Agency and Disenchantment

Kru Sateeb

Another PDR (Pay Day Runner) added to the long list of PDRs. This one, however, felt different. It was the first one where I understood I was exercising agency.

What's agency? Glad you asked: the capacity of individuals to have the power and resources to fulfill their potential. Or, in more crude vernacular, the capacity to do whatever the fvck you want, when and where you want - (so long as you don't intrude upon the life, liberty and property of others). Perhaps intelligence could be thought of as the ability to acquire, understand and use knowledge in the pursuit of agency?

Anyhow, in this case I didn't want to be in the Hat anymore. So tapped out. However, the six week experience had me thinking more deeply about how Education might be antithetical to Agency. Or, stated mathematically: E ∩ A = ∅ = {}. There's certainly a case to be made.

License 2030

Schools are weird. First off, in the case of government schools, the product is free at the point of use. Awesome right? Hang on a minute. Governments are self-serving entities. Tax is their lifeblood and it's stolen from you, their tax-cattle, via the implicit threat of force (on which they have a monopoly). Some of their loot is allocated to "educating" the next generation of tax-cattle. You "learn" exactly what serves them best.

So how does one succeed at school? Easy, by getting A's. Answering questions correctly and avoiding mistakes. Schools actively inculcate students with a fear of making mistakes. Thus fostering a risk-averse populace. They're drip fed a government-approved ideological diet bereft of input from humanity's greatest philosophers. Not even a cursory discussion of Platonic virtues - almost criminal really.

HY $100 Room

In Rome, slaves were "schooled" for repetitive tasks. Free Romans, however, were soldiers, merchants, farmers and managers, enjoying varying degrees of agency. No doubt Aristotle (Alexander the Great's tutor) would look on in horror at modern educayshun. And rightly so. Is it more aligned with the production of slaves or freemen?

Moreover, if something's "free" then you're the product. So what does the government get for their investment? A steady stream of low agency drones. A population afraid to take risks. Afraid to be active participants in their own learning. Afraid to think too deeply about the forces governing their zeitgeist. Another generation of compliant tax-cattle and the guaranteed continuation (if not expansion) of their parasitical power.

Simon HY

Solutions? I don't know. Just thinking out loud. There are no solutions, only trade-offs. One idea might be to remove government from the equation entirely. Have parents select the best option from free enterprise. Allow Adam Smith's invisible hand work its magic. Same goes for healthcare.

Whatever the government touches turns to shit - Ringo Starr

Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has, it has stolen - Nietzsche

A state, is called the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly lieth it also; and this lie creepeth from its mouth: I, the state, am the people - Nietzsche (again hehe)

Magic

Christmas 2024

Another outcome of this jaunt was the realisation that I'm no longer spellbound by Thailand's seductive wares. It took a week or two to sync back into the groove, but once there, I longed to be back in the Pot. Hat Yai was boring, Chiang Mai was industrial tourism on steroids and Prachuap is no longer a hidden gem. I longed for the simplicity of the place where it's hard to buy a pair of kegs.

I came to understand I was pining for the Thailand of 2006. The fresh, exotic, vibrant, electric Thailand of yesteryear. Apparitions of those days would occasionally manifest in the periphery of consciousness but dissolve as soon as attention focused thereupon - wispy tendrils tantalisingly out of reach. This trip enabled me, finally, to let go. To park those initial experiences and come to understand there is no re-experience - you can't lose your virginity twice. The spell is broken.

Hat Yai

Massage CM

Was dull, however, working 4hrs/week for 6 weeks enabled me to renew the coveted Thai Teaching License until May 2030 - though I don't see it ever getting battle-tested. Good to have insurance/optionality in case financial-bedshit-lightening strikes again. Once bitten, twice shy. With that in the bag, the room/scooter combo were dumped before a flight to CNX.

Chiang Mai

Monk Mate CM

Eight nights in CM were, on the whole, disappointing. It's become a parody of itself. How did I live there so long? Speaking the lingo confers scant advantage in this super-developed uber-modern everything-online hyperreal global hub. Languages from all corners of the globe - even saw a money changer accepting Jock banknotes! They were a nightmare to get rid of anywhere south of Gateshead back in the day - but tourist Thailand has you covered.

Dan CM

The best bit, apart from meeting some old buddies and spending far too much on euphemistic "massages", was walking 5km to the airport on Christmas Eve. Passed through the area I lived 2013-2017 and was almost brought to tears as me old Barber and Isaan-sausage-seller quizzed me enthusiastically on where I'd been the last 8 years. Long story that like: Xian, HatYai, Battambang, Saigon, Kampot.

Arrived in Bangers around midnight. Thought about Santa and Rudolph as I dozed on shitty airport seats waiting for the 0530 commuter to Krungtep Apiwat - Bangkok's brand new all-singing all-dancing train station. Then a 5hr express to Prachuap.

Prachuap Khiri Kan

Paddy CM

5 weeks here. The first order of business was new hand luggage. The cheese-cutter straps on Tony's $3 bag snapped during the 5km CM slog. Found myself humming the Stone Roses on repeat:

The pack on my back is aching

The straps seem to cut me like a knife

So, a small hard case on wheels - $20 - posh cvnt. Now I gently nudge muh 7kg around smooth airport flooring, like everyone else, instead of engaging in pointless endurance challenges.

PKK FC

Prachuap involved lots of walking (22km one day), coffees, Thai food and reading. First ever Thai Premier League match (with VAR), chats with Bkk Matt/Chelsea Andy and scoping out rooms/gyms/motorbikes on the slim chance I end up moving here - there's that optionality again - or is it agency?

Spent the mornings reading Ludwig Von Mises' Treatise on Economics: Human Action. Wish I'd read it at 21. Provided much food for thought during daily 13km strolls to DaMongLai. It was here I encountered the mind-bending paradox of omnipotence. Could God create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it? If God could create something he could not lift, then he would not be omnipotent. Similarly, if God was able to lift the stone then that would mean he was unable to create something he could not lift, meaning he would also not be omnipotent. Heed scratcher that like.

LVM brings this up as part of a wider discussion on decentralised free markets v centrally planned economies. No better way to expend one's cerebral energy in my view.

Loons

Was sat with a Cockney, a Kiwi and an old Septic one day. Pleasant conversation until the Yank namedrops Mel Gibson. The commonwealth duo scarpered leaving me conversationally hostage with our trans-Atlantic cousin. Little did I know what I was in for - he was taking no prisoners. Listened politely as he spun yarns about a $500M movie he'd directed after Mel Gibson had handed him $170M in funding. He'd single handedly sailed around the world before Samoans sank his yacht. A degree from Oxford. Met General Montgomery in Libya and had gone to school with Trump. This was all revealed within 20 minutes of meeting him. I didn't get a word in except a single question at the end:

Why you staying in a $7 room?

TPL

Alas, the unkempt bloviator was lost for words. Imagine if he'd kept just a tenth of 1% of his $0.5B? A cool $500k. But no, the question of where these vast riches had gone hung in the air, like a pile of pregnant elephant shit. Perhaps he'd donated it to charity in an act of unbounded selfless benevolence? Or perhaps he just prefers $7 rooms with shared bogs? Amazing to think I shared a pisser with Trump's best mate for a month. If Mel ever does give him a cut of that $0.5B he could do worse than a trip to Lawtaat for some new threads.

Reminds me of a fairly reliable loon-screening-tool an Aussie and I came up with in Kampot. If a Barang you've just met hogs the conversation, constantly black-cats you and mentions anything along these lines - you may be in the presence of an loon:

1. Former millionaire (but now skint)

2. Ex SAS/Navy Seal (but no hard evidence)

3. Former pool champion of their town (or trials for ManU)

4. Former wife/gf was Miss (wherever they're from) / more pussy than George Best

5. Knows a slew of celebrities or well-connected locals (eg. Mayor of Pattaya)

Might be prudent to nod along, but, alarm bells should be screaming in ya nappa. I've encountered dozens over the years out here. Move somewhere new and reinvent yourself - works a charm. This kind of behaviour might be a form of insecurity or narcissism, where the subject holds deep-seated fears of inferiority. Best to play nice as volatility could ensue when challenged. Identify and avoid - you have been warned. Nice bit of armchair psychology for you there.

Captain Cook

Bristol Staf PKK

Back in July 2018, when I "discovered" Prachaup on one of my bike trips, I fancied myself as a poor man's Captain Cook. However, instead of uncontacted spear-wielding savages, I'd found a small seaside town unsullied by tourist filth. It has no airport (good) but its proximity to HuaHin (bad) is its undoing. These days, Prachuap likely has a thick chapter in Lonely Planet (if that's still a thing), though still nothing on the scale of CM's madness. Is nowhere sacred in modernity? Sad.

Planes and Trains

Omar CM

Alas, the 90 day visa was nearing expiry and it was time to return to the land of burning rubbish. Up at 4am on Tuesday 28th January for a 6hr train to Krungtep Apiwat. 10 minutes on Bangkok's futuristic red line (airport-train station link) leaves one marveling at the gulf between Thailand and her ASEAN neighbours. A short flight to PNH was followed by a 3hr bus-wanker to Kampot capping off a long day of travel (4am to 9pm). Just in time for a Wiz sandwich and a game of pool - though the cue felt weird after 3 months.

Still in therapy for the $15 burger and chips at DMK airport.

Difference

So, more pragmatically, what are the BIG differences between Cambodia and Thailand?

Two words: freedom and authenticity.

Cambodia feels freer. I don't drink anymore but it irks me that Thailand applies restrictions. I no longer smoke either but was miffed to see smoking clamped down on - Thailand's gone full UK Nanny state. In short, there's less over-bearing state apparatus in Cambodia.

Alex CM

Cambodia is more authentic. I've made more meaningful connections with Khmers than I ever did in Thailand despite speaking decent Thai. I don't know why this is. Khmers are (generally) more at ease with foreigners - perhaps they're less jaded as they receive fewer twat-packers? Or maybe something to do with being a former French colony? Or the aftermath of Pol Pot? Not sure, but it's easier to cross the cultural chasm.

Development? An easy Thai win. Decades ahead. Roads, shopping, health, infrastructure - the list goes on.

However, advancement comes at a cost, namely the prevalence of administrative parasites dimming the light of freedom. The Thai Immigration process is a bureaucrat's wet dream. Here, box-ticking perverts delight in prodding bamboozled foreigners through an obstacle course of EOS's, proof of $24,000 in a Thai bank, 90 day criminal reports, multiple visits to government offices, $30 reentry permits and pestering your landlord for TM30 forms. Royal Navy WW2 sweepers would struggle to navigate this bureaucratic minefield - especially today's woke DEI Navy.

Contrast that with Cambo where you hand an agent $300. Then lie in a hammock for a year.

So here's a list of Kampot v Prachuap pros and cons:

Kampot +ves: Cheaper room, easier/cheaper visa, cooking, gym, pool team, no mass tourism, better western food, cheap piss, locals more genuine, better/cheaper mobile packages.

Kampot -ves: Shit roads, heavy wet season, less developed, inferior healthcare, piles of burning trash.

PKK +ves: Beautiful/clean town, roads, Thai food, developed, sea walk, can speak Thai, lighter wet season, quality health care, Thai Prem League Football, buy a Rebel500.

PKK -ves: Rooms/phones more expensive, onerous visa requirements, 90 day reports, more organised/less free, more polluted.

Old Frens

Met a few other buddies who didn't get pics, namely SPIP Aubs (CM), BKK Matt (PKK), Flipper Simon (PKK), CCC Andy (PKK).

Budget Buster

Monthly Budget

Lost me $700 virginity in year 3 of ER. Shame, but couldn't be helped. However, this was offset by earning $600 in Nov/Dec and explosive growth in ER assets during 2024. Thanks Trump.

So, in summary, I went to Thailand for 86 days. Earned $1,200 for 6 weeks part-time work in HY, renewed a Teaching License, spent a week in CM, a night at an airport and 5 weeks in PKK.

Got back to the Pot, had literal snake shit in the bog, cleaned the loom, shat $70 on shitbox, had a meal at Wiz, tried POL's new pool table, met me new team mates, a lotus pond latte, tied the hammock up and resumed cooking.

Mint to be back like. Propa belta.