Doodee’s New Year Pontification

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting, for the first time, one of the regular readers of Doodee’s Thailand. Other than that he looks younger than me, that he’s in better shape than I am, that he’s better looking than me, and other than that he’s smarter, more sophisticated, and more worldly than I am, I liked almost everything about him. He really is a great guy. And meeting him was very good for me. It helped me to realise that you folk, the readers of Doodee’s Thailand, really are a very special bunch of people.

I started publishing Doodee’s Thailand in the early summer of 2006. In the early days Doodee’s Thailand received a handful of visitors each week. But since then its popularity has grown and grown. Nowadays the reader numbers are very encouraging. I’m flattered and humbled by your support. Thanks.

It really is my pleasure to run off a few snaps and bash out a few thousand words per week for you folks. I plan to carry on doing so into the foreseeable future.

I’m not very good at New Year messages and declarations, and I’m even worse at New Years Resolutions. So with that in mind I’ve decided that the best thing that I can do for you by way of a New Year Message is to steal the words of someone much wiser than me. So I’ve procured a quote that I’d like you to think about. This quote originates from Charles Stahler:

"Knowing that we can't solve all the problems in the world, we can only focus on our little piece we've chosen to make better. It's totally easy to be mean, destructive and/or critical. It's more challenging to consistently work towards a better world in a positive way".

Wise words indeed. I wish that I’d said them. I probably will have done one day – and I’ll have claimed them as my own too.

By the way, Charles Stahler is a co-director of the Vegetarian Resource Group in the USA.

It’s difficult for me to adequately follow such wise words, so I’m not even going to try. But before I sign off I’d like you to know that you, my readers, are very important to me, and I’m very, very grateful for the way that you support Doodee’s Thailand.

I hope that you enjoy a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007 and beyond.

Very best wishes from
Doodee

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Some photos and a little information about a fascinating area of Bangkok.
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Most Pleasant Chuvit Garden

I have a few photos for you today. They show Chuvit Garden. Chuvit Garden is situated on the Sukhumvit Road Soi 10 in Bangkok. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

The land that Chuvit Garden stands on has an interesting recent history. For a while it seemed to be unused. Then a shanty town of retail outlets sprung up there. Many of these outlets were beer bars, but there was also a hairdresser's shop, a couple of restaurants, foot massage shops, a gift shop or two, and even a laundry and an internet café. And then literally overnight all of these shops were demolished.

The ground that they’d stood on remained unused for a while, and then Chuvit Garden was constructed on it.

Chuvit Garden is named after and in honour of Mr Chuvit Kamolvisit. I understand that Mr Chuvit owns the land on which the Garden is situated. Also, I understand that it was Mr Chuvit’s noble, generous and altruistic idea to site a garden for the use of Bangkokians and tourists alike there. Mr Chuvit is an interesting and influential character. He is a successful businessman. He has also been very active in Thai politics. He’s received a large amount of national and international media coverage over the years.

The Garden is most delightful. The grounds are beautifully cultivated. The pathways are wide, well made, and flat. And there are plenty of places to sit down and relax, including a small pavilion built especially for the purpose. The pavilion is featured in the next photo.

The notice above the entrance to the pavilion is the name of the pavilion, “Sala Pracharkom”. It means “Community Pavilion”.

Despite being situated adjacent to the busy, bustling Sukhumvit Road, the Garden is a very peaceful and relaxing spot in which to escape from the hubbub of Bangkok city life. Gentle, melodic, piped music is often played at a modest volume through speakers that are discreetly positioned within the front section of the Garden. The music adds to the atmosphere which makes Chuvit Garden a most calming place to visit. It really is a most pleasant garden.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A little seasonal reflection.
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A Little Piece of Old England in Bangkok

Now is a time of year when I often think about my friends and family who live in England. And also at this time of year I often reflect on how my life was back in the UK. Frankly, it was pretty good. But much as I enjoyed my life in England I find my life in Thailand to be even better. My life now is more fulfilling and even more fun.

But there are a few things that I miss about England now that I’m living in Thailand. I don’t need them. I’m very happy to live without them. But even so, from time to time I still miss them. One of the things that I miss is that wonderful old institution, the Great British Fish and Chip Shop. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that there’s one in Bangkok.

It’s fairly small by British standards, but it does nonetheless have many of the characteristics and much of the ambience of the fish and chip shops of which I’ve been such a regular patron in the past back in the UK.

The menu items impressed me: The menu at this shop includes a large selection of pies, a Cornish Pasty, sausages, battered beef burgers (no “Did they have a fight with them?” jokes please), baked beans (which I’ve heard it said are good for one’s heart, but if you eat too many….), and mashed potatoes. Also listed is the pinnacle of British culinary achievement “Bread and Butter”, that appetisingly named North of England favourite “Mushy Peas”, and of course “Chips” (sometimes mischievously referred to as “French Fries”). There were two types of fish listed on the menu. They were Cod and Red Snapper.

I’m a vegetarian. I’m a pineapple fritters and chips kind of guy, so I don’t expect that I’ll be eating at this particular fish and chip shop. But even so I have to say that I was delighted to see that this traditional, very European style of eatery is enjoying an international presence. For me it’s like a little piece of home from home, and therefore a very welcome sight to see at this shamelessly sentimental and reflective time of year.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A relaxing sanctuary on the Sukhumvit Road.
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A Small Step for Man, a Half Step for Doodee

This time of year is often referred to as The Season of Good Will. Since I’ve been living in Thailand I’ve often been the beneficiary of huge amounts of good will, both from Thai people and my fellow foreigners too. The number of examples of the good will which it’s been my pleasure and my privilege to receive are too numerous for me to mention here. But nonetheless I would particularly like to tell you about an act of good will to which I was treated recently.

Her@Home and myself were enjoying a quiet evening out together a few weeks ago. We popped into a bar. The bar staff were friendly, helpful, and very entertaining. I enjoyed a delicious and generously large plate of French Fries and a bottle or two of Heineken there. As we left the manageress, who I suspect is also the owner, asked if we’d enjoyed our visit to her bar.

I replied that we’d enjoyed our visit very much. But being the kind of person that I am I couldn’t let the opportunity for a little criticism to pass by, and so I added that access to the bar toilet was poor. Nowadays my tired old knees are not as strong as they once were, and I do find steep or high steps to be very difficult to ascend and descend safely and comfortably. The step in to the toilet in this bar is higher than I’m comfortable with.
Even so, my criticism was somewhat pernickety. Many of the bars in that particular area don’t have a toilet at all. Customers must leave those bars altogether and use the nearby public facility.

Ten days or so later we returned to this particular bar again. As soon as we walked in the manageress dashed over to me, and with some pride showed me the item featured in the first photo on today’s entry to Doodee’s Thailand.

In case you’re not sure what it is, please let me explain. It’s an occasional step that can be utilised at a moment’s notice. And it’s for use by folks like me who find the step into the toilet difficult. The manageress told me that her uncle had made this step especially for me. This step is now stored under the pool table in the bar. The next photo shows the step in its full glory and in use.

I was so impressed by this fine example of commonsense carpentry that I found myself choosing to go to the toilet even when I had no need to, just so that I could once again use the step.

But on a more serious note, this seemingly minor act of kindness and consideration is for me an important one too. For not only does this step make life physically so much safer and easier for me, but also being the direct beneficiary of the kindness, consideration, and compassion that spawned it leave me feeling honoured and privileged too.

I am often blessed by the benefits of spontaneous acts of thoughtfulness and kindness such as the one that I’ve told you about today here in Thailand. Such acts seem to be a significant part of the characteristic behaviour of Thai people. It’s one of their many delightful qualities, and one of the many things that make me hope that I will have the pleasure and the privilege of living amongst them for a long, long time to come.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: I discover a Bangkok shop where many of the products are battered.
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Threads for Chefs?

Whilst out and about on my travels the other day I saw the sign featured in the photograph below.

Two suits, three shirts, and two ties? Those seem to me to be fairly normal products for tailors to sell.

But two pans as well in the package? Is this a tailor’s shop that specialises in selling to chefs and gentlemen with an interest in cooking? Perhaps some guys like to be smartly dressed when they titivate their Viennese Fancies…. I really don’t know.

Or are the pans of the dustpan variety? Surely not.

Or is this simply a spelling mistake? I wouldn’t have thought so. The only other item of clothing that I can think of that tailors often sell is trousers. And “trousers” definitely doesn’t begin with a “P”. Even I know that….

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A small step for man
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Happy Christmas Wishes from Sunny Bangkok

It’s Christmas Day. The sun’s shining here in Bangkok. The temperature’s twenty eight degrees Celsius. All’s well here in the Big Mango.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas. And I’d like to thank you too for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

I expect that many of you will be busy with your friends and families during the next few days. I hope that you have a great time with them.

But I’m aware that some folks find Christmas to be boring and depressing. Therefore I’ve decided that I’ll submit a few extra posts to Doodee’s Thailand this week. They might be a little shorter than normal, but technical problems notwithstanding there should be more of them. I don’t want any of you folks to feel bored or alone over Christmas.

The first of these posts will be published tomorrow.

In the meantime, have a bodacious Christmas!

And Party on Dudes!!! (and Dudettes of course)

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: An unusual special offer.
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Where Have All The Sunflowers Gone?

We’ve just retuned from a trip to Lopburi Province. Lopburi is situated about a hundred and fifty kilometres north of Bangkok. The journey from Bangkok to Lopburi takes approximately two hours by road. Lopburi is renowned for its sunflower fields.

The first thing that struck me as we entered Lopburi Province is the change in the nature of the terrain. It’s starkly different from Bangkok and the surrounding areas. Bangkok stands on Thailand’s central plain. The central plain is pleasant enough, but not spectacular, and as its name implies is very flat. But Lopburi Province is blessed with a huge number of hills and hillocks that jut from the earth almost as if welcoming visitors to this interesting, and in places picturesque area.

The following photo shows one such hillock. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Lopburi Province is an important area in Thailand for cultivating sunflowers. I love sunflowers. I find them to be very pleasing to the eye. I also find that the large, happy-looking, colourful blooms perched at the top of their tall narrow stems seem to encourage feelings of peace, warmth, joy, and happiness within me whenever I take the time to admire them. So it will come as no surprise to you to learn that the purpose for our excursion to Lopburi was to view the sunflower fields.

But this year, the sunflower season was early, and we arrived late. So we were not treated to the joy of seeing thousands and thousands of acres of sunflowers in full bloom. Such is life.

But nonetheless there were still some picturesque meadows filled with bloom.

Please note the Thai folk in the above picture using their umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun as they admire the sunflowers. This use of umbrellas is very commonplace in Thailand. And it was sensible too on the day that we visited. The weather was unbelievably hot, and very humid too. The sunshine was absolutely scorching. I found it very uncomfortable to stand in the sun for any length of time.


We moved on from the sunflower fields to a lakeside park, the name of which sounded to be “Koo-ern Bah Sak Cholasit”. It really is a most pleasant park. There are plenty of good, cheap places to eat there, and lots of room to sit, to lie down, to sleep, doze and snooze. It’s a particularly good location if like me you enjoy sitting quietly and watching the world go by. When we visited the park it was busy with tourists. Most tourists there were Thai people, and most of them were taking it easy and relaxing. It really was very quiet and peaceful there. The following photo was taken at Koo-ern Bah Sak Cholasit.

The final two pictures on today’s entry on Doodee’s Thailand are, for me, appropriate and amusing illustrations of the fun and frivolity that dominates all activities in Thailand. They were taken as we drove through Lopburi Province.

The first of the two photos shows a roadside restaurant and part of the road and car parking area at the front of it. We dined in a similar style of restaurant to the one featured in the photo. The food, the service and the ambience at this style of restaurant are almost invariably excellent. Please note the guys wearing the red tops who are in front of the restaurant.

And now the same photo, but different…. It shows the guys more clearly.

If you’re wondering what these guys are doing, please let me tell you. It’s their job to attract the attention of passing motorists, and encourage them and their parties to dine in the restaurant. They do this by dancing, prancing, posing, gesturing and beckoning at the roadside each time a car, pick-up truck, or minibus approaches. The guys featured in the above photos were particularly athletic and gymnastic in their posturing. But above all they were fun. I really don’t know how they managed to sustain their enthusiasm for their work in the intense heat.

There are similar exhibitions outside many of the larger restaurants in this area. They make a drive through the Lopburi roads most amusing.

It didn’t matter to us that when we visited Lopburi the sunflowers were wilting. Nor did it matter that the sunshine was scorching and that the weather was oppressively hot. Our trip to Lopburi was interesting, amusing, and fun.

I plan to return there again next year. But I’ll try to visit earlier in the sunflower season next time. I understand that for those people who wish to admire the sunflower fields the end of November is usually a good time to visit the area.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Something seasonal from sunny Bangkok.
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By Chance, A Recent Meeting with Her

I was sitting, enjoying a quiet evening with friends in a downtown Bangkok bar recently. A pretty, petite, Thai lady approached our table. She spoke. She said, “Long time, no see”.
Surprised as I was to see her I recognised her immediately. She was my friend of several years ago whom I’d first met at the coffee shop (see Her Motivations and Her Dream).

“Hi. Nice to see you. How are you doin’?” I enquired. And then without giving her the opportunity to reply I continued, “I understand that you’re living with a nice guy now. I’m really pleased for you”.

“Not now”, she said, and then she continued philosophically, “It didn’t work out”.

I was saddened by this news. I offered my commiserations.

She added, “He’s the jealous type. I couldn’t live with his jealousy”.

And then she told me that although he’d given her most of the things that she wanted, including an amount of financial security, she’d become bored with being tied to their home for much of the time with little to do other than housework, laundry, and watch TV. And so, during the days when he was at work, she’d returned to see some of her old friends and workmates, and had from time to time resumed her former freelance occupation on a part-time basis.

She really couldn’t understand that working in this way was a just reason for him to be jealous.

Our group moved on to a karaoke bar. I invited her to come along with us. We ate, we drank, and she enthusiastically bellowed out one song after another.

She’s great fun. She’s a lovely person. She’s always treated me with great care and kindness. I’m proud to count her amongst my friends. But as I watched her slaughter the Gabrielle modern day classic “Out of Reach” for the umpteenth time I felt deeply sorry for her. She seemed so relaxed and confident externally, but I could hear in her voice and see in her eyes the loneliness that dwells within her.

I remembered what she’d told me many years before, when I first met her. She said then, “If I like a customer and he lives in Bangkok, I know that he’s going to return to his home without me as soon as his liaison with me is completed. If I like a customer and he’s a tourist, he’ll get on a plane to return to his home country soon, and I’ll miss him and hurt about him. And if I don’t like a customer I end up having to share time and favour with a man that I don’t like”.

And I remembered too that she’d told me that she felt that many people look down on her because of the manner of her work.

I realised too, not for the first time, that although she doesn’t particularly care for her lifestyle, she’s addicted to the perceived glamour and transitory affluence of it.

She’s a decent person. She’s human. She deserves a better life than this.

She’s kind, warm, intelligent and resourceful. I hope that she finds the peace and contentment in her future which she so richly deserves.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A few photos with a little explanation from a recent day trip that I made from Bangkok.
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Her Motivations and Her Dream

My friend, the lady about whom I told you in the last entry on Doodee’s Thailand (see Getting to Know Her), had been working in her chosen occupation for about three years when I first met her. Her original motivation for joining the ranks of the entertainment and companionship providers was an acute need for money, and quite an amount of money too. But I came to realise that her adopted course to financial salvation had in fact ensnared her.

I’m sure that when she first started in this particular business her motives were decent, righteous, overwhelming, and unavoidable. But as I began to know her better it became apparent to me that she had become intoxicated by the false glamour and dubious excitement of the life that she led.

She had come to genuinely enjoy accompanying customers who exhibited the trappings of financial success. She liked dining with them in fancy, upmarket restaurants. She liked showing her customers around the city. And I could see that she loved it when she answered her mobile phone only to discover that a big rolling customer had just touched down in Bangkok and wanted her to meet him right away.

I know also that she enjoyed sitting, chatting, and drinking beer with her fellow workers when business was slack.

But most of all she loved the dream that through her work, one day she would meet a really nice, rich, glamorous, generous guy who would take her away from this way of life, and love her and cherish her forever.

I returned to the UK for a while. She sent me a birthday card. When I returned to Bangkok I discovered that she was no longer working. I asked her friends for news of her. Her friends told me that her dream had come true. Now she was living with a nice guy who cared about her very much and was looking after her very nicely. When I heard this news I was very pleased for her. She’d always treated me warmly, gently and kindly. I was delighted that now she had found her dream.

And so we lost touch. But the story doesn’t end there. I’ll tell you more about this on the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A chance encounter with my long lost friend.
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Getting to Know Her

For a long period of my life before I moved to Bangkok, I was a regular visitor to this fascinating city. In the days when I was a regular visitor I used to get up during the mid-morning. On some days I would go to visit some of the popular tourist spots, but mostly I preferred just to go off for a wander around the city. My wanderings almost inevitably took me along Suhkumvit Soi 3, past the Grace Hotel (See Out About and Around Sukhumvit Road Soi 3). I would often stop in the Grace Coffee Shop for an iced coffee.

The Grace Coffee Shop was my air-conditioned oasis in the desert of heat and humidity that characterises the Bangkok climate. My fellow customers often included self-employed working ladies who offer companionship and entertainment services, mostly to gentleman visitors to the area. During the afternoons, which were usually the time when I used to visit the coffee shop, there were only a few ladies present (usually less than ten). I used to sit and chat with them. I liked to practise my spoken Thai with them. And I enjoyed learning about their lives and their culture from them too.

One lady would often sit with me. When I first met her she was in her late 20s. She was very polite. She would always ask if she could sit with me before sitting down at my table. It was always my pleasure to oblige her request. She was petite and pretty. She was very intelligent. She’d received an amount of education (she could read, write, and speak English proficiently, and speak more than a smattering of several other languages too). She was also lively, vivacious, and great fun to be with. Often as I sat and spoke with her I would muse as to what her life would have been like if she had been born into a different culture, and had enjoyed the abundance of opportunity with which I’ve been blessed. I’m certain that she would have been an amazingly successful lady in the UK, but not necessarily in the same form of employment as the one in which she worked in Bangkok.

A Little of Her Personal History
One day as we were talking I asked her what work she was involved in before she came to her present free-lance occupation. She told me that she’d been a line supervisor in a factory. And then she showed me her factory identity card (which had by then expired). She was very proud of it. I was aware that she had great potential in the world of employment, but sometimes I am a bit naïve. As a testament to my naivety I found myself asking, “So why are you working as you do now?”

She replied: “When I worked in the factory my basic salary was four thousand baht per month. I could push that up to six thousand by working overtime. But working as I do now, if I’m lazy I make twelve thousand baht a month, and if I work hard I make thirty thousand baht a month”.

And then she explained that she has a child whom she’s having to support financially. She’s a divorcee. She’s also one of a large family and it’s her duty to support other members of the family who are unable to support themselves.

So superficially, her choice of occupation was driven by a need for money. From what she told me it would appear that her earning potential was up to seven times as much as it would have been in the more mainstream everyday opportunities available to her. But as I came to know her better I realised that there were other motivations for her choice of occupation too. And I’d like to tell you about them in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: The motivations and the dream of this fascinating lady.
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Out, About, and Around: Suhkumvit Road Soi 3

I often have occasion to go to the Sukhumvit Road Soi 3 area in Bangkok. My visits to the area are almost always made in response to mundane matters arising, and tedious, tiresome chores that need attention, in my everyday life. But a visit to Soi 3 is never tedious or tiresome. It’s always interesting, and usually fun too.

The Sukhumvit Road Soi 3 area is often referred to locally as Soi Arab. “Soi” is the Thai word for “side-road” or “side-turning”, but is also often used to describe large areas in the vicinity of a particular side-turning from a main road. Soi Arab is so nicknamed because of the very distinctive Middle Eastern influence on the area. A disproportionately large number of Middle Eastern visitors to Bangkok favour the area.

The first photo on today’s entry on Doodee’s Thailand shows Soi 3. It was taken from close to the Sukhumvit Road junction with Soi 3. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

As you can see, Soi 3 is a very big and very busy side-road. And the Middle Eastern influence is very obvious too. The presence of the Meh Maan and Akbar restaurants on the opposite side of the road are good examples of this influence. Incidentally the Meh Maan and Akbar restaurants are just two of a huge assortment of excellent restaurants in the area. The quality of Indian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern restaurants in and around Soi 3 is second to none.

Soi 3/1 runs behind and parallel to Soi 3 and is within the area known colloquially as Soi Arab. Soi 3/1 is a side road as I understand a side road to be. It’s narrow, often busy and always cluttered. The following photograph shows Soi 3/1.

The items on the shelves in the left foreground of the photo, ahead of the salad cabinet, are Hookahs. A Hookah is a distinctly Asian, water filled smoking contraption (If you’d like to read more about Hookahs please click on this link to the Wikipedia entry). Hookahs are provided as an after dinner luxury for diners at outside restaurants in Soi 3/1. If you order a smoke on a Hookah, someone will light it for you and then bring it and place it beside your table. A long tube which links to your Hookah is provided for you in order that you may sit comfortably at your table and puff and blow to your heart’s content.

Being a dowdy old Englishman I find the whole Hookah thing a bit quirky. It’s never really appealed to me. But it does fascinate me to watch others partake.

The next photo on Doodee’s Thailand shows my favourite restaurant in Soi 3/1. Hookah Pipes are available for diners.

The final picture on today’s entry to Doodee’s Thailand shows the Grace Hotel. The Grace Hotel is situated in Soi 3 approximately one hundred and fifty metres from the Sukhumvit Road junction. It lists amongst its many attractions an Arabian Nights Cabaret, a Disco Club, a Bowling Room, a Snooker Room, a fine restaurant, and a swimming pool. I know people who’ve stayed at the Grace, and they tell me that it’s very pleasant, and competitively priced too. But that’s not the reason that I’m showing it to you here today.

The reason that I’m showing you the Grace Hotel today is because it is one of the best known hotels in Bangkok. One of the many reasons for its fame is the clientele who frequent the coffee shop beneath the hotel. The Grace Coffee Shop is a popular venue where ladies who seek to offer entertainment and companionship services, and gentlemen seeking such services often congregate.

I used to enjoy visiting the Grace Coffee Shop during the heat of the Bangkok afternoon. I used to enjoy drinking delightfully refreshing iced coffee there. And I used to enjoy practising my Thai language skills with the ladies. Over a period of several years I came to know one of these ladies very well. She told me much about her life, her situation, and her motivations. I plan to share the insights that she gave me into her life with you. And I shall do so in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Learning a little about the life of a fascinating lady.
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These Streets Aren't Made for Walking

One thing which I found most difficult to come to terms with when I first came to live in Bangkok is the Thai use of pavements. I’ve always understood a pavement to be a roadside path for pedestrians. I know that American people call pavements “sidewalks”, which again implies a use for pedestrians.

But when I arrived in Bangkok I discovered that Bangkok pavements are far too cluttered and challenging to bear serious consideration as pedestrian walkways.

For example, generously wide pavements in busy areas are often overrun with market stalls.

Many heavily used pavements are constricted by all manner of apparatus.

And some pavements are just plain blocked.

Wide and easily accessible pavements are often used by motorcyclists as a facility to bypass traffic queues. These guys don’t slow down for pedestrians.

During my first few months in Bangkok I became very frustrated by the danger and difficulty that confronted me every time that I attempted to walk anywhere. But I’ve since realised that my frustration was born out of my lack of understanding of the host culture.

I now realise that an average Bangkokian does not see a pavement as being primarily a pedestrian walkway. Bangkok dwellers instead view pavements as convenient places on which to run retail outlets, suitable sites at which to sit and eat, and handy shortcuts to use when jumping traffic queues. Now that I understand that the Thai primary purposes for providing pavements do not include pedestrian access I’m no longer irritated by the fact that it’s so difficult to go almost anywhere in Bangkok on foot. So now I only walk for recreational purposes. If I actually want to go anywhere I travel by taxi, or if possible I use the underground railway.

But as I sit in taxis stuck in traffic queues I do often wonder what might happen if perhaps Bangkok pavements were converted for use as pedestrian walkways, and people were encouraged to use them as such. Is it thinkable that people might wish to walk instead of travelling by road transport which often grinds to a halt (I know that I would)? And if people did reduce their use of the car, the taxi, the tuk-tuk, the bus, and the motorcycle in favour of walking, is it possible that the volume of traffic travelling through the Bangkok streets would diminish too? And thus the traffic jams would abate? Or am I being too simplistic…..

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Out and about with my camera in Suhkumvit Road Soi 3
COMING SOON on Doodee’s Thailand: More photos, more information, and more observations about Thailand, the places that I’ve been to, and the people that I’ve met. And the occasional anecdote too.

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A Bad Cue-Man Blames His Tip

I like to play pool. I have no real talent for the game, but that’s never discouraged me yet. And despite my lack of talent I am proud to reveal to you that for a brief period during my younger days I was referred to as, “The Fast Eddie Felton of Frinton-on-Sea”. To this day I’m still not sure whether this was a reference to my pool playing ability or not.

Anyway, a few days ago I was in Suhkumvit Soi 22 shooting pool. It was my turn to play, and my opponent had left the cue ball tight up against the baulk cushion. The pack was still pretty much intact. I decided that this was a good opportunity for me to unleash my speciality shot, my secret weapon guaranteed to completely demoralize my opponent. I refer of course to the old top spin, stun run, screw back, follow through shot, played with loads and loads of Southend (Language Note: “Southend” is Cockney Rhyming Slang for “Side” – SouthendTide/Side).

So, I drew my cue back across my firm, professional bridge with all the determination and concentration of an archer taking aim at King Harold’s eye. And then, in a split second, I unleashed all my tension and my pent up wrath on the momentarily inanimate cue ball.

The cue ball left the tip of my cue with the velocity of a speeding bullet. The pack of balls lying so defiantly at the far end of the table was almost immediately trashed. Balls were scattered everywhere. Every ball on the table moved. Some balls left the table completely. One ball bounced across the floor and embedded itself in the wall, and another ball knocked a fleeing cockroach unconscious (an injury from which it never recovered) as it bounced to a halt a few centimetres from the doorway. Sadly, the white cue ball was the only ball which dropped in to a pocket. It limped up to and flopped in to the top, left, corner pocket.

My first reaction to this debacle was one of concern. I immediately disengaged from my perfect pool player stance and stood up. I assumed an erect stance (first time that’s happened in a while….), and then, with the authoritative air of a Saint John’s Ambulance Brigade Volunteer sorting through wreckage at a Go-Kart meeting I enquired, “Is there anybody injured?”

This was a bad moment for me. What ought to have been one of my greatest pool playing moments had degenerated in to one of my most acute embarrassments.
So, I did the British thing: I looked at my cue, paying particular attention to and extensively examining the tip, shook my head in disgust, and arrogantly strutted to the cue rack and exchanged cues.

As I exchanged cues a quiet, disparaging voice at the back of the room broke the silence with the following profundity: “Ram mai dee, tort bee tort glawng”.

“Ram mai dee, tort bee tort glawng” literally means, “Dance no good, blame the flute, blame the drum,” and is the Thai language equivalent of the English proverb, “A bad workman blames his tools”.

I was suitably lampooned.

Isn’t it interesting that when referring to this state of conceit (i.e. “A bad workman blames his tools”) Thai culture relates its proverb to a recreational pursuit, whereas English speaking culture relates its proverb to a job of work. For me this demonstrates the emphasis and importance that Thai people place on fun and recreational activities. That’s one of the many reasons why I love living here.

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: These streets aren’t made for walking.
COMING SOON on Doodee’s Thailand: More pictures, information, and observations about Thailand. And the occasional anecdote too. And a little humour from time to time as well.

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Please Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz

I went to my local hospital for my annual check-up the other day. The check-up went well. I felt great. The sun was shining and I was feeling as if the day could become no better as I walked out from the hospital.

But I was wrong. The day could improve, and it did. For as I left the hospital I was greeted with the most enchanting and wonderful sight of a beautifully preserved, truly classic motor car. I reached for my trusty Kodak Instamatic, and I took a photo of it for you. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

The vehicle is a Mercedes Benz W136 (170 Series). I’m fairly certain that it’s an original, not a replica. These lovely old vehicles were in production from 1935 to 1955. By the shape and style of this one I would guess that it’s one of the earlier models, but I could be wrong. It’s in pristine condition.

Classic motor cars are a fairly common sight in Bangkok. I see a few each week. But it’s unusual to see a classic car as splendidly preserved as this beauty.

Veteran and vintage cars are much more of a rarity in Thailand.

Likewise, with the exception of the Mercedes Benz, prestige cars are fairly thin on the ground in Bangkok.

The Mercedes Benz is the status symbol of choice in Thailand. Almost all ambitious Thais aspire to own a Mercedes. Apparently a Mercedes Benz says more about its owner than words ever can.

It is said that prior to the financial catastrophe that beset Thailand in 1997 there were more Mercedes Benz motor cars on the streets of Bangkok than there were in the whole of Stuttgart, the hometown of Mercedes Benz. And apparently following the said 1997 economic meltdown Thai banks and finance houses found themselves to be the reluctant owners of a glut of the formerly heavily-financed gas guzzlers.

As I stood admiring this wonderful old vehicle I was fortunate enough to see a modern Mercedes ascend the ramp to the hospital entrance. I was able to photograph the two vehicles, the old and the new, together for you.

The contrast in the styles of the two vehicles is self-evident. But the old and the new Mercedes have the virtues in common that they each exhibit an abundance of style and artistry, and that they both are the products of fine engineering. It must be most pleasing to own and drive such beautiful machines.

To my astonishment the above pictured Mercedes Benz motor cars acted as muses for my previously untapped creative juices. I say this because as I walked down the ramp to exit the hospital grounds I was suddenly blessed with the inspiration for a most original and catchy song lyric. I’d like to share the bare bones of this lyric with you. It would start:
“Please won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends drive Toyotas, I must make amends.”
(Author’s note: “Amends” to be pronounced, “Ay-mends”)

What do you think of it?
Do you think that maybe I have a future as a lyricist…..?

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COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A poor pool player is brought down to earth by a perspicacious proverb.
COMING SOON on Doodee’s Thailand: More pictures, information, and observations about Thailand. And the occasional anecdote too. And a little humour from time to time as well.

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