Bare under the Christmas tree

Christmas in Bangkok

The streets on Christmas night were unusually lively.

Outside my condo, I picked my way over a group of five or six teens, sitting on the footpath chatting.

They looked at me curiously. Other raced around on motorbikes; madness was in the air.

A streetside karaoke bar was full to bursting. Thais do not observe Christmas as such, but have heard that for farang it is an occasion for drinking, so do the same.

I took a taxi to Mum’s hole-in-the-wall shop in Thon Buri in the hope of sitting amid a throng of excited young people, jostling on heaving streets.

Of course I exaggerate, but I thought I might have detected at least a little Christmas spirit in the air.

Wrong! Christmas is a central Bangkok thing, something which tourists celebrate. Out here, it was just another night.

A few customers dropped in to buy cigarettes. No one stopped for a drink. On the sidewalk, Mum’s son played chess with Pao, who works at the eatery next door.

I cleared the counter of used glasses, and emptied an ashtray, as no one else had bothered.

Mum ducked out the back of the shop to make a quick snack of crabsticks and mayonaisse, then rejoined me at the front counter.

Creak, creak! My swivel chair is in need of oil. It's base is wobbling, and it's probably on its last legs. I said nothing, as we do not get too fancy around here.

Mum was her usual cheerful self, if quiet. No one mentioned Christmas, but then I didn't expect anyone out here to exchange season's greetings.

'In a few days, we will shut up shop and take the family truck back to the Northeast to celebrate New Year,' Mum said.

We tucked into her crabsticks. The boys joined us, and Mum's husband helped himself to a few.

'We'll take the dogs in the back of the truck and stay with my mother,' she said.

Farang J, boyfriend to Mum's younger sister, and on a visit from Britain, is already there.

He did not bother stopping in Bangkok when his flight arrived a couple of weeks ago, but took a taxi to Esan straight from the airport.

The truck belongs to him, or rather, he bought it. Mum's husband keeps it in Bangkok to buy supplies for the shop.

Farang J is popular when he visits, because he has money and can help Mum's family pay the bills. They can go out for meals, or maybe hold a family bar-b-que.

This year, however, he has had to tighten his belt like the rest of us. Farang J, a contract painter, has lost his job.

'We won't do much, as no one has any money,' said Mum matter-of-factly.