Your Seat at the Table

I have been following an historic event in the area of public involvement in governmental process. President Elect Obama’s change.gov, it is truly amazing through the power of transparency that I sitting here in Thailand am allowed to participate through comments and intense debate at the same time that the meetings are going on.

Why would someone be interested in these meetings? Simple, we all face the same problems. The financial crisis, rising unemployment, energy crisis, healthcare, recession and education all are problems every country must face.

In the past all of these issues were kept behind closed doors lacking public input and transparency. Transparency is the process that allows real change. The process is called Your Seat at the Table.



Thailand has put into place the beginnings of this process with egov sites for example in paying taxes. Thailand can make available all policy documents from official meetings on policy issues in real time. This can replace archaic tactics of carrying signs on the street, avoiding mob hysteria, three phrases dumbing-down issues and many other social ills.

This is a posted comment that shows how this applies to every country. “This site allows an exchange of information that will help educate and inform the people of our nation to engage and commit to act when and where opportunities are found.”

This will allow our leaders to also formulate and implement policy decisions more quickly as feedback can be gathered from around the world. It is just too hot in Thailand to carry a sign on the street and to allow critical policies decisions to be paralyzed at a time of domestic and global crisis.

Get your seat at the table.

Yes, We can.

In a world of crisis a once in a generation leader is born, just as a generation ago Sir Winston Churchill was that leader and brought the world to victory and now President Elect Obama is that world leader called upon in the time of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, in countries divided such as our own and at a time when our planet is at peril. Why is this so important to us in Thailand coming from a leader of a country so far away from us? And most important what is the answer to our problems?
The answer came from President Elect Obama’s victory speech in three words “Yes, We can”. The mighty words of Democracy, Free Markets and Government By the People and For the People are not at fault. The failure has come from the implementation of these great ideals. Generations of trickle-down economics and trickle-down politics benefiting a chosen few are on their way out of the world stage. This is the change that is coming.
President Elect Obama did not come from the powers that be nor was his campaign born in the hall of power in Washington instead he came from a background not unlike most of us against all odds received an education through honest hard work and belief in self and country. This experience gives him an insight into the problems facing most of us in our daily lives that government has forgotten.
The reality that some problems are greater than the individual and the solution of sink or swim can no longer be followed instead the reality that government has a responsibility and a duty to respond to these problems for all people rich or poor. “Yes, We can”, is the answer for all of us not just America as President Elect Obama has pointed out in his victory speech it is the answer for the world. Along the way, it will be pointed out by cynics that we are not intelligent enough or educated enough or do not care or that it will take 500 years. Just remember cynics are for entertainment purposes only intent on the status quo, the answer is “Yes, We can”.
Many cynics will also say that this is just talk but the difference is it is the right talk. The implementation of “Yes, We can start with our individual efforts to answer the call to service in every aspect of our daily lives at work, leisure and family.
The reality is Thailand is a small player on the world stage but at one time so was England and Japan the fact is the sum of the parts is greater than the whole and thus we have a brighter future together in the era of globalization and we can contribute greatly. Can President Elect Obama guide America in the right direction and can we do the same? Yes, we can.

Thailand Constitution Rewrite

Thailand Constitution Rewrite

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 310 , 10:45:15
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The Constitution is only a framework designed to provide check and balances, accountability and transparency to fight the sins of our past history of corruption. Those against this framework wants to return to the sins of our past because it is a successful business model for them and the only game they know in which they have evolved into masters. Since the elections this inner circle has observed that the sins of the past can be returned to and continued into the future because Thailand has not provided a workable alternative to the framework and this inner circle of people have joyously concluded that once again they are the only game in town.
The framework has given us valuable time in the past few months to provide an alternative model to the sins of our past. Instead of, taking advantage of the past few months in developing a workable alternative plan of action, we have sit on the sidelines and observed the slow but sure step by step return to the sins of our past. The people have played by the rules of Democracy by voting and sending politicians to represent the people. Now the people are waiting for a workable alternative to the sins of our past. In other words, where is our Senator Obama that has pledged to change the way Washington D.C. is influenced by special interest and lobbyist and finally let the voice of the people be heard in Washington D.C. also alongside special interests. With no workable alternative we are doomed to continue our sins of the past simple because there will be no alternative when there is only one game in town to vote for. The only one game in town has been made quite clear and under this scenario will continue to be voted for by the people.

The world record commodities prices as stated by the United Nations and many others, has given us a small window of opportunity to use the profits to develop our agriculture sector. The economy, financial sector, inflation and private and foreign investment have all been put on hold by the political crisis. This window of opportunity does not stay open long. Just as in Thailand some in the Global financial community are fighting efforts of a regulation framework to provide accountability, disclosure and transparency to avoid another global crisis. Simply because they have also become masters of the only game in town serving the needs of the few.

The people are anxiously waiting to see if this window of opportunity will be closed or will we have an alternative before the window is closed. Perhaps the foreign investors has posed the question better will the Thai Constitution be rewritten or not? For they two must first wait to see which rules of the game they will be forced to play by, the sins of our past or a workable alternative.

Issan Farmer's Shock with uS Farm Crisis

Issan Farmer's Shock with U.S. Farm Crisis

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 225 , 07:56:01
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Issan farmers may see the U.S. sub-prime crisis affecting their future as well. Conditions are very similar to the U.S. 1980 farm collapse. Increasing farm debt that caused the collapse of 300 agriculture banks in the U.S. Seeds and fertilizer are doubling in price. Worldwide increases in commodities prices leading more U.S. farmers to take on more debt. If commodities prices fall, recent investments in machinery and land will cause the debt to be more than the value of the farm exactly as the residential mortgage market.

U.S. subsidies for ethanol production have led more farmers to plant corn. The recent political backlash in the world with food riots from increasing food prices has shown rushing into bio-fuels production has been poorly planned.
Issan farmers will be affected by a new sub-prime farmer’s crisis adding more trade and financial sectors shock from the U.S.

Road Trip Back Home

Road Trip Back Home

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 166 , 07:29:15
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My every other month trip back to my fathers’ hometown was a pleasant two and a half hour drive from Udon Thani. It is a nice drive on a four lane highway all the way. I keep forgetting to stay out of the passing lane speeding tickets are 100 baht. My father always looks forward to our trip back home. It gives him a chance to relax and talk to his 10 brothers and sisters.

My duty is to collect our share of rice, fish, vegetables and fruits as much as we can carry. It is like going to Makro. Our farm village has grown to around one thousand people so many aunts uncles and cousins that I do not know. The rice farm does not look like a farm anymore; it looks more like a housing development than a farm with so many houses everywhere.

Makes me worry in a few years this generation will be too old to farm anymore. Although something must be up in the mechanization plans there were at least a dozen trucks unloading Kobuta tractors. In a few years time I will have to start buying rice and fish at Makro like everyone else.

Now that I am back, how is our country? Have we solved the political conflict, dealt with food and energy inflation, the credit crunch. The asset bubble, bank bailouts, regulations and standards, agriculture spillover effects, competitive exports. falling dollar, speculation and hedging, education in the knowledge based economy, risk management, stress testing and contingency plans?
Just a few questions to see where to start.

Godzilla & Subway

Godzilla & Subway

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 186 , 15:38:04
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My favorite mascot Godzilla. Another good one download from youtube.

Definition of the Farm Crisis

Definition of the Farm Crisis

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 159 , 11:23:22
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THE FARM CRISIS

Before discussing National Food Policy, we must first look at the history of agricultural crisis which seems to reoccur every 10 years and before deciding on the cause of the current crisis which has been suggested by the United Nations and the World Bank as a production problem or is it a distribution problem as suggested by the Asian Development Bank.

We begin by the definition of what is a farmer using the works of William D. Hefferman, PhD, Department of Rural Sociology University of Missouri and Mary K. Hendrickson,, PhD. The study uses current agreed upon definitions and trends from the 1960’s to 2004.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a farm as _a piece of land (house, barns, etc.) on which crops and
animals are raised._ This definition puts the emphasis on land, but the inclusion of house and barn implies particular type of farming system a dispersed farming system.

•A dispersed farming system is used in the United States.
•A village farming system is used in Thailand.
•An industrialize farm is used in globalization starting in the 1970’s with de-emphasis on house and barn and emphasis on managing and operations but does not provide labor or capital major managerial decisions are made in the vertically and horizontally integrated cluster food system.
•Key note small farms are now classified as hobby farms, retirement farms and part-time farms and not included in the USDA farm system. These farms have no access to marketing data or no marketing contacts beyond their local market. Studies in Parishes in Louisiana State indicate without access to markets poverty is passed on from generation to generation family and cultural ties to the land reinforces the cycle.
•The dictionary further describes a farmer as one that operates and manages a farm. In the industrialized model the farmer does neither therefore a farm does not need a farmer.
•Large grain farmers receive government subsidies, middle grain producers receive none small grain producers supplement income with non-farm jobs.
•Economist sees the trends as inevitable with only government tweaks needed since the market forces are so strong they cannot be changed as the world’s top 100 economies are designed and centrally planned to produce for the advanced markets that can afford an inconvenience as price increases are not life threatening NGO’s are in charge of food handouts to keep the population alive while waiting for investment funds to cultivate the land.
•Sociologists sees the trends as manmade and thus can be changed reason being the economic system is a social institution and its structure is a social design. The success of privatized central planning takes over markets and democracy.

Implementation of policy requires further discussion of the current food clustering industries in the global food chain and current local market developments that each country faces.

A Plea to All Nation's Bloggers & Readers

A plea to all Nation's Bloggers & readers

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 347 , 13:44:57
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A plea for help to all Nation’s bloggers and readers.
The Bank of Thailand's website for regional economies section of which the northeastern section is never updated for the monthly, quarterly and annual economic reports. I understand that the old information from the 1990’s – 2005 is important historical data. But I have only been back to Thailand for six months so the need for updated information is necessary not only for myself but for many others as well including local business. I receive updated economic reports from the north region but never from the northeastern region.
The History section of the website says that the BOT’s branch office was the second branch office in Thailand so I would assume that it would have up-to-date economic data and statistics. How can the Board of Investment promote a region that has limited economic data to investors?
The revenue, rice and pork prices sections are up-to-date. The articles section has two articles only. This is not meant as a criticism but a plea for up-to-date information. There are many of us that go abroad and on our return need up-to-date information so that we can form opinions and use economic indicators to see future trends for the northeast region where we live.
I have posted this plea on other forums but no one knows. Maybe the nation’s blog has a broader audience where someone may know why the northeast region is not up-to-date. Sorry correction I do not need to know why I need to know when the northeast sections will be up-to-date.
Thank you to all the nation bloggers and readers for any help in this question.

Do Not Forget Asian Bloggers

Do Not Forget Asian Bloggers

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 618 , 10:30:07
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Do not forget about Asian Bloggers. For example, there are more blogger posts in Japanese than any other language in the world including English. This data comes from Technorati Inc. out of 113 million blogs last year 37% were posted in Japanese. Steve Weber an American author of marketing online books says that “Japanese are far more advanced in making their publications on-line available than Americans or the rest of the English speaking world”.
The blogging style of Japanese bloggers is different than English bloggers. A Japanese blogger tends to posts as exchanges between friends and a personal outlet. English bloggers tend to posts on Political, technological and other issues as a news source.
A star is born and her name is Mieko Kawakami. Mieko San won this year’s Akutagawa Award Japans most prestigious literary award for new writers. Mieko San’s blogs averages 10,000 readers per day and went to 200,000 readers the night of her receiving the award.
Mieko San’s secret to success is not to posts on topics of relationships with men and sexuality. Her posts are based on the idea of a Japanese woman always doing our best at living. She also uses the Osaka dialect that has become the hip hop slang of modern Japan. The Osaka dialect is widely popular with Japanese comedians much like the Issan dialect is popular with comedians in Thailand.

Asahi Breweries & The Vanishing Beergut

Asahi Breweries & The Vanishing Beergut

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 242 , 09:17:35
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Imagine a world with no beer gut or spare tire around the middle. Asahi Breweries Ltd. May have an answer according to a survey I cannot withstand the hunger. Hunger was the top reason people gave for giving up on their diet 56% resulting in consuming more. Asahi has invented a soy protein that stays in the stomach longer giving the feeling of being full.
You can enjoy your favorite Asahi beer without the beer gut. OK maybe the soy protein has not been developed that far yet for breweries, but Asahi has already added the soy protein to some of its food products that will be in stores soon. Your favorite pub might be replacing the margarita salt with Asahi’s soy protein shaker. It could happen. I wonder what Saporo and Kirin are up to.

Asian English Language Newspapers Increasing Readership

Asian English Language Newspapers Increasing Readership

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 263 , 11:34:57
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Last month the editors from the Japan Times, the Korean Herald and the Taipei Times got together to discuss “Challenges for English Language Newspapers in East Asia”, it was jointly organized with the University of Tokyo. Challenges that were addressed was the declining circulation of English Language Newspapers as the result of the internet and the differences in the types of news published between the local newspapers which tend to be more Nationalistic and the English Language Newspapers that brought a more international viewpoint while balancing that viewpoint with local viewpoints.
Two very interesting stories were discussed to illustrate this strategy the “Whaling issue in Japan” and the “Lone Star investment bank in Korea”. The whaling story has very little interest from the local Japanese newspapers believing that Australia is an outside interferer in Japan’s domestic preferences. The Japan Times had the unique opportunity to explain to the world Japanese views and World opinion that readers could not find in local newspapers.
The US private equity fund Lone Star Funds South Korea’s head of operations was found guilty of stock manipulation and the executive sent to prison for five years. Of course the foreign community argued it was bad for foreign investment and the local papers argued that typical of US business practices are short term gains and then pull those gains out of Korea and invest somewhere else. The Korean Herald was able to report both sides.
Asian English language newspapers by being able to provide both a local and global perspective increases readership globally, regionally, and locally. Increasing readership also brings in more advertising dollars. This has been accomplished by investing in and adapting new technologies.
On the political side Kaori Hayashi San moderator pointed out that often times Japanese politicians think that they are talking to just a Japanese audience and make statements that makes them look foolish in the world because they are not aware that their statements and actions are read globally. Thus Japanese politicians should be more aware of their global image. The world is watching. Global backlash can and does sometime end a politician’s career. Amber Chang pointed out that in Taiwan and Japan reporters are very friendly with politicians who in return are friendly toward the media and that politicians often times give their cell phone numbers to reporters contrasted with the US politicians that are wary of media and very aloof.
In this internet age English Language newspapers are adding more services through technology. They are extending their cooperative reach to other parts of Asia media and universities. The Korean Herald has 70% readership by local Korean readers. Learning English is the main interest and technology has given Asian readers services like stories in the newspaper are read aloud over the internet by native speakers so that English can be improved.
English Newspaper circulation may be small but readership is growing. It is building a bridge between the host country and regional Asian countries as well as the world. English is the common language for information exchange between countries. But the best mission statement was given by Amber Chang of the Taipei Times “ To bring Taiwan to the world and the world to Taiwan” only an English Language newspaper can accomplish this mission statement.
Cooperation is a main goal for Asian English Language Newspapers. In Thailand we are also curious and interested in the lives of our Asian regional neighbors and in their experiences and viewpoints. I look forward to more cooperation between Asian Language Newspapers. Readership in this environment is bound to increase.

Cross Cultural Communications an Asian Viewpoint

Cross Cultural Communications An Asian Viewpoint

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 253 , 13:13:57
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Tawan Quote - (“Khun Ian that is because the falang blogger would take every word she wrote literally which is the big problem writing in English. What she wrote could mean many things you have to wait to see what comes out. ”).
Khun Ian Quote - (Tawan, that seems a very strange comment, it seems to imply that we should never believe literally anything that a Thai writes in English. I'm sure you did not mean that, can you explain further?”).
This was a very interesting conversation between me, Khun Ian, and Khun Windy. This is my attempt to explain our misunderstanding from a cross-cultural viewpoint. Since this is from a cross-cultural viewpoint all comments are welcome. This conversation was between 2 Thais and a Scottish any other cultures that want to join in, I would appreciate it very much.
The conversation……………
Khun Windy - (“I don't know how law making works here, but Thailand should have a constitution made by the people, not just a yes or no vote on the referendum.

And when a law needs to be changed, the people have to vote again on whether they want the law changed. They can't just go saying they want to amend the constitution and just write what ever they want.

really, why can Thai politicians get away with every little thing?”).
Khun Ian - Windy, do you not find it strange that you an educated reporter can yet say, "I don't know how law making works here".
Is this not one of the problems with Thailand?
I am sure that every Farang blogger here knows how laws are made in their home countries.
Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion from my experiences in cross-cultural communications. Thanks to all of my professors who have done extensive research in this field. I am not going to spend days google all the bits and pieces of research but instead rely on my memory.

When I read Khun Windy’s comment, I think very good story looking forward to hearing more. Asian conversation is filled with many feelers before a conclusion is made. It is not a one on one conversation. The fractural group’s reaction (credit to Khun Ian) must be considered first. In other words it is not based on an individual’s need for immediate information in order for the conversation to continue. Asian people before they say or write anything must consider the needs of the fractural group comes before the individual’s needs. This fractural group may include what will my boss think of this, what will my co-workers think of this, what will my company think of this, what will my parents think of this, what will my friends think of this, what will my spouse think of this, what will my country think of this, what will the person I am talking to think of this and so on and so on. Everything an Asian person says and does must first consider the group’s possible reaction and needs first not based on the individual’s immediate need for information. It is always a group conversation and a group decision and conclusion. This process takes longer to arrive to an understanding but it is necessary for group cohesion, productivity and harmony. In summary every conversation is a group conversation not an individual conversation. When you are talking to an Asian person you are in fact talking to many persons whether present or not.
This can be seen in everyday life in classrooms all over Asia where a Teacher is guiding students along a path as a group not as an individual an A-type personalities do no not function well in Asian society. Children in a Chinese classroom are taught that as a National group your favorite color is Yellow for the Great Yellow Han race. What there individual favorite color may be is reserved for the appropriate group. Therefore, there are many right answers to the same question. The Yin and Yang is often grey but never leads to conflict. Westerners too often read the Yin and Yang as black or white, right or wrong or truth and lie.
Another example would be Deming bringing his quality control circle to Japan, where it was immediately successful because it fit the Asian group cultural so well. If Deming had brought his quality control circle to Thailand today you would have Thailand Inc. instead of Japan Inc. Deming was a complete failure in America’s individual A- type personality culture.
Contrasted with an Individual culture’s need for exact immediate need for information exchange between two individuals in order to survive in society, there is no group to rely on every piece of information must be analyzed and logically concluded on an individual basis. A-type personalities thrive in this environment. This type of conversation is much focused going back and forth from point A to point B to point C and on and on until a linear logical conclusion is made.
Let me try to analyze the conversation in a linear logical manner.
“I don't know how law making works here, but Thailand should have a constitution made by the people, not just a yes or no vote on the referendum.”
Logical understanding this person does not understand law-making.” but Thailand should have a constitution made by the people, not just a yes or no vote on the referendum”. Since this person has no information about law-making the second statement is an illogical false statement.
A group culture understanding of the above statement would be yes we must study and discuss law-making more closely in order for us to have a Democratic constitution made by the people for the people.
“(And when a law needs to be changed, the people have to vote again on whether they want the law changed. They can't just go saying they want to amend the constitution and just write what ever they want.”)
Logically since statement A is false this statement must be false since it is a carry- on based on a false statement.
Group understanding more feelers put to the group on how to solve the problem of lawmakers writing anything that suits their interest.

“(really, why can Thai politicians get away with every little thing?”)
Logical interpretation - Conclusion statement conversation finished conclusion reached.
Group interpretation - a call for more discussion.
Khun Ian’s Quote response
(“Windy, do you not find it strange that you an educated reporter can yet say, "I don't know how law making works here".
Is this not one of the problems with Thailand?
I am sure that every Farang blogger here knows how laws are made in their home countries.”)
Logical conclusion and response is that since the first statement is true the remaining statement cannot be considered as true fact since they do not support the first statement, therefore, I must analyze where the logic broke down in order to help. The logic broke down based on an educated informed professional does not understand law-making since this is true I can carry the logic further by assuming others in Thailand must also not understand law-making also, therefore, the real problem is Thailand does not have people that understands law-making. The logical answer to this problem would be for Thailand to follow the western example of individuals understand law-making and are thus capable of governing the country.
Basically, an individual culture conversation goes like this the first thought is I need information let me ask you a question and your answer must be logical in order for me to accept you.
Basically, a group culture conversation goes like this the first thought is what can I say or do that will benefit the group this starts the information flow.
Well that is the best I can do from memory. I hope that even a little bit will be understood. My best advice is to sit in on a quality control group conversation both Western and Asian do not ask any questions just listen and you will see the difference.

Issan Regional Development

Issan Regional Development

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 529 , 14:50:08
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The time for Issan Regional Development and planning has arrived. Once again the government needs to reevaluate our spending and budget resources. The majority of mega-project spending is still being spent on Bangkok resulting in a more congested lower quality of life in Bangkok. This goes against all major mega-center trends in Asia. Japan, China and Korea are investing in regional mega-centers that are decentralized resulting in higher standards of living and better quality of life for the nation.
Bangkok is already a mega-center more development will increase a lower quality of life through never ending traffic congestion and pollution. Bangkok already ranks in the top 40 mega-centers of the world. Tokyo is ranked number one.


Already, because of skewed investment favoring Bangkok, its economic output $USD 100 billion out of total $USD 208 billion of Thailand’s economic output. Thailand has a slightly better ranking of worldwide patents ranked 38 in the world so there is no shortage of talent in Thailand to accomplish the goal of regional development.
Japan’s number one rank of global patent activity spikes way above the rest of the world and as the number one investor in Thailand has extensive experience in developing regional mega-centers for Thailand to draw upon. Although, as the graph shows Japan’s rank among citing patent authors is not so high it is mainly due to more papers are produced in Japanese language and thus not cited worldwide a huge loss to the world’s scientific research.


China also is following the global trend of regional mega-center development. China is in the middle of its regional mega-center development with most development along the eastern coast Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai but China has at least begun its regional development.

At the moment Thailand’s regional development of the Northeastern, North, Central and Southern regions could more closely resemble Korea’s development plans and needs. Korea will be moving 49 government institutions, 12 ministries, 4 Agencies and 2 administrative bodies to the new city of Sejong.
The relocation is critical to encourage decentralized provincial development to relieve congestion in the Capitol area to achieve balanced regional development with decentralization being the focus. Korea has long been developing the Seoul area resulting in severe housing shortage, traffic jams and environmental damage. Seoul will be reborn as the center knowledge base city giving its citizens a better quality of life.
This trend is not only in Asia but also in Europe and the US. Income disparity will continue unless a nation decentralizes economic development. We can learn hard lessons from the US rustbelt experience. Higher standards of living was achieved when GM ruled the world, a drastic reduction in living standards happened when GM fell from the largest US employer and gave rise to the new largest US employer Wal Mart. As anyone can tell you in the rustbelt there is no future in a Wal Mart dominated economic model. Issan’s great leap from agriculture to the industrial age came by the kindness of Bangkok’s vision of OTOP (One Product One Tambon). As anyone can tell you that an industrial age dominated by OTOP is not going to decrease income disparity. It only increase brain drain to America.

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comment 15
Tawan date : 03/04/2008 time : 18.28
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.229.109


Trade between China and the upland Southeast Asian countries Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam had risen impressively, to US$53 billion last year from slightly more than US$1 billion a decade ago.
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comment 14
Tawan date : 03/04/2008 time : 09.51
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.9


Ohiyo gozaimasu wch San. KK University is excellent sourse and the Thai forums very active on shopping trends. We also have good news this week on quality of life improvement in the DA's Office.
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comment 13
wch date : 03/04/2008 time : 09.25
ip : 192.168.0.122/58.8.70.185


Tawan,
I believe you have profound understanding about Udon and its human strata and the culture.

I believe a regional development must have good coordination with external interest.
Therefore knowing them will be important.
Some people of China, Hongkong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan may be interested in Udon and Isan culture, that brew any form of investment.

Therefore, Udon province can plan advertisement system in those potential countries and receive them to guide.

Personally I may inform you that a certain amount of study reports about Isan may be available from Khonkaen University and in there is Mekhong Basin Commission office also stocks some data.

PhD degree would be open in the university too in this academic area.
Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China
________________________________________

comment 12
Tawan date : 02/04/2008 time : 14.00
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.237


Wch San You have the same observations that I do.
First some background, I have only been researching at the macro-level for the past 6 months on Issan development in particular Udon Thani. Does not matter which language you search by only a macro-trend study can be performed by internet. Detailed micros not reach there yet for mega-project management time analysis. I have not found a subject or project that has not been studied or is currently in progress. It is like being a kid in a candy store.
First reason, Thailand has fallen behind in e-government development after making considerable gains before the political instability. Recently open source software development has been given the green light again from Bangkok as shown by Udon Thani chosen as being the first in Thailand outside Bangkok to distribute the new International License and also providing IT and software support to Laos. Outside influencing factors that has made this possible comes from Laos, Vietnam and Yunan. Because of Udon Thani’s unique location serves as a natural International-Hub connecting these three countries. Cross-border trade between these three countries and Thailand must be conducted by passing through Udon Thani or Issan.
Historically, Udon Thani’s development first wave came from the Vietnam War boom and the resulting Air Force base in Udon Thani and future close relationship with Vietnam came as Udon helped to hide Ho Chi Minh in Udon from the Americans building a trusting relationship that is beneficial today. Immigration control of Lao people and Vietnamese during this time allowed them to travel only as far as Udon Thani this growth stop after the war. Immigration control contributed to the Vietnamese developing the local food and clothing business as disposable income was zero after the war. The Vietnamese concentrated on the basic Maslow Hierarchy of Needs in providing food and clothing and Thais providing Shelter. This continued from the 1970’s to 2005 the second wave of development. This period allowed Lao people and Vietnamese to marry and become landowners and with capital built up over the years from food, shelter and clothing allowed the Vietnamese to eventually to send their children to Bangkok to become Chinese Thai. Now their children are coming back to Udon Thani to act as liaison for business ventures and tourism between Vietnam and Thailand. This is the third wave of development.
Third wave of development from Bangkok main reason of course is economic opportunity and also lack of opportunity in Bangkok which after decades of adhoc, retrofitting a never ending sprawl of growth similar to Houston Texas has never defined a clear goal and mission statement for the City of Bangkok. Unlike other regional-mega centers like Seoul Korea that has defined its mission statement as the knowledge base and cultural center of Korea and is moving all other sectors out to their regional-mega centers for a more balance economic growth.
Around 2000 it was recognized the potential of Udon Thani natural position as an International-Hub. Infrastructure connecting Udon Thani to Vientiane, Dadang Vietnam and Kunming Yunan is finished. Although, the Udon Thani International Airport lost Tiger Air, the Governor is working to reestablish and expand. During this time Australian and Chinese investment in Gold and other mining and hydro-electric power has made the economic growth from Laos possible. Udon Thani. The city collects fees and 7% VAT from 160,000 Lao people shopping in Udon Thani every month. There are endless trucks carrying goods across the border in Nong Khai. It is estimated over the next 5 years that with only a population of 6 million people in Laos money from mining operations in Laos will continue to contribute to a higher disposable income for a larger portion of the population and with Immigration control still in place a large portion will be spent in Udon Thani. Local Udon Thani businessmen working in Laos describe it at the moment as the Wild West where anything is possible, never-the-less Lao people will soon have economic power and Bangkok will have to look elsewhere perhaps Myanmar for their maids.
Growth from the International-Hub will continue as overseas investment in Vietnam grows and the high demand for Chinese products continue from Yunan helped a lot by the convenience of the annual Chinese Trade Fair in Kunming and already well established Indo-China markets..
Quality of life over Bangkok has contributed to over 30,000 Westerners moving to Udon Thani to escape the sex tourist. This group contributes economically especially in the retail sector. This group are family orientated, highly educated, internationally experience and diverse with a middle class disposable income. Not to mention the ease of having several meeting per day and accomplishing several task per day as opposed to completing one meeting per day in the Bangkok sprawl.
This international diversity is contributing to major private investment in Udon Thani in addition to government funding that is now flowing with political stability. This international diversity is attracting major mega-projects from private investment which both private and government funding is required to develop a mega-regional center.
Korat, Koen Kaen continues to attract retail investment from the Central group. Udon Thani attracts mega-project investment from the Central Group with its Central shopping, Hotel, entertainment and Convention Center downtown Udon Thani. This is a mega-project downtown private investment including UD Center when finished will be the size of Ramkumhaeng district in Bangkok. Ring Road development is for 5-Star Hotels which are in high demand to serve tourist from Bangkok, Laos, and Vietnam and to some degree China. Hyper-Market Chains such as the new Index living Mall (Grand Opening Ceremony attended by I Weir my favorite Issan Idol) the largest in Asia, Global, Home Pro and Lotus.
This area also is attracting logistics, transportation, cold storage Warehousing. Plenty of Rai available for the Retail, Hotel and Logistics private investment as opposed to Koen Kaen limited area. KK major development is the University. This has been a major disadvantage to Udon Thani in the past. The new 2000 Rai development extension of Udon’s Rajaphat University will serve the needs of private investors in the agricultural, logistics, transportation and communication needs of current and future investors.
Private investment in Issan will depend a lot on the restructuring of SET as a regional stock exchange to allow investors to raise capital issuing IPO’s since most have recovered from hard currency based loans. Local financial instruments are being developed and introduces by BOT but caution in the credit markets will slow down implementation throughout 2008.
Mine development problems with bidding process have included picking lowest bidder with no experience or financial resources to guarantee environmental safety the main concern from student protestors. The Canadian firm would result in an environmental disaster due to their lack of experience and financial resources. Value added bids from the Japanese or Australians which have a proven track record in safety should be more highly valued than the lowest bidder. There is no such highest quality at lowest price only result in inferior results.
Agriculture development the actual producers being small rai producers need more investment in local storage to better serve supply and demand and to protect future contracts through local nearby coops to develop economies of scale. This will provide stability. Also further work is being done to connect actual local producer coops with the actual importer eliminating middlemen on a product that already suffers from low margins.
Traffic studies in retail the best resource is the project prospectus from major retailers and given to their trade partners are easy to get. They also go beyond the usual macro analysis and have very detailed localized marketing data gathered by a lot of leg work in the local market. One word of caution when using these studies be very careful in reading short term and long term future analysis assumptions that the data is tied to. If the future assumptions prove to be incorrect by unforeseen outside events it will be a very bad investment as seen in such projects as Future Island in Minburi Bangkok.
With the macro being said, the micro is a different story which requires a lot of leg work among the private sector. The private sector has detail studies made on any project on any sector. The private sector knows information is gold and does not share information. E-Government research studies including University research clings to intellectual property rights protection including International Agencies.
Contraire to the opinion of many Bangkok PhD’s opinion that rural Thais are ignorant, I have not found this to be the case. Regional leaders are much better prepared with local knowledge that Bangkok does not have and also posses regional and international knowledge Issan’s exported workforce also updates people at the grassroots level of international trends.
Every International Agency, Government Body and Private Bodies in Thailand has on-going up-to-date detailed sector project analysis. Your access to the micro-level depends on narrowing down to one sector or project you are interested in and then a lot of leg work the information is there.
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comment 11
wch date : 02/04/2008 time : 08.55
ip : 192.168.0.122/58.8.75.148


Tawan,
This doesn't mean discouraging your brainchild - "Udon Transportation Hub" but I like to add some fundamental questions to be it, to investigate further.

1. To survey the traffic incoming and outgoing, and for what the people come and go from to Udon.
2. To survey what kind of future activities will enhance the traffic.
3. What can Udon offer incoming people.
4. What economic activities are suitable to Udon,
5. What are the supporting HUB's to intertwine Udon Hub.

In my past experience about Udon, the biggest mistake was the refusal of Somboon potash mine development, and further coal and gas exploration.
Mineral industry can motivate its traffic hub of industry, retail, tourism and international relations.

Agro-related industry and its service industries are very much potential in Udon, and Nhong Kai through air, road and river, say" Udon Nhongkai special economic zone" that makes up or contend the Vientiene industrial zone and further the southern China.

Especially chemical fertilizer industry is one of pivotal industry to the region and neighboring countries. For instance, Ammonia can be developed in the region, or imported via future pipeline from Thai natural gas center of Rayong or Nam phong, Khonkaen or potential wells.
Potash is running short globally (Russia and Canada). Udon is undoubtedly important east Asian potentials to feed China, Asean.

In the region, an international airport is needed, and is Udon better than Khonkaen ?.
________________________________________

comment 10
Tawan date : 01/04/2008 time : 13.29
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.237




Artist drawing UD Centre Udon Thani
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comment 9
Tawan date : 01/04/2008 time : 13.13
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.237


Udon Thani's retail sector is highly developed.
Private investments such as UD Center and Central Group new expansion.
Growth as a hub also brings in revenue as seen by the 160,000 visitors from Laos per month.
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comment 8
Tawan date : 01/04/2008 time : 13.07
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.237


The railroad linkage had an interesting article on the decision to keep the narrow tracks or wider tracks for higher speed trains.
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comment 7
Tawan date : 31/03/2008 time : 15.30
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.229.61




Subway station stops in Tokyo has scalable living built within a few minutes of walking Department Stores, Housing, Shops, Entertainment and Schools.
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comment 6
Tawan date : 31/03/2008 time : 15.16
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.229.61


Quote - A major factor is a good public transport concept that grows with the city and is scalable - not retrofitting at maximum cost as has been the case with Bangkok.

Scalable is the key word like in Tokyo the city must be built around the transportation infrastructure, Retrofitting the case in Bangkok does not have to be done in Issan.

Udon Thani has just agian received the Award for best infrastructure planning and implementation. PM Samak was just here this weekend on his way to Laos. Do not know if had any discusion on Udon Thani's transportation Hub needs.
________________________________________

comment 5
wch date : 31/03/2008 time : 10.56
ip : 192.168.0.113/58.8.72.73


This subject reminds me of my past forum about Bangkok metro traffic system and its linkage to Isan.

The routings of various lines, red, purple, yellow --- must be planned in concept of 'Dispersion of urban saturation" and "Linkage with 4 regions for the integrity of economy, culture and to provide broad living radius of urban and rural people".

Bangkok is not the isolated island but closely related to the regions, especially to Esan highland.
Without Isan's economic population, virtually Bangkok operation is stopped.
12 million Isan people are always on road, Then, it is more than clear what the government must do.

Bangkok metro system, planned is 'INWARD" system, that cultivates more isolation of Bangkok people, promotes more discrimination among regions.

One fast double train line or if possible, a BULLET train must run into Isan region deeply. If Bangkok metro line is rationalized, they can lay a line at least to the junction of Saraburi, from where the Korat, and direct Khonkaen line can be laid.

If "one day round travel" is possible between Khonkaen and Bangkok, Isan will be quickly developed.

Only education in long term, and the fast transportation (redistribution of wealth) in short term, can errode the stone-hard poverty.

Japan did same, "One day round travel between Tokyo- Osaka". Korea did same between Seoul to Busan via many double autobans and bullet trains
(Korea is TGV ?).

Both got rid of the hardcore, rural regions themselves, as many blamed the wealth gab between the rural and the urban.

Remove the rural region out of map, then all problem will be gone at once.
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comment 4
MaxHeadroom date : 31/03/2008 time : 10.27
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/maxheadroom
ip : 10.138.1.245/202.12.97.111


Decentralization is almost a must but has to lead away from Bangkok Metropolis AND adjacent industrial zones (Samut Prakarn, Eastern Seaboard, Ayutthaya) as they all contribute to the infrastructure being overwhelmed.

Much budget is needed to develop infrastructure for fast growing cities in Isan like Khon Kaen or Korat. Isan is quickly urbanizing and mistakes made in urban development in the past in Bangkok and surrounding provinces should not be repeated there.

Imagine in a few years cities like Khon Kaen will have over a million people actually living within Muang district.

A major factor is a good public transport concept that grows with the city and is scalable - not retrofitting at maximum cost as has been the case with Bangkok.

Technically, in Isan we won't get these huge funds like BKK - so we will have to do better than Bangkok with much less money.

First corridors have to be linked by high-performance railway links like between Korat - Khon Kaen, Udon Thani.

The later also serve cargo transports.
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comment 3
Tawan date : 31/03/2008 time : 07.36
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.56


Thank you for your help PasaNINJA
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comment 2
PasaNINJA2499 date : 31/03/2008 time : 00.08
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/PasaNINJA2499
Keep walking forward. Don't give up. Don't fed up.
ip : 124.120.219.182


your vision over Isaan and economy sounds nice.^^ development needs money and knowledge as well. local and thier intellectual shoud be seriously praised and and practically distributed.

p.s.Tanwan, picture uploaded to the Nation weblog should not be larger than 60 KBs, about 40-5o is fitted
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comment 1
Tawan date : 30/03/2008 time : 20.04
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/tawan3
ip : 124.157.228.56


I apologize some graphs got cut off. I am still having page formate problems with graphs, pictures and video.

Japanese Anime

Japanese Anime

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 222 , 17:39:53
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The Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 opened yesterday and runs for two days. It is being held at Tokyo Big Sight. Japanese anime is truly a global phenomenon. This year a record 79 foreign companies from all over the world participated in the Fair.
Thailand was also represented at the fair. 3-D anime companies from around the world are also looking at entering the lucrative Japanese anime market. Although 3-D anime has strong competition from Korea, France and the US, Japanese story telling is the best. Foreign anime companies come to the show to learn the Japanese market.

Kyoko Fukada will play the villainous Doronjo in Takashi Miike’s film adaptation of the popular anime Yatterman.

Thailand's True Heroes

Thailand's True Heroes

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 968 , 18:20:48
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Although, this is not a new story just a reminder to everyone to continue to support the Fairtrade Certification a non-profit organization that ensures Fairtrade Minimum Price guarantees reaches our rice farmers. Thai rice farmers are gaining independence as a result of this program. Please buy only Fairtrade Certified products whenever you can.

You could not tell from the pictures but these Issan farmers are true international trade heroes. They do not wear a suit and tie and or not CFO’s. But they have on their own taken the initiative and became certified as Fairtrade Certified Producers. Their rice is found in supermarkets around the world.
Below is a list of Fairtrade Certified Producers in Thailand.

Fairtrade Certified Producers results can be seen below in Coffee Prices.

Thailand’s rice farmer is not only Thailand’s true heroes. Their business plan is as good as any Fortune 500 Global Company. I quote -
“The money from the Fairtrade Premium is used to support various educational, cultural and environmental projects in the area, such as planting trees in the community forest. During weekends, children help out in the planting and learn about environmental issues and how to care for the environment. The forest in turn benefits the community by providing, for example, wood and fruit.
Another big achievement of the Rice Fund Surin cooperative was to reduce its dependency on rice as the only crop. The cooperative is using the Fairtrade Premium to create a fund for its members to buy seeds in order to allow the cooperative to grow other crops besides rice. By doing so, the cooperative can diversify its income during the year and no longer depends on the harvest of one crop, creating more security and stability for the cooperative. “
I do not know if they were invited to the United Nations Climate Change talks in Bangkok, but they should have. You can learn a lot from an Issan farmer if given a chance.

Jingle Mail

Jingle Mail

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 197 , 18:46:36
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Thailand has so many problems facing a global economic slowdown. Consider a falling US dollar long-term Baht appreciation affecting key exports in electronics. Khun Tarisa and PM Samak’s brainstorming ideas to grow Thailand’s economy, balancing monetary and fiscal policy in an inflationary period, convincing investors to invest in Thailand amidst growing risk aversion, drying up of liquidity and credit markets, while at the same time, analyzing shock risk assessments and contingency plans in the global financial and trade sectors worsening environment.

But as always people believe it is always greener on the other side of the fence. Let us suppose we were on the other side of the fence, all we would have to worry about is “Jingle Mail”.

Jingle mail is homeowners that decide to walk away from their house and mail the keys back. Instead of fighting to make mortgage payments, for the first time since the 1930’s depression, they walk away. Historically lenders knew that no matter what people would pay their mortgage first, before going to the doctors, before paying credit card bills, not hiring a baby sitter, not going on vacation, not saving for college, not saving for retirement, eating microwave dinners, working two jobs mother and father leaving the kids with two fathers instead of the traditional one wage earner of father and mother. In other words lenders knew that nothing came before making a 30 year mortgage payment that is until 2005 arrived. All of this was done to save the American dream of owning a house.

What are the consequences of “Jingle Mail”? Well it is kind of different in an advanced economy. You can forget about the worries of lending your High School friend 10,000 baht and wonder if she will ever pay it back or not.

In an advanced economy these are the consequences.

It is called a consumer credit report. Miss one payment and 100 points are shaved off of your credit score. Miss three payments and 300 points are shaved off and the bank forecloses on your house and reports it to the credit bureaus. The next seven years you have bad credit. This means it affects any other credit you may have such as credit cards that may be cancelled or raising of interest rates. Your car insurance rates go up or any other insurance you may have goes up, you may not buy or rent a house and you may lose your job. Every financial transaction that you make is kept in databases that employers, schools, companies etc all have access to and follows you wherever you go so starting over somewhere is not an option. The results are for the next seven years you may be homeless and unemployed in a recession.

Popular opinion is that these are all sub-prime homeowners that never should be allowed to own a home in the first place. The American dream of a bank owing your home for 30 years should be reserved for citizens of the middle class or higher.

However, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently,” estimated that about 45% of foreclosures in 2007 were on private, near-prime or government-backed mortgages. And that means plenty of people who thought they were fine are facing catastrophe, never expecting that their homes would be worth less than the purchase price”. Beyond the help that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is offering in opening up the Federal Reserve‘s overnight window to Wall Street to stop systemic risk of the global financial system. We here in Thailand are very grateful for this as we do not want a systemic meltdown either. Private help is available for homeowners in the US. In California, “youwalkaway charges homeowners $995 to guide them through the process. ("If you are walking away from more than one property, the second property is half price," the company's Web site says.)
YouWalkAway has sold its advice to about 1,000 customers and has opened operations in 11 other states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Washington”

.

Before you start thinking that sub-prime homeowners are just owners of crack houses and do not deserve help read a typical “Jingle Mail” customer’s story. “It was a far different tale three years ago. The Tampa resident, her husband and two children moved into a $400,000 three-bedroom home. It had a pool and faced the beach. The couple thought they could afford the $2,100 monthly mortgage payment on their $160,000 income. It sounded like a good deal. There was no down payment, and they paid $9,000 for closing costs.
Then life for Linda and her family suddenly turned sour.
The bank notified them that their monthly payment had been miscalculated, that taxes and insurance for two years should have been included. To fix its mistake, the bank increased Linda's monthly payment to $5,000 a month to get what was owed. And the family moved out of the house before the bank began to foreclose. "I left the keys in the door, hanging in the door," Linda said.”

This brings us back to the starting point of the current crisis that started in housing. I know that April is a very busy month for everyone the IMF included that has released thousands of pages of analysis including the WEO World Economic Outlook Report that has our government leaders in Thailand working overtime. MAD (Mutual Assured Dependence) has all of us connected to the problem in the world. But in all the pages I did not find anything to fix the homeowners problem. Even watching Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke well rehearsed but nervous responses in front of Congress open door session. One Senator kept asking the same question that never got an answer over and over again as a whole does not homeowners as a group hold the same systemic risk as Bear Stearnes did?

I kept wanting to ask why not open the Federal Reserve’s Overnight Window to individual homeowners also not just Wall Street? It would give the Feds something to do since they were sleeping on the job in the first place and did not even know Bear Stearns was going under until the night before and had to hire outside help to study the books.

I will wait for my answer.

Food Prices in Thailand

Food Prices in Thailand

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 546 , 11:02:46
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The World Bank has recently released a food policy implementation report for countries like Thailand a net producer to study. In order to effectively implement public policy, it is vital that policies implemented from the top government ministries to be effectively communicated to the grassroots level. Although Thailand has been decentralizing government functions for the past 20 years and especially since the Decentralization Act of 1999, Thailand continues to receive failing grades on IMF’s request on local data sources expansion in local government unit’s information ability in gathering detail statistics and public information time lags of up to 18 months and 2 – 3 years data gathering time lags. This result in poor policy formation and slow policy implementation and in times of volatility it produces reactionary policies instead of well thought out contingency plans based on stress test and risk management. After 20 years of using time as an excuse for not being ready is wearing quite thin.

What should be taken seriously in the World Bank Report is that recent food price increases and inflation is not a short-term trend it is a long-term trend. Food price volatility has increased as investors’ use the futures market not for hedging anymore but also for speculation has seen in oil prices given the decline of equity markets worldwide.


Data from the World Bank shows: “The rising trend in international food prices continued, and even accelerated, in 2008. U.S. wheat export prices rose from $375/ton in January to $440/ton in March, and Thai rice export prices increased from $365/ton to $562/ton. This came on top of a 181 percent increase in global wheat prices over the 36 months leading up to February 2008, and a 83 percent increase in overall global food prices over the same period (see Figure 1).”

This long-term trend in food price inflation also has been due to a lack of agencies and governments to become lax during times of stability and falling prices. “In 1980, 30 percent of annual World Bank lending went to agricultural projects, but this declined to 12 percent in 2007. The overall proportion of all Official Development Assistance going to agriculture is currently only 4 percent. Falling and stable world real cereal prices in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to a sense of complacency with respect to agricultural issues in developing countries.” Governments must make agricultural a priority investment.
Current higher food prices give governments and private sector incentives to make agriculture a priority investment. The World Bank has stated “Higher grain prices can also help to reverse a generally declining trend in government, private sector and donor investment in the agricultural sector. Agricultural producers such as Brazil, Malaysia and Thailand have made significant progress in agricultural commercialization in recent years, and have increasingly undertaken investments in research and extension necessary to promote increased agricultural productivity and reduced agricultural risk.” Given current newspaper reports of Thai citizens complaining of higher rice prices despite Thailand’s significant progress in agricultural commercialization is not being communicated well enough. Example, of recent Thai government debt restructuring to farmers is still seen by many as handouts. Public Relations campaigns by the Thai Government will also stimulate domestic demand while informing the citizen sector of policy benefits and drawbacks increases transparency and accountability. Thai Bureaucracy and Politicians having nothing to fear from in an increasing informed public. The continuing tendency to describe policies as one-liners “eat chicken not pork” demeans public intelligence.
The World Bank itself is working on first increase investment in agricultural as stated above. Second to inform global and national debate on climate change and the use of bio-fuels that is tied closely with food inflation. Benefits and tradeoffs of bio-fuel in a nation’s energy policy are as follows from the World Bank.

“Concerns over increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high policy priority at both the global and country levels. Bio-fuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, although whether bio-fuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. [1] Second-generation bio-fuels produced from waste products, in particular, can avoid land use change and some of the emissions associated with current bio-fuel programs, and may hence offer significant environmental and social benefits.
These benefits, however, have to be weighed against the potential costs of rising food prices. According to a recent IFPRI study, most scenarios of increased use of bio-fuels imply substantial trade-offs with food prices. [2] These trade-offs are dampened, although not eliminated, when technological advances in bio-fuel and crop production are considered. Trade-offs between energy security, climate change and food security objectives need to be carefully monitored and integrated into both food and bio-fuel policy actions.” An example of these trade-offs is “Converting rainforests, peat lands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based bio-fuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘bio-fuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more (CO2) than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these bio-fuels provide by displacing fossil fuels.
[1] IFPRI, IMPACT results (2006).”


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Web 3.0 vs Web 2.0

Web 3.0 vs Web 2.0

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 223 , 11:28:58
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Will the web (expert content) 3.0 be the end of (populist amateur bloggers) web2.0?
Plug in a search into Google and thousands if not millions of results come back giving you no idea which content has been verified Wikipedia is a good example of amateur content that may not be true. The populist version of the web has grown tremendously.

Now enter the same search into Mahalo that will replace Google’s popularity page ranking and the results will come back as the Mahalo top 7 written by experts in that field.

Does that mean my amateur blogging is going to be extinct?
Is as the experts say the world is too dangerous for wrong information and experts should take back the web?

Two Thailands Two Americas

Two Thailands Two Americas

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 257 , 14:10:23
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Do politicians use the same rhetoric and messages to woo voters around the world? Do they talk about the same problems? I would like to use some quotes from an Associated Press story on MSN’s websites. It seems all too familiar to me. This story is about the Democratic Party Candidate Senator Edwards dropping out of the Primary race.

Quote, “Edwards burst out of the starting gate with a flurry of progressive policy ideas — he was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, the first to call on Congress to pull funding for the war, and he led the charge that lobbyists have too much power in Washington and need to be reigned in.”

Does this sound familiar? Will the universal health care cost 30 Baht? Since Senator Edwards is a lawyer which economic technocrat’s business plan can actually make universal health care affordable? Pulling funding for the war in Iraq. Is funding an answer to help Thailand’s civil unrest in the south? Lobbyist have too much power in Washington and Bangkok. Is this business and politics as usual? It sounds like the problems and the messages are all the same.

Quote, “Even as Obama and Clinton collected astonishing amounts of money that dwarfed his fundraising effort,
Edwards said that on his way to make his campaign-ending statement, he drove by a highway underpass where several homeless people live. He stopped to talk, he said, and as he was leaving, one of them asked him never to forget them and their plight.
“Well I say to her and I say to all those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you,” he said, pledging to continue his campaign-long effort to end what he frequently said was “two Americas,” one for the powerful, the other for the rest. “

Unfortunately, the AP story did not mention the details of Senator Edwards’s conversation with the homeless people under the bridge. When you say I will fight for you and never forget you. I am assuming the Senator is talking about the 25% of the people living below the U.S. poverty line. Since the details of the conversation is lacking, I can imagine my own scenario. My question would be how can I take one bottle of whiskey and leverage that into 100,000 bottles of whiskey in Senator Edwards’s secret hedge fund and still get a $400,000 consulting bonus. Or how can I take my card board box and leverage that to about 4,000,000 card board boxes. I am just trying to work with the resources I have under the bridge. These are the details I would like to hear from politicians the world over. These are the detail answers I would like to hear from politicians in both countries and then I would start believing the rhetoric.

Quote, “John Edwards ended his campaign today in the same way he started it — by standing with the people who are too often left behind and nearly always left out of our national debate,” Clinton said.
Quote, “Obama, too, praised Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth. At a rally in Denver, he said the couple has “always believed deeply that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose,” Obama said. “So while his campaign may have ended, this cause lives on for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America.”

Senator Obama and Senator Clinton both agree yes, there are two Americas and yes, there are also two Thailands. Senator Obama and Senator Clinton can continue their campaigns because they have collected astonishing amounts of money that dwarfed Senator Edwards’s fundraising. Sounds familiar to me here in Thailand also.

Quote, “As expected, Edwards said he was suspending his campaign rather than ending it, but aides said that was simply legal terminology so that he can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.”
Last but not least is the Master of all words. Suspending his campaign instead of ending it, simply legal terminology so that he can continue receiving federal matching funds. Simple legal terminology does not include the people under the bridge but the other America only for the powerful to stay legally and morally clean.

Tea Money & Corruption

Tea Money & Corruption

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 217 , 17:58:19
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With so many blogs on corruption, I want to give it a try.

Tea money is an optional service bonus. Unfortunately, it is still viewed in the West as corruption. As everyone knows in Thailand salaries both government and private are a mathematical impossibility to live on much less raising a family especially in a Global economy where commodity prices increase on a daily basis, oil for example, that no longer follows the law of supply and demand but prices are determined by speculators in the commodities futures market. So the Asian example of tea money is a democratic method of increasing tax free disposable income that is open to all citizens and even foreigners what could be more democratic than that.
A simple example, to get a much needed document a foreigner expecting to receive service at a fraction of the cost compared to a western country is free to pay or stand in line for several days just like everyone else or pays tea money and is in and out in 5 minutes. Paying customers are always serviced first basic business sense.

Another Asian example, a rookie policeman salary 4,500 baht stops a driver and smells alcohol on the driver’s breath. Option one you can go to jail and then through the legal process. Option two you can pay for the policeman’s children lunch and go home.

Westerners seems to be the most upset with tea money even though they may receive benefits from it maybe because tea money has long disappeared in their society given their income levels. As long as there is global income disparity, Asian tea money countries that offer services at Wal Mart prices whether it is a government employee police officer’s 4,500 baht monthly salary or private employee university Accountant graduate with a monthly salary of 7,000 baht “Always Low Prices” will always be in demand.

In a society with no tea money option, the city of Seattle for example, a rookie policeman with a salary of $45,000 US dollars per year will put you in Jail. The legal process can be lengthy and expensive to pay for the legal infrastructure and the government’s huge payroll being America’s number one employer. A DUI Driving under the influence will cost about $7,500 US dollars from a cheap lawyer which may include Jail time or picking up trash on the side of the road and losing the right to drive at least doubling of your auto insurance and possibly losing your job depending on past offenses because information is kept in database forever and ever. The chances of the above happening are pretty certain if you can not afford a lawyer and a public defender is assigned your case. Since there is no corruption in Seattle and if you are someone with money you have the undemocratic option of legalized corruption. In this case you can hire the best lawyer who will prescreen and profile the jury members to make certain you are found innocent a very expensive option but legalized corruption is very expensive in a western country ruled by law.
Now if the policeman’s salary in Seattle was 4,500 baht per month as in an Asian country he might be tempted for tea money who knows. But that would destroy the benefits and the infrastructure of having legalized corruption.

Several years ago a very successful legalized corruption example involving the financial industry came to be born. The banking industry needed to improve its bottom line. Writing checks at that time in America was very popular because of float time you could write a check and have several days to cover the check with a deposit by the time the check cleared the system. So the banking industry hired lobbyist in Washington for EDP Electronic Deposit Processing. With this new law all the bank needed was a scan image of the check and the funds would be debit immediately creating millions of dollars in bounce check fees without even going to the bank the image of the check could be scan as soon as it was written. The banks also still held deposits made for several days before crediting the account increasing even more the chances of a check bouncing and the banks made millions of course legally.

It is important for corrupt Asian countries to notice the difference and procedures required. The US Banks did not implement the EDP system first that would have been classified as corruption they first made the system legal by using lobbyist to get politicians to pass legislation first. So if corrupt Asian countries want to join the world ranks of corrupt legalized nations make sure the legislation is done first. If done carefully corruption charges can never be filed because any act is first legalized,
How much progress has emerging corrupt Asian governments made so far in becoming legalized corrupt developed countries? The progress can be seen in up and coming high profile cases in the judiciary system.

Senator Obama Not Guilty

Senator Obama Not Guilty

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 240 , 10:37:28
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Senator Obama is not guilty by association nor is Senator Clinton. Do not lose sight of the main message United we stand divided we fall.

I have been guilty of ranting about past injustices. It makes you feel good for a short time but it is a selfish act and if continues destroys the future. Every country and every people have been guilty of past injustices. We can not live in the past and must be united for our future. Today is what is important not yesterday and the message today is America has a woman Senator Clinton running for president despite all the struggles and hardship that women have faced in the past for the first time in history America may elect a woman president. Even if you do not agree with Senator Clinton’s policies the very fact that she can run for president is proof America is a great country. The same can be said about Senator Obama a black man whose people came to America as slaves hopefully will be America’s next president and will lead America to new heights. This is the message it is not where America was it is where America stands today going into the future united as a country. Senator Obama a black man and Senator Clinton a woman and Senator McCain a white man all great leaders for America’s future not America’s past.

Even Mr. Wright who has spent a lifetime preaching love for his religion 99% of his sermons are based on love. Below is a quotation of 1% of his sermons ranting about past historical injustices. Most of us are the same we spend 99% of our lives doing the right thing but sometimes people only remember the 1% of the time that we have failed. We are human we all make mistakes. Mr. Wright is human also he is not Jesus or God. Do not judge Senator Obama by Mr. Wright’s human weaknesses.

“A videotape of one sermon captures Wright using a harsh racial epithet to argue that Clinton could not understand the struggles of African Americans. “
“Barack knows what it means, living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright said on Christmas Day of last year. “Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain’t never been called a [N-word]!”

“In another sermon, delivered five days after the 9/11 attacks, Wright seems to imply that the United States had brought the terrorist violence on itself. “
“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York, and we never batted an eye,” Wright says. “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back in our own front yards.”

In Thailand we are the same there are many past injustices. Thais need to stop acting like children fighting on the playground. We need to pull ourselves together for our future. Thais are intelligent people also use that intelligence and not let us be divided by region just as in America United we stand divided we fall.

Question about Samak's Government Financing Mega-Projects

Question about Samak's Government financing mega-projects

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 251 , 14:49:46
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I have a question about the financing of the Samak’s Government 500 Billion Baht mega-projects. The news reports that foreign participation is required to finance the mega-projects and thus the Finance Minister Dr. Surapong needs the capital controls to be lifted.

My question is what does foreign participation mean and how is it financed?
Surely, the financing of the mega-projects does not mean the traditional raising of taxes to pay for the municipal bond debt or will the return on investment in the infrastructure be enough without raising taxes?

Does foreign participation mean loans from the IMF or World Bank? Exactly who will provide the loan?

Or does foreign participation mean investors? Will the financing require municipal bond Wraps from monoline insurers like Ambac Financial Group allowing the bonds to be sold in the global marketplace? If so given today’s investment climate, which investor would be interested after Moody’s and others downgraded to negative watch 170,000 munis in the USA alone.

Maybe, foreign participation was defined somewhere and I missed it. I would like to see the mega-projects successful just curious about the details.

Ohio and Issan

Ohio and Issan

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 275 , 18:22:17
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Are there any real economic planners in the government? I realize that leaders do not have the technical skills of their own to author an economic plan but are they not responsible for delegating tasks to complete an economic plan and then take credit for it.

It seems like everyone wakes up in the morning and reads the same newspaper. I could be staying in Ohio or Issan and the news is the same. The US issues a tax refund economic stimulus plan a few days later Thailand issues a tax incentive stimulus plan. Singapore wants to attract global talent therefore, wants to change its image from the “Fine” City to the “Fun” City complete with discos and a casino. A few days later, Thailand wants a casino again.

Maybe, for a few days we could borrow a few technocrats from Japan to write an economic plan for us instead of just reading the newspapers to see what others are doing.

Even politics jobs, education, healthcare are the same issues. The poor dumb uneducated Issan farmer is blamed for bringing back the current good ole boy same faces government in Thailand. The poor dumb uneducated blue collar unemployed factory workers in Ohio are to blame for bringing back Senator Clinton’s campaign on the exact same promises that her husband President Clinton made and did not deliver after 8 years of office universal healthcare and jobs. The only difference is the poor dumb uneducated Issan farmer even under martial law were brave enough to vote out the military while the smart educated middleclass chickens in Bangkok had no alternative to give. The poor dumb uneducated blue collar unemployed factory workers in Ohio had a choice “change” with Senator Obama and chose not to change.
Well for sure the voters in Ohio will not be getting any jobs or healthcare any time soon at least we got healthcare out of it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 167 , 18:56:51
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Does it take all day to prepare an Irish meal?

Being St. Patrick’s Day there are a lot of videos on the news website about “Corned Beef and Cabbage”. Boiling the cabbage is easy but did you know it takes 3 to 4 hours to boil a beef brisket (a cheaper cut of meat from their Jewish neighbors in New York) in salt, pepper and vinegar in chicken broth? Cooking an Irish meal must be a full time job. I found the original recipe called for four different types of sausages very confusing. The bacon is also confusing crispy, chewy, fatty, lean many types of bacon.

Since no one in my family eats beef, it is not worth it. It is better to watch the videos of the origins of the holiday on the History Channel com. And put 3 or 4 drops of food green colouring in your beer.

But anyway, Happy St Patrick’s Day.
By the way BTW, there is no corn in Corned Beef it comes from pellets of salt to cure the beef.

Happy Meal Restaurant Review 4.5 Stars

Happy Meal Restaurant Review 4.5 Stars

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 342 , 11:02:56
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I have just had several meals over the past couple of weeks in a very successful restaurant that has a long history. I have never really seen such a successful business model in a restaurant here in Thailand where businesses follow and change with the fashion trends.

What a pleasure it was to see all the beautiful Vietnamese faces in the restaurant. Someone’s children has been traveling the world. The closest experience I can compare the restaurant to is the Chinese Restaurants in the U.S. Where they have learned a long time ago that table turnover is the key to a fixed retail location. “Hello, How many people? What to drink? What to eat?” Two minutes later food arrives and the bill $20 Thank you Bye. As a matter of fact McDonald’s efficiency experts could learn a lot from this restaurant. A dine in experience that moves faster than any McDonald’s drive-thru window.

Arriving at the restaurant there is no parking but the restaurant is packed on any given night. There are hawkers on the street trying to woo the restaurants waiters and staff to come work for them, unsuccessfully. Once inside there is no waiting for a table. Dirty glasses and dishes are swept up by two hands in one pass and the table wiped down with such speed and skill that even a Hong Kong Kung Fu movie could not match. Two more beautiful Vietnamese faces sit down and if you are not ready to order in one second the waiter is off on another errand. Running up and down several flights of stairs which were built during the time when Chinese concubines wrapped their tiny feet.

All meats fully marinated fresh ingredients and fresh vegetables. Anything available chicken, pork seafood, stir fried, deep fried, twice cooked anything nothing out of stock. All dishes delivered to the table in under two minutes.

Pricing structure is 12 to 16 baht over the fuut baht price. Here again someone’s children has been shopping at Wal Mart no 5, 0 or 9 are used everything priced using 41, 53, 67 etc…
Spotless restrooms, tables, floors dishes everywhere clean. The efficiency expert that runs the front of the restaurant gets 5 stars. The Dzwa Ma efficiency expert in the kitchen gets 4 stars from me for my tastes if the Dzwa Ma would let the food stay in the Wok for just ten more seconds I would give 5 stars. But then again that might throw off the whole system still I would be happy with two minutes and ten seconds.

Happy Dining.

Bill Gates & Creative Capitalism

Bill Gates & Creative Capitalism

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 516 , 19:02:55
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I thought I would take a break from ranting the yoga seems to be working in the mornings and write about something good and something that I believe in.
It comes from the World Economic Forum 2008 last month at Davos, Switzerland. It was Bill Gates’ speech on creative capitalism. Because of free market capitalism the least needy see most of the improvements while the bottom third the most needy get the least. There is a financial incentive to serve the wealthy market incentives makes this happen. Capitalism harnesses self interest for the benefit of people but only for those people who can pay it does nothing for those who can not pay.
Bill Gates quoted the father of capitalism Adam Smith author of Wealth of Nations to define creative capitalism “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Bill Gates wants to refine free market capitalism where selfish is not only the motivating factor behind profits but also to add recognition as an incentive in markets where there is no profit to benefit the poor where in the past only government aid and NGOs were present in these markets. So Bill Gates dream is to bring private industry, governments and NGOs working together to expand the market to the bottom one third of the world.

Bill Gates cited the success of the RED Campaign which was also born in Davos, Switzerland in helping to generate more than $50 million dollars for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria. There were many more examples cited. One of the best examples I quote “The World Health Organization tried to expand vaccination for meningitis in Africa; it didn’t go straight to a vaccine manufacturer. It first went to Africa to learn what people could pay. They found out that if they wanted mothers to get this vaccine for their babies, it had to be priced at under 50 cents a dose. Then they challenged the partners to meet this price, and, in fact, Serum Institute in India found a new way to make the vaccine for 40 cents each. It agreed to then supply 250 million doses to distribute through public health systems over the next decade, allowing it to also sell into the private sector.”
Bill Gates is devoting his life for creative capitalism through his foundation.
Thailand could also learn from this instead of going head to head with international drug companies in trying to force them to sell cheaper to Thailand.

I must say I now have a great respect for Bill Gates now and I am glad that I have a legal copy of Windows Vista even geeks are more appealing to me now.

$3.1 Trillion Budget

$3.1 Trillion Budget

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 269 , 08:06:09
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The best thing about the U.S.'s first ever $3 trillion budget proposal is also for the first time 3,000 copies normally printed and given to Congress was halted and the entire budget is available on line at http://www.budget.gov for all to see and debate forces Congress to use the internet for information too.
Some highlights are promoting a strong defence and tax cuts to spur the economy. Interesting 47 Educational programs will be cut.
Some history the first time the budget hit $2 trillion was in 2002. The budget took nearly two hundred years to hit $1 trillion in 1987.

What Does America Mean to Me

What does America mean to me?

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 315 , 14:57:26
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With the American elections coming up, I thought it would be a good time to think about not just candidates or policies but to go back to the simple but difficult question of what is America. What is so great about America? What is the American dream? What does America mean to me? I would like to try to answer. My answer is immigration and Hollywood.

America is made up of people from every single country in the world. I still have an inner laugh when I hear people in Thailand say “that person does not look like an American” because I also had the same Hollywood image of clean cut W.A.S.P. faces living in beautiful white picketed fence houses before my limited stay in America. America is like the United Nations but with one big difference. After all of the socializing and ideology discussions at the UN they can pat each other on the back and go home. Not so for America, America is one large living breathing laboratory where every race, nationality, creed, colour. Philosophies and religions learn to live together in this world of ours. Through trial and error, success and failure all of mankind is living in the great laboratory called America.

America attracts talent and dreams from people in every corner of the world. Children are taught that they are unique. Science teaches them that from all the DNA genetic code sequence and human genome switches can offer amazing combinations through the sum of mankind’s history and future all available in one laboratory America and every life is special and everything is up to you, and yes, you can be a bum or a president, up to you, does not depend on the way you were born.
You really do not need to understand all the zillions of laws created in modern times to explain America. The founding fathers said it best all men are free and all men are created equal that is the attraction that brought mankind to America. Maybe America’s isolation period and being so far away from the troubles in Asia and Europe or the escaping of destruction from two world wars gave time for the basic freedom of mankind to incubate and grow in the great laboratory America. I am sure there are other reasons but to understand America you would have to understand her Mother England and that part of the puzzle I do not have.

In my life time two great influences were Hollywood and Bollywood. Bollywood, there is nothing better to explain human nature, but for the dreams of mankind nothing better than Hollywood. Hollywood can be seen in every adventure of mankind all the way to the moon where man first set foot on the moon we came in peace for all of mankind to the messages of the Voyager space craft’s or Hollywood’s “to boldly go where no man has gone before”. Nothing sparks the imagination of mankind than Hollywood.

So what is the American Dream? It is the words from the Founding Fathers that gave birth to a safe and stable environment for Mankind to incubate and grow. What is so great about America? It is a place to meet and learn from Mankind from every corner of the globe. What is America? Look in the mirror it is you.

Thailand will always be Thailand, China will always be China, Japan will always be Japan and India will always be India. But America will always be Mankind.
What does America mean to me? America is Mankind.

Weir Fan Club

Weir Fan Club

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 473 , 11:33:25
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• I had the great pleasure to attend two of I’ Weir’s concerts in Nakorn Phanom during the Illuminated Boats Procession Festival October 21 – 27. P’ Ooy was the organizer for the trip and was kind enough to allow me to join the trip and become a member of the Fan Club.
• That evening we were lucky enough to meet the producer P’ Tong Chai at Phat Tot Kanom. After some group picture taking, we moved on to the concert grounds where we were scheduled to meet I’ Weir backstage.
• I Weir’s Business Manager P’ Cho, a very beautiful and capable lady, was very gracious and took care of us at the concerts. Unfortunately, P’ Cho informed us I’ Weir was sick and could not meet us. During the concert you could tell I’ Weir was severely dehydrated and pale but he still performed bravely for thousands of adoring screaming fans for two concerts. We sincerely wish I’ Weir to get well soon.
• P’ Ooy has organized www.sukollawat.com the Fan Club’s website. Under P’ Ooy’s superb leadership the Fan club has grown to over 2,600 members. Twenty six adoring fans came from Bangkok to support I’ Weir’s concert. We all wore pink polo member shirts and carried banners and balloons. I made many new friends in the Fan Club. All of the Fan Club members were very kind to me and I am happy to be a member. We visited many beautiful sites before and after the concerts.
• I have many pictures and movie clips that I will be posting. We hope to build our members in Udon Thani. Please visit our website for updated information concerning our activities. You can contact P’ Ooy through the website. She will be happy to hear from you.
• Tawan Pornpang
Have video clips and pictures but for some reason website will not except them to see more go to www.udonmap.com Thai section.

Weir and Pancake Pictures Index Udon Thani Thailand

Weir and Pancake Pictures Index Udon Thani Thailand

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 513 , 11:53:48
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Weir and Pancake at the Grand Opening of Index Living Mall Udon Thani, Thailand.

Weir and Pancake Attend Opening Ceremony Index Mall Udon Thani

Weir and Pancake Attend Opening Ceremony Index Mall Udon Thani

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 359 , 11:37:33
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My favorite idol (Weir and accompanied by Pancake a world super model) came to Udon Thani Saturday for the Grand Opening Ceremony of Index Living Mall. I had about an hour to look around a much crowed Index Living Mall. I am glad Index has come to Udon Thani. According to a salesperson at Index, this is the largest showroom for furniture in all of Asia. I was surprised at how large and beautiful the building was, after driving by the construction site every day. I will be back to shop for sure. There were many beautiful product displays that I would love to have.
Congratulations to the management and staff at Index. They did a wonderful job. Especially, thank you for bringing my favorite idol to Udon Thani. Weir and Pancake was as photogenic as ever. I took the video from the second floor balcony about 40 meters away where I found a spot behind a glass display section so no one would interfere with the video recording. Unfortunately, the glass interfered with the audio recording. Sorry to my Weir Fan Club members at www.sukollawat.com . I will try to do better next time. Most of the videos are too large for this site but they are all broadcasting live from www.youtube.com/tawanpornpang and also at Udon Thani’s number one website in the world out of almost one million Udon Thani websites by a Google search at www.udonmap.com .

Tong Sri Mueng Festival Udon Thani Thailand

Tong Sri Mueng Festival Udon Thani Thailand

Posted by Tawan , Reader : 259 , 12:43:27
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This year’s Tong Sri Mueng Festival (I apologize for the romaji and the late posting) in Udon Thani was as crowded as walking the streets of Hong Kong elbow to elbow. The parade featured many colorful floats and dancers in costume. But what everyone was waiting for came at the end of the parade. It was the Chinese Dragon Dance and the Chinese Lion Dance well worth waiting for. The Chinese Opera Dancers also were a big hit. This year I think there were three Chinese groups participating in the parade.

After the parade it was off to the Udon Thani State Fair. Thai food and drink was available everywhere whenever you got tired and needed a break from all the shopping and games. This is an excellent time every year for the children to enjoy the State Fair.