Starbucks

It is sometimes like this... you see something everyday during a long time and never take care about it and one day you read something about it, then pay more attention and make your own point about this thing which had just been a useless part of the decoration so far ..

That is basically what happened for me about "Starbucks" yesterday. Frankou and I went to a book store in BKK in the morning and were shocked about the number of books written during the last year about the Starbucks phenomenon! All the books seem to describe it as the typical success story, the guys who are said to manage to make every customer pay the maximum he would be willing to pay for a coffee: the poor paying for a normal coffee and the rich taking some extra stuff to reach the maximum price they would pay... I summarize but it is basically what is alledged about it with plently explaination and description of the marketing concepts serving this strategy.
We were already really skeptical about this theory!
Then we were in Sukhumvit, unlucky about our visit when we went by a Starbucks ... First of all we were surprised to find a Starbucks in such a removed area... we already thought that the omnipresent coffeeshop is maybe too omnipresent, it doesn't make sense! And we realized that both of us had almost never been in Starbucks... I used to buy some coffee for Sophia there in London, but that's it. So we went inside and begun to order...
WHAT A SHOCK ... it is fucking expensive :( I paid 185 bath for one iced tea (which was nothing more than a black tea with some ice in it... Frank had to add the sugar himself to make it taste ok) and one latte vanilla coffee small (I mean "tall" as they call it, but it is basically the small size! There again you feel fucked off).
So it took us 5minutes to decide to make a deal and promise that WE WOULD NEVER GO BACK TO A STARBUCKS, even with other people!!

Back home, my curious Frankou went to his favorite place in the world, the Internet of course, looking for some infos about the Starbucks phenomenon and he only found many articles in the news about the company having 97% less growth compared to last year and closing many of the "omnipresent" shops!

I discovered Starbucks yesterday, we found it was bullshit and today it looks like it is dead... funny story!

Thai style

Ok so now after almost 4 months here I can say that Thai people deeply lack of any sense of criticism!

I don't want to draw too much easy conclusions but I am pretty sure that the situation of the country would be a lot better if the people were not so passive! (including the actual political crap!)

Thailand has many assets, the landscape is amazing, the weather is perfect, they can't complain about any dramatic historical background... but the people deeply lack of any sense of criticism, it looks like they never care, are always keen on being at disposal and would never ask to get more infos but instead will be glad to follow without understanding what is going on... It can be sometimes very upseting.
It might sound unfair and arrogant but I have unfortunately many examples and I think everybody would agree that Thailand is still not really mature... it just reflects the way the people are.

At AIT for instance, the professors are really not up to a MBA program (they arrive late on the day of the exam and don't even apologize, they arrive in class with no preparation and write their powerpoint while they speak to us...) and yet I have never heard a single student (apart from the exchange students, who complain but don't want to change anything as long as we are not ask to work more ;)) say anything. You could argue that i shouldn't criticize this tradition of respect to the elders in the Asian culture, but in this case I think they are not only very entitlled to complain but they should complain if they want AIT MBA to be one day in the Asian MBA ranking (yes becasue so far it is not even on the list!)
Last time in the van to Bangkok, the stupid driver drove too fast on a slow down (ralentisseur) and 5km further we had to stop on the high way because the tire was flat... Nobody wondered how long it would take and nobody even told the driver that he was stupid to drive so fast for the safety of everybody (I was so frustrated not to speak Thai!)
It is also very common that they don't explain you the plan, as they think that just like they would, you don't care either about it and will accept to follow without understanding the point.

I don't want to speak too much about it, because I don't know enough, but I think the actual political situation has also to deal with this. The majority doesn't care and therefore PAD people don't want to go for reelection, as they know that this majority will vote for the corrupted people who give them money. So the PAD people keep blocking the country (hoping the actual Prime Minister will resigned, but he doesn't) and nobody complains! It is the high season for tourism inThailand now and the economic damages will be huge! So for us it is increadibly strange that the majority doesn't manage to make its point. It doesn't make sense, that a few academic people can't be stoped... Even if they are right about trying to struggle corruption, it is not the problem here, what I mean is that they are still a minority, so they shouldn't be able to block the whole country by taking the international airport!

Of course I am far from being able to make a comprehensive analysis of the Thai society (which is anyway a lot too complex; I mean in how many country in hte world do you find three genders: male, female and lady boys?) The cultural differences are also VERY real and maybe i forget that in Europe people can also be very passive but anyway, I keep thinking that it could be worth it that they put their fingers out of their ass (translation of a french expression ;)!) and become a little bit more pro active!
Oh yes and nicer also... because if you still have this image of Thai people being very friendly and welcoming, just forget about it:( As a French I can't afford to criticize too much about it, but it is just a matter of fact, they can be increadibly ass holes!

But I still DO like Thailand!

Hair cut

A lot too short, like always :(
I am deeply unhappy and I don't know if I should trust them (the hair dressers) for a blond color now ??!!
Fuck my life is complicated ;)

Exam at 4.30pm

4.43pm, the teacher is still not there... lol
I love Thailand !!

professor by AIT are AWESOME

I am right now in the middle of a passionating Marketing class with Dr Rian !!

My neighbours are playing games with puppets (in the same spirit as rubicube) and I am watching "How I met your mother"(yes hair can prove really usefull when it comes to hidding the headset in your ear!) ... but hopefully I stopped at the right moment, the hear the most shocking thing ever ...

The guy showed us a slide with four examples "something", "hsbc", "Enron" and "something else" and while he was comenting it, he stopped on Enron and said "ok Enron doesn't exist anymore" ..;
THE GUY HASN'T UPDATED HIS SLIDE FOR 7 YEARS lol

Frank, worse housewife ever

if you need a housekeeper I really don't recommend Frankou ;)

I know that I am far from being good at keeping my room and stuff tidy but Frank should get the award ... I have laugh alone in my room while taking those pictures tonight after i came back from University while he was in Bangkok !

Enjoy it

Just in case you wouldn't recognise.. yes it is a room, where we try to live ... almost worse than by Camille and Stef, Guillaume you couldn't survive !

Jealousie

I don't know who they are or how they manage to do this but there are some people of my age, doing any fancy activities in Bangkok, leaving in a master flat in Sukumvhit Soi 11 with view over Bangkok and giving major parties with hundred of people (it is not a joke, there was at least 100 people at this party yesterday) ...

So yes this is just an introduction to say that we went out yesterday evening for Typahine birthday and that after visiting two clubs, which both had to close 10 minutes after we arrived (due to the funeral of the princess "blabla", clubs were forbidden or anything this kind), we ended up in the flat of someone we never heard about before and had the lovely pleasure to meet two other groups from the AIT by chance ! Was a very nice evening... House/Flat party are always cool, all the more as the flat was really great :)
I have learnt to like all the guys (generical term including male and female ;)) at AIT and I am pretty sad, when I think that it is almost already the end of this episode of my life :(

Anyway, you all know the end of the story...I woke up with a bad headache this morning and don't have the motivation to do anything else than bloging and facebooking ... a classic !

10 days holliday

I have a visa to stay 6 months in Thailand but I am supposed to go at the border to get an extension every 3 months. An other solution, as I am student is to go to the Immigration Office in Bangkok and pay 2,000 Bath...

As always, I was so well organised that I forgot to plan a trip abroad before the expiration of my 3 first months :(
The plan was to go to spend 10 days in the Adaman sea and I didn't feel like organising a trip to Cambodia or Laos for one week end instead ... so I paid !! That's amazing how it is really possible to buy everything in Thailand ...

Officially (for the professor) I was in a trip abroad for my visa extension, but eventually we stick to the plan and went to Adaman Sea for 10 days :)

Krabi and Railay 2 days
Ko Lanta 5 days
Ko Phi Phi 2 days

I have more than 500 photos to make you jealous but here is a selection ;)


But it was not as perfect as it looks like and I have learnt a lot during those 10 days:

- first lesson learnt - never ever let your laptop bag open during two days in a bamboo bungalow ... I indeed discovered that ants love computers !
I noticed after two days that my bag was full of ants, I took my computer out but it was fine, there was only a few of them on it... but after a few hours, there was still a few of them going around my Wind (my computer) and Frank the NERD told me that we should open it... He opened it and it was ok there was only a few of them and I was releaved, but Frank was sceptical (German ;)!) and wanted to took the hardware out to see under it ... and then it was the drama !



- second lesson learnt, travel guides are bullshit ! They describe Ko lanta and Ko Phi Phi the same way "nice island, cool for swimming and snorkling ..." but the two island have nothing in common, Ko Lanta is cheap and quiet, while Ko Phi Phi is awfully expensive and full of tourists ...
For the same price, here are the view we had from our room in Ko Lanta (first picture) and in Ko Phi Phi (second picture)




- third lesson learnt - exchange program are a very good idea ;) and the easter the country the better ;)

The cold season has begun !

It is almost freezing, 5°C less than usually means that it can sometimes go under 25°C and we need to bring a sweat shirt with us sometimes lol

But anyway it is really getting even more difficult to take those f... cold shower :(