Here’s a story I wrote for AFP about a unique beauty pageant that took place in Pattaya on Friday night: “Tiaras at Thai transsexual beauty contest” (AFP/Yahoo News).
Tag: Thailand
Categories
H1N1 in Thailand: two confirmed cases
Some news today about H1N1 (swine flu) in Thailand:
Reuters: “Thailand says two flu patients visited Mexico”
Two Thais who returned from Mexico have been confirmed with H1N1 flu but have recovered from the virus, Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said on Tuesday.
Eight other Thais who were in contact with the two infected people were released after being quarantined for a week and show no signs of the virus, he said.
“We have found two confirmed cases of the flu, which was contracted abroad. They have recovered,” Witthaya told a news conference.
He gave no details of the two patients and did not say when or where they had travelled in Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak also known as swine flu.
Nation: “Thailand confirms first two swine flu cases” ((Add “Influenza 2009” to the Thailand swine flu nomenclature list.))
Thailand on Tuesday confirmed its first two cases of Influenza 2009 in patients who had returned from Mexico.
The country becomes the 31st country that was hit by the virus so far.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said tests carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States had confirmed the A(H1N1) virus in samples from the two Thai nationals.
“There are two confirmed cases of A(H1N1), both of them contracted from Mexico,” he said.
Bangkok Post: “PM confirms first swine flu case”
A laboratory test had confirmed that a Thai who returned from a trip overseas had swine flu, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Tuesday.
Mr Abhisit said the A(H1N1) virus was found in a sample taken from the patient.
“The patient has fully recovered and has returned home,” he said.
He did not name the country the patient visited, and refused to confirm if the patient had been treated at Chulalongkorn hospital.
(Previous post: “A conversation about H1N1 with a Bangkok taxi driver.”)
I got into a taxi here in Bangkok on Sunday. When I looked at the driver’s face in the rear view mirror, I noticed he was wearing a protective facial mask. I didn’t think much of it.
I told him where I was going, and then he turned around and looked at me.
“Where are you from?” he said.
“I’m from America,” I said.
“Not Mexico?” he said.
“No,” I said. “I’m from America. But I live here in Bangkok.”
“Okay,” he said. ((We spoke in Thai, in case you’re wondering, though this was a very simple conversation.))
Then he took off his mask and explained that he was afraid of catching swine flu. And that he was glad I wasn’t a Mexican. He said he’d been asking all of the foreigners who got into his taxi if they were from Mexico.
I assured him that I was not Mexican, that I had not been infected with H1N1, and — despite the fact that it has nothing to do with swine flu — that I don’t eat pork. ((I do, in fact, eat pork, but he was quite nervous, and I wanted to put him at ease.))
He smiled and seemed relieved. ((The latest news on H1N1 and Thailand, for the record: There have still been no confirmed cases. A suspected case recently turned out to be the common flu.))
(Related post: “Thailand swine flu nomenclature update.”)
Here’s a TV story I did yesterday for Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia. The story is about a meeting of health ministers from the ASEAN +3 nations here in Bangkok. The officials discussed strategies to prevent the H1N1 virus from spreading.
Go to the link above and click on the video below the image on the right side of the page. You can select a low-res version of the video if it’s slow to load. The story should be viewable on the site for the next few days.
Categories
Thailand swine flu nomenclature update
A quick note on swine flu nomenclature: the CDC is now referring to the flu as “H1N1 flu.” And the WHO is calling it “influenza A(H1N1).”
As far as American newspapers are concerned, the WSJ prefers “A/H1N1 swine flu,” while the NY Times is sticking with “swine flu.” At the Washington Post, it’s still “swine flu,” as well. ((I’ve yet to conduct a survey of other media, such as TV and radio.))
As I noted last week, the Nation, one of Bangkok’s English-language newspapers, made the switch from “swine flu” to “Mexican human flu.” However, the paper is now using the term “A(H1N1) flu.” (From a story today: “14 Thais from Mexico test negative to A(H1N1) flu.”) ((Oh, and in case you’re wondering: there has not been an outbreak here.))
WSJ:
“Thai Says Military Behind Murder Plot: Mogul’s Claim, Absolving Political Foe Thaksin, Puts New Twist on Nation’s Turmoil”
A Thai media baron who was instrumental in toppling two governments said an alliance of military officials and politicians bent on thwarting political change was behind an attempt to kill him last month.
Sondhi Limthongkul’s claim, while unproven, was notable in part because the businessman and protest leader absolved his political foe, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and said both men shared a common desire for change.
Mr. Sondhi made the allegation Sunday in his first public remarks since the murder attempt at dawn on April 17. Police say at least five men fired at least 84 rounds from military-grade assault rifles at Mr. Sondhi’s car as he traveled to his office in Bangkok’s historic old quarter.
Mr. Sondhi had to undergo surgery to remove shrapnel from his skull after the attack, which seriously wounded his driver. No arrests have been made.
The attack was a fresh twist in a continuing political struggle in Thailand over whether the nation should become a functioning, accountable democracy or a place where generals and politicians make deals to determine who wields power, as has been the case for much of Thailand’s history.
Categories
Swine flu, Thailand, and nomenclature
There has so far been no outbreak of swine flu here in Thailand. Local media yesterday reported one “suspected” infection in a Thai national who had traveled to Mexico earlier this month. But it now appears that the woman has ordinary flu.
This Nation story about the case contains an interesting snippet:
The swine influenza, under a department directive, is now called the “Mexican human flu” in Thailand in order to make people more aware about its origin and the risk of a human-to-human transfer. The word swine has been removed so people are not scared of consuming pork.
“Mexican human flu”?
The New York Times has more on the issue of swine flu and nomenclature:
Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.” However, his call seemed to have been largely ignored.
And:
The Mexican ambassador to Beijing, Jorge Guajardo, has been outspoken this week in suggesting that the disease did not originate in Mexico. He said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the disease was brought to his country by an infected person from somewhere in “Eurasia,” the land mass of Europe and Asia.
Ambassador Guajardo said in a telephone interview that his government had been told by American and Canadian experts that the genetic sequence of the virus pointed to Eurasian origin.
“This did not happen in Mexico,” he said, adding, “It was a human who brought this to Mexico.”
But flu specialists in Asia said that the new virus probably did not make the jump from animals to people in Asia.
(Thanks to BL for the NYT link.)
Categories
Thailand Twitter guide
As I’ve mentioned before, I often post short snippets about Thailand — and other topics — on Twitter. (You can find my dispatches here, and you can see my recent Twitter activity on the right side of this page, under “Twitter Updates.”)
I’ll continue to share longer thoughts, such as my April 15th post about Thai politics, here on Newley.com.
I’m not, of course, the only Thailand-based Twitterer. Here’s a list of some other folks who you might consider following if you’re looking for local perspectives. I’ve also included a few other Twitter-related resources at the bottom.
Note: This list isn’t exhaustive, but these are some folks who’ve caught my eye:
Individual Twitter users:
- @bangkokpundit — author of the Bangkok Pundit blog.
- @thai101 — Rikker Dockum, “Fulbright grantee researching the ancient Thai language.”
- @wise_kwai — “News and views on Thai film and culture.”
- @smartbrain — “Yellowshirt psyops leader, loves Cake”
- @luke_bkk — “Luke Hubbard: Creative hacker living in bangkok working for a new media agency.”
- @Anasuya — “TV news correspondent.”
- @bangkok — “If I’d wear a shirt right now, it would be rainbow-colored.”
- @thaicam — a “BKK-based news junkie.”
- @suthichai — “editor-in-chief of nation group.”
- @jonrussell — Jon Russell, “Freelance writer basking in the sun in Thailand.”
- @mscofino — Kim Cofino, “21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School Bangkok, Thailand.”
- @travelhappy — Chris Mitchell, “British scuba journalist based in Thailand.”
English-language media
- In terms of local English-languate media, both The Nation newspaper (@nation) and the Bangkok Post
(@bangkokpost)have Twitter feeds,though the Post’s tweets, unfortunately, don’t include URLs to their stories.Correction: the Bangkok Post is Twittering — with URLs — here: @bangkok_post
WeFollow
- For more Siam-based Twit-folk, you can check out the WeFollow directory listing for Thailand.
Search.Twitter.com and hashtags
- You can also search Twitter for “Bangkok,” “Thailand,” or any other term. During the recent unrest, Twitter users employed the #redshirt hashtag to label material relating to the anti-government protests.
If you’re wondering about traveling in Thailand following the recent political unrest here, you might be interested in this Q&A I did with World’s Hum’s Julia Ross yesterday. Julia asked me about the current atmosphere in Bangkok, what impact the turmoil is likely to have on Thailand’s tourism industry, and what advice I have for those considering a trip to Thailand.
Categories
Thailand protests end: five observations
Anti-government red shirt protesters here in Bangkok dispersed yesterday, bringing an end to the unrest that has engulfed the Thai capital over the past few days.
Army troops secured major intersections throughout the city, and demonstrators who had gathered at the Prime Minister’s office have now left.
Throughout Bangkok, people are celebrating Songkran — the Thai new year — in earnest, splashing water and dancing to music in the streets.
Here are five observations I have after speaking with people and reporting on the situation here. I’ve been sharing some ongoing thoughts and links on Twitter, but here’s a longer dispatch:
1. While normalcy has returned to the Thai capital, the images of chaos may prove lasting. Last week, protesters invaded a hotel in Pattaya where a meeting of Asian leaders was being held, and then demonstrators clashed with police here in Bangkok. Red shirts set city buses on fire and blocked roads with taxis. It was only when army troops fired automatic weapons into the air and moved to disperse them that the demonstrators retreated. This is dramatic stuff, clearly, and while things have returned to normal now, these images are powerful, especially so for those watching from outside the country.
2. PM Abhisit was successful in putting down the uprising, but what comes next? When he came to power a few months ago, many hoped that he would mend the divide between the two factions battling here. And…
3. No progress has been made in settling the differences between pro and anti-Thaksin forces. On the one hand is the red shirts, who are commonly characterized as coming from the rural north and northeast of the country. Many of them support exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. On the other side are the yellow-shirts (the PAD), who say Thaksin and his associates are corrupt, and that their influence must be removed from politics.
4. The red shirts claim that they’ll be back. Yesterday a red shirt organizer said that they’ll now go home and rest over Songkran. And then they’ll return to Bangkok in even larger numbers. Red shirt demonstrators I spoke with indicated that they were merely suspending their demonstrations, but that the fight isn’t over. What comes next?
5. There are serious worries here about tourism and the economy. Tourism accounts for 6.7 percent of the Thai economy. And the goal was to attract some 14 million tourists this year. Some estimates say that number may now fall to less than 10 million. The industry was already suffering following the PAD’s week-long closure of Bangkok’s international airport in late November, 2008. And the global financial crisis has also taken its toll. The government has announced that it may seek to increase its recent economic stimulus pacakge. Analysts say, though, that a key component in shoring up the economy is achieving political stability. That now appears to be a long way off.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back and blogging next week.