Tilting Thailand Refrigerators

Don Quixote had his windmills and apparently the Thai’s have their refrigerators. Okay, not all Thai’s do this but I have seen it more often than not which always leaves me scratching my head.

This particular Thai fridge belongs to Mo’s family in Petchaboon; they have two. If you notice there are two small wood blocks placed under the front of the fridge that gives it a slight backwards tilt. After seeing both of their refrigerators with a distinct tilt I had to finally learn the reason behind it. The answer was a simple “it keeps the refrigerator closed”. Now, if memory serves me someone took care of this particular problem a long time ago by inventing a magnetized gasket that goes around the entire perimeter of the door holding it fast when closed.

What perplexes me even more is the fact that all refrigerators have adjustable feet on them so the refrigerator can be leveled to the floor and hence the same tilt can be accomplished with just the feet. When I asked young brother where the feet were….wait for it…” Had to take off so could put wood under refrigerator”. Face meet palm…this is Thailand.

Next up I will take for a little rice farming in Petchaboon as farmer Talen once again makes an appearance…you won’t want to miss this one as I believe you will love to see a very embarrassing picture of farmer Talen on the job.

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    9 thoughts on “Thailand in the News Week Ending 07/31/2010

    1. Statictics and opinions are like “backsides”, everyones’ got one and they are all different.

      Tourism figures are always a “grey” area as just how each government, and even each department, classifies a tourist can vary. While the number of inbound travellers may decrease overall the actual number of tourists may actually increase due to lower numbers of transit passengers and a greater number of local holiday makers taking advantage of budget airlines etc.

    2. Talen Chiang Mai was the worlds second city in the poll, with popular locations like NYC and Rome also in the top ten.

      The poll was conducted before the latest round of red shirt activity. Since it is travellers and not the magazine voting I guess folk are still attracted to the big mango. I can understand why since when I first visited back in 2000 it certainly appealed, much less so now that I live in Thailand.

      I’ve been watching a few programmes lately about fishing(on the Mekong) and didn’t realise the huge fish that still live there. One can but hope that “water management” doesn’t totally destroy their environment.

    3. TAT do produce some fascinating figures don’t they? Survey results have a lot to do with how you ask the questions and what options are acceptable as answers.

      Thanks for an interesting post, Boonsong

    4. Talen, I also shook my head when I saw that Bangkok had won a top city award. While I have grown fond of the city, and still am, it’s proven to me that it cannot be trusted.

      And now the Thai government has decided that we have to report our house guests to immigration within 24 hours of their arrival. Lovely. I already have friends canceling trips to Thailand and this’ll be yet another reason for them to go elsewhere.

    5. Hey Talen,

      Bangkok won the same award back in 2008 (http://www.thailandmusings.com/bangkok-top-city-for-vacation-travel/), but I’m kinda surprised they won now considering the problems over the past couple years. It just goes to show that Bangkok is a fascinating and alluring city no matter what’s happening there.

      Regarding the fishy issue, I think Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have been trying to block China’s attempts to build Mekong dams for some time. Not only will it effect the marine life, but it will also have a profound effect on Issan farmers, taking needed water from them.

    6. Personally, I don’t see the allure of Bangkok.

      It’s just a huge, dusty, congested city to me.

      It’s too hard and it takes too long to get anywhere and if you don’t know where you are going you probably won’t find it anyway.

      I much prefer my wife’s home town or Pattaya – I can walk or take a song taew and be anywhere I want to go in minutes.

    7. Even taking into consideration the poll was carried out before the recent troubles, I find it hard to fathom out how Bangkok came top of the list.

      I’m not a major Bangkok fan but I have stayed in the city 3 or 4 times before (travelled through loads more) and whilst I cannot deny it has a certain aura, for me it would need to be twice the size with half its population to make me feel totally at ease there. Bangkok has beauty set amongst concrete jungles and shanty towns, I don’t somehow think that’s an award winning mix.

      The giant catfish would be a great loss if its numbers dwindle and become near extinct, and I still can’t believe the size of the one in your photo. I’d like to see the sack of potatoes which accompanied that one to the restaurant.

      Back to Bangkok, I reckon Chuckwow perfectly summed up my thoughts on Bangkok and Pattaya.

      House guests and immigration….hasn’t that ruling always been in place but been generally ignored in the past. I know when I stay in Wilai’s village I’m meant to report my whereabouts to the local police but I never do.

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