gols
Novice Member
Posts: 163 
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Post by gols on Sept 11, 2014 21:16:31 GMT 1
As an English person I would be quite sad to see them leave, but as you point out miscmisc - who could blame them?
Today the largest Scottish banks have declared that they will relocate their headquarters to London in the event of a Yes vote. Of course it's only coincidental that their combined debt is larger than the GDP of an independent Scotland - i.e. not enough to bail them out. Also the various Westminster leaders have taken the trip north to try and talk the Scots out of it - which is surely having the opposite effect.
Having said that, if I were a Scot I wouldn't have much confidence in Salmond being the right man for the job. His insane insistence on keeping the pound is one warning sign and some of the friends he is making (e.g. Murdoch) is another.
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Post by Jofeljoh! on Sept 13, 2014 12:04:41 GMT 1
Lost my phone in Bangkok - at the first night  other than that, the trip to Thailand was awesome, and I saw one event @ Rajadmanern, so that's a bucket list item crossed. Lumpini didn't work out unfortunately. |
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Post by K1power on Sept 13, 2014 21:30:56 GMT 1
Awesome stuff, except the phone bit of course. I read some of your updates on Facebook. Seems like you had a great time!
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 14, 2014 7:17:24 GMT 1
As an English person I would be quite sad to see them leave, but as you point out miscmisc - who could blame them? Today the largest Scottish banks have declared that they will relocate their headquarters to London in the event of a Yes vote. Of course it's only coincidental that their combined debt is larger than the GDP of an independent Scotland - i.e. not enough to bail them out. Also the various Westminster leaders have taken the trip north to try and talk the Scots out of it - which is surely having the opposite effect. Having said that, if I were a Scot I wouldn't have much confidence in Salmond being the right man for the job. His insane insistence on keeping the pound is one warning sign and some of the friends he is making (e.g. Murdoch) is another. Blair also said that Scotland should stay. I wonder why the Queen didn't issue a gag order on that reptilian shapeshifter. Massive help for the YES camp, no doubt. My impression is that as globally hated as Blair is, the Scottish hatred toward him is exceptionally fierce precisely because he's Scottish (at least nominally). I almost suspect the root cause of the whole thing is their determination to completely disown him once and for all in the most comprehensive way. Anyway, they seem to hate the "Westminster Scots" far more than they do any English person, as their enemy is not really England but London (really, so many English people have suffered the same/similar fate as Scottish people struggling under the Tories/New Labour rule), and the NO camp has been led precisely by those people. Bad strategy. I don't know much about Salmond, but heard him talk about the Irish-style "low-tax, business-free environment" and Scandinavian-style welfare state. There's a bit of a problem there, to say the least. It seems that he's trying to be several different persons at the same time, to trick as many Scots as possible into voting YES. With that being said, the Scottish independence wouldn't necessarily mean that he and his party would have to govern the new state, right? When something of this much importance is at stake, leading figures tend to say all kinds of things to get the thing going. Whatever will happen after the fact is a totally different matter. I also find the accusation of atavistic nationalism patently absurd, as though British nationalism was not a nationalism at all. And the argument that the independence would be "catastrophic for the working class" is silly. If that's the case, why are most of the capitalist class and neoliberals in Britain (and elsewhere, like that sleaze-orc Jose Manuel Barosso at the EU) firmly opposed to it? Why are the certified wankers engaged in the blatant, desperate blackmailing campaign to frighten Scotland? I think the bottom line is that if Scottish people want independence only if they are assured it won't disrupt anything or cause any trouble, they should forget about it. In other words, their passion for independence must genuinely triumph over their fear for all the potential trouble. It's practically impossible for them to gain independence without significant trouble, especially given the structure of the current British state system. They must be ready to work hard for years, collectively, to stabilize the post-independence environment. They also must have the stomach enough to endure the abuses and ridicule coming inevitably from wankers at every single sign of trouble, including the neoliberal economic media outlets like The Economist and its ilk. Paul Krugman has been telling us the nightmare scenario of sticking with the pound, but I find his argument a tad hysterical. He's not wrong, but I wouldn't expect the situation to be simply the continuation of the current discourse after the actual independence. I just don't take seriously enough the arguments made by the pro-independence people at this point. They are just throwing everything against the wall to see if any of them sticks. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I, as a totally irresponsible third party, support the Scottish independence. Vote YES, please, and we'll discuss what to do in actuality later. It's not like staying in the Union is a great path ahead, after all. And I don't think that even if they end up voting NO, things will be the same after that. This is unlikely to be the end of the matter. I wonder how this will affect the Northern Ireland situation too, not to mention the Catalan situation in Spain. |
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 14, 2014 7:21:39 GMT 1
Lost my phone in Bangkok - at the first night other than that, the trip to Thailand was awesome, and I saw one event @ Rajadmanern, so that's a bucket list item crossed. Lumpini didn't work out unfortunately. EVERYONE loses their phone in Thailand one way or another for some reason. Some sort of weird magnetic field or something, I guess. I should've told you not to bring your main phone over there. I never do. I even named my second phone - small, lightweight, durable, water-proof, unlocked Android 2.3 device - "Marco Polo". What did you like the most over there? |
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Post by Jofeljoh! on Sept 14, 2014 18:18:18 GMT 1
Yeah I should have known, I should have just brought my iPhone 4. It's what I also do when there's carnaval or some other event I know there might be a good chance I get shitfaced drunk  My guess is that I lost it in a taxi, just sliding out my pocket. The weird thing is, when I called my number, I got a normal ringing tone for a few days. After that, no signal. My guess is, it somewhere in that same cab inside the seat or something. Anyway, I loved Khao Sok National Park. The lake and surrounding jungle is just so awesomely beautiful. We stayed in a treehouse and two days on floating cabins on the lake. No electricity, except for one generator to charge batteries if needed. It really gave me the rest I desperately needed. Our trip was like this: 4 days Bangkok, 4 days Koh Phi Phi, 4 days Khao Sok, 5 days Koh Samui/Koh Pangang and 2 days Bangkok again. Bangkok: clearly not my city. It's hot as hell, crowded, dirty, it smells, and so on. To be honest: it also has a lot of nice and beautiful places that you don't know of. We did a bicycle tours and our guide took us to some pretty beautiful places there. Also going out at night can be awesome - if you know the right places. One of my friends still had contacts in Thailand so two Thai girls took us to the cool places. You know, when you step inside some office building, you think 'what the hell am I doing here, you step into the elevator, and seconds later, 46 stories up, you step into a mad party on some rooftop. One thing I underestimated - the sex tourism. In my naivety I thought you really had to look for it but boy was I wrong. So many old dudes with young Thai girls. Really awkward. You constantly get harassed by prostitutes. And if you're not in 'that kind of bar', you still have to question every kind of attention you're getting from the girls. Either they're genuine prostitutes, or girls who dream of getting a European guy and a better life elsewhere. Only few girls who might just be normal and have a 'healthy' kind of interest in you. That's how I perceived it anyway. As a 6"3 ft European guy you get lots of attention, you can almost pick and choose. And I'm far from a Brad Pitt kind of guy. Massage parlors on the islands Koh Phi Phi and Koh Samui? I thought the 'happy end' was also some kind of exaggerated thing. Nope, in most of the salons, the girls are trying to get you there, even if you don't want it. If you want a normal massage, the only two real options are getting it at the beach, where everything is in the open, or in town where (mostly some older) women wear uniforms. Avoid 'massaaaaaageeee?' screaming girls, or salons where curtains get closed and cd's of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion are on repeat (been there, done that). Anyway, back to my trip. Koh Phi Phi was pretty cool, chilling at the beach. Going out on night was different from night to night. Some fun nights and some less fun nights. Went on excursion with a boat, snorkeling, which was a first for me and really cool. Went to Maya Beach, where the Leonardo DiCaprio movie 'The Beach' was recorded. Well, that was a big disappointment. Really small beach with so many tourists, and we had to stay there for an hour. Khao Sok was really beautiful. Stayed in a treehouse first night. Went to feed monkeys, tubing on a lazy river, went on night safari, swam into a bat cave, eating breakfast on a floating table on the lake. Went on a trekking, saw elephants and monkeys living in the wild. Climbed a waterfall. Most beautiful place ever. Koh Samui, stayed at Superpro Samui where my friend Robbie runs that place. Hired scooters, visited the big Buddha, climbed another waterfall. Went to the Full Moon Party on Koh Pangang, and despite the stories of people who found it to be much too 'commercial', we had a blast and certainly was one of the heights as well, as for partying at least. Back in Bangkok like I said, I was sad going back, but still got to go to Rajadamnern. Next day we visited the Grand Palace and the 46 mtr long Reclining Buddha, went for some souvenirs and then back to Kiev - Amsterdam. All in all, it was so much fun. These are just the cliffs notes, lots of stories  |
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 15, 2014 7:34:46 GMT 1
Sounds like you had a blast. Cool.
It's important to have local contacts if you visit Bangkok. Well, that's true with any place, but I wouldn't recommend it as a tourist destination to everyone. It's not really an attractive city for most people unless they simply want to get laid, hardly a Paris (which I don't particularly care for, but anyway) or Taipei. You would be better off in another country if you wanted to visit a good South East Asian place. But having local contacts totally changes that.
You must excuse the girls having "I want to get the hell out of this place/country, and you may be the ticket for me" written all over their faces. Marriage/relationship is largely a career choice for them, especially the unlucky ones who were born in poorer areas, which most of the sex workers and "street girls" were. But despite that, they tend to be surprisingly less cynical (albeit often very foolish...) than expected, and rarely step over the ethical bounds. They are sweet at heart, so treat them accordingly.
Unless you are a frequent visitor like me, staying in Bangkok for as few days as possible is always a good idea. There are loads of places in remote areas, and it seems that you've tasted a few of them.
Anyway, your Amsterdam-Kiev-Bangkok route sounds rather funny actually. You pretty much completed the global sex-city Axis tour right there, lol.
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gols
Novice Member
Posts: 163
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Post by gols on Sept 16, 2014 19:34:47 GMT 1
Khao Sok was really beautiful. Stayed in a treehouse first night. Went to feed monkeys, tubing on a lazy river, went on night safari, swam into a bat cave, eating breakfast on a floating table on the lake. Went on a trekking, saw elephants and monkeys living in the wild. Climbed a waterfall. Most beautiful place ever. I went to Khao Sok when I was in Thailand earlier this year. Only had two days there but it was really nice as you say. Apart from getting bitten by leeches Probably went to the same bat cave you did - it was funny, in the UK you would've been given a helmet, head torch, certified caver leading the group etc; in Thailand it's: follow crazy man into cave where you end up in water up to your neck, and hope that someone tipped you off beforehand so that you bought your own torch! |
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 17, 2014 18:41:25 GMT 1
I've participated in a few of those "trekking tours" in the past, and I wondered each time how come no one had ever died. I was this close at one point too, while we were rafting in a rainy season. And by "rafting", I mean rollercoasting down the river at an insane speed on a "raft" that we made of a bunch of logs and ropes impromptu.
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Post by Jofeljoh! on Sept 19, 2014 14:35:29 GMT 1
Lol, it wasn't as hardcore and adventureous as THAT. Leeches were the worst, and really, if that's the worst, well, you have it pretty easy. One nice thing to mention: I brought two muay thai shorts and 2 pairs of gloves for my nieces (aged 5 and 7). The 7 year old went on wearing it to school, and after hearing that she was totally in awe with it, I brought her to a muay thai lesson. She loved it. So now this proud uncle has permission of her mom and dad to take her to muay thai lesson once a week. (the 5 year old is nog quite sold yet, but maybe she was just shy; she often wants to do the same things as her big sister so who knows ) |
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 19, 2014 19:25:06 GMT 1
Appealing to children is always a good strategy. That's how that creepy old man, your fellow Dutchman Sinter Klaas (Santa Claus) cynically took over the world after all!
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 19, 2014 19:44:53 GMT 1
So, the Union Jack still waves, over the land of the free, the home of the brave, whisky, and bad food (easily worse than English food, I hear - though that's just what the English say).
It wasn't going to be the end of the world for Scotland either way, but the demographic chart of the polls doesn't look good. It looks like Scotland remained in the union very largely, too largely, because of the old people concerned about their pensions and pounds. It has always been a divided country, but not demographically like this, I think. This kind of old vs. young split is never good for a society, especially when the old has won.
To be honest, I thought YES would win it very very narrowly, based largely on the global trend of separatism, even though I knew Scotland was a bit tricky. The German unification has been the only case that went the other way. I thought the almost-blind passion for nationhood would win over the economic concerns in the end. I guess I kind of underestimated the conservatism of the old folks. They are actually too financially secure now, probably much more secure than their children/grandchildren will ever be, to flirt with the idea of any risk-taking. It would've been a different story if they weren't that rich.
I don't know if the pro-independence people can get over it anytime soon. If I were one of them, I would live like a zombie for at least months to come.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 19, 2014 20:37:01 GMT 1
The people who are truly delusional re: Scotland is those who say that this has resolved the issue once and for all, or even for a generation. Er, do they know nothing about Quebec, for example? Many Canadians said the same thing about Quebec, and they were all wrong. The Canadian government has had to essentially bribe Quebec every few years to this day, and the Scotland issue is even more explosive. Quebecois have been rather quiet, and there has been less need for bribery lately only because they are enjoying the housing bubble right now. It won't last forever, needless to say.
This is NOT the end of the matter, with or without another referendum anytime soon. It will continue to haunt the UK.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 19, 2014 21:24:58 GMT 1
I've just seen a Scottish No voter talking about taking into consideration the "risk of runs on UK banks" on TV.
It's so incredibly easy to scare people and put them into the box.
There was ZERO chance of bank runs in the UK. Zero chance, literally. It made zero sense. None of the required conditions for bank runs would've been met with the Scottish independence. It was pure fear-mongering, and it seems that quite a few people actually bought it.
Being economically illiterate is never a good thing, folks.
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Post by h on Oct 4, 2014 1:45:46 GMT 1
im overworked and fucking tired. meh.
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