Perry's Problems

If Rick Perry had told Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg "I'll pay you if you step down and hand over the office currently investigating my underlings for political corruption to me" then few people would be arguing he had stepped beyond the boundaries of the law. If he had told the elected official "End your investigation of my people or I'll make sure you have no resources to fund investigations into anyone" then I doubt we would hear the likes of Salon, the New York Times, or David Axelrod complaining the allegations were frivolous.

Yet, for choosing his words more carefully, those are exactly the statements that Rick Perry made. For those few that don't know, Rosemary Lehmberg is in charge of the Public Integrity Unit, a state funded agency that investigates things such as public corruption, government and election codes, insurance fraud, and other related offenses.  Among the charges that the integrity unit was investigating was a conflict of interest allegation with one of Perry's "signature achievements", the "Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas" or CPRIT.

It seems that CPRIT gave an $11 million dollar grant to a company without going through the required peer review of the company first. That alone should raise some eyebrows, but further research uncovered that the company was largely funded by a friend of Perry's, who had donated both $241,000 to Perry's personal war chest as well as $1.6 million to CPRIT itself. This was the investigation that was going on when Rick Perry made his ultimatum. Had Rosemary Lehmberg stepped down, Perry himself would have had the authority to appoint someone to complete her term and complete the investigation into the conflict of interest allegations between Perry's appointees at CPRIT and Perry's campaign donors.

These appear to be the facts that pushed the Special Prosecutor, who had served in the Bush/Quayle administration, to decide the case should move forward.

Perry's campaign is hoping to keep the view of Lehmberg's actions during her infamous arrest, which admittedly were quite atrocious for a public official, as the focus of the trial. Even this, however, becomes difficult when you note that Lehmberg is the third Texas District Attorney convicted of a DWI during Perry's administration, but is the first to draw the Governor's ire. The other two attorneys, however, were Republicans and were not involved with investigating anyone attached to Rick Perry.

Bad Tactics Regardless of Reason

I think every American should be outraged by the tactics being used by a small group of Congressmen that have lead to our government shutdown.

Let us be clear about what is at stake here. These tactics are dangerous and will continue to be abused if not stopped now. Whether you agree with the Affordable Health Care Act or not, this is not a good way to go about it.  What we have here is a minority group who feels passionately about a subject, but was not granted the numbers by voters to persue the changing of this law by the means granted within the Constitution. So instead they have resorted to extortion. They have said "You must agree to our demands, and in exchange we will give you a two month extension on allowing the government to keep running". They feel that since they have been gracious enough to alter those demands, that this shows they are "negotiating", but in the end, they are still holding all of us hostage, and changing the demands does not change what they are doing.

Let us say, for the sake of arguement, that their demands were met. Do you think it would stop there? This same group has already expressed interest before in turning Social Security over to Wall Street by privatizing it. They do not, however, have the support in congress to do so. So what happens if, during the next crisis (which is just under two weeks away when we reach the debt ceiling) they say "You will agree to privatizing Social Security or we will not allow the debt ceiling to increase", something that has never been done in the history of the U.S. Will we then give into those demands as well?

And of course, we know, if the Repubs are successful at a tactic, sooner or later there will be a radical group on the left who decides to "even the playing field" and adopt the same tactics. What happens when a radical group of democrats gets a sizable minority and suddenly says "You will agree to ban all guns, or we will shut the government down". Then, if they get pushback, they may follow the current Republican playbook and say "Okay, we'll agree to just ban all handguns. That proves we've been willing to negotiate, and if you disagree with us then the shutdown is your fault!".

The constituion has clearly laid out guidelines for passing, adjusting, and repealing laws. It requires the House, the Senate, and the President (or a huge majority of the House and Senate over ridding the President) to all agree on something before it can happen. This keeps us safe from the whims of a minority. But this new tactic puts us all in jeopardy as a nation. There can be no negotiations. This is an abuse of power and will only get worse until it is stopped.

Observations of the Senate Hearings

I listened to the live cast of the TX Senate hearings yesterday where I could. While I do not believe it will actually change any minds, I am glad that the Senate at least allowed all who signed up to speak, unlike the House proceedings last week. There was a variety of testimony on both sides, with some providing compelling, sometimes heart wrenching, testimony, while others left only confusion in their wake.

The supporters of the bill fell into three categories. The first essentially stated “These senators say this will bill will make the procedure more safe, so why not support that?”. These were the minority, but also appeared to be the least ideologically driven. The second, more prominent group included the folks stating “Women cannot be trusted to make their own decisions, so the government should make it for them”. The last group stated very plainly “abortion is against my religion and any bill that makes it more restrictive should be passed”. 

There is little you can say to the third group that will make a difference. I will, none the less, point out that if you make any religious argument for a secular law, you’re doing it wrong. I will also point out that if your ultimate goal is to lower the occurrence of abortion, then making it more restrictive will not do that. You can review my prior posts for reasons and ways of actually decreasing abortion rates, but I’ve found that “true believers” do not tend to be pragmatic. If they see something as “morally wrong” by their religion, they want it to have the force of the law against it regardless of the damage that would cause. Luckily these folks, while numerous and passionate, are not the majority anymore.

                It was slightly depressing to see just how many women fell into the second category. Over and over I heard testimony that stated “I had an abortion, and I regret my choice, so I want the law to ensure no one else has the right to make that choice”. I empathize with the women who went through traumatic experiences, especially those few who were forced by a parent or significant other into making a decision they didn’t truly want. That being said, taking away other people’s choice won’t fix that. There are people who regret having kids at the age they did. There are people who regret giving children up for adoption. There are people that regret nothing no matter their choice. It is up to each individual to decide what is best for them and no blanket answer can fit everyone’s needs. Everyone makes choices they regret at some point, but that is part of being human. We learn from those so that we do not make the same mistakes again ourselves, and share our experiences with others so that they can use it to make their own decisions. We should not take those choices away. After all, if you feel your fellow women are incapable of making that choice, what other choices should you give up? Should we do arranged marriages so that you do not have to regret your choice of spouses? It’s not unheard of, most commonly in societies where women are viewed as incapable of making decisions for themselves.

                The first group seems the most misled. These are the folks I hope will actually alter their views of the bill once they read it in its entirety. I heard many statements such as “all it takes is some money and these clinics can stay open. Surely as much money as the abortion industry makes, it will spend the money on these upgrades, right?” These folks mean well but haven’t actually read what is involved here. For starters, there has not been an abortion related death in Texas since 2008, and complications in abortions happen at a rate of 1/14^th the occurrence of natural child birth. With these well-established facts, why are we spending millions of dollars to push this bill through? With so many actual issues facing the Texas public, why are we adding regulations to an industry that for the past five years has failed to post one single mortality?

           “Yes,” some readers will say, “but they could still be even more safe, couldn’t they? Why fight that?” It is true that  abortion clinics can absolutely increase their hallway width, the size of the procedure room where they often just give a woman a pill, add a specific janitorial closet and even add a men’s locker room (though how this will help increase abortion safety is beyond me). But what it cannot control is whether or not a hospital will grant them admitting privileges. The bill requires that in order to stay open, a clinic’s doctor must have these privileges. It does not, however, require hospitals to grant them. As many hospitals are run by religious groups with their own bias against the procedure, those hospitals are not likely to grant these privileges. Even state run facilities have become very reticent to hand out privileges due to a variety of factors ranging from liability, local government restrictions, or even personal bias on behalf the hospital’s president. This one regulation, by many accounts, stands to shut down most of the currently operating clinics in the state, and short of opening up their own hospital there will be absolutely nothing these clinics can do to stop it. One needs only look at other states that have already implemented similar restrictions to see the aftermath. State after state has seen similar restrictions with most of their facilities closing. A recent report by Guttmacher Institute shows that in the past four years, over 1200 of the nation’s 3000 facilities have closed. Given that many of these facilities are also the only affordable option for women to obtain family planning, birth control, STD testing, and cancer screening, this is a huge loss that is growing worse. If even that fails to convince you of the true purpose of this bill, I would point you to the tweet by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst showing a map of the facilities expected to close with this bill along with a statement reading  "We fought to pass (Senate Bill 5) thru the Senate last night, & this is why!"

Abortion Arguements by the Numbers

Here’s a nifty fact for you. Nobody *likes* abortions. You don’t have to take my word for that, of course. Go out and survey as many women as you like, and I would be willing to bet that the number of them that say that getting an abortion is on their bucket list would be statistically nonexistent.

Yet events occur beyond people’s control where they deem it necessary to have one. The reasons vary greatly, from economic hardship to medical necessity. Each woman has her own reason for doing something she would not have chosen to otherwise do if she could have avoided the situation altogether, and as each decision is personal, the “why” is not the point of this article. The “how” is.

In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that women had the right to a legal abortion up until the point where the “viability” or the point where if born the child could survive outside of the womb. This is typically 28 weeks though in rare circumstances could range back to 24 weeks. Since then, opponents of abortions rights have worked to roll back or, where possible, eliminate legal abortions.

The reasons are many but most hinge on the idea that abortion is an abomination and should be removed from society. Here is the catch 22 we as a nation find ourselves in, though; outlawing abortions does not stop abortions, it mere stops legal abortions. The World Health Organization collects data from all over the world on all manner of medical procedures, abortion included. In a world where the internet puts that data at our finger tips, I would invite those who disagree that a choice to have a legal abortion should exist to determine *why* they believe that and then look to see if the facts back up their choice of methods. In most cases, I think you would find that targeting the abortion right itself isn’t the best method for achieving the goal of lowering the abortion rate. Let’s look at some of the common reasons given, and why they don’t necessarily match up with reality.

Making Abortion Illegal would stop abortions

With abortion legal in the US, roughly 20 out of every 1000 women have one. Western Europe has less restrictions in general than the US on abortion, and roughly 12 out of every 1000 women have an abortion there. South Africa, the only state in Africa to legalize abortion, has roughly 15 per 1000. If making abortions illegal stopped abortions, you would expect the WHO’s statistics for abortions in places where it was illegal to be far fewer than places like Europe where it’s readily available, much less the US or South Africa where it’s more highly regulated. This isn’t the case.

In the rest of Africa, an average of 29 of every 1000 child bearing women get abortions. In Latin America, 32 of every 1000 receive it. Making the procedures illegal shows to have no actual bearing on decreasing the occurrences of the procedure. It merely makes them more dangerous.

We need to raise regulations for safety measures.

This is the commonly cited argument for the current round of restrictions to abortion access. Why would we not want safer procedures, right? Who could possibly object to trying to protect women? The sad fact is, the statistics again do not support the supposed results. There is a 0.3% chance of complications from an abortion. To put that in perspective, there is a 1% chance of complications from taking an aspirin. Than means you’re 3 times more likely to have issues with taking an over-the-counter pill than you are with a legal abortion under current regulations. So as you can see, we’re already starting with an extremely low rate of danger, but better safe than sorry, right? Again the facts would say wrong. The current round of legislation is designed so that it lengthens the time it would take for many women to get an abortion. An ultra-sound law recently passed in Texas and other states means that if a woman does not wish to be vaginally violated by a state ordered ultrasound she must wait until the fetus is recognizable by a transabdomonal ultra-sound, which is typically 8 weeks.  Coincidently, this marks the end of when performing an abortion is at its most safe. Abortions prior to 8 weeks literally hold a one in one million chance of fatality. Abortions up to 20 weeks become slightly more dangerous, with one death out of every 29,000 abortions. 21+ weeks, of course, increases the risk further to one death our of every 11,000 procedures (still safer, however, than child birth which holds a 1.29% fatality rate). Now, to put all of this in prospective, let’s find a common denominator for all of these numbers to see how they match up together. Since our largest number is a million, we’ll go with it.

Number of death per 1,000,000 procedures:
Abortion under 8 Weeks - 1
Abortion up to 20 Weeks - 34
Abortion 21+ Weeks - 91
Child Birth - 12,900

If you were looking to make something safer, why would abortion be your target? And if you truly wished it to be safer, making it more readily available would be a better choice than making it more restrictive. Merely delaying the procedure, as the current round of laws do, easily makes the procedure 34 times more dangerous. And forcing a woman to carry the baby to term that she doesn’t want astronomically increases the likelihood of her death over allowing her to have the abortion she sought to begin with. Incidentally, the current infant mortality rate in the US is 0.615%. So out of those 1,000,000 births, 6,150 of those children would have died. That seems a far better place to focus our attempts at safety.

Truly Reducing Abortions

So are we a hopeless cause? Is there no way of really reducing the rate of abortions? The statistics actually say that there are. Europe holds the distinction of having one of the highest and lowest abortion rates in the world. Western Europe has a rate of roughly 12 out of every 1000 women, where Eastern Europe has a rate closer to 43 per 1000. What is the primary difference between the two? Education and Birth Control. Western Europe pushes formal sexual education and has birth control  affordable and readily available to most women. Eastern Europe tends to rely more on traditional and less accurate forms of birth control. The results are pretty stark and logical. Many abortions come from unwanted babies. Teach women how to avoid getting pregnant and give them the tools to do so, and you reduce abortions. Keep them ignorant, or make dependable contraceptives hard to get, and you create a recipe for desperation that will not look to laws for permission.

If your goal is to reduce abortions, then the facts say that the easiest way to do that is through education and contraception. If your goal is to make abortion safer, then the facts say that reducing barriers to a woman getting an abortion when she is going to anyway is the way to go. If you still insist on pushing an agenda that raises barriers to abortion without providing education and contraception to women, then it’s time to admit you really do not care about the women or children themselves, and that you are more likely pursuing control over the female body by stating that if she has sex she will be forced to endure consequences that are not medically necessary merely because you wish it to be so. If that is your goal, at least be honest with yourself and the public at large.

Politics in Texas

I hadn't really intended this site for politics, but the Texas govenor and legislature have done many things lately which make me feel like I should lend my voice in every way I can in opposing them, so here goes:

Texas has a legend which you may have heard of: The Alamo.

Let’s discuss a very brief history lesson: Back when Texas was still part of Mexico, a large group of settlers within it decided they did not want to be part of that union anymore. They chose instead to break off to form their own country. As one could expect when a section of a country announces its intent to take its land and resources and go, Mexico object, and it dispatched a mighty military under General Santa Anna to bring the separatists to heel and keep Mexico whole. A group of these separatists, sporting some well-known names at the time, decided to hole up in a local church mission known as Alamo.

This is where History might have taken a different turn. Santa Anna knew these rebels were sealed away in the grounds of this old church and had a choice. He could have set siege to the grounds, cut off their supply lines, and demanded the surrender of separatist leaders in exchange for the safe passage of those others within. With little hope of fighting their way through enemy lines and dwindling supplies, these leaders might even have been forced to give in, where they could have been returned to the capital to face justice for their crimes against the state. Had this occurred, it is entirely possible that those who really did not care much either way if Texas was under Mexico or its own leadership may have taken the easier path and just allowed Mexico to retain control. As history is written by the victors, ours could be very different.

That, however, was not the choice Santa Anna made. Santa Anna was full of righteous anger. These people were taking the land of his countrymen and deserved to be made example of. With overwhelming odds on his side, he chose to use what could be described as a vulgar display of power to crush and execute all those who stood in his way. The intent was to show that any who stood against what he felt was right would not be tolerated.

The problem with using examples, however is that it is difficult to control the lessons learned from them. Rather than being cowered, folks that were on the fence became incensed. As stories of the atrocities committed at the Alamo spread far and wide, those who would have remained neutral instead joined the opposition, and those already with the opposition renewed their passion with a fervor that would have otherwise been non-existent. “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry that turned a battle won into a war lost.

Now, close to two hundred years later, General Santa Anna’s righteousness resides in our Governor Rick Perry. His Lieutenant David Dewhurst is leading the charge to pass a law that they believe just, but that the majority of Texans oppose. They could have compromised, passed something most people didn’t like but that they were willing to put up with, and history would continue to be uninteresting. Instead they have chosen to use a vulgar display of power. They have suspended the senate rules that state 75% must be in agreement to bring a bill forward. They have allowed their supporters to speak while denying the same rights to those who oppose them. They have broken senate rules, made illogical and unsupportable decisions, and even threatened to arrest those who oppose them, making it clear that those who stand against what they feel is right will not be tolerated.

In doing so, people who would have otherwise stood on the fence, are joining the opposition. Those who were on the other side have renewed their passion with a fervor not seen in the Texas Democratic party in close to two decades. It is nearly impossible for those supporting women’s rights to win this battle, but in losing the battle they may very well win the war – pushing Texas from a Republican stronghold back to the Democratic.

It is said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps if Rick Perry and his followers hadn’t spent so much time cutting education, they may have avoided this.

Bangkok Ending

So, since Dad’s usual hotel was booked we stayed at the Prince Palace in a pair of very nice suites. The Palace seems apply named. It’s a massive multiple tower structure with beautiful ornate hallways, an 11th story bar with a terrace overlooking the city, beautiful wood carvings and statues, comfortable beds, and a fantastic view from our 37th story window.

Statue at the entrance of the Prince Palace

 That being said, it had some oddities to it as well. For starters, it had no free internet, which seemed odd for a place this high end. It also odd that your room key doubled as a power source for the room. When you unlocked your door, there was a slot just inside the room that you then put your key into which turned on the lights, AC, etc. This had two big issues. #1, if anyone left the room they would have to do so without the key if anyone else inside wanted to have any power. Number two it meant that when you left your AC went off. Not a huge issue, as the place was well insulated, but it meant that the rooms weren’t as cool as they could have been given the near hundred degree days. 

    The next issue we had with it was that, unlike our hotel on Sukhumvit, the Prince Palace was not on the BTS route, so we couldn’t just walk out and catch the train. This is a bit of a headache since taxis and tuk tuks require much negotiations to get where you want to go (the taxis want to charge you a large flat fee rather than using the meter, and the tuk tuks want to take you by a tailor first to get measured for a suit... go figure). Still, the Palace is listed as one of the top hotels and if you’re going to be staying at your  hotel a lot and have your own transportation, it isn’t a bad place to stay. If you’re just looking for a place to crash I have to say the City Lodge Sukhumvit 9 Hotel is probably a cheaper and more convenient bet. 

      We left the Palace mid morning, roaming out to seek some breakfast. Dad negotiated with some taxis until he found one willing to use the meter to take us to our first destination, the Siam Paragon mall. Wow. If you’re ever looking for an amazing high end shopping experience, this should be your destination of choice. From Lamborghini to Louis Vuitton, if it’s high end then it’s here. Cars, clothes, bikes, handbags, make up, electronics, groceries and toys of all kinds, this mall had pretty much every major name brand I could think of in its own store. Even its food court was full of high end gourmet dining. We initially laughed when Barb decided she wanted to try a mexican food place for brunch, then glancing at the menus Crys and I noticed they had fish tacos made with red snapper. We decided perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea after all and we all roamed over to join her. The tacos were very tasty. The mexican rice and beans were good too, though I will say they didn’t really taste much like tex-mex. 

Surprisingly the Chips and Salsa were very tasty

    After some more window shopping in the Siam, we decided to catch the train to Chatuchak. Crys and I had both found a few clothes there the first time that we really liked, but since you can’t really try things on there we were unsure at the time whether they would be as cool on as they looked. Having confirmed now they were we went back in search of extra copies of them. I picked up a thai shirt in Indonesia about six years or so ago, and have been looking for more of them since. Unfortunately it appears they’re hard to find outside of Thailand itself, so I definitely wanted a few more to hold me over until our next visit. Chatuchak was as we remembered it, almost the equal and opposite of the mall we started our day in. A sprawling twisting endless array of shops that sell pretty much any and everything you can think of. If you ever get a chance to go, do so. The people watching alone is fun and the sheer variety of what is available for sale is staggering. Just remember if you do that you are expected to haggle. Prices are actually reasonable, but in most of the shops they’re priced well above what the proprietors actually expect to sell them for. 

     After a few hours of shopping, we successfully found all that we were looking for and eventually decided to roam off to a new destination. Barbara had forgotten an item at the hotel the last time we were in Bangkok and was curious to see if they still had it so we decided to wander back to Nana station to Sukhumvit and check back into that area. As we remembered, the streets were full of more shopping stalls, as well as all of the stores, restaurants and services we had roamed past before. 

    This seems a good place to mention the laid back attitude Bangkok seems to have towards sex and vulgarity. During our initial foray around Bangkok I noticed periodically we would hear songs like Lily Allen’s “Fuck you very much”.  We thought at first that they just didn’t know what those songs meant. Now I think that they do, they just don’t care. Roaming Sukhumvit, it was not uncommon to see condoms, viagra and sex toys at some of the stalls, with labels that you would normally not see outside of adult stores here. Sex and nudity attracted no more attention than T-shirts or kids toys. Another interesting note is that throughout all of Thailand and Malaysia, everywhere we went there was something somewhere for sale with Psy doing his Gangnum style. It’s amazing how much that song has infiltrated pop culture over there. 

   After wondering about doing more exploration of the surrounding areas, we were discussing what we wanted to do to finish up the day. Sadly, we were a good distance from the cool temples, so we decided we probably were going to make it to any of those on this trip. We weren’t very hungry yet so Dad offered a way to kill a little time prior to dinner: Thai foot massages. Crys is normally extremely against anyone (including me) touching her feet, but to my surprise decided since were in Thailand we really should give it a try. So we agreed and wandered into one of the many places just off the street that offered haircuts, shaves, and massages. We each sat down in a line of recliners against the wall and were quickly attended to by masseuses who washed our feet before going to work on them. They spent the next forty five minutes rubbing, stretching and gently poking our feet and legs, mostly with their hands but sometimes with a strange wooden tool I suspect to be part of some kind pressure point type tool. They then moved on to our arms and shoulders, finishing up with what was at times awkward or painful stretches. The end result was extremely relaxing though, and changed Crys’s opinion on the idea of professional massages. She’s ready to go back and get some more as soon as possible. 

    Our much more relaxed crew then left and walked down to Dad’s favorite local restaurant there, the Lebanese place from our first Bangkok outing. We ordered roughly the same meal, which wasn’t a bad thing at all, and enjoyed one last group meal together. Afterwards we again set about finding a good taxi to get us back to the hotel. The one we finally settled into was a very nice driver who spoke pretty good English. He had recently moved to Bangkok from Northern Thailand with his wife to try and make more money than he could where he was from. His kids were still living with family back his village since schools were apparently far pricier in the Bangkok area than his village. We had a good chat with him on the way back, and he told us he could actually pick Crys and I up at 3am for our trip to the airport, and he could do so for 500 baht, including the toll. Given that we’d paid 2200b to leave the airport that was a great deal. It meant we were paying the equivalent of about $17 to take the toll road from South Austin to Georgetown. 

   We returned to the Prince Palace, said our goodbyes to Barb since we knew she wouldn’t make it until our leaving and then set about cleaning ourselves up and packing. It was close to 11pm by then and since we had to leave at 3am we saw little reason (despite our bodies’ objections) to try and go to sleep. After getting our bags settled in we decided to roam around the hotel one more time. When we had arrived at 11pm there had been much in the way of New Years celebrating going on, but here closer to 2am all was quiet. We roamed down to the 11th floor to the outside deck overlooking the city and enjoyed the view for awhile. Looking back towards the outside pool and bar area, however, we saw what I would say was my last strike against the Prince Palace, three ROUSs roaming about. Granted they were not quite Princess Bride level, but these Rodents of Unusual Size really were close to cat sized and looked more like brown opossums than rats. It was a bit creepy, though I doubt they are seen much during the daylight. A strange finish to the night. 

    About 2:30am, Dad came over to our room and we spent the last part of the eve talking of the trip and of hopes for future trips. Finally at three we went down stairs where we found that our driver from earlier had sent one of his friends to pick us up. The new driver was just as nice as the first, so we said our goodbyes to Dad and set upon our final drive for the trip through Bangkok. 

   If we have anything to say about it in the future, however, it will not be our final drive through Bangkok ever. Many people see South East Asia as rice patties and small villages, and while those places still exist there it is amazing to think of all of the sites and experiences we saw on this trip in both Thailand and Malaysia. Both have extremely modernized cities with experiences available you couldn’t hope to find in the states and incredibly awesome people at every turn. If you are ever looking for a vacation destination, I would suggest either country be added to your list of options. We could spend another month easily in just Bangkok and not see everything we wanted to see, and looking at the options of other cities there as well as the surrounding islands opens a near endless amount of possible options for exploration. I’ve been lucky enough to do some amazing things in my lifetime, but this trip ranks high on the list of most interesting. If any of you get the chance to go any of these places, take that chance as fast as you can.

Day of Travel

We left Langkawi by ferry at 1:30pm. I was glad that we had gotten our tickets early this time. While our ferry ride in had been only a quarter full, the big holiday meant the ride out was packed to the gills. We didn't bother going outside this time, instead enjoying the cold AC of the inside; watching the islands pass by while playing Scrabble on the iPad and watching odd Thai pop videos play on the ferry's tv. 

    After about forty-five minutes or so we arrived in the port of Satun Thailand once more. We headed for immigration, where we received 15 day visas for the country.  Interesting note: if you come in by plane, you are granted a far longer stay than if you cross the border by land or sea. This is apparently designed to keep people from just crossing the nearest border when their Visa expires and sticking around for long periods without applying for a residency or work visa instead. 

  After passing by customs, we began the fun of finding and negotiating a taxi for the day. It took some time to get one locked in, and apparently even then they could only get the ride to Hat Yai rather than for the day. This left us with the choice of negotiating another taxi in Hat Yai or heading for the airport. Since we had a plethora of bags, it was decided we would head for the airport in hopes of getting an earlier flight. 

 The drive was very nice. We passed through a few towns as well as the Thai countryside. It is an absolutely beautiful area. It is interesting to note that both Malaysia and Thailand are kingdoms. Langkawi had many photos about of the King and Queen, but they were nothing in comparison to the pictures and paintings Thailand has of its king. At 85, he is apparently the longest serving monarch in the world, and his visage is everywhere. Some with the queen, but often on his own. His age in the photos ranged drastically with many showing him in what appears to have been his thirties, others ranging up to current day.  Most show him looking on in a kind if sometimes oddly nerdy fashion. He is apparently a very popular figure in Thailand. 

Fairly typical picture of the King

The second most common site were miniaturized temples that appeared to be set up as alters. These were typically setup in front of houses though you would occasionally see one randomly setup in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain or something. Now and then you would also see outdoor shops that sold these little alters, often with a wide selection of styles and colors. Such sites, along with mountains, jungles, temples and towns made for a fascinating drive that felt far quicker than the time that actually passed. 

  Also of note, being that we were out of the big cities, was just how few signs were actually in English. Dad noted an interesting piece of history in that Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Jakarta and pretty much every other country around the area had at one point been a European colony. No one ever managed to conquer Thailand though. So one of the main Thailand did not have multiple language signs like its neighbors was that it had never really had to. It primarily did so only in high tourist areas for convenience sake. It is an odd looking language to me, but I really would like to learn t read and write it. It would make future trips much easier, and if course make for a nice way to write nearly secret notes :)

 After a couple of hours, we found ourselves arriving at Hat Yai airport. Security was far easier to deal with here, much like security in the states back in the late nineties before it was decided that making things really inconvenient would give people the illusion that they were safer. We put our stuff through a scanner ( note, while I had to take my laptop out they told me to just leave all of my other electronics in the bag) then passed through a metal detector ourselves. No removing shoes, no other hassles, very little muss or fuss. We wondered in to find out that we had just missed the only other Thai Air flight of the day aside from our 8pm booking. This meant about four hours of killing time in a small airport. 

Random Airport Store

   Given that I had eaten a few left over pieces of naan for breakfast, and had a few banana chips at the Satun port, I figured our first order of business was to have a snack. The selection turned out to be small, but did include, of all places, a Dairy Queen. Having not had much in the way of western food on this trip we decided to give it a try. Oddly enough, it turns out that Dairy Queen abroad has pretty much two things: hot dogs and ice cream. A chili dog made for a decent lunch, and a rather tasty (and very Dairy Queen tasting) brownie blizzard made for good dessert. After that it was chatting and wondering about to kill time prior to our departure. Finally boarding commenced and we settled into a short and surprisingly comfortable flight to Bangkok. 

   While waiting for our luggage, I noticed a sign that explained much about our first airport experience. Apparently there were three options for leaving the airport if you did not have your own ride. Option 1 was the MRT, which connected to the same line we took to Chat a Chat. Option 2 was public taxi. Option 3 was a limo. Guess which one we had been given on our first trip? That's right, the limo. And where Crys and I had spent 2400 baht (around $70) to get to our hotel the first time, the four of us managed to get a public taxi SUV for 700 baht (closer to $25 USD). A great deal, or so we thought. 

   Note that taxi drivers at the airport do not get to negotiate their own fees. For efficiency (and to protect against unlicensed taxis) a central booking desk negotiates the price then has you escorted to the taxi you will be taking. Apparently the taxi driver we were given was somewhat miffed at the price we were given since we were taking the larger than normal taxi (and presumably being white tourists had more money to spare).  After dad refused to let her up rate him for airport and toll fees she informed us that the weight of our luggage prevented her vehicle from going very fast and proceeded to drive the equivalent of about 40mph. She also decided to skip the speedy toll road, taking the longer slower route instead. Barb was very annoyed at this, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. I for one enjoyed the scenic route she was taking, and figured it was only hurting her as the longer she took with us the longer it would be till she got new passengers. 

   Given the holiday going on, Dad's usual hotel was booked. I'll go into detail about our replacement hotel next post, but suffice it to say it was good to end the long day of travel with a comfy bed and good AC.