Thai Vacation, Part IV-Chiang Mai Zoo

Chiang Mai is really an interesting city. In addition to many temples, they have a very nice zoo and picturesque ruins of the wall that originally surrounded the city.

My favorite part of the zoo was being able to get really close to giraffes. You could buy a handful of veggies for 10 Baht and feed the animals. They have long, snake-like tongues. There was a young boy there at the same time we were, and the giraffe just freaked him out! They are one of the few zoos outside China to have Pandas, and they had a juvenile Panda there, just 2 years old. Pandas may look cuddly to some people, but to me they look big and bad tempered. I would not want to meet a Panda in the wild. They had a pygmy hippo and I thought that was just cool. The zoo was laid out on hillsides, with a lot of open green space. The enclosures could have been better, but overall it was not a bad zoo.

The city was founded during an era of frequent warfare and was originally surrounded by wall. Not much remains of those now, but there are a few sections that survive. The city has outgrown the walls and the area inside the walls seems small, but many of the really great wats are inside the old walls. Here's a wall segment. Mexica got these pictures by getting out of the taxi and braving several lanes of traffic!

Thailand Vacation, Part III-Wats

The city of Chiang Mai and the entire area around it hold many beautiful Buddhist temples. Some are small and simple, but many are large and very ornate. We visited several of them.

This first one was the Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. This is the largest and most famous temple in the area. It's very old and very large and it's the destination for many pilgrimages from all around Thailand. The day we were there was very sunny, and the sun shining on the polished bronze of the pagoda was nearly blinding. There were many people there, pilgrims and tourists, about 50/50. If you look closely at my picture on top, you'll see I'm barefoot. You had to take off your shoes to visit the inside of the temple complex. This temple is set high on a hill above the city and there is a great view from the temple grounds. This temple is about 20 km outside of the city proper, and the area is quite rural with jungle forest until you get to the temple area itself.

There were so many things to see in this temple. Luckily, our guide was very good. He was a devout Buddhist and very knowledgeable both about the temples and local history, and he was a very proud resident of Chiang Mai. For example, in the picture of the large Buddha statue, there are several smaller statues. One is made of pure jade, not very large but very beautiful.

In the city itself we saw several temples. My favorite was a very old temple, now partly destroyed by an earthquake many years ago. The central government has allocated a fund to restore the building, and that work is underway. The temple itself stands--or stood when it was whole--90 meters tall. When built it was the tallest building around and could be seen from far away, especially when whitewashed and gleaming in the sun. Each king tried to build a temple bigger than the kings that preceded him, and this particular one set a high standard. The temple appears to be carried on the backs of many elephants and many of the elephants survive. There is a bronze Buddha about halfway up the side of building. I tried to imagine how it looked hundreds of years ago--it was built in the 14th Century--it must have been very impressive indeed.

The temples are generally guarded at the entry by some kind of mythical animal. Most of these were guarded by dragons. The style of the dragons changed over time, becoming more and more ornate. The more recent temples have very highly decorated dragons and that is the Bangkok style. That last set of dragons flank a staircase of 300 steps that lead up to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. We took a tram to the top, but we walked back down.

Voter Suppression and the Return of Jim Crow

I don't know how to get people more engaged and more outraged about this. Many states around the country have  enacted "Voter ID" laws that  are really nothing more than an attempt to suppress voting by aged individuals and racial minorities, in other words, the return of Jim Crow.

While no one, or at least no one but Michelle Bachman, is willing to make direct appeals to racism anymore, the use of code words is rife, and "voter fraud" is one of those codes. It means "people who vote Democrat."  Because the percentage of minorities and aged individuals who don't have valid state issued ID is higher than that of white males in middle age, Republicans gain from these laws.

The situation in Pennsylvania is instructive. Republican office holders there have boosted their Voter ID law as ensuring that the state's electoral votes will go to Mitt Romney. When this law was being enacted, the stated rationale was the prevention of voter fraud, which was described as widespread and a threat to honest elections. Now, in defending the law against a lawsuit, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has stipulated in a legal statement that there is NO documented history of voter fraud in Pennsylvania and that there is no evidence that fraud would occur in the absence of this law. In the absence of proven fraud and with the concession that there is no likelihood of fraud, what rationale remains?

Similar things have happened all around the country. Republicans put a lot of effort into electing the Secretary of State in many states and it's really paid off for them. These officials have made a lot of noise about voter fraud, but in laboring mightily, they have brought forth little.In New Mexico, for example the Republican candidate was electing promising to find "thousands" of fraudulent votes, and finally found 104 illegal registrations and 19 actual votes cast by those not entitled to vote. Is that a crime? Yes. Should the perpetrators be punished? Yes. Do we need to purge voter lists and enact Draconian legislation? I would say no. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/gop_new_mexico_sec_of_state_finds_tiny_fraction_of_the_voter_fraud_she_alleged.php.

Meanwhile, the states which have enacted these laws that require state-issued ID have also, apparently systematically, closed or restricted hours for the offices that issue that kind of ID. For example, in Wisconsin there is one office that is open on the 5th Wednesday of each month, so it's open 4 days a year. In Alabama, a cluster of mostly black counties are served by one office that more than 100 miles from some of the people it supposedly serves. These are mostly poor people with no driver's license, remember. All the states have "free" ID--they have to because of a court order--but  all require birth certificates, which are not free. Many states also have a policy of offering no help whatever to anyone who does not present with the correct documents.

All this is reminiscent of the various laws used in the "old" south to suppress voting by African-Americans, such as so-called literacy tests. The tests were administered by county officials in person and anyone with dark skin failed, literate or not.

Documented voter fraud is extremely rare. In 2004 in Washington, when the Governor's race was microscopically close, a detailed investigation by a Republican Secretary of State found 0.0009% of votes were case illegally. Even in that election, not enough to change the outcome.

I'm appalled and I'm outraged. I remember the voter marches of the 1960's with Bull Connor and the dogs of the Alabama police forces, the bombs of Mississippi, the violence and hate. Seeing the gains people worked so hard and suffered so much to attain stolen by the "Party of Lincoln" (makes me gag to write that about the modern Republicans) just makes me ill.If the Republicans can't win honestly, maybe they should just accept their loses--or (better yet) change their policies so they're not just servants of the very rich and powerful.

Thailand Vacation, Part II--Tigers

After we finished up at the elephant camp, we drove to Tiger Kingdom. We had lunch there, a decent buffet with a lot of Thai dishes, and then we visited the tigers. This place has more than 70 tigers, and for a fee you can have your picture taken with them. You also have to sign a release form promising not to sue if a tiger mauls you.

The tigers ranged from very young--the cub Mexica is petting was about 10 weeks old--to fully grown. To get into the cage with the cubs, we had to wash our hands and take off our shoes. We had to wait because they regulated the number of people in with the cubs and that was the most popular place in the Tiger Kingdom. There were a lot of kids in there. The cubs were pretty calm, even lethargic, and that was the state of most of the tigers we saw that were available for petting. I'm pretty sure that they drugged them to keep them calm. The cubs were soft and fluffy, like big kittens, and they had huge paws  for their size.

The larger tigers were almost comatose, but it was fun to be able to touch such beautiful animals. I am troubled by the ethical issues--would the tigers be better off in the wild? Probably, that is, if they wouldn't be dead. In Southeast Asia there are fewer people worried about such issues, as the Tiger Kingdom was very busy. The elephant camp gave me no such qualms, as the elephants were animals they had rescued when the logging operations they were working on changed from animal power to machines. The elephants would be dead if they weren't in the camp, and they looked pretty healthy. I didn't see any neurotic action like pacing and the handlers appeared kind. Right or wrong, it was an exciting day, and in one day, we rode elephants and petted tigers, firsts for both of us. A highlight day of our Thai vacation.

Thailand Vacation, Part I-The Elephants

We took one day and went up in the hills to see the Maesa Elephant Camp near Chiang Mai. It was a wonderful and very pleasant experience. The camp is about 40 kilometers outside of Chiang Mai, up in the mountains. We got a driver through our hotel and he was excellent. We rode in a new and very well kept Toyota Camry and we were very comfortable. The driver came with us through the camp (though he did not ride the elephant) and made sure we found everything.

The first thing when we got there, the handlers had the elephants lined up and people could go and get their pictures taken with them. You can see I did that. The elephants kissed me on the cheek (and it was a very passionate kiss) and took my hat off and put it on again. Then the handlers took all the elephants down into the river and bathed them. One elephant was very near the shore and a man was feeding him bananas, which they sold at a stand in the park for 20 Baht. The man tried to stop feeding the elephant before the elephant was done eating. He almost climbed up onto the deck with us before the man relented and fed him.

After the elephants were bathed, all the tourists retired to an arena and the elephants paraded in. There were more than a dozen of them. They performed various tricks, like playing soccer and massaging a handler, but my favorite was the elephants painting. They really painted. I thought they would just throw paint at the paper in random patterns, but they actually created real pictures. You can see the one that the elephant nearest us created, and probably half a dozen elephants painted and several of them were pretty good. The paintings were on sale for 2000-6000 Baht, about $50-$150.

After the show, Mexica and I rode elephants. They were fun to ride, but rough, especially going downhill. That was pretty exciting. Our route took us through the jungle in hills and we were out about a half hour. A very exciting morning!

Rainy Day

This is probably the most uncomfortable day I've  had since I've been here in the Philippines. The humidity has been oppressive all day. It's really not been that hot, the temperature peaked in the low 80's, which is mild for here. But, all day the humidity has hovered around 100% and everything feels damp. The floors feel damp, especially the wood. The fabric on the chairs feels damp and the bedding feels damp. Everything is clean and fresh, but it still feels so damp. I took a shower and felt good for a few minutes but then my clothes started to feel damp again. The weather is supposed to be this way for the next few days, and the weather radar shows a large storm system. Thunderstorms are predicted--they're really fun to watch from the 46th floor here.

It rained very hard this morning and many of the streets in the Manila area flooded. The video is from the street in front of our apartment during the storm. Nevertheless, my mother-in-law came by with two of Mexica's little sisters (Russia and Jasmine), and Canada was here already, so there's a house full of beautiful women. Mama Nena made a great dinner and now we're watching (ok, well, they're watching) Filipino TV. They're all giggling and laughing and enjoying the show. It's some kind of talent show, Talentadong Pinoy ("Pinoy are Talented"--if you don't know, Pinoy and Pinay are Tagalog for natives of the Philippines). They have a lot of talent shows and a lot of quiz shows on TV here, and most are pretty funny (even I get some of the humor), but they're really just prolonged advertisements.

It took the family about 2 hours to get here today, much longer than the usual trip of a half hour, because they had to change from cab to tricycle and back again several times--4 or 5 separate vehicles--and it cost 500 pesos, which is more than twice as much as usual, all due to the flooding. The streets were clear by this afternoon, but it's raining again, so the streets are flooding again, so they're all spending the night. It's a little crowded by my standards but not too bad and they're all having fun and mainly, an attempt at a trip home for them would be really dicey.