The peak tourist season is here. No wonder there is more than the usual number of elephants on Sukhumvit. These exploited animals, who are actually one of Thailand’s national symbols, are now forced to walk around bustling Sukhumvit Road and beg for food.

A few months ago, these pachyderms were nowhere to be seen on Sukhumvit. Then around November, they started to reappear on the streets (just in time for the Loy Krathong, I guess – read about the festival HERE). 

Now it’s almost Christmas, and hardly a day goes by without the SukhumvitAngel spotting one of these lumbering giants being forced to “act cute” in front of wide-eyed tourists who are more than willing to buy overpriced bananas and sugarcane sticks for a “cool vacation picture”, in the misguided notion that feeding these elephants on the street is actually “helping” them.

** NOTE: To those who have no idea who the SukhumvitAngel (or “S/A” for short) is, click HERE.

Some of you might wonder why S/A is so bitter about the plight of the elephants on Sukhumvit. Before you pooh-pooh her as being a killjoy or cranky (and irrelevant) superhero, consider these points first:

1). Elephants do NOT live in the city. They live in the jungle.

2). It is actually ILLEGAL to bring elephants into the city.

3). These begging elephants aren’t actually owned by the sorry ass people who are dragging them all over the city; these people RENT these elephants from the REAL owner(s) and make money by selling the elephants’ food to passers-by/tourists/basically anyone.

4). The whole idea of renting elephants to make money is just plain DUMB. First, you gotta rent the elephant (that’s money coming out, right?). Then you gotta buy the elephant’s food (more money coming out). Next you gotta convince people to buy the food (on a higher price) so they can feed it to the elephant. How much is the profit margin~?! If these people can afford to shell out all this money in the first place, then why don’t they get another job (like: perhaps using that money to buy some equipment to sell street food, for example – which will earn better money, avoid abusing these proud and graceful animals and doesn’t rely too heavily on the tourists).

5). Many of these elephants get injured because Bangkok’s drivers aren’t exactly the best drivers in the world; it’s not unusual that some of these elephants end up with broken bones after being hit by cars.

6). An elephant’s sheer size means that one elephant has to eat a whole LOT of food every single day. Now, some clueless and gullible tourists might think “I’m helping the elephant by giving it some food”, but think about it… Do you think your measly (and overpriced) 10 bananas and sugarcane sticks are gonna save any elephants from hunger? All you’re doing is spoiling these good-for-nothing touts who are too lazy to get a REAL job.

7). Tragically, begging elephants seem to be getting younger and younger each year (I guess it’s the “cute” factor). Taking a baby elephant away from its mother will cause extreme stress and who knows what psychological scars later in life.

Some bleeding hearts might whine and complain that S/A is a cold-hearted biatch who is not capable of feeling pity towards “poor people who are just trying to make a living”.

S/A has nothing against making a living, as long as you’re not exploiting anyone (and that includes animals). These animals can’t even CHOOSE whether they want to beg or not. Hell, even some “ladies of the night” still get a chance to choose whether they still want to be in the trade or not~!! (Proof is HERE).

Some tourists also might resent S/A for raining on their parade. In their minds, since they’re visitors in Thailand, they want to see “cool authentic Thai stuff”, and having a picture of oneself posing with an elephant on the street is way up there in the “cool factor”. The numerous “Bangkok elephant" VDOs on YouTube (click HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE and HERE) are proof that foreign tourists indeed see the whole issue from a different point of view.

If you (or your whiny kids) *MUST* have a personal pic with a real live elephant, then for Pete’s sake just go to the Elephant Farm. At least there the elephants don’t have to walk on hot asphalt, watch out for swerving vehicles and beg.

**********

So anyway, on one particular day, S/A was walking around Sukhumvit when she spotted a baby elephant walking on the pavement. She took this picture:

The jerk who was (pretending to be) the elephant’s handler/mahout instantly became very aggressive and shoved plastic bags full of bananas in front of S/A’s face and demanded that she buy some bananas to feed the elephant.

When S/A (POLITELY) refused, he became angry and shouted (in ENGLISH~!!!), “YOU TOOK PICTURE ALREADY~!!!”

So not only the douche bag never went to charm school, now people actually have to PAY just to take a picture of the elephant, eh? Friggin’ NONSENSE.

“I don’t see ANY signs that says I have to pay to take a picture of the elephant~!!” S/A shouted back (in ENGLISH TOO – hell if the fool wanted show off his English skills then S/A could match him~!!).

“YOU PAY~!!” the idiot shouted (and thus inadvertently showed how primitive his English actually was).

“I NO PAY~!!!!” S/A shouted back (using the same elementary English level, just so the moron would understand her).

“YOU PAY~!!” the a-hole insisted.

“If you can speak English, then why don’t you get a better job, ai hia~!!” S/A shouted back (IN THAI~!!!! WITH SWEAR WORDS~!!). “You want me to call the police~?!” she added a threat for effect.

The annoying ant-faced creep shot daggers to S/A from his eyes but said nothing. He decided to drop the issue as by this time, onlookers were becoming very curious about the whole commotion… Guess he wasn’t dumb enough to not realize that the whole thing was bad PR, especially in front of tourists – Imagine how scandalous it looked – a poor innocent baby elephant being dragged into some street altercation over some non-existent “rule” made out of thin air by an overzealous, greedy and rude tout that one click of a camera is equal to Buddha knows how many plastic bags of elephant food. HAH~!!

So the fake elephant handler/belligerent elephant food seller/bad “businessman” simply left with "his" baby elephant in search of more “agreeable customers”.

S/A was left to realize that she had achieved NOTHING. The jerk would simply get money from other people. The real elephant owner would still continue the exploitation. And the baby elephant would still be abused and humiliated.

Worse, the next day, S/A spotted the same tout, at almost the same spot, doing exactly the same thing.

All she could do was to beseech all the deities in the cosmos to grant her wish that the shithead be trampled to death (slowly and painfully) by elephants - for sure his bad karma is more than enough to merit this well-deserved punishment.

P.S. And just in case you’re tempted to blame everything on the clueless tourists and lazy/evil/greedy fake elephant mahouts, watch THIS VDO to see that the locals are also guilty of this whole mess. * If each of us refuses to buy (overpriced) elephant food, then these good-for-nothing touts will be forced to find REAL work *

P.P.S. The tragedy of the begging elephants is unfortunately, too big and serious to be handled by S/A. Thus S/A recommends helping these non-profit organizations who are trying to help these long suffering giants:

Elephant Nature Foundation:
http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/

Bring the Elephant Home: http://www.bring-the-elephant-home.nl/en/index.php

sukhumvit

bangkok

thailand

Hear that? That's the sound of my heart breaking.

So it seems like the TCDC (Thailand Creative and Design Center) on the sixth floor of Emporium is REALLY going to be closed down.

To say that I am devastated is an understatement.

It seems like only yesterday when I viewed its first exhibition with rapt attention. Titled "Isaan Retrospective", this delightful exhibition showcased the creative ingenuity of the Isaan people (from the Northeastern part of Thailand - the poorest area of the country), who are often looked down upon by their own fellow Thais (check out the interactive online exhibition HERE).

A succession of other equally intriguing exhibitions followed (click on each title to view its interactive online exhibition):

"DNA of Japanese Design"

"Vivienne Westwood"

"Workers (With Money) Unite! China's Shopping Revolution"

"Living Under the Crescent Moon: Domestic Culture in the Arab World"

"Marimekko"

"Mechanics Alive!"

Each exhibition was well-executed, high-quality and awe-inspiring. The TCDC, which was created to foster creativity and support local Thai designers was in a league of its own.

I remember how I used to get tingles of excitement everytime I spied a new poster announcing the next exhibition...

In short, for a museum buff like me, TCDC was an artistic nirvana where I could broaden my horizon and be entertained at the same time. Beside the rotating exhibitions, the TCDC also has a permanent exhibition called "What Is Design?", a souvenir shop (which sells high quality items unlike the other useless crap most museums offer), clean toilets, a coffee shop and a restaurant. AND jazz musicians. PLUS its crowning glory - a resource center which is basically a library chock-full of high-quality design materials (and with its 15,000-volume, it is actually the biggest in Asia).

But I guess all good things must come to an end...

The first time I got a whiff of the rumor that the TCDC was going to be closed down, a feeling of dread grew inside me. I had hoped that it was just a rumor.

But now it's official. The TCDC's days are numbered. The powers-that-be have decided that  it's "adios TCDC" time~!! The TCDC will be merged with the National Discovery Museum, which (some say) is a more old-fashioned/conservative entity, and moved to another location - a move that will basically bleed the TCDC, hang it to dry and leave it to shrivel up like a smoked plameuk (squid).

There are some people who claim that this is just another "political assassination" being done by the current (unelected) government who is trying to ERASE everything that has ANY connection to the Thaksin regime. They're trying to justify the move by claiming that the TCDC is corrupt, inept and useless (example: the TCDC has been paying space rent to the Emporium to the tune of 5 million baht a month).

I won't get into the sordid details and I'd rather not make any political comments here because:

1. I am no longer a journalist

2. I am a foreigner/guest in this wonderful country

3. I am mostly concerned about covering my own ass

BUT if any of you are interested to know what the fuss is all about, check out THIS discussion article (which lays down all the cards) and this editorial (written just a few days ago by a brave farang) which appeared on the Bangkok Post:

Political assassination of Thai creativity centre

It appears that the premier showcase for Thai design and creativity, the TCDC, being an initiative of the recently absent prime minister, is to fall victim to the bloodletting that traditionally accompanies regime change in Thailand.

The TCDC, or Thai Creative and Design Centre (http://www.tcdc.or.th) was set up by the PM's Office as a centre for Thai and international designers and artists to encourage the creative economy in Thailand both locally and through export of Thai creativity globally.

Currently the centre is used by many young Thai creatives making their first steps towards starting their own businesses and also by established companies as a resource centre, for networking and as a showcase for their work on the international stage.

The centre is in a prime location easily accessible to anyone visiting or based in Bangkok, on the top floor of the Emporium, providing a perfect venue from which to host the many seminars and conferences on design that have helped put Thai creativity on the international map.

The centre's interior design and resources are of world-class quality and showcase Thailand's ability to create such an institution and its determination to foster and take seriously its own creative economy.

It appears, however, that the newly unelected minister responsible, who has a reputation for being strongly anti-farang, has decided that since the TCDC is obviously intended for Thai students only, then it should be moved from its current high-profile, prime location, to be merged with another body and hidden somewhere on a campus in Bangkok, never to be seen again.

Effectively a death sentence. It would be more honest just to take the TCDC somewhere quiet and shoot it in the back of the head.

The merger decision is justified in the name of budgetary concerns, as admittedly the current site is not cheap to rent and the talented people running the TCDC are not cheap to pay.

However, at a time when the regime has signed off on budgets in the tens of billions for a tobacco factory which obviously the world desperately needs, and for six Swedish jets to save the country from imminent invasion by our arch enemies the Burmese, it can be seen that budgetary reasons are only a flimsy pretext for what is obviously a political assassination, plain and simple.

As the creative director of a long-established company working in the creative industries with both Thai and international partners, I had held high hopes for Thailand's future as a design hub for Asia. Already much of the region's video and film post-production comes to Thailand because of the high quality of the work, and it appeared that Thai design would achieve a similar measure of success.

However, now it is plain that the current junta can only understand smokestack-era economics and is dooming Thailand to compete unsuccessfully in the cheap labour markets of Asia.

Much of the rest of the world recognises the need to add local creativity to the goods and services it produces in order to distinguish itself from its rivals and lift themselves out of sweatshop economics.

By killing off the only notable and successful institution created to encourage Thai design and creativity, the unelected ministers and the junta running Thailand are showing a shameful lack of vision for the Thai people by denying them an opportunity to compete creatively on the world stage.

This will only serve to put back the Thai economy and people by decades, allowing its neighbours Singapore and Vietnam, and at this rate probably Cambodia as well, to overtake Thailand's current lead.

CHRISTIAN HOGUE

(original editorial here)

Putting aside concerns about the economy, I personally think that more attention should be paid to the people who live on Sukhumvit.

The government has whined again and again that the Thais lag so much in reading (how much? How does 2 books a year sound?), that people are hopelessly addicted to manufactured celeb 'news', salacious porn and wallet-and-brain-cells-draining online games...

Doesn't the government realize that the TCDC provide a very accessible, and worthwhile, distraction from all those?

And what about those people who have bought memberships of the TCDC's library-slash-resource-center? As far as I know, they're not getting ANY compensation.

And what about those jazz musicians who regularly perform at the TCDC's Doi Tung Coffee Shop? Where else can they get some much-needed exposure?

And what about poor lil' me~?! Where else can I go (on Sukhumvit) to be inspired? To bask in my academic nerdiness? To escape from the crowd and enjoy a toilet that is often empty and stocked with designer toiletries?! BWAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!! The tragedy indeed~!!!

Sukhumvit is losing one of its most precious gems. As the clock ticks closer and closer to the end of (TCDC's) days, is there ANYTHING ELSE that can be done?! I've heard of some petitions circulating (Facebook even has a group called "Help save TCDC!"), but I'm afraid that the wheels of fate have started to irreversibly move forward...

Hmmmmm... perhaps Chuwit could offer the land of his Chuwit Park on Sukhumvit 10 to be the TCDC's new site~~~~??

streetsmartsukhumvit@gmail.com

and help save TCDC~!!

sukhumvit

bangkok

thailand