San Francisco, California

Well, I am back home having arrived Wednesday morning after a long two days of flights and layovers. First there was the one hour flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok followed by a nearly eight hour layover in Bangkok which was then followed by a seven hour flight up to Tokyo (Narita) which was followed by an eight hour layover there which was followed by an eight hour flight back to SF. Whew! Are you following all of this? We were fortunate in that we had some very strong tailwinds which pushed our ground speed up to 699 mph at times and got us into SFO about a half hour early despite having left Tokyo and half hour late.

Trying to stay awake at Narita was an effort which was only partially successful. That is, each time I started to doze off and fall of one of the seats in the lounge, I got up and walked around for awhile. Time out for an early lunch plus some strong coffee in the afternoon also helped a bit. But guess what! Once on the plan bound for SFO I could not get to sleep.

Since returning home I am rested but have developed a sore throat and a first class headache. Last night I was running a very slight fever but that is gone this morning. I wish th headache would go away too.

The journey to Bangkok and Chiang Mai was enjoyable once again. It was a pleasure to meet up with Rick in BKK once again and to meet new friends. One of them, Pin, was a correspondent prior to travelling there. Note was another person I met and that was a chance meeting one night at The Balcony Restaurant and Bar. Then in Chiang Mai it was nice to see Jack once again and to meet Vor and Note at the Chez Nous Bar. Also, in Chiang Mai, my guide Ray was very helpful with many matters. There are a lot of ex-pats in Thailand and I spotted Stuart, the former owner of N' Touch (SF) at the Chez Nous Bar one night and saw Rich (formerly of OG Magazine) during the Sunday event known as "walking street" in Chiang Mai.

One unexpected event occurred and that was when I went to the Freeman Dance Arena, one of the two most popular dance venues in Bangkok, and it was raided by the police. There is apparently a problem in the country with drugs and this is one method the authorities believe will decrease usage but I doubt that they catch many people with or using drugs in these places. The bigger problem seems to be with the PM Thaksin's "new social order" which somehow wants to transform the country into something it is not. Tourism is and has been very important there for a number of years and to curtail nightlife is the wrong way to go. As it has already been suggested by people there, enforce the laws already on the books, don't make it impossible for people who are obeying the law to enjoy a night out. Why is, anyway, that so many government entities, no matter where they are located, just want to throw more laws at a problem instead of enforcing laws already on the books?

Now there is a proposal to close all bars and nightclubs at midnight. Well, that will do no good. It has been pointed out in the Bangkok Post that this will only result in "private parties" where people might be as likely or more likely to get drunk and/or use drugs. In the U.S. in the early 20th Century, prohibition did not work and it only resulted in what were known as "speakeasies", or clandestine night clubs out of view from the authorities.

If they want to prevent underage people from entering places where alcohol is served, they need only enforce current laws or close down the place if they don't comply. Actually, the authorities in Thailand have set themselves up on this problem by having two different age minimums. There is a slightly lower age minimun for people working in the clubs then there is for being a customer. Thus the "kids" who work there cannot hang around (legally anyway) after they are off duty to enjoy the place as a customer. Why can't they just "card" the youngest looking ones? If there is a problem with fake IDs then hit the person with the fake ID with a harsh penalty. Don't make the nightclub owners or the honest patrons pay for the crimes of others. The uniform closing time law will be critical to the nightlife of Bangkok and other cities so events during the coming year could prove to be crucial to this portion of the tourist industry.

Where will I go on my next vacation? Good question! I am so tired from these long flights to and from Thailand that I do not want to consider anymore long flights just now.

So that is the state of things for now.