DATELINE TRAT,THAILAND 3: OBSERVATIONS IN THAILAND

Most of the animals,plants,fish,flowers which are in the Philippines are also here in Thailand.

 

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      There are a little differences. The chico here is elongated and has a yellowish color. Its sweet. They call it "lamut". "Lamut" in Ilocano means "food".

 

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      There is lanzones here. A lot of pineapples. They have guavas here which are like green apples. There are bananas which are so big.

 

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      They also have mudfish(dalag) and catfish(hito).  They have litson-manok. Their bagoong is different.  They have "patupat" ( an Ilocano  sweet ricecake wrapped with young palm leaves).

 

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       There are fruits here which I don't see in the Philippines.  The  fruit which I call "snakefruit" because the peeling is scaled like the scales of the snake, is also found in Kota Kinabalu.

 

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       Martial law in Thailand is generally accepted by the people because King Bhumibol Adulyadej has thrown his support to the "coup" makers.

 

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        The king of Thailand has great influence over his people. The people think he is a good king.  His picture is printed in all paper money as well as some coins in Thailand.  If the king has not supported the coup, the coup makers would have self-exiled abroad like the past coup plotters.

 

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         There are two major English newspapers here : The Nation and The Bangkok Post. I buy and read them.

 

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         Yesterday, The Bangkok Post reported that ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra is in Hong Kong, seen shopping with his wife.  He joked that he is now unemployed.

 

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          The operator of the tourist inn where I stayed in my first night here is a Thai lawyer who left her lawyering career  to operate a tourist inn. She has a daughter. Her husband is a border policeman.  She told me that she makes more money by operating the inn than by lawyering. She knows Imelda and the Marcoses by name, and compares them to Thaksin Shinawatra.  Of course, I told her two versions about the ill-gotten wealth. And I said that I don't know which one to believe as of now.

 

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           The Lord  Jesus said :"Judge not lest you be judged...But if you judge, judge righteously."(The Lord meant here that if you are a judge(in court), then judge righteously, i.e. after all the facts are presented).

 

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            Thais in the South are more Malay and Indonesian in features. Thais in the North(near China), and in near Cambodia are more Chinese in features.

 

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            Trat, Thailand used to be under the French during their time as colonizers of French Indochina. French Indochina has disintegrated to three countries : Cambodia,Vietnam,and Laos. Plus Trat which is now a part of Thailand.

 

                          

 

                                       

 

                                            Trat, Nov. 16,11:30 PM