Post repeat

Hi,

Sorry but I had to resubmit the post about the elephants. For some reasons the hyperlinks I provided screwed up the style sheet of the whole blog.

Thanks

In Thailand, the elephants are paying the price

The city of Chiang Mai is recognized as a premier destination in Southeast Asia for those who want to do jungle trekking and elephant riding. The immediate region around Chiang Mai has dozens of elephant camps where tourists can ride elephants and see elephant shows featuring impressive performances.

Likewise, the Tiger Kingdom just north of Chiang Mai is touted as another must-see in the region. Visitors have the chance to cuddle and play with baby tigers and an adult male tiger. For animal lovers, this is really paradise.

Or is it?

Let me be clear: I absolutely love tigers. I think that tigers are one of the most gracious animals to ever walk planet earth. But reality hurts.

The reality is that the tourism industry that features animals in Thailand is rotten to the core. Well almost. I’ll get to that later.

Let’s start with the tigers in Tiger Kingdom. From the many accounts I heard from those who visited Tiger Kingdom, the adult male is heavily sedated. In fact, the animal is so sedated that it is basically unresponsive and has some serious problems walking. I guess heavy drugs are needed for a wild animal to tolerate the relentless patting.

Let’s move on the stars of Northern Thailand, the elephants. Activities involving elephants are plentiful and creative: ride an elephant; bathe an elephant; watch an elephant paint; watch elephant acrobatics. Aren’t those elephants intelligent! They can even paint!

A National Geographic article highlighted the brutal elephant training program required to perform such feats. I quote the National Geographic: “in addition to beatings, handlers use sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephants' spirit and make them submissive to their owners.”

Dozens of videos on the Web prove this ruthless training program. Mahouts – the elephant handlers – do not hesitate to inflict heavy punishment on reluctant elephants. Tourists have told us how shocked they were when they saw one mahout start beating an elephant with a big rod. They’ve told us (unsurprisingly!) that they’ll never ride elephants again. I guess tour operators won’t feature such impressions in the comment section of their brochures.

So you still want to see elephants? Then go to the Elephant Nature Park close to Chiang Mai or visit the Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary in Sukhothai. The Elephant Nature Park makes it clear in it’s mission statement that it does not feature any elephant riding or tricks like painting and other performances because it means encouraging elephant beating. The Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary is another option. I encourage you to have a look at their Web site. You’ll learn a lot about the way elephants are treated in Thailand.

As for us, we made a bad choice by visiting to the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang. We visited the centre because it was supposed to be about an elephant hospital, but the major attraction was the elephant show. We did visit the elephant hospital, but there was no information available about the injured elephants. Ania really wanted to do elephant riding, so I had to concede and spend 10 minutes on top of one elephant. My principles were no match for her will to do elephant riding. I had much fun at the Centre, I won't deny it. But the thoughts of elephants going through the gruesome training program to provide me with this entertainment really put a lid on my pleasure. If I ever ride an elephant again, it will be on an elephant that has gone through training without corporal punishment. Read the National Geographic article to understand what I am talking about.

All in all I would not recommend the Elephant Conservation Centre. The Elephant Nature Park has a huge reserve and is thus a better choice. Plus if enough tourists visit the park, this will encourage more elephant reserves to be created. This is ultimately the goal as there are almost no wild elephants in Thailand; most of them are prisoners of the tourism industry.

If you love elephants, then you want to see them do what they do best; relax, play in water and eat tons of leaves. Everything else is man’s egoistical pleasure at the expense of the animals.

The same goes for tigers. I totally understand the urge to pat and cuddle wild animals. I love tigers and want to believe that tigers love to be touched just as much as I love to touch them. Unfortunately this is not the case. Tigers are wild animals that are not touched in their natural environment.

As tourists we have a real say in how animals are treated in Thailand. Give your hard-earned dollars to businesses that encourage responsible animal care. This is really the only way to change things around.

New pictures

Enjoy Bangkok and Northern Thailand.

Southeast Asia Wrap-up

We’ve left Southeast Asia yesterday. What I will miss from Southeast Asia:

• The cheap and excellent food. Thai food is my favorite. Shakes made of fresh fruits are plentiful and cheap.
• The infrastructure and the fast pace of Southeast Asia’s big cities. From Hong Kong to Singapore, it is apparent that hot money if flowing into Southeast Asia’s flagship cities. There is no doubt about it; the 21^st Century will belong to Asia.
• Southeast Asia’s diverse cultures and religions.
• The people. Indonesians (that does NOT include Balinese people) and Filipinos are some of the nicest people we’ve met during this trip.

What I will not miss from Southeast Asia:

• Pollution. It’s hard to be positive about the state of the environment in Southeast Asia. Most rainforests have disappeared and have been replaced with plantations. Waterways in cities are heavily polluted and worst of all, Asians do not seem to mind at all. Changing mentality is urgent.
• Air quality. This goes hand in hand with pollution. Most big cities are smoggy and the quality ranges from terrible (Manilla) to fair (Singapore).
• The way Asians treat animals. Elephants, tigers, birds, sharks, fishes, etc, if you love animals, you’ll hate to see how they are treated here.
• Dismal hygiene. Hygiene in some of the countries I visited was some of the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. Many public toilets with no running water, no toilet paper, and of course no soap. There’s filthy water everywhere on the ground and the place absolutely stinks. No, I won’t miss that.

Bangkok and Northern Thailand Wrap-up

The Great : Chiang Rai. The city is choke-full of beautiful temples in different styles and has a relaxing atmosphere. We met an expat who claimed that Chiang Rai is Northern Thailand’s best kept secret. He may be right.

The Hidden : Jenny’s restaurant in Bangkok. This restaurant near Khao San Road is simply the best restaurant in Thailand. It is extremely low profile and the owner, “Jenny” (Jenny is a guy), is an incredible chef. Best of all, Jenny is one of the few Thais with whom we could have small talk with. If you visit Bangkok, you’ll find that Jenny cooks the best curry in the country.

The Overrated : National Park Doi Thanon near Chiang Mai. It sounded so great: trekking on the highest peak in Thailand. The disappointment couldn’t have been greater. Not only did Doi Thanon disappoint as a mountain (the is no viewpoint at the top), but the only tour that takes tourists to the top was a sham: there was no trekking and we got back to Chiang Mai 2 hours before we were supposed to. We walked in the travel store that had sold us on this trip and fought for a partial refund. Doi Thanon sucks and so does the tour operator that brought us there.

The Ugly : Much of the “tour” industry is rotten in Northern Thailand. Tourists who visit the north want to do two things: see hill tribe people such as the long-neck Karen and ride the elephants. Well we’ve learned that long-neck Karen people are refugees who are actual prisoners of the tourism industry: they live in made-up villages for tourists and are not allowed to leave these villages. This ongoing tragedy is shameful on all Thais who allow this modern-day slavery.

As for the elephants, riding any of these animals, or going to any elephant show that features paintings, acrobatics and other performances, is basically supporting the gruesome elephant training program. If you want to interact with elephants on your visit to Thailand, you should only visit elephant sanctuaries that do NOT allow elephant riding. “Walking” an elephant to grazing grounds is surely less glamorous than “riding” an elephant, but that’s what you will do in the Elephant Nature Park or the Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary.

Other Observation :

• Don’t take any tuk tuk if you can. Most of the time the price is unreasonable, and if a tuk tuk driver gives you an incredible deal like 10 bath per person, that means that he will take you on a shopping tour. Look for public transport instead; it is both cheap and plentiful.

The Hilltribes in Thailand Uncovered

Hilltribe village - my (im)personal experience

One of the main attractions in Northern Thailand is visiting hilltribes. I have always liked approaching traveling from an anthropological angle so I was quite excited about it.

The most "exotic" hilltribe to see in Thailand are the long-neck Karen people, made famous because their women put metal rings around their necks. Marc and I read in some guides, however, that visiting long-neck people was like visiting a human zoo: tourists disembark the bus, Karen people are lined up for pictures, tourists make donations for the pictures they took, then the tourists leave. This description didn't appeal to us so we decided against such a trip and opted for a trip to a national park instead.

In the program of our trip also was a visit to a hilltribe village. I naively assumed that if a tour guide regularly goes to a village, she must have some kind of connections established with its people. I was wrong. Our minibus stopped in the middle of a hilltribe village of a Karen tribe and we got out. There was a woman in traditional clothing sitting in front of a house. Our guide pointed to her and said to us: "Look, a Karen woman, take pictures!". The guide didn't even greet the woman or asked whether we could take pictures. Some tourists asked the woman themselves if she didn't mind to have her picture taken. Some others, including me, felt too awkward and gave it up altogether. Our guide then proceeded to march us through the village and through the front yard of private houses. Then we stopped in a gift shop and the visit in the village was over.

Hilltribes - from which hills?

While we were still "visiting" the Karen village, the guide said something that aroused my curiosity. She said: "these people are not Thai, they are Chinese. Some of them came here hundreds years ago, some others only ninety years ago. People in the village have Thai citizenship because the king granted it to them. But most hilltribe people don't. There are still some hilltribes trying to get to Thailand and it's a big problem because we have too many of them."

How interesting. On the one hand Thailand tranformed hilltribe tourism into a huge business, and on the other hand it claims that they are not even Thai and there are too many of them. After some research and a visit to the excellent Hilltribe Museum in Chang Rai I got a better picture of the situation. There are no hilltribes native to Thailand. Some of the hilltribes emigrated from China through Laos, some others came from Myanmar. They are generally not considered Thai and indeed most of them don't have citizenship. This means that they are not allowed to travel outside of the region they live in. They also have limited access to healthcare and education.

They traditionally practiced shifting agriculture but given the limited space in Thai hills and the policy of Thai government they cannot do it anymore. They used to grow opium but since the Thai crack down on drug producing they don't do it anymore (or, at least, not on commercial scale). One would think that given the booming tourism, this would become their new source of revenue. Alas, most tour companies have no partnership with the villages they visit with their tourists. So the hilltribe people only gain on tourists in whatever they can get for having their pictures taken or for selling their crafts or for begging. Many villagers don't have their traditional costumes anymore because they sold them to tourists and it is too expensive to put together a new one (some of the costumes have silver coins sewn on them, some others require expensive materials).

There are some responsible tour operations (one of them organized by the foundation behind the Hilltribe Museum) but sadly they are few and not well advertised. That’s too bad because they show that it could be done in a way to benefit the villagers, the tour operators, and the tourists at the same time.

Hilltribe village – village? amusement park? prison?

And now it's the time to spill the beans about the famous long-neck Karen Tribes living in Thailand: there are no genuine hilltribe long-neck Karen. This is the simple truth. Some Thai entrepreneurs saw a business possibility stemming from the tourists' interest in exotic hilltribes. They constructed artificial, traditionally-looking villages in the mountains, installed some refugees from Myanmar there and they put metal rings on girls' necks.

Tourists who decide to go and visit such "villages" observe that there is no industry or agriculture around the villages. Men play cards somewhere in the background and women get photographed. And there are one or two gift shops near the place where the tourist bus stops.

And at some distance from such "village" a tourist may also notice the presence of police or army outposts. Well, the pseudo long-neck people are in fact refugees without any permanent status in Thailand and are not allowed to leave their "villages". The artificial villages are sort of informal refugee camps, organized for the amusement of tourists.

Coming to northern Thailand, I was excited about seeing a hilltribe village. But after I studied the "anthropological angle" of this part of the country I realized one thing: be careful what you wish for.

Fun Fact About Marc - My Revenge :-)

1. Marc loves working like a slave for a whole day during his vacation, if the work is related to semi-precious stones. In fact, I'm sure he would gladly spend a couple of weeks in excruciating heat and get blisters on his hands if he could find a handful of sapphires (see pictures below).

2. Marc is always hungry (I already knew that) but, if necessary, he can go on without much food for a long time. However, there two items he cannot live without: (instant) coffee in the morning and bananas morning, afternoon and night! If we don't have one of these two, he gets restless.

3. Marc doesn't care much if our hotel/guesthouse has a flushing toilet but it HAS TO HAVE wi-fi :-) (see point no 4 Marc wrote about me. It's very true)

4. Marc is always ready to eat local food (and we practically always do) but with one exception: he needs a North American breakfast. While traveling in south-east Asia, Marc decided that eating fried rice and noodles for lunch and dinner was enough, he wanted to eat something different in the morning. In fact, while in Hong Kong, he discovered that he had a tender feeling for McDonald’s breakfast menu (I assure you though; he does not eat at McDonald’s after morning hours)

5. Marc might be one of the few people who actually believe in the statistics they cite; it didn't bother him to camp with snakes and spiders and other lovely creatures in Australia but he gets very nervous crossing streets in Bangkok.

6. Marc can talk about economy and politics of every country in the world (or at least he gives that impression). We meet a lot of people from different countries and they are invariably surprised at Marc's knowledge of the places they come from. He talked about Korean history to a Korean girl we met somewhere in Australia and other people around were laughing because he seemed to know more about it than her. When he talked to some people from Israel, he mentioned names of past and present leaders of several political parties. I always knew that Marc knew a lot about North American and European history and that he was interested in politics but I was truly impressed with the extent and depth of his knowledge about soooo many countries on all continents.

7. Marc loves hiking in the mountains. But contrary to what I expected, he is no great fan of jungle trekking. Apparently he feels that it is just walking for the sake of it (no beautiful views) and this is no reward for suffering on a hot and humid track. Obviously tea plantations are not rewarding enough for Marc :-)

8. Marc HATES packing his backpack. And don't ask me how many times I have been assured of that :-)

9. There are two things Marc never seems to get tired to do: walk in the mountains and snorkel. It is practically always me who gives the signal that we've had enough for the day.

Fun facts about Ania

Travelling with your significant other for an extended period means you’ll spend a lot of time together. It also means that you’ll discover things about your partner that you didn’t know before you embarked on your long journey.

So I’ve decided to spill the beans and tell you what I’ve discovered about Ania during this trip (only partially approved by the Bureau of Truth headed by Ania) :)

1 – Ania is more afraid of dogs than I thought.

2 – Ania became a very experienced snorkeler during this trip. That’s surprising because before this trip I always felt that Ania was never comfortable in water. She seems to have lost her fear of the underworld.

3 – Ania is crazier about tea than I thought; I had to walk more than 3 hours in a freaking jungle in Malaysia to see a piece of land full of green leaves she loves to put in her morning, afternoon, evening (insert any hour of the day) cup of hot water. Insane.

4 – Ania is less of an Internet junkie than me.

5 – Ania doesn’t know about rest. She has a hard time staying in the same place for a few days.

6 – Ania is generally tougher and more patient than me when we take a means of transportation. 15 hour bus rides can make me angry man. Not my girl though. However, Ania will get fed up more quickly when we are driving long hours in a car.

7 – Ania is more adventurous when it comes to trying new food or new restaurants. If I find a restaurant that serves excellent food, I tend to want to go back to the same place. My philosophy goes like this: why try a new horse when I have a winning horse? Her philosophy: how do we know this is the best horse if there are still other horses that we haven’t tried?

8 – Ania is much better than me with maps. I have much better visual memory than her. This means that when we arrive in a new city, I rely on Ania to bring us to our first destination. However, Ania will rely on me to get back to the starting point.

9 – Ania likes to tan more than I thought (not approved by the Bureau of Truth).

10 – Ania really suffers in a hot and humid climate.

12 – Ania managed to hold out buying trinkets during this trip more than I thought she would.

13 – Ania is not good at negotiating with the locals. And she doesn’t like it when I do it, too. In tense situations where I am arguing for a bargain, she feels uneasy, sometimes even forcing me to accept a worse deal just so the harsh negotiation can stop. She should be happy we are not going to Egypt after all, because I know how Arabs love to negotiate and my plan was to negotiate my way to a free vacation in Egypt. :)

Southern Thailand Wrap-up

The Great : The snorkeling tour on Koh Phi Phi. The tour took us to three different islands and some great beaches for relaxing. Just navigating around scenic Koh Phi Phi Leh was in itself worth the tour. The price was very reasonable, too.

The Hidden : Nothing particular in that category.

The Overrated : The beach from the movie « The Beach ». The beach was totally overcrowded in low season, and dozens of boats were parked in the turquoise water. The beach looks nice but it is not so incredibly beautiful to warrant such popularity. I dread to imagine how many people can visit this beach on any given day during high season. There is nothing “stranded” about “The Beach” anymore. As it stands the “The Beach” is overrated.

The Ugly : Boat transportation between the islands and mainland Thailand is generally long, uncomfortable, and tedious. The ferry boats are relics from the past and the waves in monsoon season can make your life miserable. But there is no other way to reach the islands - only Phuket has an airport.

Pictures of Southern Thailand uploaded

Enjoy

As usual to view the pictures in the correct order click on one of the thumbnails, then click "view all" right above the picture. You can then select the first picture and take it from there.

Koh Tao versus Koh Phi Phi

Southern Thailand has quite a few islands located in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. There are many well-known islands (Phuket, Phi Phi, Phangan) and other less-visited islands.

We visited two islands during our stay in Southern Thailand. The first 6 months of our round-the-world trip have been quite hectic, and we had shared with you our intention to find a quiet island in Southern Thailand to relax 4-5 days. For this purpose we chose Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand.

Koh Tao is renowned for being one of the best diving spots in the world. The island is not renowned for being a party place (unlike Koh Phangan to the south), and this is exactly what we wanted. We arrived on May 4 and stayed five nights on the island. Since this is monsoon season, many hotels were empty and we found some great bargains. The beaches were almost totally empty. We also found some nice snorkeling spots around the island. All in all, this was a much needed vacation from our vacation: no running to the next destination.

After our rest, we decided to visit Koh Phi Phi in the Andaman Sea. Koh Phi Phi is one of the most well-known islands in Thailand because it is on this island (Koh Phi Phi Leh) that the movie “The Beach” was filmed. Naturally we expected the place to be crawling with tourists. Sure enough there were plenty of tourists, probably too many. We stayed three days on the island.

So what is my recommendation? Koh Phi Phi is more scenic than Koh Tao for sure. Koh Phi Phi is more developed and has better infrastructure as well. The snorkeling is better, although you’ll need to join a tour. On the other hand, Koh Phi Phi is enormously touristy, which means that you won’t be able to find a deserted beach. So if you want peace and quiet, choose Koh Tao. If you want a scenic island, more things to do, and a chance to go to the “Beach”, choose Koh Phi Phi. All in all we liked Koh Phi Phi a bit more. If you choose to visit the island, make sure you do it in low season (May to October). It will be too crowded during high season.

Trip Monthly Update

Apr. 9 2011 – May. 8 2011

Summary of the sixth month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 4

Number of flights taken: 2

Number of posts added to our blog: 15

Number of marital conflicts: 0

Best overnight stay: definitely Batad in the Philippines. In previous posts I already raved about the beautiful views from our room and the restaurant. The atmosphere was great too - starting with the manager Casey and ending with different but always interesting fellow travelers we met there. The first night was particularly special: the electricity went off so we spent the evening with candle lights, which allowed us to see hundreds of fire flies around us. We also saw the bonfires from the village below. An unforgettable night.

Worst overnight stay: I'm not sure if this counts as a "stay" but what the heck I made up this category and I decide what I can include:-). So the worst overnight stay for us was the night we spent on the boat from Koh Tao to mainland Thailand. We were stuck like sardines on mattresses too narrow to fit one reasonably sized person. This means that I not only touched Marc's arm but also the arm of the guy lying on my other side. I should also add that the sea was very agitated that night so the boat was jumping on the waves like crazy. Every now add then it also made interesting cracking noises, as if it was going to cut in half. All in all, this is one night I am not eager to repeat.

Best call we made: deciding to go to a public hospital in Thailand instead of a private clinic. I got a severe cold in the Philippines and staying in polluted cities of Manila and Bangkok only made it worse. At some point we decided that I needed antibiotics. We were planning to go to a private clinic nearby but Jenny, the owner of our favorite restaurant in Bangkok (who kind of generally took care of us), convinced us to go to a public hospital instead, claiming that it was equally good but over 10 times cheaper. We were a little hesitant but what can I say - he was right.

Hardly anybody spoke English in the hospital, but somehow we managed to communicate with the hospital staff. There was always somebody making sure that I was waiting in the right place and that I had all the necessary check-ups done. The conversation with the doctor was a bit funny because he had a very thick accent and wore a facemask and I wore a facemask and spoke with a fading voice that even Marc could hardly understand. But we understood each other.

The doctor made the necessary prescriptions and I was then sent with a nurse to the hospital pharmacy where my medicines were already waiting for me with English instructions. I felt touched. All of this (including registration, check-ups, visit to the doctor and the pharmacy) took about an hour and cost just a couple of dollars - not even enough to claim to the insurance. I don't know to what degree I was given a special treatment because I was a foreigner but I must say that I was quite impressed. And just to finish he story - three days later I was as good as new!

Worst call we made: staying only 10 days in the Philippines. Traveling anywhere in the country takes a long time so we didn't see half of what we planned. We loved the Filipino people and we also loved what we saw of the country. We didn't think beforehand that we would like it so much and when we realized that, it was too late to change tickets. Philippines - watch out! I'll definitely be back!

How to make sure everybody knows you've been to Thailand

1. Wear baggy pants

2. Wear a leather ankle bracelet

3. Let your hair grow long or cut them randomly or, even better, get dreadlocks

4. If you are a guy, you HAVE to grow a beard

5. Talk a lot about "the spirit of the place"

Even before we got to Thailand, we found it very easy to recognize people who visited the country. We met some of them in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, and they all shared these characteristics I mentioned. And sure enough, when we arrived in Bangkok, we found that about half of the tourists we saw on the streets fitted the description above.

Why would Thailand attract Bohemian spirits? I have no idea. Thailand is a beautiful country to visit but it is surely more commercialized and profit-oriented than other countries in Southeast Asia I have visited.

Why do Bohemian people all end up in Thailand? Is it Buddhism? Maybe. Although I think that there are other Buddhist countries that offer more spiritual experience than Thailand, where everything is for sale.

So maybe it is just pure fashion? Or maybe after spending enough time here one just can't help getting baggy pants and growing a beard? This remains to be seen. and I will cerrtainly let you know the moment Marc gets an ankle bracelet :-)

All Hail to the King! I repeat: ALL

There is someone very popular in Bangkok. In fact, the man is so popular that his picture is found at all major crossroads, inside stores, on buildings, on public buses, in public hospitals, on all coins and notes, in shopping malls, etc.

Who can claim such popularity? Bhumibol Adulyadej, the king of Thailand.

The king is an enterprising man: he is pictured hunting African animals, holding binoculars and exploring vast landscapes, touring major attractions in Europe, discussing important matters with his advisors, etc. It seems that Thailand’s omnipotent king can do it all. Hence the people worship him.

Is that the end of this beautiful story?

In a restaurant I pointed my finger at the picture of the king and asked the waiter a few questions about the king. He mentioned that the king is 85 years old. I said: “Wow, that’s old. Who is next in line to replace him?”.

There was a moment of silence. Then his face grew severe and he said that we should not talk about things like that. He said it is “not good” to talk about this subject. And he also said that I should be careful not to talk with other Thais about matters related to the king.

Surprise, surprise! I dug a little deeper and this is what I found: Lèse-Majesté, the act of insulting or defaming the king, can result in 15 years jail time.

So is it universal love for the king? Or is it universal coercion to love the king? In Thailand it is probably both.

Ladyboys - they'll fool you!

Khao San Road, made famous in the movie “The Beach”, offers the visitor the first chance to spot a ladyboy in Thailand. The tough part is recognizing the ladyboy from the real ladies. Some ladyboys have surgery to remove Adam’s apple, breast surgery, and hip augmentation surgery. Even the legs are going under the scalpel to remove as much muscle as possible. You will see many beautiful Thai girls on Khao San Road. The hottest ones may as well be ladyboys. It’s that simple.

There’s something strange going on in Bangkok. It’s all the ladyboys who stare seductively at foreigners; it’s the male waiter at our preferred restaurant who likes to act girlie and who declares that he is “just a girl”; it’s male employees at 7 Eleven who put on mascara and wear high heel shoes.

From what I hear, this phenomenon is directly related to sex tourism and the simple fact that Thai girls can make more money, way more money than guys in the tourism industry. So I guess the reasoning is that if you can’t beat them, join them.

This mix-up can have funny consequences for the unsuspecting traveler. A Dane we met in a restaurant told us how he had once brought a Thai “lady” back to his hotel room only to realize he had made a mistake. A Big Mistake.

Thailand is recognized as a premier destination for sex tourism. At the forefront of this industry are ladyboys, ready to pounce on tourists who don’t know that the rules of the game have been changed in Thailand.