I’m currently traveling in the US, so activity here at newley.com will likely be sporadic for the next few weeks.

I’ll be posting some dispatches on Twitter from time to time, though, so you can look for me over there.

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C is a serious foodie, and unlike his older brother, he’s spent a lot of time in SC over the past several years.

Though it didn’t make his list, I wanted to point out that our sleepy seaside town (pop. in 2000: 12,950) now boasts…a Thai restaurant.¹

The curiously named Yes! Thai Indeed restaurant has been earning some positive reviews of late. (Not only does the restaurant have a Web site, but they even have their menu (PDF link) and guest book online.)

Will Yes! Thai Indeed make C’s 2010 round-up of Top 5 Beaufort restaurants? Only time will tell.

1. Side note: The globalization of sushi is well documented. But what about the globalization of Thai food?

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Here’s a cell phone pic of today’s Bangkok Post front page, which features two train stories. Glancing at the paper might give you the impression that the articles are related, but they’re not.

The headline, “Train services return to normal,” refers to the recent strike by Thailand’s train workers. As the headline says, service is scheduled to resume today.

The image, caption, and second article, however, refer to Monday’s Metro crash in Washington, DC that killed nine people and injured many more. Two trains collided on the city’s red line.

(As it happens, Thai trains may be running again. But service along DC’s red line is, understandably, still “severely impacted.“)

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Discussed here are PM Abhisit, the red shirts, the yellow shirts (and the PAD’s new political party), and the insurgency in Thailand’s south. Worth a read.

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Nevertheless, here in Bangkok — as you might imagine — life continues as usual.

On Tuesday I spent some time talk to people on the street about H1N1. No one was concerned. One woman selling grilled meat told me she wasn’t afraid of H1N1 at all. A motorcycle taxi driver said that he wasn’t worried, even though he has a small child in school. A woman selling lottery tickets told me that she had no fear of H1N1, and besides, she doesn’t eat pork anyway, having switched to fish recently because it’s healthier. (There were — and apparently continue to be — misconceptions that H1N1 can be contracted by eating pork.)

For further H1N1 news, I suggest consulting the following:

• Bangkok Post newspaper
• The Nation newspaper
• Google news search for “H1N1 Thailand“
• Twitter search for “H1N1 Thailand”

You can also follow me on Twitter, as I’ve been relaying some H1N1 news there periodically.

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Here are three recent stories:

• Nation: “Confirmed Type-A (H1N1) flu cases rise to 310”

  The confirmed case of Type-A (H1N1) influenza cases in Thailand has risen to 310, Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi announced Tuesday.

  He said the Public Health Ministry will Tuesday hold a meeting of doctors nationwide to make preparations to cope with the more outbreaks.

  Despite the increase of the cases, Manit pleaded the public not to panic.

• Bangkok Post: “109 new flu cases”
  

  The number of A(H1N1) influenza cases in Thailand had risen to 310 after 109 new cases were reported on Tuesday, Public Health permanent secretary Prat Boonyavongvirot said.

  Dr Prat said the Ministry of Public Health will now hold a press conference on the H1N1 outbreak everday at around 11am to prevent any misleading information.

  He said the number of H1N1 flu cases would likely increase, but it was not unusual since other countries also encountered the same problem.

• And earlier today, there was this story in the Bangkok Post: “Officials muzzled on H1N1”
  

  The Public Health Ministry is asking provincial health and hospital chiefs not to speak to the media about influenza A (H1N1) cases in an effort to calm disquiet over the extent of the spread of the virus.

  Ministry spokesman Suphan Sithamma said a letter was being sent to senior health figures warning them not to say anything about the number of flu cases and details about the patients. All information was to be filtered through health authorities in Bangkok.

  The ministry’s hush-hush order came as the number of flu cases passed the 200 mark and experts expected it to rise further.

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• The image supposedly showing Carradine’s body in his hotel room
  As theories about the cause of Carradine’s death evolved from suicide to auto-erotic asphyxiation, a key element in the public’s perception of the case, it seems, was the surfacing of a photo that supposedly shows Carradine’s body in his hotel room. In the image, which is digitally altered to obscure the face and much of the body, a man is shown hanging in a closet, with his hands bound above his head.

  Thai tabloid newspaper Thai Rath published the image two days after Carradine was found dead, and many assume the photo is authentic. (I will not link to it here.) Others, however, aren’t so sure about the image’s provenance. As Andrew at the Thai media blog Bangkok Bugle points out:

  The upmarket Nai Lert Park hotel where Carradine’s body was found is refusing to confirm or deny if the image depicts one of their suites. Thai Rath remains equally silent about its sources, as does the Royal Thai Police about whether this image is genuine.

  Thailand’s most popular newspaper has been branded “sick” and “sensationalist” for its decision to publish the pictures on Saturday, however to those in Thailand their coverage is nothing out of the ordinary. Yesterday’s front page, for example, showed blood-spattered bodies from the latest terror attack in the south of the Kingdom.

  Regardless of this particular photo’s authenticity, there’s a bigger issue here: Thai Rath and other newspapers in Thailand are known for their graphic coverage. As Patrick Winn noted last month in GlobalPost:

  Each morning, Thailand’s newspaper racks offer a gallery of gore.

  Few days pass without a corpse, face-down and blood-soaked, appearing on Thai newspapers’ front pages. Equally common are accident scenes, with unlucky drivers spilling lifelessly from their totaled cars.

• Backlash in the Thai English language media
  There’s been some backlash in the Thai English-language papers. On Wednesday, the Nation ran this opinion piece, called “Sorry, David, if we are denying you peace.” The author explains the paper’s approach to covering the story. And yesterday’s Bangkok Post has this item, “Shocking pix need a call for moral outrage.”
• International coverage
  News of Carradine’s death has made headlines the world over, not just in Thailand, of course. Al Tompkins has a post at the journalism site PoynterOnline called “Why You Shouldn’t Publish Alleged Carradine Death Photos.” An excerpt:

  Thai Rath, a newspaper in Thailand, has published a front-page photo of what it says is David Carradine’s body hanging by ropes in a hotel closet. The actor was found dead in a Bangkok hotel last week.

  No doubt, the grisly photo, as well as an autopsy photo that’s been surfacing across the Web, will generate lots of traffic.

  But they’re not news.

  It’s right to wonder whether they’re authentic, but even if they are, I can’t imagine a legitimate reason to publish them.

• New details and the ongoing investigation
  Meanwhile, details about Carradine’s death are still emerging: A forensics expert hired by the actor’s family has now examined Carradine’s body in the US. As the AP recently reported, the expert says Carradine’s death was not a suicide, though he cautioned that a final cause of death can’t be determined at this point. The results of ongoing Thai forensics tests should be known in a matter of weeks.

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• Thai newspaper Thai Rath has published an image that allegedly shows Carradine dead in his hotel room. The photo supposedly shows Carradine naked, hung in a closet with his hands bound above his head. (Interest in the image spiked last weekend: a search for “David Carradine death photo” debuted on the Google Trends list of most-searched-for phrases on Saturday.)
• Carradine’s family is upset about the publication of the image, and they’ve said they may pursue legal action if other outlets run the photo. Carradine’s family has also said they want the FBI to investigate the case. Thai police say the FBI can “observe” the investigation.
• Regarding the publication of the image, the Bangkok Post has this story: “Carradine family upset by Thailand”
  

  The family of the late actor David Carradine have launched strong anti-Thailand criticism touched off by the death of the TV and movie star.

  They are “profoundly disturbed” by publication of a forensics photo in a Bangkok newspaper, claim that the Thai pathologist is incompetent, want to go around the Thai police with FBI investigators – and threaten to sue any Thai media printing additional photos of Carradine after his death.

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BANGKOK (AP) — The body of American actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series “Kung Fu,” was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been accidental suffocation, Thai police said Friday.

The 72-year-old actor’s body was discovered Thursday in his luxury suite at Bangkok’s Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Police initially said they suspected suicide, though Carradine’s associates had questioned that theory.

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In addition to starring in “Kung Fu” and in many Hollywood movies, Carradine had a notable part as “Bill” in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” volumes 1 and 2. The 72-year-old was in Bangkok shooting a new film.

Here’re some news stories:

AP/NPR: “Actor David Carradine Found Dead In Bangkok”

BBC: “Kung Fu star Carradine found dead”

EW.com: “David Carradine: RIP”

Nation: “David Carradine found dead in Bangkok”

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