Pacific Rim Gets.... Interesting

JasonPratt · May 29, 2014, 11:53:57 AM

Anything further from this?? This was news to my newshound Mom...

(Also, is there a Thailand coup thread? I didn't find one here or in RPF...)

Gusington · May 29, 2014, 12:32:10 PM

No Thailand coup thread...are the Russians there too??

JasonPratt · May 29, 2014, 03:20:17 PM

Maybe the Russians had it removed... :D

One of our Groggies was in Thailand earlier this week when the coup went up, if I recall correctly. But I can't remember who.

JasonPratt · May 29, 2014, 03:23:14 PM

THANK GOD I AM NOT (entirely) INSANE YET!

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=244.msg258860#msg258860

It was SDR who was in Bangkok during the coup last Friday, almost a week ago. I hope he's doing okay.

endfire79 · May 29, 2014, 03:43:07 PM

I think he should be fine, long as he's not doing something crazy. The locals know the tourists are their main income. Was in Vietnam and Thailand around 2011, no coup, but there was a border skirmish with Cambodia (is this region ever totally stable, probably not by our standards).

Silent Disapproval Robot · May 29, 2014, 03:56:13 PM

I'm good. I cut the holiday short and came back to Canada on Monday. Stupid curfew....

I can see the Red Shirts going after tourists. Thaksin wants desperately to destabilize the country and cause an incident that will put the coup makers in a bad light. If he can get news images of the military shooting red shirt protesters or dead and wounded tourists, he'll see it as a win.

Worked for him in 2010 when he unleashed his black shirt snipers.

endfire79 · May 29, 2014, 04:16:42 PM

Good to hear. Not much you can do around if there's a curfew.

Personally I enjoyed Vietnam more (and cost way less), but it helped I went with an ex-pat who knew the place. Although the whole region has heated up a bit more since 2011.

Gusington · May 29, 2014, 04:36:27 PM

SDR - did you get a face tattoo?

Silent Disapproval Robot · May 29, 2014, 07:43:14 PM

Quote from: endfire79 on May 29, 2014, 04:16:42 PM
Good to hear. Not much you can do around if there's a curfew.

Personally I enjoyed Vietnam more (and cost way less), but it helped I went with an ex-pat who knew the place. Although the whole region has heated up a bit more since 2011.

I went to Vietnam in '98. Didn't care for it. I started off in Hanoi and took the train south to Hue. I was told at the time that the cops were pretty corrupt and one of their favourite scams to pull was to demand to see your passport. Once you'd handed it over they'd inform you that such-and-such a fictitious stamp was missing and that you'd have to pay a $100-$200 fine or they'd confiscate your passport. As such, I made a few photocopies of my passport and carried those around instead. Sure enough, I got hassled in Hue but nothing came of it when I gave them a photocopy. A few days later, I'd made it over to Da Nang to do some diving. There's a big naval base there so there are military cops around. They tried pulling the passport scam on me but when I handed over a photocopy and tried to walk away, they didn't take kindly to it and gave me the good news with their rifle butts. Luckily some regular cops came by and the military ones buggered off. I figured I'd had enough of Vietnam, took the bus to Ho Chi Minh City and caught a flight to Bangkok the next day. Haven't been back since.

Nope, no tats Gus. With the bars closing around 9 or 10 at the latest, I think my wildest night of consumption consisted of two pints with a couple of Scot ex-pats I'd met who dragged me along to a pub quiz night (which ended up being cancelled due to the coup.)

JasonPratt · May 30, 2014, 07:42:06 AM

Glad to hear you're okay, SDR!

So... just business as usual for Thai?

And back to my original question, how's the Viet/China border piççing contest going?

BanzaiCat · May 30, 2014, 08:05:57 AM

Glad you got out of there okay, SDR.

I had a boss a couple of years back who is Vietnamese...he's the one that got me into instructional design and Adobe stuff. He and his wife lived here in Houston until she got her MBA and decided that they should move back to Vietnam, which she was from. He was born in Boston so it was hard for him to move back there. They've only been there a few years and now they're moving back, lol.

He used to regale us with tales of Vietnam...he had family there and they'd visit every so often. The most interesting was how you could be in a modern development with plumbing and electricity and Internet and all the comforts of Westernization, and a mile or two away would be jungle huts with pit latrines and dirt floors.

I do love me some Vietnamese cuisine, though...haven't had a bad experience at a Vietnamese restaurant yet (which he got me started on), but admittedly I've only been to a handful.

Gusington · May 30, 2014, 10:37:42 AM

So Vietnamese food isn't entirely like the scene in Good Morning Vietnam where Cronauer asks if there's any food on this street that doesn't give you diarrhea?

BanzaiCat · May 30, 2014, 10:41:24 AM

Quote from: Gusington on May 30, 2014, 10:37:42 AM
So Vietnamese food isn't entirely like the scene in Good Morning Vietnam where Cronauer asks if there's any food on this street that doesn't give you diarrhea?

It's an acquired taste. It only gave me dysentry and cholera. My awesome gub'mint heathcare system took care a' EVERYthang.

endfire79 · May 30, 2014, 11:46:54 AM

the only thing that got me sick was bad ice cream. Ironically it was durian flavored. Great seafood, and was very cheap.

All of that region is corrupt in a way, not surprised SDR. Gotta take the good with the bad.

Gusington · May 30, 2014, 11:47:44 AM

'murica!

What is durian?