Bangkok streets erupt in violence – is nowhere safe?

It’s hard to imagine violence on the streets of Bangkok. Like Tokyo, New York and so many other civilized world cities, Bangkok usually enjoys a steady stream of normalcy. As a tourist, I felt as comfortable in Thailand as I do walking down my hometown street in Minneapolis. Maybe even more so.

So I was rather shocked to hear about what is going down in that vibrant Asian city, a place where one-dollar street pad thai tastes better than 20 dollar restaurant pad thai, where you can get a tour guide and ride around the city for less than 10 dollars (scam artists notwithstanding) and walk down the streets so completely unnoticed that you almost wish for a lewd cat-call. Violence in Bangkok? Nuh uh…

Of course I shouldn’t be surprised. Not when in America, the country of my birth (and which I claim is such a civilized nation), people can be shot down in the middle of their daily day at immigration centers, retirement homes, schools and even churches. Is absolutely nothing sacred anymore? America, the world… I’m disgusted.

Is it the media’s fault or our fault? I’d side with the latter – that the human race has created a monster: itself. The worst part is, I can’t think of an era of calm, a time when there wasn’t violence, war, death and destruction going on somewhere on Earth. Even with our big complex brains, are humans just destined to mess it all up?

The job search starts here: A look at a few booming world economies

During a recent trip to the UK and Ireland, the economic crisis was on everyone’s lips. I happened to reach London just as the pound dropped into the toilet, and landed in Dublin to hear that 15 years of economic growth was for nought. And a friend of a friend from L.A. said that every time he calls his newspaper editor pal to ask him what he did that day, the answer is, “I laid some more people off.”

As we job hunters sit squarely planted on our derrieres in front of the TV, watching one side of the couch indent increasingly deeper, it sounds like there’s no hope left. But after a little research, I have decided not to book my trip home to my parent’s house quite yet. The economy may be floundering here, but what about there?

According to an October article on http://www.businesspundit.com, there are a few places on earth where it doesn’t cost 12 pounds/euros/dollars to buy a cheeseburger and where finding a job doesn’t mean waiting it out for the next ten months on food stamps. Here, their top ten, with my two cents thrown in.

10. China (Although, I am skeptical of this one, considering the news of late): You see? Communism does work.

9. Brazil: An even better reason to start working on your tan.

8. Romania: Fine, you don’t speak Romanian, but they do have an award-winning gymnastics team!

7. Thailand: The most amazing sunsets in the world and great pad thai on the street for cheap. Just beware of the occasional coup.

6. North Korea: Okay, you might never be able to come home again, but at least the job security is for life! And if you ever get sick of hearing about nuclear missile developments, you can always risk it and hop the border to the South, where extremely well-paid English teaching jobs are in abundance.

5. Iran: Apparently some of the friendliest people in the world, who are very eager to invite foreigners (yes, even Americans) into their homeland. And yet another country with a powerful nuclear program (is this just a coincidence?).

4. Malaysia: I’ll give you ten dollars if you can correctly identify the exact location of this country, plus one fun-fact. Because I can’t.

3. Morocco: Long gone are the days of dusty roads and rigid religious-based rules. Females are free to walk the streets uncovered, the economy is booming and it’s close enough for a mini-vacation to Spain or France.

2. Armenia: Perhaps the reason Armenia is doing so well is because no one has ever heard of it. Or if they have heard of it, they never think about it. In reality, their international obscurity has meant not relying on outside governments to keep their economy afloat. And voilà, here they are at number two.

1. The United Arab Emirates: There’s more to this country than Dubai, despite what sex-on-the-beach obsessed Brits may think. This oil-rich, culturally diverse nation is worth not only a short trip, but being put on the list for your next job move. It may just be the world’s only sure thing.

Continued good luck to all those job seekers out there! This can’t possibly last forever…