Word: thailand
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...business has expanded so fast, and with such little oversight, that reliable numbers are hard to come by. There are perhaps 10,000 swiftlet buildings in Malaysia alone, which each year produce 144 metric tons of nests worth $160 million, reports the Malaysian government news agency Bernama. Nests from Thailand's 600 or more condos could be worth another $60 million, according to a 2007 Thai study, "Swiftlet Birds' Nests: Power, Conflict and Riches," by independent researcher Kasem Jandam. Judging by the number of swiftlet condos appearing in many Thai towns, these figures are probably gross underestimates. In Indonesia...
...some respects, the birdhouse business resembles the trade in nests harvested from the wild, a side of the industry that is murky and sometimes violent; in the past, only those with money, muscle and good political connections prospered. In Thailand, fewer than a dozen companies harvest nests from some 170 islands in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, in return for paying multimillion-dollar concession fees to the government. The remote islands are guarded by dozens of armed men - in effect private armies - and are often run "like independent states," says Jandam, the author of the industry study...
...morality. It finally gave blacks and females their freedom. There should now be an amendment to the Constitution to provide full citizenship for gays. They have been second-class citizens for far too long. Gays, as everyone should admit, have contributed a great deal toward humanity. Ray Standiford, Pattaya, Thailand...
...question is whether the foreign community will be as forgiving. Over the past year, Indonesia has profited from the political uncertainty in regional neighbors Thailand and Malaysia, with foreign investors considering the once turbulent country as an alternative location to park their cash. Indonesia recorded 4.1% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of this year, a particularly impressive feat given the global economic crisis. A peaceful presidential election on July 8 underscored the feeling that Indonesia, just 11 years after emerging from dictatorial rule, was transforming into a democracy serious about tackling corruption and wooing foreign investors with...
...Last summer, she and her fellow pole dancers at the Camelot Castle entertained scores of men every night - first in the bar, where they earn a monthly salary, then at the customer's hotel, where they negotiate their own rates. But as cash-strapped travelers turn their backs on Thailand - tourism officials say revenues will plunge 35% this year - the ranks of men cruising Patpong have thinned dramatically. On a recent Wednesday evening, just three tourists watched a visibly disgruntled Goy wiggle around her pole. "I haven't had a customer in five nights," she says, "and I'm lucky...