“HREG is a full-service entertainment company that produces, distributes, markets, and supports entertainment content in all mediums world-wide.”

“HR is a boutique multi-media studio with a focus on developing, financing, producing, marketing and distributing media of all forms to a global audience.”

Highroad’s website was created by Harry’s consulting company Fizbin Consulting LLC.

The Highroad Entertainment site is still under construction as Harry Zink has not yet put up his bio, photograph, and contact information.

Congratulations Harry.

The best current deal in Bangkok among the high quality gourmet quality banquets is at the Nai Lert hotel on Wireless Road opposite The Pent G-Club.

It cost 350++ THB, requires a reservation and features 5-star atmosphere and gourmet food.

The clientele is upscale and the Nai Lert is not friendly ground for bargirls and their dodgy roustabout boyfriends.

Here are pictures of the available food.

BigBabyKenny

One of my favorite TV Shows these days is Renovation Realities on the DIY Network.

http://www.diynetwork.com/renovation-realities/show/index.html

The show follows couples with no construction skills as they tackle various home improvement and remodeling jobs. What makes the show hilarious is watching the newbies fuck up— spending an hour figuring out how to unlock a radial arm saw, electrocuting themselves when they cut in to walls and hit live wires, bashing fingers and toes with heavy items, hitting themselves with their sledgehammers, and getting crap in their eyes because they don’t wear safety glasses. About 20% of the time, the couples just give up.

What makes the show doubly entertaining is the inter-personal dynamic between the couples. Some couples work together harmoniously and concentrate on finishing the task at hand. Some wives/girlfriends pitch in, don’t complain, show real appreciation for the sweat being shed so they can have a better kitchen or bathroom and you can see how being with them everyday could be a ton of fun. It lets you see why you might want to be married to the right woman.

Others do nothing but bitch and moan, shirk their share of the heavy labor, and blame their partner when things go wrong, e.g. they open a wall and find a pipe or wires that have to be re-routed and the woman goes on as if it were the husbands fault. The bitch and moaners act like their husband/boyfriends job is to please them and that everything in their shared lives is all about them. The husband/boyfriend as household pet.

And then their are the ones with obvious psychological problems or with the brain power and knowledge of a special ed 12 year old but convinced that they have a valuable point of view and expert opinion about how the job should be accomplished— an opinion that has to be taken seriously and debated rather than just politely ignored. These women make you wonder what drug the men were on when they hooked up and why they stay hooked up with these women.

The show makes you appreciate Thai girls who live their whole lives Close to the Line and live their lives as integral parts of extended families where resources are scarce, financial disaster is only a catscan away, and there is a premium on getting along with people because you are going to be around the same people for your entire life and may have to rely on them in the future. No Thai girl I’ve met behaves the way some of the women from Renovation Realites do and that is a point in their favor.

What makes the show relevant to Thailand is the idea of Crony Capitalism and the rules of the game being set up so you can’t win. In Renovation Realities, some of the jobs take place in New England towns where the local tradesman have gotten together with the local alderman to pass laws which require permits to do common repairs and where work has to be done by union tradesman. In one noteworthy episode, a couple wants to move a toilet 3 feet and are required to get a permit and pay a union plumber several hundred dollars to move a toilet drain—something they could have done themselves in 10 minutes with no safety issues but the connected people in the town have written rules to the game so they cannot win. Move the toilet drain with giving your pint of blood to the connected people and they’ll come after you with a monster fine or make you rip out your toilet.

It’s painful to watch some young couple with barely a dime to their name, up to the nostrils in debt, trying to make some improvement to their old run down house being cheated out of several hundred dollars by some lazy fat tradesman who has the town government in their pocket and can use government power to stop a guy from moving his own toilet without putting money into his pocket but, in some of the locales documented on Renovation Realities those are the rules of the game.

This is an example of Crony Capitalism in the United States. Instead of free competition driving prices down and quality up, the rules are written so that a connected few can prey on herd.

A recent post about the Luxury Car Market,  discussed how the Thai luxury car market is set up to provide connected Thai insiders with a way to make tens of thousands of dollars off of each luxury car sold. The system emplaces a tremendous import tariff and then allows corrupt bureaucrats to sell exemptions to connected insiders to import and register cars without paying the official tariff. Anyone trying to by a car legitimately must pay tens of thousands of dollars more vs. a corruptly imported car and, even the official manufactures, are unable to establish dealerships because they couldn’t compete with the black market.

Watching Renovation Realites on the DIY network, you realize that the difference between Thailand and the U.S. is one of degree. In the U.S., there are a few games where the rules are written so you can’t win. In Thailand, the rules of most of the games are written so you can’t win.

BigBabyKenny

If a person invests his money in something such as a house or shares in a business, no one, including the government is  allowed to take that investment away from him — either with a gun, a confiscatory tax, or a regulation that so restricts its use that it becomes essentially worthless.

If a person risks his money and time starting a business and is skillful and fortunate enough to create a profit generating enterprise, no one, including the government is allowed to take that business away from him or threaten regulation that would force the person to give the business to another person.

This bedrock fairness principle extends to the even application of laws and regulation. A tax, rule, or regulation that is imposed on one must be imposed on everyone. The government cannot confer competitive advantage to one business by selective enforcement of taxes or rules against one business and leave another untouched.

All business are allowed to compete on a level playing field and let the best man or,  in this case the most efficient and innovative business, win.

Countries like Thailand are not truly capitalist societies. They exercise a bastardized form of capitalism sometimes referred to as Crony Capitalism.

Under Crony Capitalism, a sub-group of people write the rules (laws and regulations) and selectively enforce them. Laws and regulations are written not to create a level playing field but are written for the exact opposite reason-to tilt the playing field to favor one group over another.

Crony Capitalism creates a game that appears fair at first glance but, in fact, has rules and practices that make it impossible for outsiders to win.

Case in point – the luxury car market in Thailand.

Thailand imposes a steep tariff on luxury cars. This is a Mercedes S- Class sedan that costs about $94,500 USD or 2,835,000THB at current exchange rates. The same car in Thailand costs $397,000 USD or 11,500,00 THB in Thailand. A truly breathtaking difference.

At first glance, the tariff makes no financial sense. At that price, the people willing to pay the legal fully tariffed price number no more than a few hundred and the actual number who would actually purchase the car number no more than a few dozen. From a financial point of view, the Thai government would raise far more money with a waaaaaay lower tariff and greater volume.

If you’ve wrapped your head around the idea of Crony Capitalism the ridiculous tariff makes perfect sense because the tariff is not meant to raise money for the government or even make a moral statement about the inappropriateness of a small elite having enormous wealth in a country where the common man lives in poverty.

The tariff is simply Crony Capitalism at work — a case study of how the powerful and connected get rich and stay rich without the necessity of taking risks, without finding ways to produce more efficiently, and without creating innovative new products that are required in true capitalist economies for companies to remain profitable.

The tariff creates a game, the luxury car market, where the rules are tilted to favor an elite that writes the rules and selectively enforces them and excludes better financed, better educated, and more entrepreneurial foreigners, even the companies that actually produce the cars, from competing them out of existence.

In the Thai luxury car market, those with connections and influence have an unassailable advantage over those without connections and influence and the market is intentionally structured to put money into the pockets of that elite group with greater reliability, less work, and less risk than investing in a business where constant efficiency, hard work, and innovation are required to succeed.

The nuts and bolts of being a luxury car dealer in Thailand is exploiting the artificially created spread between the cost of cars and the fully tariffed Thai price — $302,500 USD for a Mercedes S-Class sedan.

The nuts and bolts of being a successful luxury car dealer in Thailand is playing a game where the rules convey you the  unassailable competitive advantage of not having to follow the rules.

If your family is powerful and connected, they can get cars through customs without paying the tariff and can get the car legally registered without proper documentation.

If this requires $50,000 USD of payoffs per car, that’s fine because the enormity of the tariff leaves you with a $252,500 USD margin with which to operate.

If your family is powerful and connected, you can easily undercut dealers who follow the “rules”, pay all taxes and obey all regulations.

Buy or steal a Mercedes S-Class in a left hand drive market, such as England or Australia, import it to Thailand, avoid tariffs, get the car a legitimate green book, flip it in a couple of months and earn a guaranteed $100,000+ USD profit on your $100,000 USD investment – nice work if you can get it.

The current luxury car market in Thailand is flooded with Mercedes E-Class sedans that were rushed into the country right after the reigns of power changed in the last election. Drive down Thonglo, Ekkamai, Petchaburi, or Rachada and when you pass a luxury car dealer look at the cars on display– E-Classes abound and now you know the reason.

With government control changing hands, long standing connections expired. Before they expired, many cars were brought in under the wire – before those controlling the reigns of power and the luxury car franchise were passed to a different sub-group of the Thai elite.

Ever wonder why Thai car registrations are not computerized –why an ordinary policeman or government official effectively has no way of quickly checking the registration status of a vehicle? Think about it and the “backwardness” of Thailand is easily understood.

So what does this mean to normal everyday unconnected Joe Blows like us – farang who might like to buy a luxury car in Thailand.

Don’t do it.

Don’t play a game you can’t win — one where the rules are tilted so you end up inevitably loser.

If you buy a luxury car from a legitimate dealer, you’ll pay the fully tariffed price which is tens of thousands of dollars above the market price.

Buy a car from from one of the many private dealers  and you’ll most likely be buying a car that was not properly imported to Thailand and where the full tariff was never properly paid and it’s possible that you’ll buy a car that was stolen in another country and legitimized in Thailand.

Buy a car from a private dealer and someday in the future you may get pulled over by a traffic policeman who “discovers” your cars’ pedigree or a connected Thai will decide he wants your car and, next thing you know, your expensive luxury car will be “legally” taken from you because you “broke the rules”.

Don’t play a game you can’t win.

BigBabyKenny

Own a good safe and you own a heavy metal machine whose design has been around and slowly perfected over the ages. As time goes on, safecrackers find ways to defeat the existing safes, weak point drilling, lock manipulation, pry bars, plasma cutters, explosives, etc. and the safe makers respond by constantly improving safes making the technique of the day obsolete. The myth that today’s safes can be defeated by common burglars is wrong. Even modestly priced safes will foil 99.99% of burglars and even for the best experts to defeat your safe will require extraordinary methods such as finding out your combination or actually stealing your safe and hauling it to a safe location where they can have hours to work on it.

Today’s main battle tanks, like the M1 Abrams, are also heavy metal machines that stand at the end of a long evolutionary line that includes German Tigers, British Churchills, Russian T-34′s, and French LeClercs. With each generation of tanks new weapons such as the bazooka, the shaped charge, sabot penetrators, and guided missles  are developed to defeat the current tanks and tank designers design new tanks that counter them. When you see a current day main battle tank in action and are aware of the evolutionary process that produced them they inspire a quiet sense of awe.

The history and evolution embodied in today’s tanks is what makes them super trick heavy metal machines and it is the same with today’s safes. A good safe is a functional security appliance, a piece of history and the product of a long evolutionary process. There something neat about this huge lump of metal sitting in your house where the current iteration stands at the head of a long line of predecessors. Safes are just cool.

In the U.S., safe ownership is not that common. In L.A. mansions a safe or vault is on the standard checklist of vanity features like backup power generators, elevators, and floor heaters but most Americans rely on the police to provide security for their homes and the belongings kept in their homes. The mistaken but conventional wisdom is that safecrackers can get into any safe so why bother?

In Thailand, safe ownership is much more widespread. The domestics in the house create a need to protect grabbable valuables from petty theft and professional break ins create the need to protect against burglars. There’s are more people around to steal and less protection provided by the police so demand is greater among everyday people for safes. This  ubiquity can be seen at the upscale malls like MBK, home stores like Homepro, and even discount outlets like BigC Extra where safes are routinely offered for sale.

These are large safes on display at a safe wholesaler in Chinatown.

These are safes on display at Homepro in Bangna.

And these are safes on display at the Index Living Mall.

The best prices on safes are in Chinatown.There is a safe district where there are about a dozen wholesalers located on one stretch of road and more located on the side streets.

Chinatown prices can be bargained down to about 60% from malls and home improvement stores prices and free delivery plus extras like free keys are included.

Safe prices are very reasonable in Thailand and cost significantly less compared to the U.S. China  subsidizes their steel industry and combined with the lack of environmental regulation, China is the low cost producer for the steel intensive products such as safe cabinets. Most safes are manufactured in China shipped worldwide.  Because shipping heavy items from China to Thailand is cheaper than shipping from China to the U.S. Thai safe prices are lower.

Selecting a safe is mostly a cost/benefit calculation. There is no point spending $10,000+ USD for a jewelry grade safe to protect a few thousand dollars of belongings and cash and, frankly, I doubt there are many “Ocean’s Eleven” grade safe crackers working Bangkok.

This is the front lock panel on a mid-range commercial safe that features a combination lock and two key locks to open. This is designed for a business where it takes 3 people (2 keys and the combination) to open the safe in the morning.

Like the two lock setup for your door this allows you to give one key away and still be able to control access to your safe by protecting the other key and the combination.

Some safes include a secondary safe or locking drawer inside the safe so the safe can be left open during the day and the owner can still keep some items locked up.

If you want someone to temporarily access  the safe, you leave one lock unlocked and dial the combination. The person with the third key can then access the safe as long as the dial is not spun.

Safes come with a choice between electronic keypad or traditional combination locks.

I prefer the old fashioned combination locks for Thailand. The hot humid weather in Bangkok plays havoc with most electronic devices and a safe lock is not something you want to fail after a couple of years with no easy way to find someone qualified to replace it, no local source of spare parts, and no good locksmiths who can break into your safe albeit destroying the safe in the process.

Electronic keypad locks are also subject to cracking by observing the oil left on the keypad by your fingers and by the inevitable differential wear on the keys from the numbers in your combination being repeatedly keyed and the numbers not in your combination staying pristine. Reducing the possible digits in the combo makes guessing the combination plausible.

Combination locks have been around for ages and will work for decades without problems. The combinations are easily changeable and there is a certain romance to spinning a big dial to actuate the lock.  Its similar to motorcycle kick starters. Sure the electric start is easier but the kick starter will always work even with a dead electrical system and it’s forever cool kicking over an old bike and having it roar to life just like Steve McQueen and James Dean.

This picture shows the construction of the door seal designed to prevent the use of pry bar to jimmy the door open.

You can also notice that the edge of the door, visible on the right of the picture is also cast to prevent jimmying.

This is a picture of the inside of the door showing the lock and the locking mechanism.

This is a mid-priced safe and lacks several security features of more expensive models.

Using a special key inserted into the back of the lock allows the owner to reset the combination by spinning the dial in a certain sequence.

Prying off the dial and punching out the lock actuates a relocker which locks the bars into place jamming the bolts closed and, even the though the lock has been punched out, the bolts won’t disengage.

The locking bars are intentionally wide to prevent drilling and the door handle is isolated from the locking bar so applying brute force to the handle (which is intentionally made from malleable metal) will do nothing but break off the handle.

The complex system of linkages connected to the handle are designed so that if the handle is removed and the circular disk is punched out, the bolts will remain engaged.

This safe lacks special hardened drill resistant plates to make drilling impossible without special bits and lacks a secondary spring loaded relocker which actuates if the lock is punched out.

The lock on this safe is also not rated by an independent agency like many locks on U.S. safes.

BigBabyKenny

Galt's Lair: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration

Update:

Editor’s note: Amazing that this post has inspired a poetry duel but here are the entries so far. Anyone who wants to join the battling rhymers can post their entries into the comments and I’ll add them to the body of the post:

Another One Bites The Dust

By John Galt alias Keith Summers

The Galt walks warily down the soi,
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain’t no sound but the sound of his toy,
Computer ready to go

Are you ready, Are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
From of the keyboard the pundit rips
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

How do’you think Stick’s going t’get along,
Without you, when you’re gone
The wimp can’t stand up for himself,
he’s afraid to speak out on his own
Are you happy, are you satisfied
now that family has to earn their keep
Out of the keyboard the quips rip
To the sound of the beat …
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I’m gonna get Stick too
Another one bites the dust

There are plenty of ways you can expose a man
And bring him back to ground
You can poke him
You can prod him
You can chastise him and expose him
When he’s down
But I’m ready, yes I’m ready for Stick
I’m standing on my own two feet
From the web the sarcasm rips
With cadence to the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust . .. Heeeeeeyy Heeeeeyy

Untitled by Aussie Sam

There was a Yank from Nakhon Phanom,

Who wrote to a Kiwi in Bangkok .

But Stick thought the Yank was a prick,

So the Galt started a website called NotStick,

Now the feud’s got more mystery than Hichcock.

The Kiwi in Bangers got pissed off,

He yelled ‘help’ to his mate, Marc Holt.

They both started slandering The Galt,

Who fought back to give them both a jolt,

Now Stick and Holt hate Galt more and more.

The Galt left Thailand for China,

And Stick thought ‘you beauty, he’s finally gone’.

But NotStick returned to the Internet,

To put Stick and Holt in their place,

And the feud has now started all over again.

The Galt thinks Stick is a poofter,

Stick likes writing about katoy’s that is a fact.

But is he really a queer,

Or just bored with banging Thai beaver,

Only the Kiwi can answer us that one.

So how will this sorry saga end,

Will Galt triumph and rid Thailand of Stickman.

And will Holt cry like a baby,

When his welfare perks have been taken away from him,

And will Galt light up China with his custom LED boards.

And these (probably the funniest and most inciteful) by Salty:

There was an old man called Marc Holt

Who said nothing was ever his fault

Left his Pattaya hole

Fled to Oz on the dole

To spend his life panning “The Galt”

There was an ex-con called Russel Keith Summers

Who dreamed that he and Stickman could become bummers

When Stick didn’t risk it

Keith went ballistic

So Stick and his pals turned up in Hummers

There was a big baby called Kenny

The Mango Boys caused him problems many

But their whoremongering customers froze

At the realization that they too could be exposed

And nightly takings fell to one penny

A Bangkok commentator named Stick

Grew tired of the nightlife shtick

He turned up his nose

At the Thai girls in rows

And went down on a ladyboy’s dick

Tied up author Dean Barrett

Had a dominatrix abuse him with a carrot

When she admitted worshipping Allah

Dean took on a deathly pallor

And started squawking like a parrot

The blog called Werewolf’s Lair

Was once quite good to be fair

But we get no kicks

From Thai politics

And now it’s a waste of air

A blogger called Pattaya Ghost

Gave local businesses a bit of a roast

When the proprietors found out

They started to pout

And he fled when they shouted “you’re toast”

———————————————————

Original Version

The Keith Summers Saga has only reached its middle chapters. According to internet accounts, he has fled the country rather than face the expense and risk of facing a Thai court and the ultimate outcome hangs in the balance.

With no firsthand knowledge of what he is accused of, what he actually did, what is legal and illegal in Thailand, and the severity of the punishment he is facing, I’ll leave judgment on his flight from Thailand to others.

Given the reputation of the Thai courts, he may have felt a fair hearing and an honest judgment of the facts was not forthcoming.

My own opinion is that his flight puts him in a sort of gray area. If you were an American hiker that was arrested in current day Iran for inadvertently straying across the border and faced a life sentence, is it wrong to flee the country to avoid a trial? That is one extreme. If you went on a vacation to Mexico and killed your wife, is it wrong to flee to avoid Mexican criminal prosecution? That is the other extreme. My opinion is that the Keith Summers flight falls somewhere in the middle.

But before you come to some kind of judgment on Keith Summers, his actions and stalking of Paul Owens aka Stickman can be separated from his writings.

When Keith Summers started his blog, notstickman.com, what he wrote was fresh, unique, and hasn’t been replicated.

There were already dozens of Expats, including Stickman, from the mongering sector of the population. You could read Morally Diminished, Stickman, The Big Mango Blog, Sukhumvit Psycho, and various Pattaya forums for stories and insight into the guys who were in Thailand for the easy girls and sex. If the mongering lifestyle was what attracted you to Thailand, information and insight was plentiful and easy to find.

Money matters in this crowd. The guys with the big bank accounts who can frequent the best clubs and outlets and indulge where physical desire and endurance instead of money is the limiting factor are the ones people admire and the guys who have to indulge on a budget or work a regular job for their play money are ridiculed and put down.

The internet writings of the mongering crowd centers around building yourself up and dragging others down. It’s mostly the allegedly more affluent members lording it over their less fortunate brethren or the less affluent sharing knowledge about how to stretch their limited entertainment money. Those that don’t buy into their value system and challenge the paradigm are not welcomed warmly into the fraternity.

What Keith Summers brought to the scene was a real window into a segment of the Expat community that had never appeared on the internet before—the Expat community that lives far away from the bright lights and girls of The Reservation.

Some are older guys living on modest pensions nursing small nest eggs who don’t have much footprint left in their home countries. Wives have died or been divorced, children have grown up and grown indifferent and it is not much fun living where you are on the bottom of the income distribution and invisible to the younger crowd.

Some are younger guys who fell off the fast track of college, career, job, and family and aren’t equipped to compete in the world’s rat race. They’ve fallen in love with the low key, low pressure, low ambition existence in rural Thailand.

Some have a physical defect which prevents them have having a normal life and a relationship with a woman back in modern society and have found that Thai women care more about a man being able to “take care” of a wife, kids, and family than physical fitness and attractiveness.

And there are some that just don’t fit into any neat little category.

There are more of these guys than the internet leads you to believe. You just don’t hear about them because they have, in many dimensions, withdrawn from the modern world.

Keith Summers wrote about what it was like to make a living and live on a modest income, as one of the only white men, in a small Thai town.

How he was regarded and treated by the locals, what his house looked like and how it was equipped, what is was like to live with only a motorcycle as transportation, how the locals lived, and how he was regarded by the eligible females were all topics of a series of interesting essays.

Personally, I learned from Keith Summers about a part of Thailand and an alternative lifestyle that I never knew existed.

Keith Summers had gone “Off the Reservation” to the  extreme and, frankly, there was a certain charm and attraction to his life as he described it.

How many of us who have spent our lives in the complicated, competitive, always striving for more material success, and frequently involved in relationships that last only as long as both sides gain an advantage from it lifestyle of the Western World haven’t yearned for psychic cleansing in a simpler more monastic existence?

Keith Summers let you know that there was another way. The costs and limitation of that way meant it might not be for you, but reading about it and knowing there were guys making it happen was tons of fun.

The Stickman/Clayton Wade crowd are currently pursuing and hammering Keith Summers mercilessly, and without firsthand knowledge of what actually transpired, I can’t say Keith Summers is not getting what he deserved.

But his actions and his writing can be separated and I would like to thank Keith Summers letting me have a look into a life and lifestyle I never would have seen without him.

I like Hanrahan’s. I like it so much I have been eating there on a regular basis over the past couple of months for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The food is great, good hamburger, excellent fish pie, succulent pork ribs, good breakfast special before noon, the view out the window is good entertainment, and a couple of the waitresses are very pretty.

I just don’t like the water scam they run – 50 baht for a bottle of privately bottled faucet water and when you ask for “water” with your meal they bring the bottle over, open it, and pour it before you can object.

So when I don’t want to drink coke, I have been asking for “tap water” or free water. Translated to English, I ask for a glass of water with ice not bottled water.

I have done this 3 or 4 times in the last month. The first couple of times there was no problem but today there was a big problem.

I ordered lunch with a friend and asked for “tap water” and the 300 baht Big Breakfast.

A bottled water was brought and being familiar with the water scam, I stopped the waitress from opening it and explained that I wanted “tap water” or “free water”.

She left with the unopened water and returned after a long delay with a glass of water.

At one point I wanted a refill, so when the waitress was near the table I asked her for another in polite Thai by pointing at my glass and saying “aw iik na kha”. The waitress nodded an acknowledgement but never bought the water.

After awhile I called her over to the table and told her again that I wanted her to refill  my water glass.

Another glass of water was brought after a long delay by a different waitress.

Throughout this whole process, voices were never raised, impolite words were not exchanged and most of the time I was smiling.

When our checks were presented, they were presented by the head waitress. When she returned with our change, she delivered the change with a lecture which basically went:

We gave you a break this time but next time no more free water.

The tone of voice and the message reminded of The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.

I didn’t say anything in response just looked her right in the eye until she became embarrassed and walked away.

My friend and I paid our checks and left chuckling all the way.

I don’t know the moral of this story but I guess the free water policy at Hanrahan’s exists no more.

BigBabyKenny

————————————————–

I don’t know if this should be labelled a scam or just American marketing coming to The Reservation.

It’s happened to me twice at Hanrahans on Soi 4. The first time I wrote it off as an accident. The second time forces the conclusion that it is Hanrahan policy. A policy that is just a ripoff of unsuspecting customers.

What happens is you ask for water with your meal.

At other restaurants, a bottle of water and glass of ice are brought and the charge is typically 15 THB.

At Hanrahans, a “designer” bottle of water is brought and the charge is 50 THB – >3 times the customary charge and not that far from a bottle of cheap beer. Before you can say anything, the waitress has opened the bottle and poured it into the glass. No time for an objection.  Most of the time, the customer is unaware they are being stuck with an unrequested bottled water that costs 400% more than normal.

What you get is not really a designer water like Perrier or Pelegrino (which you would have to explicitly order) but a bottle of tap water with a label that is produced and sold to restaurants for exactly this purpose. These are the same bottled waters that are provided free to poker players at Los Angeles casinos that say “Commerce Casino” on the label but are just tap water placed in a bottle. In the U.S. they cost about 10 cents in bulk.

Chains and upscale restaurants in L.A. run the same sort of scam with water and ice tea. Order ice tea which usually costs $1-$2, comes in a refillable glass with ice and the waitress will ask you if you want regular, passion fruit, or herbal. If you answer anything but regular, a privately branded bottled ice tea is brought that costs $4-$5. Frequently its brought to the table with the cap unscrewed and pre-poured making an objection difficult.

Same cheesy trick being played by Hanrahans on Soi 4.

In the marketing literature this is referred to as an upsell but when you are upsold without giving consent it borders on a scam.

I don’t want to give the impression, I’m trashing Hanrahan’s because I’m not.

Besides the water scam, Hanrahan’s is one of the superior English Pub’s on the reservation and has a great location, atmosphere, and sexy service staff. It’s the best eats on Soi 4 and its subsoi’s and also the best ambiance.

Foods good and the window seats have an excellent view of the Hilary club girls.

Their English Breakfast, pictured below, is top notch. Not up to the Dubliner but damn close.

For 300 baht with coffee, it’s a good deal.

Everything else I’ve ever ordered at Hanrahan’s has been good too.

BigBabyKenny

Contractors in Thailand routinely add on 20% to estimates in Thai on Thai deals because Thai people are unlikely to make the last payment when work is completed. Some excuse will be made, the last 20% will be withheld and the contractor has no recourse. So contractors add 20% on to protect themselves from the inevitable bad faith dealing.

Landlords ask for large deposits because Thai renters won’t pay the last months rent, running their deposit down to zero before leaving. It’s rational behavior considering they can’t force the landlord to return their deposit. Following the contract and paying the last couple of months rent, would leave the Thai landlord with no incentive to return the deposit and the tenant with no way to compel it.

In lower Sukhumvit, Patpong, and Pantip, there are counterfeit DVD’s, counterfeit Louis Vitton purses, counterfeit Rolex watches, counterfeit software, and counterfeit vaginas openly for sale.

So it’s not surprising that lock companies can’t restrict access to key blanks and lock owners can’t protect themselves from casual copying of keys.

In the U.S., key blanks to many expensive locks are restricted. Only licensed locksmiths can order blanks and they are liable if they make unauthorized copies.  Large companies with thousands of locks typically use a proprietary blank that prevents casual copying and the lock company sells the blanks only to the company. You can’t just take your office key to a key shop and have a copy made. This prevents casual copying where employees take keys down to the local strip mall and makes extra copies.

This is how the function of protected blanks is described by an online lock seller (https://securitysnobs.com/):

The key profile of a lock primarily is an issue of key control. Legally the Protec Elite and Ruby Exclusive key profiles have the same level of key control, no dealer other than the dealer who originally issued the keys (or the Factory) can cut more keys. Technically with the standard Protec Elite key profile all Abloy Protec dealers in the US have access to this blank, so physically they could duplicate a Protec Elite key if they wanted to (but they would break their contract with Abloy in doing so). Our Ruby Exclusive key profile is a key blank that is only issued to us, which makes it physically impossible for another Abloy dealer to duplicate your key as they do not have access to the key blanks. A Protec Elite key will not even fit in a Ruby Exclusive lock. The Ruby Exclusive is a very secure level of key control giving peace of mind to even the most worried lock owner. Having an exclusive key profile can also be useful if an eventual attack against the Abloy Protec is found. While it is hard to speak about something that has not happened, many advanced rights escalation attacks, or advanced attacks against high security locks, require having a key (or key blank) that fits the lock. With the Ruby Exclusive you will make it harder for an attacked to have access to a fitting key.

In Thailand, key blanks even to expensive locks are available if you know where to go and this makes unauthorized duplication of keys by maids and girlfriends a big problem. Even with expensive high quality locks, once you give the key to someone your security is compromised. They can take the key and have it inexpensively and easily duplicated. In Thailand, you must protect physical access to the keys.

This is another reason the two lock setup is the preferred one in Thailand. The keys to one lock are given to those you want to have access, like maids and girlfriends. The other lock is only for you and the keys are never given to anyone. That way you can always secure your home from unauthorized access by locking the second lock and  you can always allow access by giving keys to the other lock

This is a key stand on Petchaburi Soi 25 just east of the Petchaburi/Rajadamri intersection. If you are at Pantip, head east on Petchaburi, take the overpass at the Rajadamri intersection just past Platinum mall and the stand is on the left right after the overpass.

This modest stand has blanks and the equipment to duplicate all kinds of keys and defeat the electronic security features on most keys.

When you see this building, the key stand is right across the street.

This is a motorcycle key that has an ant-theft feature. There are pieces of metal that must be inserted into the fob that match the original keys or the electrical system of the bike will be disabled preventing starting and running.  Just duplicating the metal part of the key doesn’t produce a usable key. This is supposed to make unauthorized duplication more difficult.

In Thailand, no problem. The girl had blanks with a selection of dibs and she inserted the proper ones in the new key. Cost 150 THB.

Here is the owner duplicating a key for Honda accord that has a non-traditional key path that can’t be ground with a normal key duplicator. The key has a squiggly groove running down its center preventing copying using a standard key grinder like the one pictured above.

No problem. The stand owner has a special machine and a collection of special bits and slugs to allow the squiggle path to be duplicated. Cost 200 THB.

In the U.S., getting extra keys for your Honda costs around $100 USD (3000 THB) per key and requires the technician to program the electronics in the car to recognize the key. Frankly, its an example of the dealer taking advantage of highly inelastic demand and charging an enormous markup.

Even the Toyota keys with the radio transmitter in the fob can be duplicated without visiting a Toyota dealership.

In the U.S., these keys can only be duplicated at certain lock shops or the dealers and they costs about $100 each.

In Thailand, extra keys for high tech auto locks can be made by 3rd party vendors for about 1000 THB.

Here is the same guy duplicating the keys from the expensive lock from the previous post. These keys use different depth and diameter depressions in the key blank which means they also can’t be duplicated with a standard key cutter.

This key stand had a special set of bits and plugs to create the proper divits in the keys.

The blanks are supposed to be restricted to authorized outlets but this guy had them in stock. Cost 250 THB.

It took 30 minutes of labor to cut two keys because he had to switch out the bits and plugs for each depression. To give the lock manufacturer credit, the keys he made were not perfect even after 30 minutes of work. The tolerances on the key were too tight and the keys were not a perfect fit. One key wouldn’t actuate the lock and the other did so only with great effort. I took the lock cylinder out of the lock and had to return the next day. It took the guy another 30 minutes with a file to refine the keys while constantly inserting them into the cylinder to check the function until they worked as good as the originals.

BigBabyKenny

BigBabyKenny

In Los Angeles, professional thieves working your neighborhood, breaking into homes, and stealing things are actively tracked down and caught by the police.  In the U.S., burglar alarms, fancy locks, high security steel doors, safes, security cameras, etc. are generally not needed and most people don’t bother with them. Home burglary is not a much of a problem and insurance is widely available and affordable (because break ins are rare).

In Thailand, security is mostly a private affair with the police contributing little to protecting your home from break in. After the fact, Thai police generally don’t do anything when there is a break in and, once the break in has occurred, calling the police is mostly an exercise in futility. Before the fact, relying on the police to track down and jail crews of professionals working the area is a pipe dream in Thailand. In Thailand, you take care of the physical security of your home and personal belongings.

In most large condos, apartments, and housing complexes, the first line of defense are what amounts to private police — the private guards and/or a security company hired by the owners through the association. Many expats will tell you the security guards are worthless because they are the ones who will be breaking into your home but, like much expat “wisdom”, its just not true.

In the small apartments many expats of modest means live in, the security guards may be untrustworthy because they are not directly employed and monitored by the residents. In the larger primarily Thai owned condos and developments, the guards prevent 99.9% of the theft by keeping track of people entering and exiting and, more importantly, people leaving with large heavy items like large screen TV’s, major appliances, etc. The guards get to know the residents and strangers leaving with large expensive items are stopped.

When a theft does occur in one of these complexes there are repercussions for the guards and it is not uncommon for the security company to lose their contract and the guards becoming unemployed en masse after a major theft.

What you find in the Thai owned condos and developments is that the Thai owners are very concerned about break ins and theft and closely monitor and supervise the guards entrusted with watching the property.

The second line of defense is provided by resident’s themselves.

Walk through any large primarily Thai housing development or condo complex and you will see higher grade locks and security hardware than you typically see even in a major city such as Los Angeles. The houses in many L.A. neighborhoods, even the more upscale ones, are secured with inexpensive locks and are easily entered. Visit the local home improvement stores, Home Depot and Lowes, and the door locks for sale are pretty low grade.

Visit the Bangkok home improvement stores, like Boonthavorn and Homepro, and the door locks for sale include some expensive and high grade options. This is more surprising than it looks given the income disparity between middle class Thais and middle class Angeleans. Several thousand baht for a high quality door lock is a major expenditure for most middle class Thais that own houses and upscale condos and you can be sure they aren’t spending the money neutralizing imaginary threats.

Pictured below is a high grade security lock frequently seen in the more upscale developments and condos that is for sale at Homepro in Bangkok.

This is a picture of the lock cylinder.

The quality is evident. The bolts have two locking positions- halfway extended and fully extended and there are three bolts that engage a large deep slot cut into the jamb.

A large slot needs to be routered into the door so that the lock mechanism can be inserted and a corresponding large slot needs to be routered into the jamb. Although this can be down with a hammer and chisel, a router with a special jig is typically used by dedicated lock installers. When its finished, the bolts extend very deep into the jamb and the bolt mechanism is also embedded deep into the door.

The mechanism, machining, and fit and finish are all first rate and if you are into expensive tools and machinery, the whole device is a cool piece of kit that has the feel of an expensive Swiss watch.

Special key blanks are used to prevent unauthorized key duplication with a normal key cutting machine.

Availability of the blanks is supposed to be restricted to authorized outlets and special machinery is needed to duplicate them.

When you want copies, you take out the cylinder or take a plastic card with the lock code on it to the locksmith who has access to the blanks. The cylinder is designed to be easily removable and the lock can be re-keyed if necessary, e.g. you lose control of one of the keys when a maid or girlfriend leaves under unhappy circumstances.

The removable cylinder also allows the lock to be re-keyed without a visit from the locksmith. By removing one screw the cylinder can be taken out and taken down to the local lock shop for re-keying.

This lock costs about 4000THB plus 500 THB for installation.

Extra keys from Homepro are 450 baht each.

This is the other end of the lock spectrum – a cheap 500 THB lock. The lock housing is made of cheap stamped steel and the key is an old style easily duplicated skeleton key. Everything is made of cheap pot metal stampings with rough corners and jagged edges. The locking bolts extend less than an inch into the jamb and can be easily forced as a result. A good kick and this lock is likely to give way.

The preferred way of securing your home or condo is a two lock setup (on the right).

The typical one lock setup (on the left)  is problematical because once you’ve given away the key, there is no way to exclude access to the recipient.

Notice that two lock door has been pried open in the past. This wouldn’t have been possible with a top quality lock where the lock and the bolts are deeply embedded in the door but was possible with the cheap doorknob lock.

With a two lock setup, one set of keys is for the maid and girlfriends and the second set yours exclusively.

When you want others to have access, you give them a key to one lock  and leave the second lock unlocked.

This allows the maid and girlfriends who have a key to the first lock to get in when you want them to be able to get in.

When you want to restrict access, you lock the second lock preventing anyone but yourself from opening the door.

When the maid is scheduled to visit but you are not going to be home, you can leave your lock unlocked and the maid can get in by herself and secure the door when she leaves.

If your girlfriend is coming over and you won’t be home when she arrives, leave your lock unlocked and she can get in.

When you don’t want anyone gaining access, lock your lock and their key is rendered effectively useless.

The two lock setup also allows you to immediately deny access in an emergency, e.g. dealing with a spurned Thai girl on the warpath.

If you break up with your girlfriend and are worried about her coming back to your place and trashing it in a jealous rage, you can lock the second lock effectively disarming her key.

You don’t have to ask for the return of her key and you can immediately lock her out for as long as necessary.

BigBabyKenny

The problem with unprotected sex in The Thailand Girl Scene is twofold – sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Certain classes of Thai women are notorious for having multiple secret partners and, practically speaking, there is no way of verifying Thai girls’ sexual histories. Both these problems need to be addressed and BigBabyKenny.com is here to tell you how to do it cheaper, faster, and more efficiently.

You can deal with the STD problem with testing but what about unwanted pregnancies?

One approach is to use the pill.

The good news is that birth control pills are available over the counter, no prescription or doctor’s visit required, and the pills are subsidized by the Thai government.

Here is a pic of the birth control pill selection at a local chain pharmacy (click on the pic to see a full size version where you can read the prices and brand names). There are generic brands that are available for as low as 25 baht (72 cents USD!) as well as the latest low dose pills branded by Western drug companies which cost up to 450 THB ($15 USD). Instead of an expensive and unneccesary doctor’s visit and an expensive prescription that would cost a couple of hundred dollars in the U.S., the pill can be had with the same expense and trouble as acquiring a bottle of aspirin in Thailand.

The bad news is that, just like in the USA, there is no way to confirm your girl will take the pill everyday. As the feminists say, she is in control of her body which means she can get pregnant when it suits her agenda not yours and “being in control of her body” means being in control of your wallet in the event of an unwanted pregnanacy.

Fortunately, there is an answer–Depoprovera.

Depo is an injectable birth control that has been approved in the U.S and has been in use without problems for years.

An injection is good for 3 months, can be given anytime during the woman’s cycle, and is effective immediately.

Depo is superior to the pill because you can verify the injection and there is nothing the girl can do for 3 months. You don’t have to trust or verify with Depo. You just have to be there when the injection is given.

If you choose not to get a second injection in 3 months, the effects fade and the woman becomes fertile again.

There are two ways to get your girl on Depo.

One way is to take her to a “Women’s Health” clinic at a Thai hospital. Piyavate Hospital charges 500 THB for the injection and the doctor’s time. You call, make an appointment, and you are in and out within an hour.

The second, more convenient, and cheaper way is to inject her yourself. Yes. Inject her yourself.

Pharmacies on The Reservation sell Depoprovera over the counter. You take it home and stick your girlfriend in the privacy of your home without having to see a doctor or nurse.

This is the Chareon Pharmacy on Sukhumivt. It’s located right down the street from Soi 4 just to the left of Bully’s Pub.

They stock Depoprovera (actually Depogestin – the Thai generic) and sell a single injection vial, a syringe with hypodermic needle, and an alcohol swab for 50 THB.

No that is not a typo, 50 THB or $1.67 USD!

No prescription or doctor’s appointment is required but you need to know how to do an intra- muscular injection.

Every American knows the U.S. health system is a mess. The layers of government regulation and subversion of market incentives has created a soviet style monstrosity that delivers a $2 birth control injection for $300+ USD and $2000 heart bypass operation for $250,000. Birth control in Thailand is what birth control in the U.S. would be without government interference in the market.

BigBabyKenny