Hillary Clinton responds with her own speech and expresses intent to continue to offer support for Thailand’s recovery and rebuilding via military and civilian assistant, noting the good relationship the two countries have shared over the previous century. Clinton outlines the ways in which the US has assisted Thailand’s relief efforts and how it plans to continue to support and assist one of its closest Asian allies. Hillary talks specificaly how the US has helped Thailand through this crisis. She goes on to reveil that the US intends to help Thailand reopen Don Muang airport, police stations and anient monuments as to revive tourism, trade, security and commerce. Hilary reminds the press that Thailand and US have been tied in relations for more than 170 years and expresses gratefulness for the continued alliance and that she looks forward to the East Asian summit in Indonesia. The summit will bring together leaders of East Asia, Southeast Asia, Russia, Australia and Oceania.

Also part of the clips are questions and answer session from the press, including questions from AFP and Bangkok Post. The two leaders respond to the questions about political reconciliation — referring to the potential and contreversial amnesty of ousted premier, Thaksin Shinwawatra, Yingluck’s older brother, and also touch on humanitarian and disaster response issues

In a report released earlier this week by the State-run news agency, MCOT, General Yuthasak Sasiprap, Thailand’s Defense Minister denied allegations that Thailand had declined an offer by the United States for flood aid.

The General was referring to allegations in a Bangkok Post report that the US had been receiving “mixed messages” from Thailand about the former’s offer for aid, sparking suspicions and speculation that the US ships may have pulled out of Thailand due to the lack of cooperation by Thai authorities.

A three aircraft carrier group led by the USS George Washington had left Singapore and head towards Thailand on October 16 as to be in position to aid Thai authorities, pending any official request for need. A fourth ship, USS Kidd which was reported to have been partaking in a training exercise in Cambodia, was also dispatched to joined the small fleet near Bangkok.

The ships were briefly on stand by, however, no official request for a serious need of evacuation was made by Thailand. The ships left by October 21 and the George Washington was reported to have continued to Japan to partake in a scheduled joint exercise up there.

Meanwhile, a US Destroyer, the USS Mustin, docked at Laem Chabang port in Sri Racha, Chonburi – just to the south east of Bangkok, along the Eastern Seaboard. Reported to be on a routine visit, the USS Mustin had initially planned a week-long stay to offer light assistance in the form of community relations and humanitarian aid inclusive of donating clothes and money to the Thai Red Cross.

According to other reports, the Thai government has since requested the USS Mustin to extend its stay for up to a month or more. Other than basic aid, the USS Mustin’s two seahawk helicopters will assist Thailand by conducting areal reconnaissance surveying of the affected areas.

The 2011 floods are being called Thailand’s worst floods this century, due to the prolonged effect. Major floods similar in magnitude struck the country in 2010, 1995, 1983, 1963 and 1942. As this year’s floods enter into the fourth month, so far paralyzing the country’s industrial, automobile and electronic manufacturing based economy, while killing about 400 who’ve perished by drowning and/or electrocution, the crisis is expected to last at least another month.

Upon learning that a sequel to the Hollywood blockbuster, the Hangover was being filmed in my then-residence Bangkok, curiosities arose. When you’ve lived in Thailand’s capital for the better part of a decade, you pretty much see it all and it doesn’t take long before one becomes jaded amid the cosmopolitan wonder of a city which [international] name’s pronunciation resembles a ludicrous action. What follows is a part-film review, part-social-cultural perspective and critique, and represents the sincere opinions of the author. 

And so curiosity about the plot for Hangover Part II didn’t extend much past that initial craze late last year, when seemingly everyone knew a friend of a friend who was involved in the film’s filming production. Even if they were all sworn and contracted to absolute secrecy, and no matter how many millions of dollars the script writers could have been paid, how complex could one expect the plot of a comical, Bangkok-centered film – which title and theme were based on the after-effects of intoxicated, black-out oblivion – to be?

During the period when word had gotten around town that the Hollywood film crew and cast were in town, I recall anticipating with a friend the elements which its plot was sure to include. Our prediction list included Thai girl imposters, ladyboys, go-go bar girls, tuk tuks, drug mafia with guns, long-tail boats, uncooperative and/or crooked cops, elephants, monkeys and monks alike—all such stereotypical images which Thailand and its capital are all-to-often are associated with.

Fast forward, late May/early June 2011, the film has finally hit the theatres in both the US and Thailand, and elsewhere in the world. Time to finally see what all the hype was/is about! Without spoiling or revealing too much of the plot, I’ll express my personal views and feedback on certain aspects of the film which I feel the record needs to be set straight. For those who want to read specific chronologies and details of the plot, see this link: Hang Over Part II on wikipedia

Not claiming to posess any special psychic abilities, our predictions left us with little surprises.

Thai girl imposters and Ladyboys? Yes. Go Go bar girls? Yes. Tuk Tuks? Yes. Drug Mafia with guns? Yes. Long-tail boats? Yes. Crooked or uncooperative cops? Yes. Elephant, Monkey and Monks? Unfortunately, yes.

First, I must express my disappointment with the filmmakers’ misrepresentation of the last three elements, particularly. The one elephant and monkey which are depicted in the film are simply inaccurate depictions of reality.

Starting with the one shot of an elephant walking through a busy, crowded Bangkok street: In 2011, elephants do not walk around the busy streets of Bangkok in broad day light—not typically, not legally, and after years of strict enforcement of a long standing ban, not anymore. In Thailand, you are bound to see an elephant being led around by their supposed owner who sells bananas and peanuts to tourists to make supposed merit by feeding the massive mammal—but not likely on the streets of Bangkok. If you want to learn more about the actual reality, see the following links:

Don’t Feed the Elephants

New York Times Article One

New York Times Article Two

There are monkeys in Thailand, yes. But again, no stray monkeys in Bangkok, and certainly not the vampire toothed capuchin specie of monkey depicted in the film. Such monkey is indigenous to South and Central America. The monkeys commonly found in Thailand are macaque species which aside from the Zoo, are not living astray in inner city Bangkok. If you want to see such monkeys not in captivity—coexisting in close proximity to humans, you have to go to cities like Phetchaburi and Lopburi, hours from Bangkok.

As for perhaps the most culturally-sensitive misrepresentation, one must set the record straight for the world. I’m guessing that the version I happened to see will not survive in its entirety for audiences in Thailand once the Thai censorship board is through with their edit. Particularly, one monk was depicted using (excessive) violence, the other in a scene being the target of a comical yet sexually demeaning action, while in another shot, such monk was participating in a party. Despite what you might have learned from Shaolin martial arts footage, or yet other misleading media, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual activity (even if only a joke) and Social mingling are of the forbidden precepts which the Gautama Buddha instructed his clergy to adhere while on the path towards enlightenment.

And still there are other disappointments I would like to express about the film.

Yet again, Hollywood has made a film based in Thailand with a lead/supporting Thai character role played by a non-Thai actor /actress. Last major film, Bangkok Dangerous starring Nicholas Cage featured a supporting Thai female character who to cover up her inability to speak Thai, was a mute. The supporting Thai male character, though played by a real Thai actor, was a scam artist, however.

This time, a Korean American actress plays an overseas-educated, upscale Thai girl who only has a few lines, all in English. As if there is no supply of beautiful Thai actresses linguistically, kinesthetically and aesthetically capable of playing the role of a Thai girl. The bride’s Thai father, though shown mostly in a pretentious light, was played by a Thai actor who did speak Thai, which I am happy to see the point was not completely neglected.

I remember being a young boy growing up in USA, ever curious about my Thai heritage. Having never been to my mother’s home country, I had embraced Kickboxer starring Jean Claude Van Damme which set up my initial impressions of what Thailand might look and be like. Complementing the childhood stories told by my mother and coupled with the narratives in Southeast Asian encyclopedia picture books, the film, regardless of whether it was fictitious, played a significant role in shaping my impression, albeit warped from reality. Later in life when I moved to Thailand and learned the language and culture first hand, I would become disappointed to learn that the Thai characters in that film were not even Thai and clearly had learned their two or three brief lines of Thai on the set.

Are Hollywood casting directors and film producers afraid an actual Thai person playing a lead role might actually portray Thailand accurately? I don’t pretend to have the answers nor desire to understand any biased justifications. Working with such a budget, I think they could have paid closer attention to such details.

I could go all day criticizing the mismanagement of the 80 million dollar budget of the Hangover’s sequel which is borderline offensive to Thailand and Thais who actually care about their image being unjustly and inaccurately disseminated to the world. It’s a a common stereotype in the west that Thailand and Bangkok are a wild, unruly jungle full of thieves, scams, hookers, forbidden lust, drugs and greed. With Hollywood consistently reinforcing this inaccurate image disguised as mass reality, it’s no mystery where much of the world’s false impressions are sprouting from. While I don’t claim that Thailand is a utopia without problems, I can’t think of many other places I love to call home, and not for the reasons and elements commonly portrayed in the mass media, certainly not part of the mass culture. As a Hollywood blockbuster with worldwide distribution, I believe it is the duty and obligation of directors and producers to portray cultural sensitive depictions as accurate as possible.

In all fairness, as a comedy film, some parts of the movie did tickle me—as did the first one. While I clearly don’t think either deserve the praise that some of my colleagues have given, I’m glad I watched, having been me with the motivation to rant for more than 1200 words. Watch it yourself and make your own conclusions.

If not merely thrown off by the alien and difficult-if-not-impossible-to-define status-quo defining the ever-evolving American lifestyle, perhaps even greater threat to a harmonious re-assimilation was/is the dire condition experienced by thousands if not millions of inter-country commuters known as ‘Thailand Fever.’ Anyone who has spent a reckonable and joyous period abroad in a country like Thailand, and suddenly returned home back in the west can attest to the difficulty and distractions of readapting to what becomes a blurring definition of ‘Normal Life,’ after having pampered themselves with the less-demanding and minimal-anxiety-culturing, ‘Sabai Sabai’ and/or ‘Sanook Sanan’ ways of life; throwing oneself back into the high demand, fast pace of a Politically Correct society can prove to be disastrous if one is not careful.

Perhaps the burning cognitive inquisition among curious minds is regarding ‘Life back on the home front?’ Following are a few observations for contemplation and consideration.

Weather: Coming straight from the tropical and sub-tropical biomes of Southeast Asia back into the heart of high-altitude winter of the Rocky Mountain region has been a trip. The chill of winter wind is a blunt reminder of the dominate, defining dynamic of our hominid and homo gene pool, separating the human company from other mammals and animals limited by narrow habitat requirements—the ability to emigrate from one environment extreme into the next is something that all should embrace if they expect to survive the emanate catastrophic circumstances which await.

Environmental Economics: Resentful to the plastic and foam siege of modern Thai consumerism—to the dismay of the predecessor status quo of indigenous Siamese, environmentally-friendly methods of food packing and transfer including banana leaf wraps (bai toei), bamboo shoot rice tubes and stainless steel lunch pails (pinto)—it was disappointing to come back to America to see that the initially instilled concepts of ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ are hardly adhered to; coming into the second decade of the 21st century, Americans are quite keen on utilizing disposable one-time use cups, plates, and (foam) mobile food boxes on a daily, mass practice, just as Thais have come so accustomed—all for the sake of laziness, convenience and selfishness. It’s an unacceptable norm in both countries deserving rapid reform!

While arguably an initiative for some consumers to start developing a sense for reusing, revenue seeking fractions of such two-fold environmentally capitalizing legislation is only starting to tap the tip of this iceberg’s much larger problem. Even more worrisome and urgent than retail packaging waste is an over-neglected burden of food packaging.

Walk into a 7-11, Family Mart, 108 Shop, or any other mini mart or supermarket in any part of the country, and the only way you won’t walk out without at least one bag, no matter how small your purchase was, e.g. a pack of gum, bag of chips-crisps, etc., is if you outright declare to the clerk, “No bag, please! Mai Tawng Sai Tung krup (ka)! ไม่ต้องใส่ถุงครับ (ค่ะ)”

Problem-Solution partially addressed: All globally conscious citizens must cut back on if not eliminate altogether the unnecessary consumption of products and places which require unnecessary single use of plastic bags, straws, condiments, Styrofoam and other non-recyclable wrappings. This could either mean reduce if not stop buying certain unnecessary products, or carrying purchased items in your own pocket or reusable bag-container. The golden R rule: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

In Thailand–a country which streets’ produce tons of mouthwatering, richly spiced and flavored take-home-friendly dishes–tons of single use plastic bags and styrofoam trays and containers are distributed to the masses who leave the burden of wet left-overs of non (contaminating) degradables: Rice, Soups, Curries, Salads, Stir-fried, Sauces, and meats galore all too often wrapped and packed in styrofoam containers and/or double and triple bagged for single consumption by negligent, unconscious and irresponsible citizens on an hourly and daily basis, 365.25 days a year.

The result is unarguably the unjust hampering of environment quality of present and future generations as contaminating land fills expand beyond an acceptable level of any sanitized civility.

In proactive response to the Plastic and Styrofoam Packaging Promotion Problem that many under-civilized parts of the globe are infected with, it finally became time for the original Siamerican, Jao Moragoat to take his own initiative and buy a portable food storing case in aim to reduce personal consumption waste production of one-time-use non-recyclable food wrappings.

Basically a fresh food lunch-box, costing a mere 100 Baht a Tesco Lotus, (about three $USD) not exactly as mesmerizing as the Ghostbusters Lunchbox he had back in elementary school, however rightfully will serve it’s purpose nonetheless.
Interesting enough in Thailand, the traditional way of keeping and containing mobile food is in banana leave wraps and stainless steel containers called Pin-To, mostly only used now by hardcore traditionalists and monks alike. The mass of modern society has become lazy with the advent of mass production-consumption, and its time we use technology to reverse the adverse effects of development and modernization.

In conclusion, the simple reality is we need to stop this lazy chaos of contaminating convenience which has taken over every day life of society! It’s a big problem and action must start immediately from the decree of top of government down to instilled and conscious habits of ordinary individual citizens like you and me. Take this entry as an inspiration, influence and model of yet another simple solution to one of many of this world’s problems.