Almost Over

By next month the rains should have stopped which will make a break and maybe give us a chance to get rid of the weeds in our garden. Hopefully by then our political problems will also be over. The BBC and CNN have been giving too simple a view of what is happening in politics here, forgetting the history of some of the people involved. For most of us in Bangkok it hardly has any affect.

Outside of Thailand it's good to see the price of oil dropping and we see it at the pumps here. 500 Baht filled about a quarter of my tank on Friday, although it's only a couple of years ago that it would have filled half.

Don't Cancel Your Visit

Although news from Bangkok might make a visit to the Gems & Jewelry show not seem a good idea, this would be a mistake. The present situation is not that unusual here and any problems are usually contained in a fairly small area around the government buildings. At the show you find nothing other than the welcome you always get here, so do go ahead and come.

Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair Heads Up

Just a warning, it's less than a month to the fair opening now. You can still pre-register on the website at http://www.bangkokgemsfair.com/. If you need a Bangkok based agent or you are looking for jewelry manufacturing here in Thailand then come by our website at http://www.cjmsea.com/.

Diesel price goes down

Good news for anyone who drives a truck like me. The price of diesel dropped again and is back to where it was a month ago I think. It's still far too high but if the cost of oil has done nothing else good, it has taken vehicles off the road. Diesel is still far higher than the price of petrol, (gas in the US and benzene here in Thailand).

When I first bought the truck, a Nissan Frontier, diesel was still subsidized here and cost about 2 baht a litre less than petrol. Now it's about 10 Baht more;-( I use the B5 diesel from PTT which has a 5% ethanol composition which takes a Baht off the cost. What I can't do with this engine is easily convert to LPG. The two gas fuels here, LPG and CNG are the cheapest way to drive. One answer to this is trade the diesel engine for a used Japanese V6 block and then do the gas conversion. Maybe next year.

New Handbags from Bali

We loaded up new handbags from Bali this week. They are sold wholesale in sets ranging from 2 to 6 pieces. They are a bit special so please have a look at Bali handbags.

Here in Bangkok we are still getting rain most days but my trip to work has been uneventful. There does seem to be less traffic recently and this could be to do with the high cost fuel. Let's hope the recent drop in price continues.

Political Problems and Visiting Thailand

From outside Thailand the present political difficulties here might well put you off coming on a visit. This would be a mistake as there is a long history of disputes like this livening up the local political scene and rarely do they interfere with life-as-normal for both the average local inhabitant and the foreign visitor. Bangkok is still the thriving center of the colored gems trade and much other jewelry manufacturing. Visit and be guaranteed of a good, profitable and fun time.

More Rain but Less Cars

I was out driving on Sunday and ended up spending twice what I expected on diesel. Others have mentioned to me that it seems like there are fewer cars on the road and I guess this is the reason. The rains are still here so we can still have some traffic jams anyway.

Coolpierce stock now online

Last week we finally got the stock of organic body jewelry online at Coolpierce. The photographs don't really do the products justice and will have to be retaken sometime but at least visitors can now see the large range of bone, horn and wood jewelry. The wood earrings do seem to be very much in fashion again this year.

Totally Bali Website Finished

I just added new buttons to the Totally Bali jewelry website. The fairly complicated shipping module was built here over the last couple of weeks by modifying the Oscommerce contribution, Multi Geozone Multi Table module.

We had to make the new shipping module because the shipping cost matrix from Bali was just too large to fit in the Oscommerce configuration table where there is 256 character limit per line. We wanted to offer parcel post, EMS express post, DHL and FedEx shipping but not all countries could have all four. The Indonesian post office seems to have a separate postal rate for each country unlike the Thai post office which has just three zones.

We simplified the zones as much as possible but still ended up with 50 zones. With the Thai table I built we got it down to 23 zones. If anyone wants to use this module please leave a comment and I will send it.

Saying the site is finished isn't strictly correct because we will be adding products including the Bali handbag range soon.

More Rain and Websites

Now everything is done on the website except the template or skin. It is for wholesale Bali silver jewelry but at the moment is using TotallyBali's skin. I will put a link in the right-hand column.

The monsoon rains really arrived yesterday afternoon and with yesterday being a holiday here it didn't cause too many traffic problems. Today is pretty bad out on Srinakarin Road though going in both directions.

Busy Times

We have three websites being built at the same time so it has got real busy. Outside the last two days have been wet so I guess we are getting the remains of the cyclone that hit Burma so badly. I just cannot understand how the generals there would rather have their people die than accept aid and help from foreigners.

The next site to go live is www.cjmsilver.com which will be selling Bali silver jewelry if I can get it finished.

Totally Bali Website

Our new Bali fashion accessory website has most of the products up now except for the handbags where we are waiting on the photographs. The jewelry is non-precious but very much fun and fashion. We already show a good range of earrings, bracelets and necklaces with some attractive lady's belts also. You will have to visit www.totallybali.com to see more and I will put another link in right column for future visits.

The rains are here

Bangkok had a couple of days of rain earlier in the month, but yesterday evening I drove into a heavy downpour just outside of Pattaya. The monsoons are here. Here it is very localized rain storms. Squalls move through an area dropping inches of rain while 500 meters away it's stays dry. Luckily I had new wiper blades and I suspect I could see more than most of the other drivers. I must be getting better. Usually I fit new wipers after the rain ends.

New Bali Website

We are now working on a new website selling Balinese fashion jewelry and accessories. Hopefully this will be ready this week. It's called Totally Bali. Click on the name to visit it.

Internet Crazies

It's still too hot here to do anything outside of an air-conditioned environment. Tempers can get a bit short. It's definitely not the time to run into an internet crazy. I suspect many internet users have run into these, but it's more likely if you are business. Sometimes it starts very normally but before long you get the email all in UPPERCASE.

Nowadays I tend to try and get out of these email conversations as quickly as possible but usually the crazy wants to continue. Best bet is to agree with everything they say and wind up the communication.

I thought about this a bit as I have been working with the internet a long time. Why does this medium attract the crazies? I think it's explained by the old cartoon of the dog in front of the computer saying, "On the internet nobody knows I'm a dog." By email people who have never said a cross word in real life can let out all their aggression in a virtual world where nobody can see they are really very mousey. They are the internet school bullies, but unlike in a real school yard you don't know their size or fighting abilities.

My only advice is don't get involved and try not to let them upset you.

End of the Holiday

Traffic still wasn't up to usual levels but far more than Tuesday. I suspect about two thirds of Bangkok's workers are back today with the others showing up tomorrow and the really lucky ones on Monday.

Yesterday was cloudy, it almost looked like an early start to the monsoon rains, but the threat failed to materialize. It's so hot and sticky that it's hard to do anything outside the air-conditioned environment.

Songkran - The Thai New Year

Well the Thai New Year holiday is almost over. Most people outside Thailand know it as the water festival and here it's called Songkran. On Thursday almost everyone will be back at work although some companies save up other holidays to make it a week off.

Traditionally it is a time to pay respect to your parents and elders. It was also a time when prayers for rain were made. It doesn't get much hotter here than it is now and the rains should arrive soon to cool it down and more importantly to fill the rice paddy fields.

So many people leave Bangkok to go back to their original towns and villages that it's one of two times in the year that it seems empty here. The other time is Western New Year holiday. Driving to the office today you could imagine you were in a small town in the US or a British country town as the traffic was so light. I have always lived in big cities so I can imagine how pleasant it is to drive to work in a small town unlike the stressful drive we usually have here. Below is a picture Srinakarin Road at 08:30 this morning. You will have to wait to the 31st. December to see morning traffic like this again.

Scams

One unfortunate side affect of Bangkok being the center of the colored gems industry is that we do have a bad name regarding scams and the retail trade. Why it has been allowed carry on I don't know. The authorities should have been able to close the worst places years ago. Unless you are a gem expert any deal offered to you via a taxi driver, tour guide or a man in the street that sounds too good to be true, isn't true!

www.2bangkok.com does cover this problem well and a quick read of the articles linked to this page will give you some background. There are responsible gem jewelry retailers in Bangkok and you can find them in the jewelry areas off Silom and Suriwong Roads or in the large department stores.

Feet of Clay

Bangkok is built on mud. For thousands of years the Chao Phraya River has been dumping silt at its mouth and reclaiming land from the sea. It's only in the last couple of hundred years that the area around present day Bangkok has been drained by canals, originally to bring it into agricultural use.

Now under Bangkok is about 30 meters of dark thick clay. When houses were made of teak and transport was by boat this didn't matter so much. Bangkok is sinking under its own weight. Water is pumped out for fresh water supply. Most buildings are on piles that go down to the bedrock. As the land sinks extra steps are added to reach the buildings, maybe one every few years. Roads are not on piles so they sink at the same rate as the land. This causes a problem where roads meet something that is piled like a bridge over a canal. Here every year or so the road needs to be repaired.

The rains have come a little early this year. They started on Sunday and continued yesterday. The rain water cannot permeate the clay quickly so it just sits on the surface for while. The roads turn into canals quite quickly. Ah well, this year I'm driving a diesel so at least I don't have to worry about the engine electrics getting wet and stalling in the middle of a flooded road.

Green Diesel

The state owned oil company PTT now sells a bio-diesel which I've bought on my last two visits to the pump. It sells at about 1.5% less than the regular diesel. The truck seems to be running the same as always so hopefully there is no mechanical downside.

There have been bio-petrols (US gas) here for a while but giving us the bio-diesel is new. I do not know what percentage of the fuel is made from agricultural produce. I do know that it is meant to burn cleaner with less harmful outputs from the exhaust.

The bad news is we are hearing that maybe making bio-fuels will lead to an increase in food prices and more lack of food in the third world. Here one of the supermarket chains is talking of panic-buying of rice as rumours of shortages are spread.

I guess as with everything a middle path has to be found.