H1N1 Comes to Thailand—Update

H1N1 flu numbers are climbing fast here. In terms of the rate of new infections, Thailand today seems to be roughly where the U.S. was a couple of months ago. The sudden surge, along with a death count that doubled in one week, is discouraging to many Thais. Some of them now have another reason to question the government. The government, in turn, has been overcautious about how much it reveals—a PR strategy that usually backfires.

When I returned from the U.S. recently, Jip’s caregivers asked me to buy them masks so they could protect themselves. They assumed I was infected and contagious. Fair enough—I’d just come from the country with the highest number of cases on the planet.

I didn’t mention to them that if anyone should be wearing a mask it should be me. There’s no conclusive evidence that masks prevent catching the flu, but it does seem to be true that they can prevent giving it to others.

Feeling fine, I went to the pharmacy and bought a handful of masks for everyone. As I paid, the pharmacist made a few tick marks on a piece of paper near the register. I asked what she was doing. She said that her shop—a little place on a back street—has been selling ten masks an hour.

Hand washing gel is now available outside the elevators at both home and at work. Rainy season (also the time of year here for the regular, “seasonal” flu) is far from over. It could be a long one.

Calm Before Collapse?

Headlines here this month aren’t as full of protests as they have been during the previous year, although the country is no less divided. You can draw the dividing lines lots of ways—between old guard and new money, between those who love and hate Thaksin, or between regions.

No matter how you slice it, a smooth democratic future seems unlikely. Winners of recent elections have acted as if they have the right to take all. The current coalition government was not elected. In order to form, it was forced to accept as ministers people who have since been charged in connection with last year’s siege of Bangkok’s two main airports.

How those charges play out may determine whether the coalition holds, as well as the outcome of the next elections, whenever they are called.

Are You Human?

It’s common in June and July to hear people mention that their brother or son is planning to ordain for a few months. Historically the monk census goes up during rainy season because not much happens agriculturally

Candidates undergo a kind of interview. Among the questions potential monks are asked is “Are you human?” You’d think the questioner could tell by looking. But according to an old Buddhist story, every now and then a snake will take try to pass himself off as a man. That would be bad. Hence the question.

In rituals like these of course everyone already knows what to expect. Nobody answers the wrong way.

Reflection

Time for the annual stock taking. We’ve just passed the four-year mark in Thailand. This chapter no longer seems new. We’re residents, not visitors. It’s hard to see how we could be in a better place. Jip’s cheerfulness is stunning. The caregivers keep showing up, rain or shine. I sleep very easy.

Just back from ten days in the States, I get to look at Thailand with fresh eyes this coming week. Transitions like these are good times to reflect on foreign-ness.

Surprises here are rarer and rarer. I don’t do double takes anymore when I see women attendants in the men’s room at the mall (and no more shifting uncomfortably as they clean around the urinals while I’m standing there). Barefoot bus drivers no longer faze me, nor the proudly overdressed Thai security guards. And alas, I’m sure I now take for granted much of the unearned privilege that goes along with being a white guy in this country.

Nowhere else would work better for Jip. When we were in Seattle, I wrestled with the pro’s and con’s of moving to Thailand. Four years on, I wonder what I was worried about. Looked at in hindsight, the decision is a no-brainer. If anything, we should have come earlier.

Classy Trip

My karma isn’t all bad. Despite what looked to me like a slow travel day, the airline I chose for a 4th of July trip to the U.S. had oversold the coach section. So without any warning I found myself at the front of the plane between Tokyo and Chicago.

At first I didn’t want to say a word to the air hostess, for fear that she’d kick me out. But by the end of the trip, she was writing me a personal postcard, looking forward to the next time I could fly with them. Details of this delightful flight are described on hipbelt, holybasil’s sister site.