Ok, I've been thinking for awhile about what kind of new blog I could write.  I am no longer amazed by the same things that I was when I first got here.  And I don't do that much touristy stuff anymore either.  I do expect to visit Ayutthaya soon although I've been expecting that for a long time and it hasn't happened.  Well, I went there recently but it was brief and not worthy of a full blog entry.  OK anyway back on subject.   So what I want to talk about is a slightly deeper observation.  The issue in Thailand of enforcement of the law.

    Thailands laws are not so dissimilar from those of any western country.  With the exception of freedom of speech which is heinously behind the times over here.  But that aside, I think it is safe to say that the laws themselves are adequate.  However in this country it is not the law that is the problem, but rather the enforcement of it. 

    There are plenty of police officers.  They are sadly underpaid though which cause them to seize every available opportunity to take bribes.  And not even big bribes.  If you get pulled over for a traffic violation(speeding or something minor, but also including drunk driving so I'm told) you can get away with giving the officer 100 or 200 baht($3.30 to $6.60)and driving away.  Prostitution is illegal in Thailand yet there are huge obvious brothels all over the place.  And they are advertised and even places like Nana and Soi Cowboy that are famous for having lots of prostitutes, yet nobody does anything.  Because all of these places pay some police for protection.  I don't know how much it would be, but once again probably not an exhorbitant amount.  Copyright laws here are the same(i assume) as western places yet (and I am addicted to these places) there are tons of little shops that sell pirated DVDs, and they are once again well known.  Bangkok is a huge bustling city, tons of people, everything is crowded.  The sidewalks are crowded enough, but then there are people there selling crap on the side of the road choking the sidewalks until there is only roon for two single-file lines of people to walk through.  And guess what, it's illegal.  But they pay the police and I'm sure that these people do not have the kind of money to pay much. 

    I'm just frustrated by the fact that it seems like a lot of problems here could be taken care of by paying people a decent wage.  The police are not payed enough to care about what they do.  And this is consistent in many occupations here.  People are paid very little and they therefore do a half-assed job.  It drives me crazy.  But I guess I don't have much of a solution to it myself, because corruption here goes the whole way up the ladder and the distribution of wealth is appalling.  So the wealthy will remain wealthy and the poor will remain poor.  This country really needs a labor movement.  Among other things.  Ok I'm done now.  Thanks for reading.  Hope I didn't bore you too much.