four Thai kids, I can only blame myself if they end up goosestepping.

Sacred Heart School Director Offers "Deeply Apologies" After Nazi Fiasco

Bangkok and Pattaya Crime - A Smorgasbord of Ideas for the Writer

Another Drug Bust (courtesy Pattaya Daily News)

It was most humbling for my flash fiction piece Raid on Soi 5 to get accepted at the Flash Fiction Offensive, especially since there is always a lot of kickass stories on the site. It's a tale of a drug deal gone bad amidst the sleazy underbelly of Bangkok's Sukhumvit Road (where I work). The only reason I can fathom that my story was up to par is because there is no shortage of fodder for the crime/thriller author in Bangkok and Pattaya. There's a steady stream of news about ladyboys robbing short-timers, massive drug busts, and even crazies pulling a gun at one of the Embassies. Writer's block for crime writers is virtually impossible if you live in this maelstrom, just ask Jake Needham.

Here's a wild story descibed in the The Nation that happened recently down in Pattaya:

A former Syrian Army commando has been arrested in connection with the murder of Charles Edmund Jones, late president of the World Croquet Federation, in Jones's rented condominium in Chon Buri's Jomtien area on Monday night.

The New Zealander's body was discovered in the condominium with multiple stab wounds on Tuesday.
Provincial Police Region 2 chief Lt-General Thangai Prasajaksatru and Pattaya Police superintendent Col Nanthawut Suwanla-ong yesterday presented the suspect, 21-year-old Mohamad Shanar Ryad, at a press conference along with the victim's notebook, cell phones and wristwatch, which were reportedly stolen, as well as a pocket knife they alleged was the murder weapon.


Ryad reportedly told police he met Jones on August 19 in South Pattaya. He said Jones invited him to smoke marijuana with him in his room and paid him Bt400 to perform oral sex on him. Ryad claimed that on Monday night, Jones invited him to his room again, but the pair got into an argument, during which Jones pulled a knife on him and attempted to sexually assault him. According to police, Ryad admitted to using his pocket knife to stab the victim about 20 times before fleeing with Jones's valuables and hiding at the room of Ryad's Thai girlfriend in Soi Chalermphrakiat 19.

How can you not write a story about this? It would probably be difficult to keep it under 1,000 words. This was the same week that MP Chuvit exposed an alleged police-run illegal casino here in Bangkok. I might be a bit timid to write about the casino caper for fear of getting whacked by the poo yai of the place. Nevertheless, you can always adjust the names and locations to protect the guilty.

The excellent author Christopher Moore argued that Thailand may have a reputation for international fugitives, but it may be unjustified. However, the longer I stay here, the crazier things seem to get.

Bangkok and Pattaya Crime - A Smorgasbord of Ideas for the Writer

The Trouble with Tablets in Thailand

Does Video Game Violence Make Kids Weird? (pictured left: my son terrified of a booth babe)

I guess I don't know that much about Thailand, because when I heard that Prime Minister Yingluck was serious about the one tablet per child policy, I expected a different kind of criticism from Bangkok's elite. For example, I figured some astute observers would say things like, "How do we know the company that gets the contract won't be involved in dubious dealings with the Shinawatra family?", or "Why buy tablets when many kids in the impoverished schools in Isan don't even have a decent computer?", and perhaps "How are we going to pay for this shit?"

However, the criticism has been of a more culture warrior variety with critics arguing that children will have access to violent video games and porn. The Nation quotes from concerned citizens about tablets:

Not only do teachers of the target students have to be prepared for the use of the new technology, but parents should also learn how to use the tablets and understand the technology so they can monitor students' use of the tablets and prevent them from accessing improper websites and games.

"Office of Basic Education Commission secretary general Chinnapat Bhumirat said schools would have a screening system to block students' access to the Internet as they would have to use the schools' intranet. We want this screening plan to be practical, but people are worried that it won't be, because children learn about technology very quickly [so they may be able to avoid the screening system]," said the head of the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Centre, Adisak Plitponkarnpim.

Now, I may have been scolded once or ten times by my wife for allowing the boys to play Grand Theft Auto on my iPad. However, I believe that the concern over video game violence is misplaced. Bangkok itself is a pretty crazy city, where you can find prostitutes, meth dealers, and horrendous motorcycle accidents right outside your front door. Additionally, Bangkok is not like Western cities, where the violence is isolated into ghettos, barios, and other areas to steer clear of. In Bangkok, you will see new high-rise condos teeming with young professionals overlooking a slum made of aging wood and corrugated metal roofs. The humanity is pretty in your face no matter what socioeconomic bracket you fall into. So, I believe the getting upset about violent video games seems to be the least of the troubles.

Additionally, businesses in Thailand always complain about the lack of IT skills in the Thai workforce. While just handing a kid a tablet certainly isn't going to solve the problem overnight, investment in IT education isn't a bad bet for the future. Crazies and weirdos were around before video games, so it's probably better to invest in things like training for law enforcement to deter crime rather than fearing the occasional scheisse porn site that pops up on some kid's tablet. Besides, if these kids don't have access to digital media, they'll be stuck reading the ridiculously bizarre magazines that populate Bangkok's newsstands for their entire childhood.

The Trouble with Tablets in Thailand

Flash Fiction: Microchip - Gun Porn

For this week in Chuck Wendig's flash fiction challenge, he's looking for gun porn. Here's a story that features a beautiful .38 special, which is loosely based on an incident in Bangkok earlier this year.

Microchip
by Paul Salvette

Kasem sprinted down the uneven sidewalk that ran parallel to Wireless Road. The blue steel of his .38 special glimmered in the Bangkok sun. The path was crowded with office workers taking their lunch breaks under a make-shift canopy of tarps and umbrellas. Kasem ran into a young woman in a pantsuit carrying a bowl of noodles. She screamed as the scalding broth splashed her face.

“Get the hell out of the way! I have to stop them,” he yelled, pushing her into a gaggle of confused onlookers.

Struggling to make his way toward the United States Embassy, he had to stop to catch his breath. He scratched the open sore on his forehead where they had implanted the microchip, his finger nails covered in blood and pus. It continued emitting its deafening frequency that resonated through his skull. He had been awake for at least four days.

People scurried off the sidewalk into a nearby office building when they noticed his revolver. The panicked bystanders cleared a path, knocking over the plastic tables that cluttered his way. Kasem now had a direct line of sight at the iron gates of the embassy adjacent to the security checkpoint. A group of female college students stood in the visa queue with clean white blouses and short black skirts.

He ran the last hundred meters and aimed his revolver at the white man in a suit walking out of the bullet-proof doors. Kasem peered down the sight at the man's terrified eyes entombed in thick glasses. The man threw his briefcase above his face and crouched behind one of the screaming girls.

Cocking back the hammer, Kasem said, “This is for what you did.”

Before he could assassinate the pathetic savage, a Thai policeman tackled him, slamming his head against the concrete steps. The officer planted a knee squarely on Kasem’s back as blood and broken teeth came dribbling out of his mouth.

Kasem turned his head and said, “You traitor. How could a fellow Thai not let me stop them.”

Flash Fiction: Microchip - Gun Porn

Top Books in Thailand - Hookers and Getting Tortured in Thai Prison

This list is from the latest newsletter from the excellent brick-and-mortar bookstore in Bangkok, Dasa Books.

Bestselling Thailand Fiction
1. John Burdett – Bangkok Eight
2. John Burdett – Bangkok Haunts
3. Stephen Leather – Private Dancer
4. John Burdett – Bangkok Tattoo
5. Jake Needham – The Big Mango
6. Rattawut Lapcharoensap – Sightseeing
7. Andrew Hicks – Thai Girl
8. Axel Aylwen – The Falcon of Siam
9. S.P. Somtow – Jasmine Nights
10. David Young – Sukhumvit Road
11. Christopher G. Moore – A Killing Smile
12. Jake Needham – Tea Money
13. Dean Barrett – Skytrain to Murder
14. Chart Korbjitti – The Judgment
15. Collin Piprell - Kicking Dogs

Bestselling Thailand Non-Fiction
1. Robert Cooper - Culture Shock! Thailand
2. Warren Fellows – The Damage Done
3. Sandra Gregory – Forget You Had a Daughter
4. Colin Martin – Welcome to Hell
5. Jerry Hopkins - Thailand Confidential
6. Janet Brown - Tone Deaf in Bangkok
7. Jerry Hopkins – Bangkok Babylon
8. Father Joe Maier – Welcome to the Bangkok Slaughterhouse
9. Warren Olson - Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye
10. S. Tsow – Thai Lite
11. Carol Hollinger – Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind
12. Phongpaichit/Baker – Thaksin
13. Cleo Odzer – Patpong Sisters
14. Phongpaichit/Piriyarangsan - Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja
15. Pira Sudham – Monsoon Country

Statistics seem to prove the stereotype that Thai expats like to read books about bar girls and fellow foreigners in Thai prison.

Top Books in Thailand - Hookers and Getting Tortured in Thai Prison

Another Thai Bar Girl Book - Bangkok Vanishing

Nana Plaza - Photo Credit

Thailand is world famous for its sex tourism industry, and if you want extensive commentary on it, you should visit Stickman's place. Even though prostitution is something not to be discussed in polite company, money talks, and even the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been promoting the go-go bars due to the slump in visitors to the country. The big places to go to meet ladies of the night (or ladyboys, whichever you prefer) in Bangkok are Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza, and Patpong. My wife and I occasionally play pool at Country Roads in Soi Cowboy, as the ambiance there is nicer. It's less pushy compared to Patpong, and Nana is just a gigantic fire hazard with too many fat, old dudes sporting fanny packs.


There are many, many books that follow the story of the disillusioned foreign guy who comes to Thailand, falls in love with a bar girl, and then it turns out not everything is as it seems. Many Westerners don't understand that romance and financial support are essentially one in the same in Thai culture, and they feel that the women are taking advantage of them. The Thai woman in the story assumes that everything is milk and honey in the West and their obese companion is a walking ATM machine. It's been done many times before. The best book on the subject is by far Stephen Leather's Private Dancer, butthere are far too many imitations

So, I'm not completely head over heels for the newest bar girl book, Eric Rogers' Bangkok Vanishing, but let's give it a chance. He has an interview in a local newspaper back stateside:

He displays that love and understanding in his fledgling novel, Bangkok Vanishing, which he describes as a "gritty crime thriller."

It is the story of Blake Lawrence, an American in Bangkok who finds himself involved with a bar girl. That girl's boyfriend, a hard-core criminal, tries to blackmail Lawrence, sending a DVD of the pair's involvement to Lawrence's wife. Lawrence calls on two of his Marine buddies to help him deal with the blackmailer. "I've met a lot of characters over there," Rogers said. "An expat in Thailand is a different personality. A lot blend seamlessly into the culture."

Western men, Rogers noted, are attracted to Thai women. "They seem more pliable and submissive" than Western women, he noted. "They allow men to make more decisions. They have softer personalities than Western women. They are also very exotic."

Sounds like a pretty interesting read, and the book appears to try to buck some of the cliches. There's no shortage of craziness that happens in Thailand, which helps provide ideas for authors who have spent time out here. However, I'm not sure if Rogers would think my Thai wife was "pliable and submissive" if he met her. I certainly don't. Most of the Thai women I've met over the years may appear to be nice and gentle upon first impression, but behind the scenes they always run the show in any relationship. Just ask my wife, who once confiscated my ATM card because I spent 160 THB (~$5) on a magazine without asking her. Yeah, I'm wearing the pants around here.

Anyhoo, if you're into sleaze and deception in your fiction like I am, the bar girl books are always a fun read.

Another Thai Bar Girl Book - Bangkok Vanishing

Scavenger - Flash Fiction on Thailand Stories

My flash fiction submission about a garbage scavenger who makes a gruesome discovery to Microhorror was politely declined by the Editor. He said that it needed a little bit less exposition and more action. I attempted to fix it up a bit posted it on Thailand Stories here, if you're interested.

Thailand has an entire sub-culture of people who go around picking through garbage to find aluminum cans, cardboard, or anything else they can get a few baht for. You see them solemnly pushing carts down streets all the time with heaping piles of junk. I have a lot of respect for them, as it is obviously not a fun job, but shows what people must do to survive.

Asian cities can be strange places. In America, the bad neighborhoods are typically cordoned off in certain parts of the city where "you just don't go". But in most of the Asian cities I've been to, you will have high-rise condos with college-educated professionals right next to the slums. It's quite disorienting at times, but somewhat fascinating. I try to teach my kids a little bit about both worlds, and where I live in Bangkok, there's no isolation from poverty.

If you really want an interesting juxtaposition of poverty and high-society in Bangkok, check out the abandoned skyscraper Sathorn Unique.

Scavenger - Flash Fiction on Thailand Stories

Tourism Authority Promoting Soi Cowboy and Ladyboys

Clipped from The Nation - June 10, 2011

It's no secret that times are difficult for Thailand's tourist and MICE industry. In addition to the political crises that seem to pop up every year, the currency in Thailand (baht) has been performing strongly compared to the US dollar and Euro, which have been in the toilet for quite some time. The tourist industry in Thailand affects a lot of people across the social strata (from the owners of the 5-star hotels to the taxi drivers), so the government has invested heavily in promoting tourism through the Tourist Authority of Thailand.

The powers that be are either playing off the popularity of Hangover 2 or are very desperate for more visitors. From this ad I clipped from the Nation, they are actually pushing the brothel/ladyboy image that the Thai government has been trying to shy away from for decades. The article reads:

Infamous as it seems, the brightly neon-lit Soi Cowboy is a celebrated must-go among tourists looking for the wondrous nightlife in Bangkok. It is not as raunchy as the equally known Patpong alley in Silom, as it is open-minded and welcome to both male and female clinetele.

...but it is not hard at all to imagine seeing a middle-aged Caucasian expat walking hand-in-hand with a charming Thai ladyboy, or a Japanese young family brushing shoulders with black chador-clad women.

I don't judge the Tourist Authority for this, because, for one thing, the wife and I go to Soi Cowboy occasionally (er, Country Roads is a great place to play pool, I swear). The more important reason is that people in Thailand of all stripes need to make a living, and the decline in tourism has affected a number of people. Don't ever mess with people's ability to make money in Thailand. Therefore, I applaud the Tourist Authority's savvy marketing strategy.

However, I wonder what their colleagues in the Ministry of Culture would have to say, since they made such a big stink about some young girls going topless during Songkran. What would they have to say about the go-go bars being recognized tourist landmarks?

Also, If anyone knows what the hell "chador-clad" means, please email me.

Tourism Authority Promoting Soi Cowboy and Ladyboys

In Defense of Street Vendors

Taken Outside Today Where I Work

Bangkok. Where else can you get a pair of mickey mouse slippers, a jailbroken iPhone, and 3 sticks of luuk chin (mystery meatball things) on your walk home from work? The street vendors that populate the sidewalks selling their cheap meals and wares are just as much of the city landscape as the towering skyscrapers above. From a consumer perspective, it's actually quite convenient, and I have to admire their dedication toward frying up a chicken in the punishing heat and humidity of the city.

Yes, struggling to walk from the On Nut BTS station to Sawngtaeo #4 on the road can be a bit frustrating after a lousy day at work. But, isn't the in your face humanity all part of living in the big city?

Not everyone agrees with me apparently, because this month's Big Chilli magazine has an article that portrays these innovative entrepreneurs as total lowlifes (The Big Chilli magazine unfortunately cannot be seen online). I picked up the magazine today, because I heard that David Lyman was going to be in it. He's a great guy, a Navy vet like me, and a "pretty big wheel down at the cracker factory" as they say. Unfortunately, it turns out he's in next month's issue.

The featured article in May's Big Chilli discusses the mafia connection with the street vendors, which is problematic, as well as how vendors dump trash all over the place. However, I would not necessarily fault the people operating these stalls for the rubbish problem, as there is never a trash can in this city when you need one. Surprisingly, they didn't mention last year's Bangkok Post article about child pornography being sold on Sukhumvit road for dramatic effect. But what I really didn't agree with is the tone of the article, which makes it seems like they should just go away.

Not to wage class war here, but if these people are kicked off the street, where will they go? Then there's the matter of all the people who are dependent on buying these low cost food and goods to get by on a daily basis. A lot of people in Bangkok don't even make $250 a month, and the fancy restaurants that cater to expats and Thai's high society sure aren't going to let them in. Sometimes you have to think about unintended consequences. Besides, if you want a city where everything is pristine and expensive, just go live in Singapore.

In Defense of Street Vendors

First Submission Gets Accepted - The Curfew

Many thanks to Matt over at Thriller Killers n' Chillers for thinking that my 1,100 word story "The Curfew" was good enough to post on the site. Sure it wasn't a paid gig, but it's a good start.

The story I wrote is about Thai teenagers running amok after a curfew is implemented in Bangkok due to political unrest. Exactly one year ago, the military cracked down on the Red Shirts protesting in Rajaprasong (about 1 mile from where I work), much havoc ensued, and a curfew was put in effect for about a week. It was big international news last year, so no point on dwelling on the specifics. The government seized control of all the TV stations, and I recall there was just the Prime Minister and the military talking at these press conferences and looking very disheveled. It was sort of like the opening scene of Dawn of the Dead, and it was very bizarre. Also that night, some young punks threw a rock and busted a huge glass pane window at our internet shot which set us back 10,000THB (300 bucks) to replace. That was sort of the inspiration for the story.

Check it out here, and I'll add to the tabs on top if you prefer PDFs.

First Submission Gets Accepted - The Curfew