Where is David?

Thailand, like many Asian countries I’ve visited, somehow thinks that if something has a name in English, it gives it an international feel and quality. There are even sites like engrish.com dedicated to documenting occurrences of wierd English throughout the region.

After living in Asia almost 5 years, I think I’ve become immune to both visual and verbal forms of “Engrish”. In fact, I have even noticed my own level of English declining and think it’s only a matter of time before I speak engrish like a local.

Still, I’m not totally immune…yet. Every day, I walk by a beauty salon called “Porn Beauty”. (Porn is a common part of Thai names….even stranger is there is even a Thai name Wannaporn)

The final straw was when I saw an advertisement for the KKK Resort on the internet. It’s website is http://www.kkkresort.com/ if you don’t believe me. Even though this acronym stands for Koh Kho Khao Resort (which means Kho Khao Island resort in Thai), I still was amazed upon seeing it…..have they never watched Jerry Springer?

My point is, if you think it’s a good idea to have an English name or text for something, at least ask a native speaker their opinion of the name before you do it.

I’d just like to write a quick note to everyone saying that I celebrated Thai Constitution Day recently. It was a very fun and enjoyable experience.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Thailand’s Constitution was revoked by the recent military coup on September 19th, which means that Thailand is probably the only country ever to celebrate a holiday for a constitution that they got rid of.

Ok, technically speaking, the holiday celebrates the transistion of Thailand from Absolute Monarchy to Constitutional Monarchy, not just any individual constitution (and Thailand’s had a lot, most recent, the now defunct 1997 one). And actually, the country transitioned from monarchy to military dictatorship during this period….quite similar to recent events…..so maybe this holiday wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Still, life under a ‘transitional military dictatorship’ is pretty good. They’re serious about battling corruption here in Thailand, and are even talking about reforming the police department. Maybe life in a military dictatorship isn’t so bad after all….

also, my friend Cotton has a blog…..it’s at http://www.onebadseed.com/blog/. Check it out when you get a chance.