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| Mum's shop in Pin Khlao |
That was farang J, boyfriend of Mum's sister Aor, who is staying in the Northeast.
He took a taxi there as soon as he arrived in Bangkok from his native London several weeks ago.
We had not yet seen each other since he came, but already he knew that I had turned my back on Mum's shop.
Aor takes care of farang well, so no surprise if he should be enjoying his stay. I called him for a chat as I sat at the very same place which threatens to get me into trouble.
It is an eatery just down the way from Mum's shop. As drinking holes go, it is far superior, with its own outdoors bench and tables, a rock-pool garden, air conditioning, TV, music...
The eatery sits between Mum's rented apartment and her shop. She passes the place whenever she walks from her apartment to her own shop, or back again.
Last night I called out a greeting. Mum smiled awkwardly, but kept moving. In her eyes, no doubt, I am a traitor.
I had been going to her shop for six or seven years, when suddenly I upped sticks and took my custom somewhere else. Odd indeed.
Well, it's not my fault that she let the place go to rack and ruin. Mum and her husband do nothing to bring in customers any more.
Over the last few weeks, while I have been drinking at the rival place, I have seen just one customer sitting at Mum's shop, a regular who has been visiting the place even longer than I have.
'I left the shop because it's a dump,' I told farang J on the phone.
After we finished our call, a sense of guilt began to settle on my shoulders. I sent farang J a text message.
'Bugger it...I might have to go back anyway,' I said.
The new place suffers from one major drawback: cooking smoke from an open-sided eatery next to it drifts down to the outdoor area where I sit.
The open-sided place - really just a glorified food cart with tables and chairs - is outside a 7-11. It has a good name locally, and has been there for years.
They may have a good reputation, but they are slow to change the oil in their fry pans.
The stench of old cooking oil, accompanied by acrid smoke, drift down to where I am sitting next door. Cough, cough.
Why does the city not tackle smoke pollution caused by these lazy eatery owners who are too cheap to change their cooking oil?
The place where I was sitting is owned by a young go-getter called Wut. He has put B300,000 into his eatery, with ambitious plans to expand further.
The eatery is a bright spot in an otherwise dank and grey neighbourhood. It has been open only a matter of months, but already his customers are being smoked out.
If customers can't sit at his place without drifting down from some cheapo joint down the way, his investment could go up in smoke.
It's an Asian thing, perhaps, but it's also smoke pollution, and a health hazard.
The choices before me are looking sad. Mum's place is a dump, so I don't want to send time there. Wut's place is modern and comfortable, but covered in a cloud of cooking-oil smoke.
Maybe I should just stay at home with the boyfriend, where at least it is safe.
"I refuse to die of lung cancer because some cheapo joint uses old cooking oil"
ReplyDeleteFriend, cooking oil is the _least_ of the pollutants in BKK.
There is a smell and haze that greets you right out of the airport and takes me several days to get used to.
New York City was like that 40 years ago. The city banned incinerators, new coal fired boilers and required scrubber pumps be installed on those remaining. They got rid of all older buses that couldn't be retrofitted with pollution controls and now has an almost emission-free transit system.
As a world city, air quality is one major problem that Bangkok needs to focus on. Thailand also needs to deal with smoking, especially among the young. I don't know why it is that Asian people seem to smoke alot but it is tragic to see these beautiful young Thais sucking in burning plants.
Smoke from cooking oil can cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, according to health surveys published in the papers here occasionally.
ReplyDeleteTraders who cook food are at risk, but so too are ordinary women (and a few men, I guess) who work in poorly ventilated kitchens, cooking for their own needs at home.
It is no small issue, but a persistent menace if you live in Bkk (as are the other causes of air pollution you mentioned).
Ain't sure what this gotta do with Asian but yes, it irritates the sh-i-t out of me that restaurants/eateries/food courts that smell like kitchen. We are not hi-so but imagine carrying that smell with us to shopping malls and clubbing at Soi 2!?
ReplyDeleteCould Wut put a few pots of tall plants to segregate the area? What about a big electric-fan that blows against the source?
Traders cooking food outdoors in woks is not Asian?
ReplyDeleteWut has erected a wooden barrier between his shop and the one next door, but it keeps out only some of the smoke. If I was him, I would be furious.
I agree with BODYholic and came in here to say that! If not a fan, then a living hedge, maybe of fragrant flowering vines, like tall bean plants, planted on both sides of the wooden barrier. The plants on the smoke side will catch the oil and soot, and the plants on the bar side will breath oxygen and if they have many flowers, will be nice to look at too. Runner beans (called Kong in Korean) are cheap to replace and will go 12 feet up a trellis, and set thousands of flowers which attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and you can eat the beans.
ReplyDeleteWill you suggest it to Wut?
I will indeed suggest it. Flowering borders sound good to me. Thank you for your suggestions.
ReplyDeleteIf you google "scarlet runner bean" or "Phaseolus coccineus" you will find more results. There are many varieties grown on allotments in the UK as a vegetable. In your part of the world it will probably come back from the roots as a perennial in spring.
ReplyDeleteOf course he could grow other vines besides beans, wisteria for instance, but be careful as some wisteria are poisonous or smell like cat pee. Chinese Wisteria is fragrant. But they all can take years to flower and get very big, while beans would flower in a couple of months after planting.
Best of luck, hope it is of some help.