What Changes Would Ed Make if He Was in Charge of Thailand? [S7.E54]

Greg 00:00:04 Now on this episode, we do a thought experiment and ask, what if Ed was in charge of Thailand?

Ed 00:00:11 So if you want to hear ten ways that I changed Thailand if I was the boss, you'll dig this episode of the Bangkok Hakka.

Greg 00:00:32 Saudi crap. And welcome to the Bangkok Podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand with a friend in 2001 to chew bubblegum and kick ass, only to find that bubblegum isn't really a thing here and kicking ass seems really tiring.

Ed 00:00:46 That's a deep cut.

Greg 00:00:47 It is.

Ed 00:00:48 Yeah. And I met Knuth, an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract 24 years ago, fell in love with all the different Thai words for noodle, so I never left.

Greg 00:00:59 Sort of like the Eskimo word for ice or snow or something like that.

Ed 00:01:02 That's right. Shout out to our buddy, Jay Raj. He recently posted on Facebook a list of, all the different types of Thai noodles and then the, the etymology related to them.

Ed 00:01:15 so we got we got to get Stu on the show to maybe talk about that is, is there's a fascinating, history to the construction of Thai words for noodles.

Greg 00:01:26 Yeah, I think we I think I'd love to have him on to talk about that. Talking about Thai and food. I mean, there you go. You can't go wrong. And Thai food. I still think the favorite thing to do when someone is eating, some pad Thai or something, you'd be like, so you support fascism?

Ed 00:01:39 That's right. It's a fascist.

Greg 00:01:42 Infused look on their face.

Ed 00:01:44 Funny. Fascism is going to come up later on the show, so.

Greg 00:01:47 Oh, sweet. Can't wait. Good thing to talk about on a podcast.

Ed 00:01:51 That's right. All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early. Behind the scenes photos of our interviews. It heads up to send questions to upcoming guests and access to our discord server. To chat with me, Greg and other listeners around the world.

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Greg 00:02:58 That's right. And as always, if you have a comment or show idea or just want to say hi, head to Bangkok Podcast on the internets and click the little microphone button on the bottom right. Leave us a voicemail and we'll play it on the show.

Greg 00:03:08 And also, before we get into it from something from the corrections department now added last week, or was it two weeks ago, I can't remember. Anyway, in a recent show, a very recent show, I mentioned the two temples that I always tell visitors to hit in Bangkok. Correct? And I said, Skip the Grand Palace because it's way too crowded. But I said, you have to visit what's hot and what bingeable pit. But I was wrong. It is not what bingo pit? It is what Raja pit are. Okay. Totally different. Yeah.

Ed 00:03:38 So I actually don't think I've been there. So this this is amazing that this temple that you highly recommend. I don't think I've been there.

Greg 00:03:44 Yeah. So what? Ben pit is the marble temple. But what pit is the one that I really, really love. And it's got. It's a very uniquely designed temple with an architectural style. It's got a a circular cloister or courtyard. Oh, cool. And then, The main ordination hall is unusually European in design.

Greg 00:04:02 It's got like into the interior, which you usually can't go into. But, Yeah, it's just a really, really beautiful temple, and it's never, ever crowded. So just, corrections department there, I said. Bingo. Ball pit. I meant pit, and I regret the error.

Ed 00:04:19 Gotcha.

Greg 00:04:21 All right. On this episode, we are going to give Ed what he has always dreamed of. Unlimited power. Yes. At least hypothetically. Now, doing this podcast every week, we talk about a lot of things we'd like to see more of, as well as less of. And that got us thinking. If we were in charge of Thailand and could maybe wave a magic wand to change something, what would we do to change things, to be more like how we wanted them to be? And of course, because this is Thailand, we're going to avoid some of the, you know, contentious, politically tinged issues. And of course, none of this is meant as anything other than light criticism, and is said with all love.

Greg 00:04:57 Because just like anything, if you never point out its faults, how do you expect it to improve? So with that in mind, Ed has put his tyrannical brain to work, coming up with ten things that he would change if he was in charge of Thailand and nothing was holding him back from making changes. This is a pretty good idea, and I like this one.

Ed 00:05:15 Yeah, I got plans, man. That's all I got to say, I got plans. You know, I've been here 24 years. I haven't been wasting my time. I got, I got, I have dreams.

Greg 00:05:24 Well, the only thing, the only reason I don't want to do the show is because now I've got to do a show called ten Ways that Greg would Improve Thailand. Now I got to come up with ten things. Yeah.

Ed 00:05:32 That's right. And I'm probably thinking, I'm guessing I'm guessing that some of the things that I want to do, you would do. So I'm still I'm stealing some of your thunder.

Greg 00:05:41 All right. Maybe I'll do five things that Greg would do. Anyway, let's get into it. What do you got?

Ed 00:05:44 Okay, so, you know, I was I was going to try to order these, but it was actually very difficult to order. So these are not in any particular order. I'm just going to I got my list in front of me. I'm just going to grab them and then you can give me your feedback. Tell me what you think. Some of them, I think.

Greg 00:05:58 I don't know this list. I've never seen this list before.

Ed 00:06:00 That's right. Now, some of these you're going to totally understand is stuff that you and I have either talked about or it's been on the show, but some of these things might take you by surprise. Okay. Okay. So here's one that I think you will completely relate to. I would, cap tourism numbers in certain locations that are, environmentally sensitive. So we've we've done some shows on this, and we've talked about, the way Covid was beneficial to certain places in Thailand and other ways that allowed recovery.

Ed 00:06:40 And we've talked about, the Thai government's apparent obsession with, with tourist growth at all costs. And I, you know, as an amateur, I've never studied. you know, there obviously you can you can get degrees in tourism, you can get degrees in, you know, obviously environmental studies. I'm an amateur. I just think that, it makes sense that certain locations should just have limits on the number of terrorists. What do you think?

Greg 00:07:12 No, I hardly 100% agree on this. And you're right. And during Covid, they did do this, like in Maya Bay. there was just such degradation to the natural environment around there, the coral and the water and everything, that all the wildlife has disappeared. And I don't know if you've ever been on a snorkeling trip where you don't see any fish, but it ain't that fun. That's right. but they they limited the number of tourists that come and actually, didn't. They completely shut it down.

Ed 00:07:34 They shut it down for a while, and then and then it was very strictly limited for almost two years.

Greg 00:07:40 And lo and behold, things recovered very, very quickly and very successfully. So, yeah, I think this is a great idea.

Ed 00:07:47 I admit it's a tricky problem. I'm not I'm not, a. Even though I am a lefty, I'm not a crazy lefty. Like super environmental guy. I think you have to balance all interests. People need jobs. People need incomes. I'm a I'm a politics guy. In the end, I'm all about deals. Let's make a deal. but I think that there has to be some balance. And I think in at least what I see, you know, and because I'm right now I'm the boss. That's the fantasy we're living in. so this is just my opinion through my eyes. I don't see much balance. I think it's just growth, growth, growth. And, yeah, obviously there are Thai people and NGOs, and I'm sure the Thai government would say they care about protecting the environment. They would say that. But man, they just seem, just all about, pumping up the numbers.

Ed 00:08:37 And so I would, I would get a study group on this, I'd get some experts and I'd figure it out. And the thing is, you know, once you put a cap on the numbers, then the market's going to respond. So it would probably mean that if, if there were some of these beautiful islands. If you just said, hey, per month, we're only going to have so many tourists, then of course things might become a little more expensive. Which is fine. Let the market respond. So it might not, affect the, the the revenue. In other words, if you cap it, then the prices might go up. So actually the revenue might stay the same for, for Thai businesses.

Greg 00:09:12 Okay. So less people more revenue or less people, higher price.

Ed 00:09:15 But same could be same revenue. You see you have to see how the market responds. so that's so that's number one. Not in order, but, one out of ten, like, let me give you one that might surprise you a little bit, but I'm a huge believer.

Ed 00:09:30 I'm a huge believer in this. I would build, a massive modern prison system.

Greg 00:09:41 Massive modern prison.

Ed 00:09:42 System? Yeah. I think.

Greg 00:09:43 What do you mean by modern?

Ed 00:09:44 Well, I think a big problem, with the Thai prison system is. It's. It's pretty archaic. It's pretty primitive. there's massive overcrowding. It's just not what you and I think of when you think about prisons. I mean, it's extremely bad conditions. And, obviously, prison is prison, and it's not supposed to be a nice place to be, but I think the the lack of modern prison system, I think it has, reverberations in the Thai legal system. in other words, it's you get weird situations where, it affects the rule of law. for example, a lot of people of certain social status, they almost always get out of going to prison. And part of it is that there's just like like there's just this understanding that, oh, like, the prison is actually horrible. We can't send someone like you to prison because, oh.

Greg 00:10:46 I see, because the prison is so.

Ed 00:10:48 Bad because it's actually not humanitarian. You know, it's like you're going to you're going to be crowded into a cell with 30 other random people. So to me, it creates a two tiered system. So the people that end up in Thai prison are tend to be people from, you know, economically disadvantaged or socially disadvantaged parts of society. I want to be able to send anyone to prison. And I think to do that, you need to raise the standard of the prison. in other words, whether you're, you know, a very poor person, a very rich person come from a good family, a poor family. The bottom line is, there should be kind of a just a a prison that you could send anyone to. And you're not violating the rights. You are punishing them. Obviously, prisons take away people's freedom by definition, but that's really all they should do. They should take away people's freedom. They shouldn't take away people's like, dignity.

Ed 00:11:40 And you shouldn't be cramming people into into crowded cells and and unsanitary conditions.

Greg 00:11:46 so so so now prison, like going to prison is already punishment. But the fact that it's not just prison, but it's a Thai prison is almost like punitive damage on top of that.

Ed 00:11:56 That's right. And I know there's people who will say, who cares? It should be horrible. It should be gross. But those people are wrong, that they're wrong. You know. You know that that they're just wrong. you know, when when you're, you're, you know, your punishment is your freedom is taken away for a certain period of time. And there's obviously other restrictions. It's not literally just your physical freedom. There's other issues being in prison, but it shouldn't be, like degrading and humiliating beyond the fact that you're in prison. so and so I think this is the key, you know, to, to make, the rule of law work. It it's actually a fairly complex system, you know, it's like it is almost like a a big machine with different moving parts.

Ed 00:12:40 and one of the moving parts is the the actual punishment scheme has to be just. It's still it's still punishment, but it has to be just punishment. So this might even be the first thing I would do on day one is I would start construction on, on like a massive modern prison. I don't know that that actually makes me really sound like a tyrant. You know, on day one. On day one, you know, Prime Minister builds a giant prison. It makes me sound like.

Greg 00:13:08 We're going to change the name from prison to camps.

Ed 00:13:11 That's right.

Greg 00:13:11 You're right. Yeah, yeah. So.

Ed 00:13:12 But no, I think this is a very important reform that has to happen in in the Thai legal system, in my.

Greg 00:13:20 Opinion. Interesting, interesting. I never would have thought of that, but I, I guess yeah, I it wouldn't make things worse. and you know, countries, a lot of Nordic countries, their prison systems are famously well organized.

Ed 00:13:33 And if there's one thing I never hear about in Thailand is prison reform, the, the improvement of the prison system.

Greg 00:13:40 Right, right, right.

Ed 00:13:40 I've never heard anyone no one ever talks about it like we need to improve.

Greg 00:13:44 But when you think of countries like the Nordic countries, you know they have really nice prisons, but their their focus is on reform and rehabilitation.

Ed 00:13:51 Well, yeah, I mean that's part of it. But it's just I mean here there's just massive overcrowding and it's just I don't know, it's again, I think it creates other problems in the, in the legal system.

Greg 00:14:04 Right. And prisons are so bad in, in, in Thailand that they've actually made movies about how bad the prisons are. Yeah. So interesting. Interesting. Okay. I don't disagree with that.

Ed 00:14:13 All right. I'm going to hit you with one that I think you'll I think you'll probably agree. And, you know, this might be a little bit fantastical. And I haven't done the really proper research, but we have mentioned before. I love the idea of a Thai canal. What is known as the Kra Canal Project.

Ed 00:14:34 I love this idea of having a canal that cuts across the narrowest band of Thailand, which is not really in the Deep South, but it's, kind of south of Warren, kind of just just after the end of Burma, you know? So Burma kind of strings down. There's like a long, thin part of Burma that goes south. And then just after that is the narrowest part of the Thai peninsula. And I would just slice right through that. I like I like the canal thing. This would be day one or day two. I don't care how much it cost. A couple hundred billion. Let's do it.

Greg 00:15:13 Get it done. Interesting. I, there's a lot of pluses and negatives to that. I can see the points of both sides, but you can't stop progress. I would do.

Ed 00:15:22 It. I mean, I think, I think that these, in general, I'm a big fan of these big infrastructure projects. I think, you know, as a lefty, I think it stimulates the economy.

Ed 00:15:34 It creates a ton of jobs. And that I think that, a lot of the opposition to this canal project. It comes from outside forces like Singapore, I think. A sure, a Panama like canal through Thailand. I think it would. It's geopolitically, I don't know, maybe not an earthquake, but it's geopolitically significant. And it would be Thailand, I think, flexing its muscle a little bit, which they should do more. So I would, I would, I would do it I would do the cross canal thing for sure.

Greg 00:16:11 Interesting man. You have put a lot of thought into this. Yeah. That would be interesting to see how it turns out. And yeah, especially in Singapore, Malaysia, those countries that are, getting a lot of benefits from. That's right. From, ships passing through the Strait of Malacca would be very interested in what's happening up here.

Ed 00:16:28 That's right, that's right. I would do that in a second. what else do I got? okay, here's something that might be a little bit controversial, but you got to give me a second to explain myself.

Ed 00:16:38 I would, I would make English the official second language of Thailand.

Greg 00:16:47 Oh, that's that's.

Ed 00:16:49 Now we got to be this. We got to be precise with this. I would make English the official second language. I wouldn't make it the second official language, if that makes sense. Like, in other words, you know, Thailand is for Thai people. Thailand is for Thai language. And Thailand, which has to come first. So my I'm not saying that English should be put on, English should not be put on par with Thai. That's ridiculous. But I think it should be the official second language. And the only reason I want to do this is to improve the quality of English language teaching throughout the country. So when I say I think it should be the second language, I'm not saying that I think every sign in the country must have Thai in English or something stupid like that, or that every government, every government document must be in Thai, in English. I'm not putting them on equal footing.

Ed 00:17:44 No way. but I am saying that, I think that Thai people are hurt in when it comes to international competitiveness because of their English language skills. It's a little bit of a tricky problem. I think Thailand is very good when it comes to having just maybe very basic English. You know, random taxi drivers who didn't graduate from high school have basic English. So, you know, so that's not bad. But, for educated Thais who want to compete, for international jobs, I think it's a huge weakness. it's a huge weakness. And.

Greg 00:18:27 but but isn't isn't English already sort of de facto the second language? Because, you know, almost everyone gets taught some form of English in.

Ed 00:18:35 School, but the standard.

Greg 00:18:36 Is low. And if it's not.

Ed 00:18:37 The standard.

Greg 00:18:38 Is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that I think that speaks to sort of a more, a more institutional failing rather than.

Ed 00:18:44 Well, I mean, so like, you're, you're you're right. I think we agree.

Ed 00:18:48 But my, my point of making it the official second language is to get rid of, to blast through those, those roadblocks or whatever the institutional problem is. I see, you know, so that's my motivation. I mean, I guess I could have I guess I could have just made my, my, my proclamation that we must improve English language, you know, training. But I think making it officially the second language would do that. and maybe maybe.

Greg 00:19:16 Oh, I see. Okay, okay.

Ed 00:19:17 You know, maybe it would unlock more, more funding or make it more of a a national project because, I think once you get, you know.

Greg 00:19:25 It would give you proclamations, some.

Ed 00:19:27 Teeth. That's right. I think we, you know, there's kind of a sampling error because we're in Bangkok and a lot of the Thai people that we deal with are educated and they've already gone to university. You know, our wives and stuff like that, where there are university educated people. And so we're like, oh, Thai people have really good English.

Ed 00:19:45 But, the average level is quite low even in Asia. You know, we've talked about these rankings before. Even in Asia, like like the average English in Thailand is not very good. You step outside of Bangkok and and it's a nightmare.

Greg 00:20:03 Right? Yeah. Interesting. I like that idea of. I mean, anyone can say we need to speak better English. Okay.

Ed 00:20:11 That's right. No, no.

Greg 00:20:11 What are you going to do?

Ed 00:20:12 No, I'm I'm I'm, you know, go hard or go home. That's what I'm saying. Make it officially the second language. and I think this is I think this is this would be Thailand just facing reality. You know, I've had this conversation with my students. It's not fair that English is so important in the world. It's totally unfair. It should not be true. You know, there should be. You know, we should all be speaking Esperanto as our second language, that that would be fair. It should be a male, you know, it should be a made up like common tongue.

Ed 00:20:44 but it's not. So I think I think this would be Thailand just facing the reality of the world, which is English is just massively valuable. And they'd be doing a favor to, to to, you know, you know, Thai kids that to make sure they have good English language skills. So boom, I would do it.

Greg 00:21:03 You know what I'd be really interested in to see if, if, Prime Minister had put that in place would be the reaction of China and what they would do to try to sort of expand their soft power and be like, hey, that's an interesting idea, but hear me out. What about if Chinese was your second language? Let me tell you about all the benefits that you get from that.

Ed 00:21:20 which are not a lot like I would, I would, I would, I would, I would have some responses to, why that doesn't matter. but that's another that's another topic.

Greg 00:21:30 How about we build the, KRA Canal for you. Would you do it then?

Ed 00:21:36 We don't need that.

Ed 00:21:37 We don't need that. We got. We can get the drums to do it.

Greg 00:21:40 Oh, God. All right, what's next? I like it.

Ed 00:21:43 Number four, another one that I think will be dear to your heart is I would invest heavily in the riverfront. I would make this a major priority for for Thailand and for Bangkok in particular. I know Bangkok has some independence to a certain extent from the federal government or national, I should say national government, not federal. but I think the riverfront is just woefully underdeveloped, and Bangkok is already a cool, a super cool city, a great place to live for both Thai people and expats. But I think Bangkok could seriously up its game if it invested heavily in the riverfront. And I mean massive billion dollar plan to completely change the riverfront. I would change the laws, I would change the laws, I would move a lot of those communities, you know, and I know there's political and economic issues, but I would make sure people are compensated and I would completely change.

Ed 00:22:40 The Bangkok riverfront is it's it has some cool aspects to it. You and I both like some things on the riverfront, but and I cross the river every day when I go to work, and all I can think about is the potential that's there. There's just so much untapped potential. Economic potential. so I would massively develop the riverfront.

Greg 00:23:01 I agree, I agree, we've mentioned it many times on the show. It's so strange that a city like this, with a river like that, like any other city in the world, would have just massive development along the riverfront. But, I would, I would agree, but I would, I would say that it must be balanced. There's a lot of really great stuff along the river that probably shouldn't be touched. Sure. Yeah. But there's also a lot that could be built near or around or on top of that.

Ed 00:23:26 Yeah, none of these things are. Yeah, definitely. You know, none of these things I'm talking about are easy. There would all be, you know, this is a this is fantasy world.

Ed 00:23:32 This is ed the dictator fantasy fantasy land. So, right now, can.

Greg 00:23:38 You imagine the traffic, though, if you built a skyscraper in, like, Thailand or something? My God.

Ed 00:23:42 Oh, jeez. That's another another issue. Let's see. Let me give you something here that might be. I don't really have anything that's too controversial. I think most of these things you're probably would agree with. What's next? How about, I would I would make dual pricing basically illegal. and again, so this is obviously coming from the perspective of an expat. So, you know, I'm not Thai. So I don't see, see the same problems that Thai people see. I see the problems that foreigners see. And I think dual pricing is just wrong in principle. I understand that there's some arguments for it. and what I mean by dual pricing, I, I don't necessarily mean that, prices always have to be the same for Thais and tourists, I think in in places like national parks that are supported by tax dollars.

Ed 00:24:37 if terrorists are not paying taxes, I understand the argument for making them, pay more. but it's a little bit ridiculous for people living in Thailand and paying taxes. We definitely should not have to pay more just because of our white skin. It's just absurd. It's racist. It's dumb. but but if I had my druthers, I would just make it the same. So even for terrorists, I think just in principle, it's better to just make everyone pay the same. like I understand the argument. Tourists don't pay taxes. Thai people pay taxes, I get it. So, you know, I'm open to some compromise. You know, I am a I believe in politics, so I might be willing to cut a deal on the dual pricing thing. but I think if I really had my way, I would just completely eliminate dual pricing. You know, and I'm not even bothered that much about the national park stuff. But when when you start getting into things like government hospitals charging Thai people and foreigners radically different prices.

Ed 00:25:37 That's just wrong. Okay. You know, we've talked about some hate that we've talked about some heinous cases where expats have just been charged triple what Thai people are charged in a government hospital. not always, but, it should be illegal. It should be illegal. I mean, prices should just be the same for everyone, period.

Greg 00:25:56 Yeah, I agree with that. Mostly, I think I've got no problem with tourists paying a bit more to see and see attractions. But for those who live here and pay into the system. That's right. I think there should be a flat price for that. 100% agree with that one.

Ed 00:26:10 Yeah, if I, I would probably make it all the same. But I understand that if you're in a tax not not a private establishment, but if you're in a tax supported place like a temple, I understand why tourists might have to pay more, but certainly not people like you and I who are who are paying. I've been paying my taxes since day one. Like I got lucky when I'm right here.

Ed 00:26:29 And I was working for a Thai company, so I have 24 years of paying tie taxes, so yeah, I yeah, I should not be subject to that. and I agree. Yeah. number seven, I would begin a massive, a massive water management project to prepare for rising sea levels, to to to climate change. I think actually, I think there's two things going on. There's climate change, but then there's also just the fact that Bangkok sinking, which I think is independent of climate change. So you have two things going on where you just have the city that is sinking, but then you have sea levels rising. And, I think this is something that, the Thai government talks about, but they, they mostly ignore. And I really think that the Thai government should treat this problem almost the way the United States treated going to the moon. It's like they should just look at this as, like a national goal. You know, like the Dutch solving flooding 500, 500 years ago.

Ed 00:27:34 Like this should be it. I don't know if I probably would call it an emergency. You know, whatever solution, whatever solution is necessary, it's going to take decades. You know, this is literally a a giant epic problem. Bangkok is a huge city. And so this is just it's not something you can you can solve in ten years. You can't.

Greg 00:28:00 The interesting thing with, with, with the Dutch analogy is when the Dutch saved things, they saved their whole country because the whole thing was underground. I imagine there would be a lot of a lot of issues around. Why are you spending all this money on just Bangkok? What about the rest of the country? What about the other 60 million people that live in the country, you know? That would be a really. They'd probably make a lot of people angry.

Ed 00:28:23 Well, a lot of other Thai people are not under threat. I mean, obviously if they're on the child prior, they might be under threat. But, you know, the bottom line is that it depends on where you're located, how you're going to be affected by this problem.

Ed 00:28:35 and of course, the capital is important. And the, you know, there's the highest, highest concentration of population here. But yeah, there might be other, other parts of the country that are affected as well. I'm not suggesting we should ignore them, but I just I just don't get it. I just don't get it. Every time I read about the topic, it's I, it just seems like Bangkok is doomed and the government doesn't, doesn't seem to be aware of the problem. So I would again, this would be a day one thing and I would just commit massive resources to it. Interesting. You know, I don't know. And again, I don't know the details of what I would do, but it would definitely be up there.

Greg 00:29:11 If you want to see some really cool concept art listeners, just search for the Wind Up a Girl by Paolo Lupi on on Google and do an image search. And there's it's a it's a really cool novel that takes place in Bangkok in like 200 years in the future.

Greg 00:29:25 But they've got some really interesting concept art that people have done about what Bangkok will look like in 200 years. And part of the part of the concept art that I really like is this gigantic seawall around Bangkok that goes like all the way down to a band kind of thing. but yeah, maybe something like that is going to be needed eventually. Better than later.

Ed 00:29:44 All right. The next one I think you are going to love. I would I would completely rewrite all the laws that affect expats in Thailand. The laws that affect us are the laws that affect us are archaic and dumb. And I'm not just, I'm not just saying, oh, we should have it easier. I just want to bring us on par with the standard of other countries that are popular with expats. You know, whether it's, you know, Venezuela or Panama. The bottom line is the hoops that we have to jump through are just absurd. Things are archaic. you know this, but, listeners out there just give you an example of what I'm talking about.

Ed 00:30:27 This is the this is going to be a mic drop for this point. when I, when I have to do my health checkup for my work permit, which because I'm a long, stay person, I only have to do it every two years. okay. But the medical checkup on the government form for the medical checkup. I have to be tested for syphilis. But also elephantiasis.

Greg 00:30:55 Yes. Yeah.

Ed 00:30:57 The the actual form. The doctor has to confirm that I don't have elephantiasis. So this is literally a form that was created in the 1930s. I'm not. I'm not making this up. The current form for for your medical certificate, if you're a foreigner, was created. I don't know when. I'm guessing the 1930s. You know, that's a good trivia question. When was that form created? But it's it's way outdated, just absurdly outdated. and so that's just that's just that's just one example of the, of the just silliness that applies to foreigners. you know, so this is a whole nother topic.

Ed 00:31:39 You know, we could do we could do the 20 things I would change about laws that affect expats. For example, reporting your address, every 90 days. It's just dumb.

Greg 00:31:50 It's just.

Ed 00:31:50 Dumb. The law should say you have to report a change in your address. That's what the law should be. But no, the law says that's a good one. Yeah, the law says you have to every 90 days, report your address, even if it hasn't changed. It's ridiculous. And at least now the lucky bastards who are around today, a lot of you guys can actually do it online. But back in my time, I had to do it in person. Every 90 days. I did that for eight years until I got my permanent residency. So for eight years, every three months, I went to a government office and filled out the same stupid form. And, you know, sometimes my address had changed, but 95% of the time I'm giving them the same address I had before in person.

Greg 00:32:37 Yeah, it's a huge make work project, I think, and it's horrific. And like I said a million times. And I'll keep repeating the analogy until the day I die. I think Thai bureaucrats are kind of like sharks in water. They need a minimum amount of bureaucracy just to function. They need a minimum amount of paperwork. They've got to keep the systems going. Otherwise they don't know what to do. So these things sort of help them maintain that minimum level.

Ed 00:32:58 Yeah I mean.

Greg 00:32:59 There's a lot of totally unnecessary.

Ed 00:33:00 There's a lot of reasons behind these problems. But that's a that's another show. But the the the the the laws that affect expats in Thailand are unfair and overly burdensome. And that is being polite about it. Let's put it that way.

Greg 00:33:16 Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Ed 00:33:17 All right, here we go. Number nine, I would change the tie flag to the old elephant flag. I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge fan of the elephant flag. Now, there's been different versions of it.

Ed 00:33:29 The one that I like is the one that's the most colorful. and we'll include a picture of it, but it's a white elephant kind of in regalia. and, it's a I think it was used in, 1915, 1916. It's just a really cool flag. You know, the white elephant is a traditional symbol of Thailand. It's unique. Most, national flags don't have animals on them. And, you know, I did a little bit of research, and it's it's actually quite mysterious. Exactly why Thailand changed their flag. I've read different things. some of the theories I can't talk about. They're a little bit sensitive. But, but, but but a common explanation. A common explanation is that Thailand actually was just mimicking the West. In other words, having three colors on your flag is a very common thing. Not every flag, but a lot of European countries have three colors. and and so a common theory is that this was, the Thai government saw this as part of their modernization project.

Ed 00:34:39 You know, we're going to modernize. We're going to we're going to we're joining the developed world. We're a developed country. We got to get rid of this silly elephant thing like. And so so I think there was this idea that we want to be like the West, we want to be like developed countries and, whatever. Okay, maybe that was maybe that was a valid reason back then, but the the elephant flag is just way cooler. It's, it's I think it's a beautiful flag. It's one of the coolest flags in the world. I mean, and so I would reinstate the, the white elephant flag. It's it's it's awesome I love it. Okay, so here we go. last one, number ten is I would change the official name of the country back to Sam. and, you know, this is something I've. Yeah, this is something I've thought about a lot. obviously the name Thailand, the word Thailand is deep into the world's, brain. so I'm not. I'm not saying that, the name Thailand should be outlawed or anything like that.

Ed 00:35:48 I just think that the official name of the country should be changed back to Sam. And my reasoning is a little bit, the same as for the flag. You know, the name, the name changed to Thailand. This comes from Prime Minister T-Bone in the 1930s who, who loved European fascists and European fascists were racists and ethno nationalists. And so the name Thailand, the name Thailand is actually a racist name, and I'm not. I'm not being woke here like, this is not a woke thing. This. This is just a fact of Thai history that the name Thailand, which I know is seen as completely normal now. It was created, to emphasize the ethnicity of people who live in the country. in other words, it was meant to be anti, the ethnic diversity, which is part of Thailand, which is part of Siam, like Siam, is ethnically diverse, with Muslims in the south and, you know, Hmong people who were formerly of Burmese. So it's like the the name of the country now actually comes from a period of fascist period in Thai history.

Ed 00:37:02 And, you know, I, I understand that, you can't turn the clock back. So sometimes when you, when you talk about these things, like people say, like, well, you know, times have changed. no one thinks of Thailand as racist anymore. So what's the point? So I understand you can't turn the clock back. You can't undo what was done. But the bottom line is these things are actually flexible. These are things that are created by human beings, you know. So it's not it's not it's not a fact. It's a socially created thing. So if if the name was changed from CM to Thailand at one point, then of course we can change it back to CM. You know, it was CM for what, 400 years? You know, it's been Thailand. It's been Thailand for 100 years. and so I would just officially make the name CM. maybe the way that I, you know, it's not the same thing. But officially, Burma is now called Myanmar.

Ed 00:38:00 But a lot of people still call it Burma. Right, right. So, obviously, like.

Greg 00:38:03 Ho Chi Minh City is also called Saigon, which I prefer, actually, because it's a bit more romantic.

Ed 00:38:07 Yeah. You know, so people would still use the name Thailand and and Thai people can still say I'm Thai or I'm from Thailand, but just, officially, like in the UN, the country should be called CM. I mean, that's what it was before. They had a fascist prime minister. I want to be clear. I don't think the name Thailand is racist. Right now, it doesn't have any connotation like that now. I have no problem with the name itself. It's cool. It's fine. My only problem is it's its history and its genesis and where it comes from.

Greg 00:38:44 I don't know, man. Prime minister, Prime Minister is going to step in and start messing with the name, the flag, the language.

Ed 00:38:50 Yeah. No, I'm.

Greg 00:38:51 Telling you, work cut out for you.

Ed 00:38:53 No, this is the. This is the show. That's the name of the show. Now, I do have some honorable mentions. you know, I've mentioned before that I hate. I hate the English word Bangkok in. I hate it. And I'm a huge believer that people who live in Bangkok should be called Bangkok Curse. So I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if, as Prime minister, I'm allowed to dictate English words. But if you know, if English becomes the second official language, you know, or the official language.

Greg 00:39:23 History. If history is shown as anything is, you can control what the masses decide to call something. I can't. It's a fool's errand. No.

Ed 00:39:29 If I'm prime Minister, if I'm the boss, I can do it.

Greg 00:39:32 Good luck with that.

Ed 00:39:32 We should be called bankers. No, I'm quite serious about my top ten. and I know it's fantasy, but, talk. But, whatever. You ask my opinion, you get my opinion.

Greg 00:39:44 That's a really good list, man. You put a lot of thought into that. And now I'm a little bit daunted. Daunted? Is that a word? I'm feeling that the time I have to come up with ten is going to be a daunting list for me to put together, because.

Ed 00:39:55 Well, take your time.

Greg 00:39:56 Yeah. I haven't I haven't put that much thought into it. Yeah, it's not going to be for a while, but I'll start thinking about it. I got a couple, but maybe not on the same level as you do. yeah. Good list. Man, I like it. I agree with almost all of them. A couple of nitpicks, but, pretty good. Pretty good overall. I'd vote for Prime Minister. All right, well, let's do something we call love, loathe, or live with where one of us picks a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discussed to decide if it's something we love about living here, loathe about living here, or have come to accept as something that we just have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it.

Greg 00:40:28 And this weekend, what do you got for me?

Ed 00:40:31 All right. This this is a fairly small thing, but it it just it's something that it just rubs me the wrong way. So I'm curious if you've even noticed this before. I feel that Thai people are more likely to end a phone call without saying goodbye than foreigners are. Yeah. Yeah. In other words, they just. I'll be talking to someone. We'll kind of get to the end, and then they just hang up.

Greg 00:41:03 Or they just go.

Ed 00:41:06 But, you know, I feel that foreigners. It's more common that you get to the end. There's a pause. You realize there at the end and someone says, okay, goodbye, or see you later, or bye bye or whatever. Whereas with Thai people, a lot of times you just click, am I wrong?

Greg 00:41:23 I know you're not wrong. And I the first time I started hearing this and I noticed it, I was like, what am I in a movie? It was no one hangs up like that.

Greg 00:41:33 That's ridiculous. And I used to love it. But over the years I've sort of been ground down. So now I just live with it. But I still find it odd. It's just. Yeah, okay.

Ed 00:41:42 Okay. I think we're exactly on the same page. You know, I like you. I experienced this first a very long time ago, but I'm still not used to it. It just happened. It happened to me. I was talking to my. Who happened to be talking to my ex-wife, and she just hung up and and it's funny if it if it happened in this trouble. Well, if it happened in the States, you know, if one of my sisters did it, I would wonder if something was wrong You know, I'd be like, oh, did it? Did her battery die or. Hopefully she wasn't in a car accident, you know what I mean? It's like because people always say goodbye, you know? Right. So, so so that there that verifies that it was intentional.

Greg 00:42:22 Yeah. It's strange. I'm a live with, but not by choice. when I first started noticing it, I was very loathe.

Ed 00:42:29 Okay, maybe I'll add it to my list. maybe it'll it'll add it to my list as prime minister. I'll. I'll make a law. I'll make a law. You must actually say goodbye before hanging up any phone call.

Greg 00:42:40 To say goodbye.

Ed 00:42:41 That's funny. I'll become my own type of fascist. Oh, God.

Greg 00:42:45 You control yourself. Self control.

Ed 00:42:48 All righty. A final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Patrons get a ton of cool perks and the warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping and are never ending. Quest for cool content. Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online. Where Bangkok Podcast on social media. Bangkok Podcast on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com. We love hearing from our listeners and always reply to our messages.

Greg 00:43:13 That's right, you can listen to each episode on YouTube. Send us a voicemail through our website that will feature on the show.

Greg 00:43:17 Hit me up on blue Sky at BKKGreg. Thanks for listening, everyone. Take it easy out there and we'll see you back here next week.