Getting the Job Done

Workmen on bamboo scaffolding on Big Buddha

Of all of my observations, the most prominent recollections is how geared this place is for getting the job done. By some North American standards, the safety features employed here would startle some occupational health and safety committee's at my previous work sites, and maybe even yours.  Living in Thailand you quickly realize that there is a huge population base to draw from and, given it's geographical location, we are lucky to be able to get materials and goods from around the world. Most of it is available made in Thailand as well, and there is the constant flow of mass produced goods from China. I recently went to the pottery market and bought some plates and bowls. We had company coming and no crockery to feed them from. The crockery market is about 1/2 a city block long and sells every type of crockery, pottery and dish-wares you can imagine. It was not until I got home, and washed them, that I noticed the IKEA marking on the bottom. It dawned on me that these are actually made in Thailand for sale through IKEA. I was buying direct from the factory. A television documentary last week on the Asian Food Channel was about 8 young British students who come to Thailand and work for 2 weeks in the industries that mass produce the food they eat in the UK. Thailand is one and in many cases the largest supplier of chicken, tuna and rice in the world. I recall seeing frozen seafood and canned tuna in the grocery store, and they all came from Thailand. In the documentary the students went from picking rice by hand in the north, through a fish cleaning house to the monstrous chicken processing plants near Bangkok and ended in Bangkok with the bar girls who play for money.The bottom line for the documentary showed how people in other parts of the world have little understanding of how they contribute to the abject poverty in countries like Thailand.
By and far, the use of physical labour is the preferred method of any work you need done. Given the economic situation of many people, the ability to make some money makes for some very interesting entrepreneurial approaches. The bottom line is that if there is a job to be done, there is someone who will do it and if they do not have it or the tools, they will manufacture them. Whatever needs to be done to put food on the table, feed and educate the kids.  As usual the system works, and you can always find someone who will make or fix something. I do find myself looking at the work people do and am amazed at the ingenuity. People here work long hours, typically 6 days a week at a main job. The vet, doctor, dentist and pharmacy are all open until around 9PM every day. 

A few weeks ago it was a beautiful sunny day. Then the sky had grew very dark and the wind gusts began. The slight patter of rain drops, followed by a deluge of pouring warm rain, descended very very quickly.The rain then began to really pour down and the winds began to snap off palm fronds and very large potted trees and plant holders had been tipped over buy the storm and were now rolling around the streets.  We rushed to pull the duvets we had hung outside to air for the day, streaming water downstairs to the laundry space. The top balcony had a plugged drain and the water had built up to about 2 inches, the orchid stand with about 14 potted orchids had collapsed on one end, dumping a few of the potted plants to the ground, in the process smashing Clive's birthday present of a very large potted white orchid, and the upstairs balcony post lamp had been loosened and was flopping about. In the back yard we found a number terracotta style roofing tiles laying in the backyard, having obviously loosened and fallen in the storm.  We do not have candles in the house, primarily due to the heat, as they tend to melt or go soft and wilt. Resorting to my old Kosovo days, I used the inverted Mag Lite flashlight technique and proceeded to do a fry-up by flashlight in my wok on the gas stove. I seemed to be doing pretty good, although I would later discover that what looks golden in flashlight is often amber in the real light. suddenly the lights suddenly came on . We did a damage assessment and let the landlord know of the work to be done. After much waiting, we finally had a visit from the handyman who comes to fix things, sort of. He arrived with 2 men, with a collection of items, including a new terracotta style roof cap, some rope, about 20 meters of household electrical wiring, a black bucket with cement mortar and a collection of various sized pieces of plastic coated wire. I ushered the dogs to the spare bedroom and took time doing an edit on one of the previous kites from Phuket. I had a clear view of the ladder that goes up about 30 meters to a concrete platform that holds a large steel tank, which is the water reservoir for the house. All of them were in flip-flops, one ascended the ladder with the roof cap slung over his shoulder, followed immediately by the bucket of mortar and then the number three man had the rope and wire. As much as I tried to resist it, for fear I would witness someone crash to their death, eventually my curiosity go the better of me and I need to see what was happening. Undetected to me on the men climbing, as a steel rod, which was being poked under the remaining roof tiles. I presume to see if any were loose. It dawned on me that this process had the potential to confirm the looseness and send said tile careening down to the ground where I was standing. I took to better viewing space and watched as the next step can best be described as literally a high wire act. While crouched in his flip flops, one man flung the piece of household wiring over the short roof, This was then secured on the safety rails on both sides. The wire was determinedly twisted and tested for tension. The rope was then slipped behind the wire and man number two swung out over the balcony to grasp the bottom of the tiles and with an arm under the securing wire, help on as he was passed the bucket and the tile cap by man number 3 who stood out on the balcony rail to pass up the goods. As each item was finished with, it was simply dropped the 30 meters to the ground. Each man descended empty handed and one flopped onto the ground in exhaustion. I decided that some of the other things that needed fixing, I would do myself.

We have been getting the dogs dry food at a small corner pet food shop. Since we arrived, we have seen a young man of about 27, who kept telling us that he was converting the store into a vet clinic and he would be finished his vet certification in August. Over the past month we have watched as the transformation has gotten underway. From a desk inside they moved the desk and calculator outside to the sidewalk. This was the cashier station. Half of the store was separated with a large sheets of tarping, and shopping usually meant blowing off the dust from the cement work of the packaging. It seemed that in less than a week, the work shifted place to the other side of the tarps and the retail portion was now in the 1/2 finished vets offices, complete with new floor tiles and examination rooms. I went in as they had gotten some good progress on the second half, and Clive waited outside for me. Initially we thought given the activity in the front of the building, they could not be possible open, but I saw the shop keeper who waved me through a maze of construction work. I came back to find Clive staring at the work site and asking if they had ANY work safety rules here. The scene before us was of about 12 workers, with their flip-flops and knock-off sunglasses using an electric arc welder. I had in fact stepped over a few cables, including the arc welders, which had been joined at various places by twisting the exposed wires together and then securing the repair with lots of black electrical tape. Next to the welders were the guys using skill saws to chip out floor tiles to fit, pieces of chipped tile flying through the air and the sound of someone on a jackhammer working in what would soon become the reception area. None of my transaction had taken place by anything more than hand gestures and the exchanging of money. Talking would have been useless anyway as the noise levels were off the scale anyway. Into the mix, came the customers like me, wandering through, getting our items a and leaving. One week later back to the shop, and it is now a full functional vet clinic. They have state of the art ultra sound, X-ray and other testing equipment, all still in the plastic wrappings. I have now figured out with Clives help that there are two lady-boys working as receptionist. The last time I went I commented about how the receptionist looked like she may be a bit hung-over and Clive explained that it was a different lady-boy. So here you have a butch construction site, where potential safety hazards are all over, and a pair of lady-boy's to serve you. Get your head around that one. They have also incorporated a grooming room into the vets.

The main road that goes to Palai beach and the Phuket Zoo has been under resurfacing for a few months now. About 5 kilometers of roadway. It began with tearing our all of the existing asphalt and dropping the road bed about 1/2 meter. They closing off one lane as the reconstruction began The new roadway is poured concrete and this is accomplished by a cement mixer truck dumping a load and then an army of workers descend on the concrete with bamboo poles that is used to smooth the surface. They do about 2 sections a day. The prep work however is more intense. The leveling of the roadbed is done by the women who push shovels and use stiff brooms to level the surface. Next comes the men who stand a piece of lumber on it's side and then with 5 pound hammers, pound the re-bar into the ground on either side of the lumber. making for one "slab" which is then poured. leveled and than wet burlap bags are placed on top. While this is happening, traffic, without any traffic control people in bright vests, with flashing lights and steel toed boots and portable radio's, moved along in both directions on the roadway that is yet to be poured. One exception seemed to be the tour buses headed to the zoo, which instead tried to maneuver through the soi's and moo's of our neighbourhood. One bus takes pretty much the width of the roadway. As the concrete slabs cure, along comes wheelbarrows of a gravel and tar mixture that is dumped all along the roadway and is shoveled and pushed into place by the women workers. Where the roadway intersects with other roads, to accommodate the gaps until the gravel fill is done, is handled by piling up rocks or scrap lumber to make some type of a ramp structure. I managed to get Thunderbird 3 stuck half-way crossing one such connection. Luckily, not being alone, as others seemed to get high centered as well, I had other motorbike riders happy to give me a push as the four bassets sat and quietly waited to get moving again. The look on their faces could almost have read "I'm So embarrassed". A few days after the during has happened, a row of women sitting in the middle of the road with a cold chisel and hammers are pounding out the center lane grooves for the water to track and run-off. By now the people have resorted to using both the freshly poured cement based road and the lower dirt road bed to create some two way traffic. Now that it has cured the roadway had a gentle almost wave like undulation to it. The joining of the  connecting roads continues to be filled with the tar and gravel mix and is packing like an elevated ramp.

We have internet through a broadband supplier. In order to get the cable to the house a man arrives with a bamboo ladder and a coil of wire, which he then proceeds to hand-feed through the holes that exist on the utility poles, which are precast reinforced concrete, with a multitude of holes, specifically for pulling wires through. When riding your motorbike, it is always wise to glance to the utility wires hanging, as some tend to come loose and droop, sometimes at head level. There does not seem to be any urgency to raise these wires. For connecting of wiring, I notice that there is no power interruption, as wiring and splicing is done on live wires, if there are electrical connector twists, they seem to be in short supply and the common approach is to simply strip the two ends, twist them together and then plaster the electrical tape to the connection. This is true for the electrical appliances in the shops, to the electrical wires coming from a utility pole to a house.. The grounding connectors are at shoulder height, for easy access if there is a need to service the pole.I noticed on Chaofa road today as we went out that the pole looked a little crooked. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the pole had been cracked, probably from a vehicular crash, and the re-bar was exposed. The collection of wires on the top of the pole, has to be in excess of 100 different wires and it seems this is what is holding the pole from toppling. A while ago, a car accident into a power utility pole was a sight to see, as one pole fell and in a domino effect took 12 others with it. High voltage wires were snapped and lines danced on the ground as people gathered to have a look. I can only assume that those flip-flops provided the necessary grounding to prevent electrocution. I mentioned to Clive that the local shopping market where I tend to go frequently, during a recent storm had the power line snapped and laying across the entrance way. This remained so for about a week. I just made sure I kept my feet planted firmly on the motorbike and hoped the tires gave me the safety I need to pass over top and get into and out of the parking area.

Some of the neighbours on the moo have been harvesting the wide fruits and herbal leaves from the trees as they have all come into season. A number of devices seem to accomplish this in a rather clever way. Again the prime choice for a tool is the reliable bamboo poles. In some cases a large butcher knife or machete is fastened to the pole with some butcher twine and then the 10 meter pole is lifted to the air where the knife is brought to rest next to the fruit and a quick pull slashed through the stem, dropping the fruit. In some cases, a second pole held by the woman has a piece of cloth or a fishing net, which is slipped under the fruit before the slashing and then the fruit can be lowered to the ground. It is not uncommon to be sitting in the back year and suddenly see a large butcher knife beginning it's rise to the tree next to the fence for some harvesting. In cases where the tree fruit is very high, this procedure is repeated, but after having climbed the tree to a level that allows access to the higher fruit.

It has taken me a while to figure out why I have seen many accidents on the roadway. On a rainy night it is not unusual to hear the ambulances , and I have taken to a mental count of the number of sirens to define the severity of the road conditions. A seven siren night means, that it is best to stay home. A two sirens is a manageable road conditions. I also commented that I found it strange to pass an accident scene, that was in some cases seconds before I would have been there, and then when I return, usually from the market, there is no evidence of an accident. In less than 10 minutes, the scene is clear of people and any traces of an accident. It was only after last weekend when the prime Minister and his cabinet and senior bureaucrats were here for a meeting, that I remarked how I had not seen a police sedan car. Yes, the large mobile prison on wheels, the motorcycle police and police in pick-up trucks, but no sedans. The PM's motorcade, we were stuck at a traffic light while they shut down the intersection, had sedans and SUV's. Dul told me that this must be an important person. Later that day, I came across an accident scene, and saw that at a motorbike accident, the police have the bystanders load the crashed bikes into the pickup, a few jump on, I presume to held off-load and then they sweep the roadway and are out of there in such short order. For some reason, I have seen this scene repeated a number of times. In many ways it makes so much sense. The police are going there anyway, probably because there is a high probability that there are injuries. They can get the bikes off the road and clean so traffic is moving, instead of waiting for the tow truck. There is not any need for a sedan to transport prisoners, as they handcuff them and put them in the back of the truck, sometimes with a police officer, usually not. Up to you, to decide if you want to run away and jump out of the truck in handcuffs and try to outrun the cop with a gun. Recently there was media coverage about a man from Switzerland in a gun shop on a drug fueled rampage. To facilitate the resolution of the incident, the police canvassed the crowd to see who could speak English or Swiss so they could try and calm the man down in a less threatening way, before the cops went in guns a blazing. It worked. There has been a crackdown on the use of motorcycle helmets, as I have discussed before. The police approach to the issue here is to firstly publicize it by loudspeakers, in the media and by counseling the riders at the unpredictable road-checks that pop up from time to time virtually anywhere. The road-check targets all aspects of the driving laws, a license, to check for drunk drivers, and in the case of us non-Thai to check our visa validity. They are very efficient and quick. In the case of the helmet law, they announced the crackdown and initially gave away 5000 free helmets to those without them and no obvious means to buy one. They then issued tickets and fines. Any person employed for the government or the hospitals who got a ticket also had their employer advised and there was a suspension ,or on multiple infractions, dismissal. The way I see that is that if you work for the government then you need to obey the laws and policy of the government as an example. If you work in hospitals then you see the carnage of motorbike accidents without helmets, so you should know better, not to mention the time away from work and the costs to the hospital staff insurance underwriters. Recently a Thai person recounted an incident with the police regarding drunk driving. I'll not go into the details of his personal story, but I was interested when he talked about the tents and picnic tables I sometimes se at the police roadblocks. These areas are apparently manned by the police and if they suspect you of driving while impaired and your breathalyzer says you're borderline to drive, they sit you down and provide black coffee until it says you are not impaired to drive. You can spend the night there waiting to sober up, but you do avoid jail time and you do get a fine. They wail even accompany you to your ATM in a police car to get the cash to pay the fine, thank you very much. So you are immediately out the money for the fine, and you got to sit under a canopy beside the roadway under very bright lights, so that the other people driving through the road-check can see you sitting there. Up to you again;   decide to stay there and sober up, or cause a scene and go to the cells inside the station, or the portable jail on wheels. You see police everywhere. They tend to scoot around on their own motorbikes and pop into businesses and chat with the owners and any of the customers. I was amazed when one did this to me at the fruit shop I frequent, he was having a laugh and eating an orange. While he had no English, his gestures and whatever noises he could make, assured me that he knew I was the guy who drove a sidecar with 4 howling bassets. It gives you an instant connection with the officer, as you know that he knows who you are and you can interact with him like a person having a laugh. I have since seen him as I ride the roadways and he always gives me a big smile and a wave. I'm quite amazed at watching the local TV news every night there is one crime story and it has the police showing off the proceeds (i.e.: drugs, credit cards, weapons) with the suspects sitting at the table behind the seized goods and flanked by police who are conducting the news conference. I had become so used to seeing a police spokesperson, usually a constable, reading a nondescript statement. Never seeing the suspect  or the hard evidence, being told that to do so would jeopardize the case or reveal investigative techniques etc. I am also amazed at how quickly suspects seem to find themselves in custody and how many plead guilty. The use of video surveillance is not as intensives as I experienced back in Canada, but the police here seem to have no qualm about using it to identify people and broadcasting the footage. A recent murderer had the house surveillance video released to the public to find the killer, within 24 hours and is in custody.

The Mingmongkol Big Buddha of Phuket sits atop a small mountain. From the base to the top of it's head is 45 meters in height. Solid concrete and faced with marble slab about 1' thick and eight square inched in diameter, it is massive. The Buddha has been undergoing an upgrade since we arrived. One day I decided to go do some spontaneous photography, and decided I would go up to the Big Buddha. The road to the site is in places very steep and has some sharp corners to navigate. Luckily I am from BC and used to winding inclining hills. The road surface is patchy at best, some places concrete, then some asphalt and then suddenly the other side of the road is a gravel bed. A good mental note is that this is not a problem for you now, but coming down the mountain, best to be aware there re patches of gravel roadway on a sharp declining hill. There are no signs, flag persons or traffic cones. Oh yes, best to go during the daytime, as there are no road lights. On my first visit tot he site I was struck immediately by the fact that the Buddha's back was a patchwork of bamboo poles, lashed together to the statue and was teeming with men in bare feet or flip-flops, jumping up and down the framework to do their work. No helmets or tethering lines. Materials such as mortar in a bucket, marble tiles, or electric grinders and extension cords looped together, were  passed up by hand from worker to worker. A man wearing sunglasses, shorts and a paper towel tied like a scarf, sitting cross-legged on the ground with the electric grinder howling at top speed, cutting the squares that needed custom cutting. I am happy to see that the work has moved so well, and no obvious blood stains, that the workmen have abandoned the bamboo scaffolding to finish the last 10 meters with rope snugged around their waists suspended over the sides. To get the work done the temple has a large billboard listing the supplies they need to finish the project, including dirt, cement and re-bar. They also sell the marble squares that you can write on the back  to dedicate to someone, for 300 Baht ($10CDN) and donation boxes at the site for cash, every Baht counts and avoids public funding to get it done.

I sometimes hear expats comment about Thai work ethics. Normally inferring that there are non. Yes I have seen the sleeping ,and the makeup checking, and the cell phone chatting here in businesses, but also in many other countries. Try to get a shop attendant in Australia to end their cell call or, in Canada just try to find an assistant. And sometimes there is great frustration with the layers you need to deal with, but  from a strictly utilitarian perspective, they have the right attitude to get the job done. And as sometimes as frustrating as we may feel with the processes, at the end of the day the job gets done.