Smiles
October 22nd, 2009, 13:07
Hua Hin has become a virtual police/army state over the last few days with the ASEAN Conference happening here from Oct. 23rd-25th.
The main drag, the big wide double-lane-with-grassy-median Petchkasem Rd has been changed to only one-lane each way (though they did put an end to parking, which helps a bit) the middle lane being roped off for the exclusive use of the dozen or so Big Wigs from august and proud SE Asian democracies such as Burma and Cambodia who might just come screaming down the road in all-windows-blacked-out Mercedes and a police escort of 20 Thai motocycle cops and rattletrap police pickup trucks sirens a-blaring. Helicopters strafe the beach at whim, sending mellon-breasted German Frauleins stumbling for cover under the nearest empty conch shell (good luck!).
The army and police presence in town grows larger and more ubiquitous by the hour. Great rumbling green military trucks push through the gridlock at will, filled with (some very cute) Thai soldiers, rifles a-shoulder, looking bored. All vehicles in Hua Hin have been forced to pick up stickers for their windshields showing that they are Hua Hin natives and not infiltrators from the Yellows or the Reds carrying low level nukes or hand-clappers.
Petchkasem Rd is now a sea of vehicles as far as the eye can see in either direction (standing atop the pedestrian overpass by the Big Mall), all travelling at a snails pace and the whole mess being overseen by the Thai Army boys who take their job VERY serious: to wit ... Smiles decided to use the completely empty roped off middle lane as a running course last night. Hey, there was not a car in sight and what harm could it do, eh? Two hundred yards into a sprint for home along this fabulous unpotholed smooth race course I was honked at furiously by three (3!!) Police cars to get the fuck off that road right fuckin' now (which I did :blackeye: ... immediately). A couple of the car occupants beside me gave me a nice thumbs up, and as I got up onto the sidewalk (allowed!) I gave a big smile to a couple of very unimpressed army boys who had witnessed the whole crime. Luckily I was just considered another dumb shit farang, and away I ran the last half-kilometer to home base.
Just around the corner from our townhouse resides the infamous Mannee Bar, known all over town for the vicious ~ almost lethal ~ massages given by 'Bee-n'-company', and the lovely girls hanging over the edge of the railing yelling wonderfully friendly "hellllooooos" at every passer-by.
My guy has made friends with the owner ('Mannee' ... who gets him customers for his business and who gets a piece of the action per head) all the girls there and on slow days he can be found playing cards there for hours with the staff.
Yesterday he'd won some money (70 baht ... a good day) at this recreation and had decided to take it and run, having been there all afternoon. Later that evening we went over for a beer and a game of pool and the ladies swarmed him with hearty congratulations of his "chok dee"/'good luck' and a bitter tale to tell: apparently not 15 minutes after he'd left that afternoon the police had driven by and noticed the girls still playing cards on the balcony ... but also that their winnings were sitting beside each girl in plain sight. Gambling is illegal in Thailand, and this nasty rule ended up costing each of the participants a 500 baht fine, paid up on the spot, and (naturally) ending up in the deep pockets of the constabulary. Upon delving deeper into this matter, we discovered that the fact that gambling is illegal played no part at all in the exorbitant sentence . . . the real issue was that it was possible that 'some high person' from an ASEAN country might possibly stumble across this lowly bar in this back street and become all swoony and overcome at the sight of actual gambling being baldly paraded in full view of his-self and the general public ... possibly including small children, the mentally retarded, and the easily-influenced. ALL Thais ~ in fact, Thailand itself ~ would apparently lose great face if this scandal should be publicly witnessed.
The main drag, the big wide double-lane-with-grassy-median Petchkasem Rd has been changed to only one-lane each way (though they did put an end to parking, which helps a bit) the middle lane being roped off for the exclusive use of the dozen or so Big Wigs from august and proud SE Asian democracies such as Burma and Cambodia who might just come screaming down the road in all-windows-blacked-out Mercedes and a police escort of 20 Thai motocycle cops and rattletrap police pickup trucks sirens a-blaring. Helicopters strafe the beach at whim, sending mellon-breasted German Frauleins stumbling for cover under the nearest empty conch shell (good luck!).
The army and police presence in town grows larger and more ubiquitous by the hour. Great rumbling green military trucks push through the gridlock at will, filled with (some very cute) Thai soldiers, rifles a-shoulder, looking bored. All vehicles in Hua Hin have been forced to pick up stickers for their windshields showing that they are Hua Hin natives and not infiltrators from the Yellows or the Reds carrying low level nukes or hand-clappers.
Petchkasem Rd is now a sea of vehicles as far as the eye can see in either direction (standing atop the pedestrian overpass by the Big Mall), all travelling at a snails pace and the whole mess being overseen by the Thai Army boys who take their job VERY serious: to wit ... Smiles decided to use the completely empty roped off middle lane as a running course last night. Hey, there was not a car in sight and what harm could it do, eh? Two hundred yards into a sprint for home along this fabulous unpotholed smooth race course I was honked at furiously by three (3!!) Police cars to get the fuck off that road right fuckin' now (which I did :blackeye: ... immediately). A couple of the car occupants beside me gave me a nice thumbs up, and as I got up onto the sidewalk (allowed!) I gave a big smile to a couple of very unimpressed army boys who had witnessed the whole crime. Luckily I was just considered another dumb shit farang, and away I ran the last half-kilometer to home base.
Just around the corner from our townhouse resides the infamous Mannee Bar, known all over town for the vicious ~ almost lethal ~ massages given by 'Bee-n'-company', and the lovely girls hanging over the edge of the railing yelling wonderfully friendly "hellllooooos" at every passer-by.
My guy has made friends with the owner ('Mannee' ... who gets him customers for his business and who gets a piece of the action per head) all the girls there and on slow days he can be found playing cards there for hours with the staff.
Yesterday he'd won some money (70 baht ... a good day) at this recreation and had decided to take it and run, having been there all afternoon. Later that evening we went over for a beer and a game of pool and the ladies swarmed him with hearty congratulations of his "chok dee"/'good luck' and a bitter tale to tell: apparently not 15 minutes after he'd left that afternoon the police had driven by and noticed the girls still playing cards on the balcony ... but also that their winnings were sitting beside each girl in plain sight. Gambling is illegal in Thailand, and this nasty rule ended up costing each of the participants a 500 baht fine, paid up on the spot, and (naturally) ending up in the deep pockets of the constabulary. Upon delving deeper into this matter, we discovered that the fact that gambling is illegal played no part at all in the exorbitant sentence . . . the real issue was that it was possible that 'some high person' from an ASEAN country might possibly stumble across this lowly bar in this back street and become all swoony and overcome at the sight of actual gambling being baldly paraded in full view of his-self and the general public ... possibly including small children, the mentally retarded, and the easily-influenced. ALL Thais ~ in fact, Thailand itself ~ would apparently lose great face if this scandal should be publicly witnessed.