Heretic moments

I didn't go to church. Last night I couldn't sleep, possibly because I ate something too spicy before bed, but more probably because I couldn't stop thinking about the experience which lay in wait.

At 3am, still unable to sleep, I sent a message to Mr T, excusing myself and suggesting we leave it for another day.

It might have to be spontaneous, if I am still capable of such things....some day when I just happen to be awake on time to meet him outside the 7-11 before we head off together to his favourite place of worship.

Off to church, eyes off the priest

Mr T, the young man from the North who works at the local 7-11, has asked me to church this morning.

T is a Catholic, and tries to visit church every week. The last time I dropped in to the 7-11, we chatted about his religion, after I noticed him wearing a cross.

'Do you go to church often?' T asked.

T wears his hair in a Korean-style hairdo, long down the sides of his face. His chest is bony, and he pulls at his pants nervously when we talk.

'Hardly ever...I went to a tiny Christian church in the market here once. Middle-aged women were learning Chinese. It looked like a happy-clappy church.'

The church in Talad Phlu

T says he has been to several local churches, none of them particularly grand. The congregation is mainly Thai.

I shall have to ask him tomorrow when he started observing Christianity, or whether he was brought up that way.

With the exception of that poky little place in the market, I have not been inside a real church since I left the West to live in Thailand more than eight years ago.

It's about time this sinner returned to the fold of a warm, friendly congregation, though I am nervous about what awaits.

I am not a Catholic, but no one else in church will know that. But will they try to button-hole me as their only farang churchgoer, and ask me to spread the word?

T says he enjoys taking the bread in his mouth which the priest hands out at communion.

If he invites me to join him at communion, I might have to decline, as it's not part of my faith.

On the other hand, it's been a while since a man put anything in my mouth, so why not?

Today T called me with instructions where to meet. 'Wait for me at 8.30, outside the 7-11, if you like,' he suggested. 'I will come and get you.'

I wondered if I would be able to get up in time.

'What do I wear?' I asked.

He laughed. 'No special dress.'

Before I leave I shall have to look up the Thai words for Bible, congregation, and priest. Then I'll be right...well, that's what I am telling myself anyway.

At that early hour of the day, my mind is barely functioning, but I will have to make sure I am fed, watered, washed and dressed by 8.30 if we are to make it to church on time.

Another unsettling thought has just occurred to me. Do I have to sing?

No ice-cream guilt

Boyfriend Maiyuu is going cold on the idea that he makes bakery products for the little eatery I found in Thon Buri.

He has yet to speak to the owner, but when I told him that he proposed buying Maiyuu's bakery products on a fahk kai basis, he poo-pooed it. 'We're the ones who shoulder all the risk - if he can't sell anything, he has the right to return it. He doesn't have to pay,' he said.

In that case, I asked him how he felt about selling bakery, perhaps to some other place, by the conventional method - kai song.

Maiyuu says that too has its problems, as we would have to keep our price low enough for the person selling it to add a big enough margin for himself.

I told Maiyuu I would still like to take him to the shop next week to meet the owner...so we shall see what happens.

In the meantime, we have bought ourselves a small bar-b-que stove and a blender, and today Maiyuu returns to the shopping mall to buy some other cooking device.

In more gays-at-the-supermarket news, at the mall yesterday we visited two stalls selling boutique ice-cream, and spent B1000 in five minutes.

Can many families afford to blow so much on ice-cream in one go? I doubt it. Three cheers for the pink baht!

Cooking up a storm

Maiyuu still has a few friends after all.

We don't often get visits from Maiyuuu's friends these days, but a moment ago I met one of them.

The girl, a tenant in this condo, is aged in her early 20s, and has a toddler. I don't know how they met.

Maiyuu bumped into the girl when he went out to buy ingredients for his latest cooking creation. He brought her back, so he could give her some of his baking.

'My boyfriend can't keep up with everything I make - food is going to waste,' he said, pointing at me.

I was sitting at the computer in the next room.

The kitchen table is groaning with puff pastry sausage rolls, ingredients for a clear vegetable and mince soup, a fig cake, and strawberry jam.

'Are you making food just for fun?' she asked, sounding surprised.

'I am testing my skills to see what I can do,' said Maiyuu, laughing.

He gave her a plate of baking goodies. The girl thanked 'Pee' Maiyuu, and left.

'The owner of the eatery close to Mum's shop is keen to buy your bakery,' I told him.

'Wirut wants me to take you to his shop, so you can meet and talk business,' I said.

'Really?' asked Maiyuu, looking marginally, but not over-excited.

'Let me have a think first about what I should make for him.'

Girly bakery prospects

I took along a sample of Maiyuu's baking last night to the owner of a new eatery I have found close to Mum's shop.

He did not taste it himself, but asked if he could give it to his girlfriend to try.

He is keen to buy Maiyuu's bakery, but needs to make small extensions to the front of his shop first. He targets the lunchtime office-worker trade.

Wut, the owner, runs the eatery with a joint shareholder. They lease the place from Kor, a local property-owner who I have known since the days when we both drank at Mum's shop.

We spent the night chatting, mainly about his business, and the different ways of selling bakery, including fahk kai.

I do not have a business brain, and am still finding this concept hard to understand.

By the sounds of it, Maiyuu would bake every day, but if Wut could not sell it all, he would have the right to return the rest, or at least not pay for those he was unable to sell.

However, if a customer came along and wanted to place a bulk order herself, Wut would pass the order on to Maiyuu, who could get the extra business without Wut adding a margin.

That's all I can remember at the moment. The eatery was quiet last night, but Wut says it was his first day back in business since he closed for four days over New Year.

I went with my friend from work, farang C. We ordered several dishes from the menu, including sweet and sour fish, which farang C was as good as any he had tasted overseas.

Wut hires two chefs, who work in a poky kitchen making Thai and farang dishes which cost just 35 baht each.

As for Mum's forlorn shop at the head of the soi, no one drinks there any more, it seems.

When I walked past the place furtively yesterday, heading for Wut's eatery just inside the same street, it was empty.

Wut's place closed at 10pm. As we passed Mum's shop on our way home, it was again empty.

She does, however, get custom from motorcyclists.

Customers on motorcycles stop by at the rear of the shop, and order cigarettes. She passes the cigarettes to them, and they race off.

Thais like the convenience of being able to pull up on a bike, do their transaction, then tear away again.

One motorcyclist stopped in the middle of the road to ask for directions while we were sitting at Wut's shop.

Wut's eatery has been open just five months, but he is finding it hard to spread the word, as there is no local business association in the area.

'No one wants to take part in local product fares or promotions, because it's dog-eat-dog,' he said.

'Thais like buying to go...they cannot be bothered finding a place to park, or sitting in restaurants if they can just order off the street,' said Wirut.

Office workers are often on foot, which is good for Wut's business. They do not need to hop on the motorbike, or find a place to park.

Wut wants several different baking items a day, in various packaging and sizes, for those who eat at a table, and those who want to take away.

We have just bought an oven. I am not sure how many items Maiyuu can produce a day, and I told Wut that Maiyuu has not catered professionally nor sold his bakery to anyone before.

Still, they can always talk. When the changes to his shop are complete, probably some time this month, Wut says he will give Maiyuu a call.