Take a ride on the wild side

Here's a typical telephone conversation between a Thai and a farang.

Note the Thai's attempt to show concern by pretending to be jealous.

Actually, the barworker might actually be jealous, who knows - even if they only met the day before. Note also the plea for money.

Thai: Hello, how are you?

Farang: Fine. You?

T: I am going into hospital/my parents are sick/I am lonely.

F: That's funny...I have problems too. Would you like to hear about them?

T: Are you with girlfriend/Do you have girlfriend? You have many girls, I know...

F: No. I am single.

T: You want see me?

F: Up to you...you are the one who called me, remember?

A farang friend of mine had this conversation a while ago with a young woman of the night.

Man, woman, it makes no difference - the Thai bar worker in her comes through clearly enough.

Heading for trouble

For superstitious reasons, Maiyuu wants to move the head of my bed away from the window.

'Your head faces west, which is the same direction in which people's bodies are placed when they die.

'This is why you get ill so often,' he said.

I didn't know I get ill often. However, it is true that I often wake up with stiff joints, which previously I put down to age.

As part of this package, I will also get a desk for my computer. If my bed moves, the computer will have to go somewhere else, too.

I was pleased to hear about the computer desk, as the space I use at present is not ideal.

Superstition can be a useful thing after all!

Joys of Thai blogging: Another satisfied customer

An anonymous reader left this treat:

'Just wanted to thank you for the two years of wonderful posts. With the new direction your blog has taken I find it utterly uninteresting.

'What made your writing so compelling was that you wrote about your personal experience in a foreign land and some of us could vicariously experience every day life of a farang.

'Thanks for the wonderful read and good luck to you and Maiyuu.'

I am not sure what new direction the blog has taken, and the reader doesn't bother to explain. The posts about Thai stars? The pictures of Maiyuu's cooking treats?

The absence of tales from a Thai market where I once lived, or that hole of a drinking place I used to visit in Thon Buri?

As I said the other day, readers of this blog are happiest when I am writing about some domestic drama with Maiyuu.

Lately, we have not argued much, so I have plugged the gap with posts about Thai stars, most of which have a gay angle, or which I think are interesting anyway, even if they haven't.

No one blog can do everything, and if it's part of a vibrant blogging community, should not be seen in isolation anyway.

The number of Thai blogs written by Bangkok-resident foreigners has grown in the last six months, which is welcome. Readers can shop around.

We all link to each other anyway, so it is easy to get your daily dose from half a dozen or more blogs with a similar theme.

One day, I might serve up a tale about Maiyuu; on the same day, BB at his blog might talk about his pizza delivery guy, or the technician at his condo, while Kawadjan might bring us a tale from his Filipino friends, or his latest exotic travels in this region.

Those who enjoy news about Thai stars can find it here, or at Lyn's lakorns blog, or Dirtii-laundry blog. As you can see, no two blogs are alike.

If readers enjoy tales of misfit foreigners lashing out at Thais, or foreigners dogging the tails of moneyboys in Silom, then I suggest you go elsewhere.

I have been here nine years, for goodness sake! I am no longer interested.

The idea of living in a foreign country is trying to fit in. As a foreigner spends longer here, hopefully he will get better at it.

In that event, you should expect the number of stories about foreigners ogling over Thai good looks or the gaudy lights of Patpong to diminish.

After a while, it becomes repetitive and just dull. Or, if such stories distinguish themselves, it's usually in the clever or entertaining way they are written, as the subject matter has been covered so many times before.

Bangkok Pundit's blog is the grand-daddy of all Bangkok blogs - probably the most popular and respected blog by a foreigner writing on Thailand.

What's that about? Not Thai girls, the Silom nightlife, lifestyle issues, or any of that flim flam. It's about politics, plain and simple.

Here, you get a mix of what I think you will like, and what takes my interest, which I publish whether or not readers are likely to read it. It is, after all, my blog.

The posts about Thai stars or Thai music might seem esoteric to foreigners overseas, but they interest me. Among the recent additions to this blog are posts about Thai folk singer Thee Chaiyadej.

Not interested? Well, someone might be. Someone should tell these stories, and it might as well be me.

Just another brain growth

So I have suffered 20% hearing loss in one ear - it won't kill me.

Back at Chulalongkorn Hospital yesterday, I saw the ear specialist, who looked at the results of my hearing tests and gave me a list of possible causes for the loss of hearing which has occurred in my left ear. They are:

1. General deterioration in the nerves of my brain, probably related to age.

2. A piece of fat has broken off from where fatty deposits lie, and entered my brain through a blood vessel.

3. A non-malignant growth in my brain

We eliminated other possible causes. They were:

1. Disease, such as Aids, diabetes, syphilis

2. An accident, such as being knocked on the head.

3. Routine exposure to loud noises, such as a gun going off.

'If it's simply age, I can't account for why the hearing in your left ear has deteriorated, but your right ear remains the same, because in theory the should be deteriorating at the same rate,' said the doctor, a woman in her early 20s.

'I will ask you to have another test - a brain scan,' she said, looking sheepish.

If my brain scan came back normal, she would get me to come back every six months for regular checks. If the scan of my brain waves came back abnormal, then the next step was an X-ray.

Every time she refers to me to get this or that bodily function tested, I have to wait another couple of hours, which might not seem like much compared to the rest of my life, but is a drag nonetheless.

Then, once the test is complete, I have to make an appointment to see her another day.

Been there, done that. The public health system isn't worth the effort.

After seeing the specialist, I lined up with a dozen other patients to make my appointment for a brain scan.

The space where we queued is at the entrance of the outpatients' clinic. It was crowded and congested. Patients were coming in, an old woman in a wheelchair was trying to get out. The single nurse on duty at the appointments counter was handling this chaos alone.

Such indignities. Half an hour earlier, a young woman who escorted her able-bodied mother to the clinic told me to surrender my seat. 'Stand up!' she barked.

At the urging of the nurses, I came in early: 7.30am, only to find that the specialists don't start work until 9.30am.

I've had enough of this nonsense, I thought. After five minutes, I gave up and walked out.

At the front desk, I told the nurses that I could not see the brain scan people today. They made an appointment for me next week. I probably won't go, as I can't be bothered.

If my hearing gets worse, I shall visit a private hospital instead. Maiyuu will just have to find the money from somewhere, or I will sneak out with his blasted I-phone in the middle of the night and hock it off at the nearest corner market.

Do you hear me, lad?

Just joking. I'm the one with the difficulty hearing, not him.

Thee Chaiyadej: Love is...

Below is a piece on folk guitarist Thee Chaiyadej.

In a rash moment a few weeks ago, I deleted it. Thankfully, I had kept a copy somewhere, which I have now revived.

I have updated the post to include a Youtube video of Thee singing in concert, and two other videos of Thee songs which were not available on the internet at the time I wrote the piece, more than 12 months ago.

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'I love you too darling I think of you all the time and some day I not have time for u but I still think of u and worry how u do at home อย่าเพิ่งอวกนะพูดจริงๆจากใจ BIG KISS FOR MY BIG PIGGIE and a little hug because I am a little guy, can't do big hugs.'

Maiyuu sent me that text message a few days ago. The bit in Thai says: 'Don't vomit, because I mean this from the bottom of my heart.'

The night before, he came home looking worried. I asked him to hop on the bed with me, and tell me what was wrong.

He said he was worried about his future, and what would happen if one day I decided to go back to my home country.'I don't want to go back, because I like Thais too much, and I love you. If I went home, I would miss you,' I told him.

I feel too grateful to Maiyuu to just quit one day, and leave. Good people don't do that to each other.

As I reflected on that moving text message, I thought about the other romantic things that bind me to this place.

One of them is music, and in particular the love songs of folk singer Thee Chaiyadej. Maiyuu introduced me to him. For my birthday recently, he bought me Thee's Very Best Of album.

Thee's soft acoustic sounds get under my skin, his poetic, dreamy lyrics into my heart in a way few other Thai artists do - and he does it with little commercial fanfare.

He has no website in his name, nor fansites that I can find. No huge, flashy, Grammy-style concerts for him, but intimate, blues-club style gatherings where he played his instrument of choice - acoustic guitar - for many years, before the 'indie' Bakery label signed him up about 10 years ago.

Uncommonly for a Thai popular singer, Thee (ธีร์ ไชยเดช) is not afraid to perform in English, nor experiment with alternative genres and sounds.

Even more unusually, perhaps, is that he does not pursue a full-time career as a musician, but fits it around his commitments to work as an air traffic controller.

'The job demands intense concentration and carries a high level of responsibility. If I know I have to work the next day, I cannot stay up late performing, as I need to get enough rest,' he says.

I first saw Thee perform a few years ago, on a concert VCD by Bakery label artists.

Thee, released his first album, Why in 1995, followed in 1997 by an album called Bakery Love 3, in which he performed covers of well-known Bakery tunes.

That was followed in 1998 by solo albums There, and Story, and in 1999 by Past. He released another solo album, After Brake, in 2001. His first two albums were virtually all sung in English.

His first album in which the songs were mainly sung in Thai was 1998's Story. Past was a compilation album of his most popular songs.

Before approaching Bakery with samples of his work, Thee had played the club circuit in Bangkok for years, including the Saxophone Club.

Thee is often associated with the late Joe Amarin Luangboribun, of the pop group Pause.

Thee produced albums for Joe, both when Joe was lead singer for Pause, and then as a solo artist. In 2002, he released a song he wrote in tribute to his younger friend, called 20202.

Thee has worked as an air traffic controller for Aerothai for 21 years. He started performing music more than 30 years ago, and can play acoustic guitar in various genres, including reggae, and blues.

As a Bakery artist he performed his first solo concert in 2002, which was his first chance to perform for his fans in a variety of musical styles.

Thee said he wanted his fans to know he could do more than just croon Bakery-style love songs. Most of his fans, funnily enough, are not listeners in the over-25 age group, but the young, including teenagers.

He draws his inspiration from Western folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Crosbie Stills, Nash and Young, Don McLean. He likes to tell a story when he sings; music is there mainly to accompany the story, to provide the right setting, or mood.

As a musician, Thee Chaiyadej blazes his own path - an individualistic quality in his work which he himself recognises:

'My music has changed over time. I don't want people thinking I have the same sound. I like musicians who want to be their own person. I am brave enough to do it, and the listener gets the benefit.'

Postscript:

1. Here's Thee performing Kam Mai Kee Kam with 'Pod' Thanachai Ujjin, of the performing duo BoydPod (and the indie band Modern Dog).

2 The song which Thee wrote for his friend Joe of the group Pause, shortly after Joe's death. It's called 20202.

3. Thee branches out into music with a Spanish flavour: the beautiful Gypsy Moon.