Good afternoon,

It is the first day of the ASEAN Summit, which was initially scheduled for last year but had to be postponed because of the PAD Disaster. The summit has been movedto the southern town of Hua Hin, where it will presumably be easier to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations and other forms of political dissent. Summits of this kind have many different streams of discussion and co-operation and more than 25 agreements are expected to be signed in one form or another. Most of these focus on technical issues of co-operation to do with improving legal agreements, reducing trade barriers, making systems more transferable across borders and so forth (i.e. of not much interest to most people). Just as important, perhaps more important, will be the discussions between people on the periphery – ASEAN famously was established on the basis that there would be no public comment on issues in other people’s territory (it would otherwise have fallen apart long ago) and that is why there will be little public discussion of Burma, refugees or other divisive issues (although the Malaysian PM is talking about the Rohingyas, albeit not in a very useful manner). Sometimes rumours about these on the periphery discussions emerge and sometimes they do not. Let’s see how this one goes.

A new survey has confirmed what observation of people on the streets of Bangkok has for several years suggested: dietary and lifestyle changes are making the average Thai person taller, rounder and more, er, tubular. All things change, owing to evolution and adaptation to the environment and so forth. However, it does seem to indicate various negative health effects.

The Mayongchit is a globular, orange fruit apparently related to the sweet Marian plum. They have a sweet taste with a slightly sour effect similar to a mango – I don’t think I have ever had one or, indeed, had ever heard of them. Especially when living in Bangkok, it is easy to forget how much natural beauty there is in this country. It is one of the reasons why I have started to try to look at the birds.

Back on Monday.

Answer to all tactical conundrums? Play with passion = run around like headless chickens.