This is back stage at the beauty pageant during the most recent Songkran festival.   Does it look like these people know me?   It does....  Maybe they have seen me around town but I certainly don't know them.  They only know that I came to take a picture and they responded kindly.  I think this happens because the Thais have a natural instinct to treat you like part of their community.    It's one of the very very best things that I like about this culture and it easy to want to be the same way towards them.

How to by Happy in Thailand

I don't think it's entirely natural to up-root yourself from the only life you have known and completely move to a foreign country where you don't speak the language or normally live by their culture. 

I think this goes against the grain.  I think it is taking on a challenge.  It's going to feel like an awkward endeavor.  I think it can be a stressful proposition.

First of all, many of you are here to begin with because you're not happy somewhere else.  As I have written in columns past, I too was drawn here because I felt unhappy about certain aspects of my life in the US. 

How many of you are just unhappy with everything in general?  How many of you thought you could come here and soak yourself in bountiful sex, booze, and cheap living? 

Perhaps the root cause for your unhappiness has little or nothing at all with where you are?   Perhaps what a number of you are struggling with is just being happy with yourself.  Add to that the unique stresses of being in a foreign country and the problem only becomes worse.

You're going to have to come to grips with what you need to be happy.  You're going to need to take a square look at the real cause of your unhappiness.

Many of you are not leading very structured lives and many of you  probably are uncomfortable about not making new money.  I think I would be uncomfortable about not having fresh income.   I doubt seriously that I'm going enjoy that part of my retirement.  I personally may never stop working because I like to work.  I like the idea of making money.  I enjoy the challenge.  It helps keeps me balanced.

I think we all need the right balance in life between investment and reward.  Between sacrifice and splurging.  Between work and play.

I think you need to keep yourself productive in as many ways as possible.   Being productive is about building value.  And if you're building value, it should make you feel good.

You have to invest in your physical strength and conditioning and feel that reward.  Keep you physical health tuned up.  If you're not feeling physically your best, nothing is going to be right in your life.   Part of this means you need to be prudent about your alcohol intake.  If you drink beer everyday, you're going to be run down.  You can bank on that.    How are you going to be happy when you are running yourself down?  You can not.  How are you going to be on top of your challenges if you are not physically active and in shape and feeling your strength.  You can not be on top of your problems that way.

I think another part of being productive is forging friendship with the locals.  If you see the same kids everyday, take a few minutes to stop and say hello to them.  Give them a smile and let them give one back to you.  Don't discount away how important those few moment are to those young minds.  You're shaping their world in a positive way with the smallest of efforts.  Enjoy that moment and feel that power of that moment.   You're encouraging a child to speak English and that may make a very large difference in that little kid's life.  That child may remember you for many years to come.

Take time everyday to take a bike ride or a motorcycle ride and breath the air.   Look at that sunset and remember what's most important.   Just the fact that you're here is what is important.  Everyday is a fresh day for something wonderful to happen.  Don't ignore that.  

Are you in bad relationship?  Get rid of it.   Betting to be alone and happy than with someone else and discontent?   Are you dependant on that other relationship for your Visa?  Big mistake.  The idea is to have people around you who genuinely like you and enjoy your company.   Personal relationships are not for making business deals.

One of the last elements that may very well be important is that you may need to get out places like Pattaya or Sukhumvit because the people that frequent these places are not being themselves.   Most are on vacation having a rip roaring time and these high tourist areas are full of people misbehaving.   You need to connect with people who will treat you like family.

I primarily live alone.  I primarily sleep alone.  I can not tell you how important my local community is to me.  They are very much feel like family to me and love them for it.  There is not much I would not want to do to help them.  Thailand is one of the better places in the world for bonding to a community.  If you are among the Thais you will see how they reach out and make each other an extended part of their family.  If its not the beggar in the market place, it's the child on the sidewalk or its the group of guys who invite you to share whiskey with them.   I don't how this is with the "rich folk" in Bangkok, but I suspect they feel similarly to each other.

And one of that last things that you should keep close to your heart is don't worry about what other people say about you.  If it's not true and it's negative and its a controlling comment -- laugh about it.  Let it go into one ear then out the other.   You know the truth.  That's all that important.  Don't let other people take over your life.   You make your own decision and don't blame someone else for the decisions you make.   Be honest with yourself.

If can almost guarantee you -- that if you have the basics under control, you're generally going to feel pretty happy.  I think that applies to almost anywhere in the world.

And I strongly believe that Thailand adds a certain cultural dynamic that may make it even a touch better than some other places in the world.

About the money....

Some of you are being forced out because you don't have the money to meet the requirements for the new Visa rules that have been put in place.   I certainly can appreciate your position.   The Thai government forces me to declare a high income so that subjects me to a minimum of income of social security taxes.  I'm required to pay myself 2k a day (60k per month).   How in the hell does anyone in Issan spend 2k a day on themselves?   Hell, I don't know.    I wouldn't be surprised if they started monkeying around with more rules in the future to put a heavier squeeze on me as well.  Would I leave?   Would I relocate?   Sure.   I wouldn't necessarily close down this business but if push came to shove, I might be looking elsewhere for new opportunity.  I would first go to the local governor's office to see if he could pull some strings for me.  It never hurts to ask.  After all, a number of families in the local community are dependant on my success.  I would think that might help my plight.  But, the bottom line is, if Thailand didn't want me, I would start a new adventure in a new land and I would find some happiness in it.

FLB Bar

This week I received (as did quite a few others on the same mailing list) an email and a series of pictures putting down the FLB bar.  They say in the email that FLB has older girls and that this bar should be avoided because of it.   I think I've seen these picture circulating before.  

In defense of their club I have to say that some bars do tend to hire older more experienced girls.  A number of these girls would not be considered in their prime.  However, the older more refined guys sometime really prefer late 20's to mid-30's type girls.  Some girls even being older than 30.  Some guys feel more comfortable with these girls and frequently, this class of girl is much more up for wild play.   Younger girls (though they have more perfect bodies) are sometimes prone to a little bit of "drama".  So, sometimes the older, second string type girls will really fit the bill for the older, more wild and woolly client.  The pictures that were sent out did include some nudity and the girls really didn't look half bad for their age.  Not at all.   Many girls fall apart completely apart past 25.   There was even a picture of a guy in there munching on fur burger right in the bar.   How often do you see that happening in the Doll House or Peppermint?  Not often. 

Here is a shot where a guy with a bra on his head and he is clearly having a great time.  I don't see anything wrong with these photos at all.  These girls would not be at the top of my pick for the evening, but everyone is different and to each his own.  Looks like a fun place.  I think I'll swing by there in my next run through Pattaya and take a quick peek.  FLB bar is right on walking street about 200 yards in on the right hand side (on the waterfront side).

Songkran 2007

Here are a few more shots of Songkran.   Many thanks for my friend here in NKP for supplying most of these pictures.

The city put together a over-head spray area that continuously pumped water over the cars and trucks that ran through this part of the city.  This was a new feature this year.  You see that here in the pictures with the black covered bamboo frame work.

Lots and lots of girls....  My friend who took the pictures has a preference in capturing the ladies ... and lady boys.

At one point in the celebration we had a big thunderous down pour and people just continued to party.  I would have been a little more concerned about the lightening, but it didn't seem to bother them (I took this photo from my office).

Can you Spot The Galt's Squeeze?

These pictures are again of Songkran.  This is of course is the beauty pageant of the festival.  One of the reasons that I'm posting these pictures is because one of my part time squeezes is on stage.   If you are an avid reader of mine and have a sharp eye, you will be able to tell who it is.

See the first picture; the building in the background is our factory (front 1/3 of it).  I have the best seat in the house sometimes for all the local events because a large number of these events are held on the river at the truck transfer station that is nearby.

So, who is the Galt squeeze?    Wow, I think I would be excited about having any one of them. 

Farang Farang ... I want a Farang Boyfriend

I, the Great Galt, am not a Buffalo Shitter (we have more buffalos than bulls here in Thailand).  So, when I say something is true, I intend to back it up with evidence if at all possible.    Thailand and in particular the Thailand Internet if rife with stories of BS that just isn't true. 

If writers are not giving you hard evidence, then don't respect their story.   How damn hard is it to take a picture of yourself in a story?   Huh?   If write an article and make it sound like I went to Singapore and Indonesia, Vietnam,  Cambodia and host of other places, yet I don't make one single effort to provide you with ANY evidence of myself being there -- then you better suspect that I'm lying through my teeth about going.   Say no to this kind of buffalo shit.  

BUT I -- The GREAT Galt, don't lie in my columns... YEA, though I have been heavily ridiculed on the Internet in recent months, take careful note that not one source is willing to call me a liar.    Simply because, a claim like that will not pass muster with any avid Galt reader.    

Time to Show you directly, how I happen to meet girls with an itch for a Farang...

Here is an example of how a farang might meet a normal girl.   Here is an example of a girl who is likely to be completely inexperienced.   She probably has little idea of what it is to have a serious boyfriend.   She may be out of the house for the first time in her life.  And to borrow a phrase from Martin Luther King, "She has a dream".   She has a dream to investigate the benefits of farang company.   She has a dream of someday traveling to America or Europe.  She has a dream to live more richly and have children of whiter skin.   She wants to speak more English, have more freedom to travel..... perhaps she is even curious about sex with a farang.

Here is a girl that I met at a local business.  She works there with a number of her friends.  She is on the right of the two girls in the photos.  Her two friends are on the left.  These friends are husband and wife.   They accompanied her over to see me a couple of nights ago to share in some farang alcoholic beverages.

What you're seeing here in my bed chamber.  I removed my main air mattress to make space for everyone.  It was really hot on this day and I have air-conditioning in this area.

The girl in the white shirt is Tang.  She is 19 years old.  From what she tell me, she has never really had a boyfriend.  She is working away from home in my area. 

The whole group came over and I served up White Russians made with Raspberry Absolute Vodka.    They also sampled a few other things including my small collection of Tequilas that I personally bought in Cabo San Lucas Mexico 7 years ago.  Tang wasn't much on the Tequila but she found a liking to little vodka, Kahlua, and lots of milk.

We all sat back and conversed in English and Thai and watched the new James Bond movie with Daniel Craig.

The guy in this picture, his name is Poo (they reminded me by saying the word "crap" in English -- we all laughed), he and I had a short discussion about the first James Bond girl in the red satin dress.  I ask him if he thought she was beautiful.  He said that her bust was a bit saggy (Nom Yaahng) and that he preferred a girl with a firm bust (Nom Thuug)  (don't push any air over your tongue when making the "th" sound and this word rhymes with "Doug").   We went back and forth on this translated from Thai to English and back again.  They all seem to have fun with that topic and Tang seems un-phased by the talk about breasts, in fact she was laughing with the rest of us.  It was all quite normal talk in her eyes.

Tang, is quite stand-off-ish towards me.  I think she is very scared of me.  In fact, the third picture is the closest that I have ever sat to her and I was allowed this close for only for the picture.   Certainly, this girl would be slow going for quite a while before she would get over her fear of the unknown.

She is a cute girl.  Nice personality.  She has a beautiful body.  She likes to wear short shirts that just come to the waist and her little hips are showing just above the jeans.  She has a very flat stomach, probably a very sweet little bust; certainly nothing to complain about under the covers.

I can't tell you at this point where this budding relationship is going.   I don't have a clue and I take it all with a grain of salt because tomorrow the whole thing can blow up for no apparent reason and be over.   However, if it does continue to develop I know with some certainty that it's not going to be just a simple casual romp.   This is going to be offered with some seriousness on her end.   So, I'm going to have to consider the options and be careful not to plunder the goods and leave her crying, if you follow my drift.

She might offer up some quality time with me at my place and it could turn out to be wonderful mutual little exchange, or she might want to transition from friendship into marriage.  Or, something might occur to derail the whole process.  You just can never quite predict it.   So don't try to predict it.  You can only go with the flow and never get angry at the outcome.  If something goes wrong, just bounce back with another option (I have 2 or 3 other girls who I'm flirting with in the background right now)  

By the way, in case you are wondering, I have what looks like a tent for my sleeping chamber.  I block out the light in the morning so I can sleep in without being disturbed by morning light.  I frequently do work late so I can answer email coming in from the west (business email).  I also have this black cover to hold in the cold air from the air conditioning in that area.  I don't cool the whole room as that would be wasteful of electricity.

The Stickman Review / "I have an answer / but then again I don't"

Stickman (Stick Mark) Paul Owen, or who ever is the the "man behind the curtain", really pulled a fast one on you guys this week.  He was going to bestow upon all of you Bangkok Bar Stoll Squatters the pearls of wisdom on where to go for the best place to live.  He was going to single handedly tap into the frustrations of all the whore mongers at large and give them the the answer to solve all your problems and make all of you happy, but in the end he failed and doesn't really take a firm stand on any specific location to send you.  

Guess you guys should all just stay right here in Thailand and continue to be part of the Stickman readership.

Stickman continues to make his statement about himself more and more generic.   He doesn't want you to know who he is.

I suppose this is just a ploy that Paul Owen is using to provide some "clever indirection" to his readers so he can again begin to tap into the farang bar / private investigation services without it becoming a threat to his day time job of being a school teacher.

I think readers want to know who is writing the articles they read.  In this case, I think Stickman hurts himself by being indirect.  And I think he hurts himself by letting other ghost writers write his articles on occasion.

Ask Miss Udon

This may be the first week in memory where it actually reads like a real Thai woman wrote the answer in the Ask Mrs. Stick (Miss Udon) section.   The answer was even a decent response.

MangoSquashing....

MangoSquashDave is imagining that bar girls are carrying concealed weapons....   Now Dave, we whore monger veterans know that little can be trusted from the mouths of the bar girl (from most other girls for that matter).  No evidence?

I can think of a hundred other things the bar girls BS us about just to see our reaction.  In your case, how did the conversation come up this topic?

"Hey sexy man, What is your Name?   Where are you from?  Oh, by the way I have a gun."  Can't say this has much credibility at all.

I see you copied your last article on the tracking of dancers from the BangkokPost which published this topic a few days ago....   That's cheap.  Do you ever take your own pictures Dave?  Guess not....

Storms in Nakhon Phanom

We had been experiencing really hot weather for about the previous 10 days and on April 24th, a cold front moved through here like a freight train.

The storm set in about 11pm and ran all night until 8 or 9 am.   The winds were wicked and for several hours we experiences lighting that seemed so frequent that you could walk in the dark by it.   Seriously, the lighting was firing off every 5 seconds or less.  We had several lighting strikes to nearby power lines and it plunged us into darkness as far as I could see from my building.

Flags were flapping, leaves blowing, I have to admit, when I hear the sound of a freight train I was a bit worried that we had a tornado but it only turned out to be my sliding glass doors and windows rumbling in their tracks.  It was a wicked storm; the worst I have experienced in my 5 years here.  

Around 1 am I was out on my first floor porch and a lightening bolt struck a power line about 60 yards always.  I saw the flash, I heard the humming of what sound like an arc welding machine and sparks falling on the ground.   That lighting also sent a wave a electrical current down to near my porch as a large burst of sparks popped out of the line just about 15 feet from me.  That got my adrenaline pumping and I exited the porch real quick.   Power was down.  Power had been out before for a couple of hours but never all night as was the case that night. 

There wasn't much to do late night and I was without my A/C (which I hate to be without for sleeping), so I decided to take a few pictures to see if I could catch some interesting shots of lighting, etc.  At 3 am in the morning, the rain had subsided but the lighting was continuing.  Most of the strikes were up in the clouds but some bolts were still touching down.  So, I did take some interesting pictures, but by this time I had actually missed the most active part of the storm in my area. 

I was up on my third story balcony and the camera was shielded from the wind and the minor rain.  Here is what I saw.   There was no moon in the sky and all upper light was generate from lighting itself.  These 2 shots is the truck transfer station with barges that take trucks over to Laos across the river.

The big part of the storm moved over into Laos and I was able to point my camera back over in that direction for a few shots.   These are timed exposures.  Some as long at 30 seconds to catch the bolts of lighting.

Power crews normally come out just after storms at night but they didn't this night.  That storm was too damn violent.   Power was restored sometime in the morning around 9 am, and they followed up on more latent damage in the afternoon and repaired the line that had suffered a hit right in front of my eyes.  Evidently, that lightening strike weakened the line and prevented full service further downstream.   As you can see here again is the truck transfer station in the 3rd picture.

Pattaya Addicts / The Galt Banning Revealed

This past week, a member of their forum sent me the screen shots of the thread that took a vote on whether to ban me and they posted some comments about their reasons to do so.

First they say I bashed them....   see in on the left.  It easy to get the vote you want when you set it up with a bias.

Well, people, I think I told the story last week the way it was.  I did take a critical view point and asked why this George66 guys was banded just because he looked like a Galt supporter having posted inside the DaveTheRaveBangkok thread that read like a commercial for Stickman.

Most of the shorter written responses were just votes to "Ban him" but there were a handful of guys who went through the trouble of writing well thought out paragraph on why NOT to ban me.    Why is it that only those in my defense were taking the trouble to really think it out???   Hum....

Well, I found out that I broke the rules of that forum.   I didn't know that I broke the rules, but I did.   I didn't know I had broken the rules until after I was banned.  No kidding.

As it turns out there is a rule against posting screen screen shots of the conversation on the web.   Evidently people don't want their avatars and personal information and sometimes posted pictures being copied directly to the web.

So, they banned because I had posted their personal information to the web.   And primarily this was three different people, DaveTheRaveBangkok, George66, and the (root administrator) Pro Libertate.

So, if he (the root administrator) was so concerned about his personal information being exposed, why didn't he drop me an email and have me cover up that information???  I never heard from him.   Evidently, that information is not as sensitive as he would lead people to believe. 

The system administrator said, and I quote "He has shown himself to be self-serving and untrustworthy and leaving him here will allow him to continue his abusive, uneducated, and aggressive, attacks against members of this board and this board with impunity."

Untrustworthy?   Self serving?  Aggressive?  ...... Ok, perhaps uneducated... but I have not attacked his board.

Wow, this guy gave me a big critique for only having posted once on that whole site.

This guy made one other post about me in this thread that caught my attention.   What do you guys make of this statement circled in yellow.  Notice anything strange about it?  What would the normal Galt comment be in response this sentence?

(Notice that I have burred this guys avatar to reduce expose of his girlfriend face)

One more thing, notice this root admin name "Pro Libertate"   That means he is all for the idea of not being under control and being able to do what ever he wishes (Liberty spelled in Romanian).    Perhaps this guy is from Romania.....  the great state known for it's liberty and sense of fair play?

Ok, we are moving on to bigger things.....

Feeling Good...

Lately, I'm been feeling really good.  Very calm.  Almost strangely calm.  The past 6 weeks or so, I've really only changed a couple of things in my routine.  I've been eating less rice (about a 50% reduction) and I'm drinking a new type of iced tea that I buy from the local 7/11.   Could this a source of some undisclosed ingredient?  I normally drink a fair amount of iced tea, but it this product packing some kind of secret?

Do you know that Thailand is less strict about the ingredients used inside their products and beverages?  It's true.  It has been said that items like Red Bull here are more potent than their equivalent products sold in the more regulated western markets.  I would not be surprised at all if Lipton put something special in the product.  I could be completely wrong about this, but I can't figure out what else it could be.

I like this product.  It's the only ice tea that I have found that holds up well to large quantities of melting ice and maintains it's favor.

Numbers for the week

We are about a hundred visitor stronger on this Thursday over last Thursday.  Demographics are still pretty much the same with the largest following from the US at about 25%.

The Galt is Seeing Green... Red... and Blue? (small shameless plug for my business here)

I announced last week that I'll be changing my publishing schedule due to my lack of time.   I'll be move to publishing on a bi-weekly schedule starting today.   More of my time has to be devoted to my company and the development of our new flagship product line.

Here is a picture of my newest product line.   It's still in the development and testing phase.  We plan to move into normal production in a few months.  

This a solid state lighting and control system.   The large LED (cone shape) you see here is the new Lamina Ceramics Titan LED light engine.  This is probably the largest LED in normal production that is equivalent in light to normal 120 watt flood light.   This unit uses about 80% less energy than a color flood light and produces much less heat.

This type of technology should shake up the lighting industry as we know it.

How long will it be before we start seeing modular electronics running behind wall panels just as we have been seeing in our favorite science fiction TV shows like Star Trek?  I suspect this is not very far off.

This particular product is designed to be incorporated inside a personal computer case and uses personal computer power supplies.  This is a unique approach in this industry and I believe we are the first to adopt this form factor.

Our company intends to produce this product and allow customers to control their lighting by computer or by hand controls.  We'll even supply software that will allow users to actually measure and record the energy consumed in real time.

The applications for this type of lighting system are nearly boundless and no doubt there will be dozens of companies popping up to embrace this burgeoning market place.

So, when I'm not writing a column, I am here doing my level best to make a million bucks.   Incidentally, I have had 2 very good friends (out of perhaps my group of 7 best friends)  in the past 5 years cross the line to a net worth of more than a million bucks.   One of these guys is 48 and the other is about 40.  I wouldn't mind being in that financial group.  Much can happen in 5 years.   Will I make it?  I haven't got a clue.

The Wrap Up...

The Great Galt is a master at taking his own advice.   That's a fact jack.   If I wasn't happy here in Thailand, I would certainly not buffalo shit you about it.

I have my challenges.  I get disappointed sometimes.   (I had a bad thing happen last month with the girl I really liked and I'm going to tell you about it at some point).

I occasionally pull my hair out when the local authorities break their own rules to make it more challenging for me to get my Visa and work permits renewed.

But, I roll with it.  I don't get too stressed out about it.  I remember that I'm healthy and strong and I have friends and my company is doing decently.

And I remember that are a lot of people back home who don't have the nerve to step out of their lives and make changes like I did.   Most will never see what I see here.  I'm a space man on an adventure.

I'm the goof ball in the family.   Many of my friends thought I was crazy to come over here.  Seems like I'm always bucking the trend or questioning authority or criticizing the "status quo".   If its a constructive effort -- why not?

Everyday you can make a contribution to people around you or invest a little bit in yourself.  That should help boost your happiness level. 

OR, if you're having a lousy day, you can always take a break and embrace a slice of reasonably decent pizza, what else do you really need in life to be happy?   And if that doesn't work - swing by a 7/11 and buy one of those red ice teas to wash down that pizza.....

From this point forward, this column will shift into bi-weekly mode.   See you guys again in 2 weeks with more.

Thanks for stopping by,

John Galt