Monopoly Money

Ever wonder what 100,000% inflation looks like.


Currently, 1 USD is about 6 million Zimbabwean Dollars (before I could finish this blog entry it went up to 7 million).

My co-worker, Stewart (of Noodle Shop fame), has an older brother, Jim, that works at the British Embassy in Zimbabwe (previously, he was based in Islamabad - I wonder who he p!$$ed off). Occasionally, Stewart will forward me one of Jim's emails about life in 'Zim'. They tend to make my trials and tribulations in Thailand seem like a walk in the park.

Here's his latest email describing a recent shopping trip to Mozambique.

Went shopping in Mozambique this weekend. As you do. Turned out to be an adventure.

We were told by Zimbabwean friends that there is a branch of the South African supermarket, Shoprite, in a town in Mozambique called Chimoio, which is only an hour or so over the border from Zimbabwe at Mutare. Mutare is only 3 hours drive from Harare which puts this shop much closer than those in South Africa, Zambia, or Botswana, which are the alternatives to drive to. Idea was to stock up on things like, milk, toilet roll, cooking oil, beer, insect spray, dog food etc. which you can't bring back on a plane. Only thing we didn't know was what was actually in the shop.

Planned to meet our friends at Chimoio on Friday night, eat prawns and drink beer, then shop Saturday morning before heading back to stay a further night at Leopards Rock which is back in Zimbabwe. So, myself, Dan and Will from the Embassy set off at lunchtime Friday, and were at Shoprite in Chimoio 4 hours and 10 minutes later, having taken only 20 minutes to cross the border into Mozambique.

Our friends had been there earlier for a business meeting and were just finishing their shopping as we arrived. This gave us just enough time to look at what was in the shop, and confirm that they had most things on my shopping list from Tracey - even Red Bull.

Then we went to the hotel, which our friends had just changed to - it is new and out of town, unlike the one they usually stay at. We had a fantastic night at a restaurant in Chimoio with prawns and calamari coming out of our ears for not a lot of money. Lots of hugging the locals and looking for anyone who had even heard of Rangers (Scottish Football Team) type stuff.

Next morning I opened my hotel room to go for breakfast and the maid said "you are not going into town are you?" Turns out the radio was reporting riots in Chimoio!

Something to do with the locals being fed up that the police were not dealing properly with bandits. We couldn't figure out whether the riots were planned, but thought it unlikely that people would get up early on a Saturday morning for a riot. But then what did we know about Mozambique?

After breakfast we checked out and went to Shoprite in the hope that it's position out of the city would spare it any impact. No such luck. Chimoio was closed and we were advised to get out of town. Outside Shoprite there were bands of armed police, sometimes with groups of youths who they had arrested sitting in little circles, and the streets were strewn with bricks and glass. We were told that the police had shot dead a young boy.

So that was the shopping! We couldn't believe it, especially as we had looked at all the things we were going to by the day before. Anyway, there was nothing for it but to head back to Zim. In our favour this meant that we got golf in on the Saturday afternoon, and again on the Sunday morning at Leopards Rock, so not a wasted weekend. We also thought that we were lucky we had changed hotels or we would have been locked in to the hotel in town.

Impressions of Mozambique; really good feeling about it (on the Friday), and lots of people walking about with things on their heads. Good beer (Manica), and cheap prawns. We all want to go back, and maybe head further on to the coast next time.

Things in Zimbabwe; starting to be a feeling that there is a possibility that Mugabe will not win the elections on 29th March, IF they are at all fair. Inflation now estimated at 100,000%, and whereas we last changed money at 12.7 million dollars to £1 last week, the parallel (ie street) exchange rate is now $30 million to £1. This means that Frosties (apparently, that's a cereal - They're Great!) in the shops would cost us about £7 for example, hence looking to shop elsewhere.

Standard stuff really.

Later, Jim

Return of Mr. Square Face

Thai politics is my new favorite soap opera.


Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, otherwise known as Mr. Square Face, finally returned to Thailand yesterday after 17 months of self-imposed exile.


It all started with a coup in September 2006 that took place as Thaksin was in New York about to give a speech to the United Nations - ouch!!!

Peace!!

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night...

I may lose my G Rating ('G' is for Grandma) for this, but here it goes.

Driving home the other day, I discovered why the Thai postal service is so slow and unreliable.

There is only one male truck...

Get it?

Sunday at Suan Thip

Things have been pretty slow recently and I haven't had much to write about besides Thai politics, which happens to be getting more and more interesting with the expected return of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin S. later this week. But enough about that.

This past weekend, Nuch and I met Carl and Nok at Suan Thip, a restaurant known for it's traditional Thai food, gardens, and river view.

The meal was nice, but the river view and the gardens are worth coming back for.

Here are some pics

Nuch by the river. In the background you can see a small tug pulling a rice barge.

This picture shows a loaded rice barge (only a few feet out of the water), an empty rice barge (riding high out of the water), and a traditional rice barge (in the foreground) that has been decommissioned. Where's my Pulitzer.

Guy fishing




Carl and Nok's daughter, Emily, also joined us.

Opposition Leader, Mr. Sweet Face

Yesterday, I wrote a blog about Prime Minister Samak's nickname. I thought it was funny and blog worthy, but apparently, I missed the real story.

Nuch told me that his People's Power Party is in an uproar since they became aware that deaf people in Thailand refer to Mr. Rose Apple Nose by making the motion of sticking two fingers up their nose. Do this and everyone knows who you're talking about.

What makes matters worse is that the opposition leader from the Democrat Party, Aphisit Vejjajiva, happens to be 30 years younger and considered by Thai women-folk to be exponentially more attractive than the fruit-nosed Samak.

The Thai sign language symbol for Aphisit is to draw a circle around your face with your index finger, then give a thumbs up.

Sorry, Samak. Who could blame them?

Mr. Rose Apple Nose

Samak Sundaravej has been Thailand's newest Prime Minister for a while now. That is not news.

And although it's been around for a while, I only recently heard about his semi-official nickname, Mr. Rose Apple Nose.

Rose Apples

It's a lot more polite than what many people would have suggested.

But who is Mr. Rose Apple Nose?

Simple answer - Political strong-man and master of 'I know you are, but what am I'- diplomacy, whose legitimacy lies in his argument, "if I am such a bad guy, why am I still here?" Who can argue with that logic?

Here are some videos of recent interviews with Mr. Rose Apple Nose.

More Rats (this time not for lunch)

I was out shopping at Central Pinklao Department Store this past week and noticed they had gotten into the Chinese New Year Spirit, along with the rest of Thailand. In their main atrium, they had adorned the 6-storey tall Forest of Bamboo with with multi-colored, dog-sized rats.

Market Railway Revisited

One of my first blog posts was a video of a market that was set up along (and on) a railway line. It was a video someone had sent to me, and I didn't know much about it - in fact, I was not even sure it was in Thailand (my only clue was the file name - Thai Market Train). Now, it's confirmed. The other day I was surfing the net and came across a couple of websites that gave the story of the Railway Market and I thought I'd pass it on. Basically, I'm too busy at work right now to write something original.

This first website has 2 videos. The first video is similar to the one I posted last year. The other was taken from the back of the train, as it went through the market. I don't know how wide the market it, but it's surprisingly long. Click Here to go to the webiste.

Here is the second website that gives the story of the market (Click Here). It's written by a guy named Richard Barrow, a teacher who has his own website/ blog, which is much more professional than mine. I think he's also a cloumnist/ contributor for the Nation newspaper.

Finally, here's an excerpt from another website, also by Richard Barrow, called http://www.thai-blogs.com/. Once again, much more professional, much more prolific, and definitely worth browsing through.

In Samut Songkram, there is a unique market that is held every day literally on the rail tracks. Just before the train arrives in the town, the market stallholders have to pull back their awnings and remove their produce from the tracks. They then have to repeat all of this when the train returns. Fortunately it is not a busy track. The train leaves four times and it arrives four times. The track is not part of the national network. It only runs between Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkram. You can do this easily as a day trip from Bangkok. I wrote a story about this a couple of years ago. I was back there again at the weekend to shoot a video of the train arriving at the station. Last time I was on the train. If you go to Bangkok Day Trips you can view my full story as well as view videos and photos of this location.

How Do You Like Them 'Phutsas'

This past weekend Nuch's mother wanted to make merit at the local temple, so Nuch and I took her and Nuch's father to Tesco Lotus (like a Wal-mart Superstore) to buy some food and supplies to donate to the monks. They were like kids in a candy store.

Buying instant noodles.

Sometimes too many options can be a bad thing.





Eventually, we chose a pack of instant noodles and picked up a number of other itmes - most with suprisingly high sugar content, considering it was all for monks. I think it would be difficult to meditate with your heart jacked on a sugar high.

Has anyone ever heard of Hale's Blue Boy? I believe it's a banned substance in most professional sports leagues. Actually, I think it's snowcone syrup, but in Thailand it's mixed with a bit of water and drunk like high-octane Kool-Aid. Apparently, it's popular with the monks.

I was told that good onions have small "nipples".

ah..., I was looking at the wrong end.

Nuch's dad is a good sport and lets me take his picture for no apparent reason.

It took a long time to choose this rice serving spoon.




On the aisle before this, Nuch's mother looked at the same brown plastic bowl. She smelled it and somehow knew it was recycled plastic. We saw this one sitting by itself and she said, see, someone else realized it was recycled, too.





The fine art of choosing apples.





Turns out we were looking for 'Phutsas' (not sure what they're called in English), so the apples we chose were sent back to the bin. Hehehe... these are Phutsas.

The next day we went to the temple and made merit. This is the same monk that married Nuch and I.

Nuch's Dad's Mix Magazine Article

This is probably the only time I'll ever be able to post a picture of a pantless model on my blog, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

Above is a picture of Noon (Woranuch) on the cover of Mix Magazine, a new GQ meets Maxim-like publication in Thailand. Noon is one of my favorite actresses in Thailand. She also happens to actually have some genuine acting skills, which is a unique quality among most of Thailand's model turned thespians. Her movie, Cheum, with 'Mom' (a Thai comedian) is one of only two Thai movies that I've been able to watch more than once.

Besides putting attractive women on the cover to increase sales, Mix also interviews a prominent Thai artist each month to maintain a certain respectability. For the February issue, they interviewed Nuch's father, Manit Poo-Aree, who was named a Thailand National Artist back in 1999.

It seems like once every couple months a magazine or television program comes by the house for an interview or article. This is the first time, I've seen the results. Below on the left is a self-portrait (which looks nothing like him, if you ask me). On the top right, is a painting called "Development of the Apple", which is one of his more famous works and always mentioned when discussing his past works.

Here's a link to some of his abstract works - I believe they're paintings of Auras - I'm curious who this is below. (click here and then, on the web page click this painting).

The Mix article basically talked about Nuch's father's background, how his career began, where he studied and where his art has been exhibited. It also described his home, his garden (they did not mention the plastic bottles), and his works of art that fill the living room.

Some of the more interesting topics dealt with recent issues in the Thai art world - one in particular concerned a painting that was not very complimentary of Thai monks, but had won a national award.

I'm not sure if this is the actual painting, but it's by the same artist.

Nuch's father, whose art is filled with (positive) religious symbolism, was critical of the contest's judges who, as he says, should have used better judgment. Not because the painting was offensive or negative towards the monkhood, but because it's message was not conveyed artistically enough. Fine Art's beauty, unlike graffiti on the side of a train, is in its subtlety - the viewer should be made to think, and the work of art's message should be discovered not read like a headline on the front page of a newspaper - at least that's what I got out of an hour-long explanation in a foreign language.

As I mentioned, this is a relatively new magazine - February being the 15th issue. I'm not sure how long it will last, as there are dozens of magazines competing in this particular niche. That being said, if Mix can continue to fill its pages with insights into the minds of Thailand's past and current cultural figureheads combined with intellectuals like the girl on the opposite page, they may have a chance.

Stuff in Trucks

This Index Card is something I stole from another blog called Thai Pulse. It pretty much sums up what you see on the roads in Northeast Thailand or Isaan.

The reason people buy so many trucks in Isaan is for their obvious utility - you just can't put a water buffalo in the back of your Toyota Camry. Last week on the way to Bangkok, I decided to pass the time by taking pictures of things people had in the back of their trucks. By the way, I almost got a picture of a herd of buffalo in the back of a 10-wheeled truck, but nearly drove off the road in the process. Maybe next time.

Below are just some examples captured during a 3 hour drive.

Two plastic chickens

2 tons in a 1 ton truck.

Rear view

Children and a propane gas tank. It had just started raining.

Basketball hoop

Watermelons

Chickens


Pigs

Stuff...

Finally, in an earlier blog I talked about the graffiti art painted on the side of factory buses. At my factory we have the Spidey Bus, but other factories have much more elaborate designs. I'm not sure where they get their inspiration, but they make the drive to Bangkok much more scenic.