Crackdown of the week

I have debated writing this entry for  a number of reasons. But it is a reflection of my reality or perceived reality. The subject is crackdowns.

Over the past few months we have been having what I refer to as the "crackdown of the week". Police or some government department with jurisdiction (there is no apparent cross-jurisdiction), swarm into an area and cracks down on an activity.
During the recent elections one of the local newspapers reported that there was an election underway and we could expect a tough on crime focused increase in crackdowns.

A while ago it was copyright infractions of the knock-off designer label products, clothing, purses and wallets, DVDs and Cd's. Most tourists cannot resist the urge to go home with a few bags, that upon first glance, look like they say a specific designer product, and only later find out that the name was altered in some way to not be an exact copy. By far my favourite are Acase, which at first glance look alot like Vercase; Dolce and Gabdana, that looks like Dolce and Gabana, and Deisel, which looks like Diesel.
But there are also some exact copies. The prices of course are very cheap, compared to the real product, but probably more than a good original design by a non-designer label house. But the raids came and 11 businesses got shut down. A week later they were back in business.  About a month prior, a similar raid occurred and the merchants lodged a protest in front of the local police station, to complain that they had been paying the police for protection to not be raided, and wanted to know why they were raided. The answer was simple. The enforcement people from Bangkok did the raid, not the local police. In the latest episode it was disclosed that the raids were ordered from Bangkok because of complaints from the United States that Thailand was not doing enough to stop this knock-off trade. Interesting for me as I watched hundreds of US sailors buying up knock-off stuff by the bags full. The protests were that the local merchants claimed to have paid the police so they would not be raided.

The crackdown on motorbike helmets is a fluid thing. I have noticed that as the low season approached, the crackdowns diminished in intensity as well. I often hear expats complain that the Thai Police target only the non-Thai people, and while I do find it amusing to see traffic police out on the traffic circles directing traffic and waving non-helmet wearing people through. I have also come to understand that they are directing traffic and not enforcing the helmet law. That is for another person and time.  I have also taken to noting the number of motorbikes and vehicles that drive around without an insurance decal or licence plates. Part of this scares me, as there is no way to track down a driver if you don't have a plate number. Different mandate.  I also get a chuckle out of watching the routine of the riders with helmets in the bike carrier, who seem to have some code or signal, that alerts them of the crackdown, as about 100 meters before a check-point, they will slide the helmet on, and 100 meters after the checkpoint they take it off and put it back in the carrier. I have also heard complaints that the target is the non-Thai's. But I have been through two recent crackdowns and can say that there were just as many Thai people getting tickets as non-Thai's. And I really have no sympathy for people who do not wear helmets. I would be happy to have health insurers decline coverage if you had an accident and were not wearing a helmet. I have also noticed that the media is more and more reporting, in the case of deaths, if the driver did or did not have  a helmet on. And I have a particular thing for foreigners who do not wear helmets. They would never even think of not doing it back home, but here the flip flops and bikini apparently clash with a helmet. Last week I was on my way to Patong, and noticed that the usual heavy traffic from Patong was unusually light. I came across the roadblock and produced my licence and had a friendly smile and thanks from the policeman. About 1 KM away on the hill there were hundreds of motorcycles lined up and parked at the side of the road. Not a helmet in sight, and they were joined by various cars and trucks. I suspect they planned to sit out the roadblock.

Then along came the crackdown on tattoo's. Yes, tattoo's. It seems someone in Bangkok decided that having certain tattoo's done was a violation of the cultural makeup of the country. Initially the crackdown was on all religious icons or symbols. And after some outcries, it came down to Buddhist images, that are tattooed below the waist. This causes some stirs, as some of these images fetch as much as 20,000 baht for the tattoo artists.

idea of cell phone signal blocking to make the cell phones immobile. But it had become bogged down in court challenges and concerns that being unable to control the radius, any people near a prison would loos their cell phone capacity. This does not seem to be a problem here. They have just installed the equipment. If your cell phone does not work, you had best move to a location that it does work. I am sure this will be effective in dealing with that aspect of the prison drug trade. Then there are the crackdown of drug use in the entertainment district. The pole dancing girls get hustled to the back, give a pee test and then if they are clean, they go back to pole dancing. Recently there was also a crackdown on the lady-boys. Again it is drug targeted. I am amazed at the number of people who come her for vacation and decide they want to do recreational drugs. There is no tolerance for this here, and while you may be able to find a supply, the risk you take for being ripped off or worse getting caught, is huge. At a minimum you want to hope you enjoyed whatever visit you had before the police caught you in possession, because you will be barred from Thailand for life. It is also not uncommon for sellers to sell and then tell the police about who purchased. And I have noticed that many a drug dealer when caught has no problem identifying any other related players from the distributor to the purchaser. Hotels have signed up for what is referred to as a white program, where the staff undergo urine testing and drug use is cause for termination of employment.

Now we have a crackdown on Salengs. The home made motorbike sidecar. The one we own, and named Thunderbird 3. You can get a saleng built in short order, as outlined in one of my previous blogs. But they are allowed for the transport of goods, and not people. I often see the family of 6 come from the fisherman's village to the market and the saleng is the equivalent of the family sedan or mini-van. Recent comments from non-Thai's are always about how they should be removed from the roads because of the danger they pose. And even more recently some comment about how embarrassed they are to see non-Thai people driving them around. They have even said that if you are a non-Thai and drive one, you should move back to your home country as you are obviously too poor to be able to buy a car. Now, I do see some of their point, especially the couple I see often hurling down the roadways, with an over sized lazy-boy in the saleng, and the passenger seated like a member of the British royal family. No helmet or restraint. I also wonder if they have ever thought of what it must be like to be propelled at 60-80 KMH in a jettison style from their perch, if there is a sudden crash, tire blow-out or collision. I do agree that the saleng does pose some elevated risk factor. A blow-out would be difficult to control, and there are many who operate at night, without a headlamp on the cart side, or a marker light on the back, so a driver approaching what they think is a single motorbike, suddenly find themselves bearing down on this vehicle that is about 2.5X wider than a motorbike. They are also seen trying to navigate the hills between Rawai, Kata. Karon, Phuket town and Patong. Many times piled several meters higher than the driver, and not able to make the hill grade or travelling at 5KMH, usually on a blind corner. But like everything here, most Thai people driving these machines have many years of experience, and I often get to see some pretty amazing road maneuvers on them, including going uphill tilted on two wheels, the cart virtually popping a sideways wheelie. And I have seen one capsize on a corner, as maneuvering them on a corner is very different than a bike or a car, and it corners differently to the left as it does to the right. Stopping at any speed above 20KMH also takes some skill, as the vehicle tends to have a natural pulling to the left or right (depending on which way you are turning. To go right takes some arm strength, to turn left, you can turn a complete 360 degree circle with just your baby finger on the handlebars. A great move for dislodging your back seat rider if they happen to be annoying you. And any movement in the cart itself, has an immediate affect on acceleration and will pull the bike in a different direction than straight ahead. I know, from having 4 bassets who decide to shift viewing locations while I am driving. And as much as tire inflation is important in a motorbike or a car, it is even more sensitive in the saleng.

My other favourite crackdown is now underway with the time share touts. Next to jet skies, the time share people are the most despised and the ones that tend to hook unsuspecting tourists almost daily. Despite the huge billboard at the airport when you arrive, safety tips by the tourist police volunteer website and their tips for tourists articles in the Phuket News, and the Aussie bar in Patong running a video warning about the time share problems. The most important one of course is that there is no "cooling off" provision. Once you sign the documents, you have bought into the program. In many parts of the world there is a 24-48 hour cooling off period that allows you to take time to go back home and decide that you do not want to do this. Not so here. Tourists on vacation are easy prey, although again I wonder why they would decide to buy a time share here when they have better law protection back home, and redress. Some have apparently signed on her, only to be denied cancellation and found out when they got back home that large sums of money has already been paid out of their bank accounts or to their credit card (remember you did sign a legal document). Now there ARE legitimate time share properties and companies. I just think you need to do your research. If you are approached by English speaking people inviting you to a presentation, and get a scratch card to say of you won a prize (and all the cards are prize winners), beware. If it seems to good to be true, it is.

And now we are having a crack down on tour guides. More specifically foreign tour guides. It seems that to operate a guide company here you must employ Thai nationals. Some companies are apparently hiring the Thai staff and they are instructed to simply sit on the bus or van and not to engage or talk to the tourists. A common term to refer to these are "sitting guides" and they are paid between 5,000-10,000 Baht per month. With a university degree in tourism they may get lucky and get 15,000Baht. . The company is probably managed by a foreigner. Lately the press identify the people from Korea and Russia as the main culprits, who have guides who conduct the tours in the native language of the tourist. The licenced Thai guide sits on the bus, so if they are checked, they do have a licenced guide there. I tend to think it is a great opportunity to enhance the Thai guide skills and encourage the learning of a different language, but this does not seem to be the case. They also get to go for side trips to companies, stores etc., owned by nationals of their specific nationality. This crack down then leads to the next crackdown, this time on illegal immigrants... okay I am tired now, suffice to say there is always something to crackdown on. The best part is that you know what it will be, and get the opportunity to fix you behaviour or activity in advance. In many ways I think it is a good thing. In many ways not different to what I experienced in Canada, except they tended to announce the crackdown as it happened.