A Delightful Elderly(?)Lady, A Delightful Family, Delightful Hospitality

We had arrived in the village during the early afternoon. The purpose for our trip to this isolated Isaan village was to visit one of Her@Home’s elderly relatives who’s recently been very ill. I use the word “elderly” in its relative sense (no pun intended). This elderly lady whom we visited is only eight years older than I am.

Anyway, I’m pleased to inform you that despite having been very seriously ill only two months ago this delightful old soul looked very chipper during our visit. She seemed happy and contented, and she was very welcoming and very warm. She did nonetheless appear rather frail, but she behaved as if her physical weakness didn’t bother her at all. I found myself in awe of her strength of spirit, and wondered exactly from where she derived this strength. Did it come from her religious beliefs? Did it come from the comfort she derived from her loving family? Or was it just natural for her to be so cheery and optimistic? I suspect that all three of the aforementioned elements contribute to her delightful disposition.

Her@Home’s relatives made me feel very welcome. They humoured me without end as I murdered their native language before their very eyes. And they tried to relate to my native culture, and in my own language too, with such exclamations as, “David Beckham - Very good!”. And they pampered me with delicious food and a continuous flow of cool, refreshing, soft drinks, until I was almost ready to burst. They’re very kind and caring people.

I enjoyed an hour or so of light-hearted conversation and full-blooded gastronomic gorging with my delightful hosts before declaring my wish to go for a stroll around the village on my own, alone, persona-non-accompanium. All of the Thais present (which included everyone except me) found my wish to do anything alone to be rather strange. Thai people always prefer the company of others whenever indulging in any pursuit. And of course the desire to go for a stroll in the searing heat of the Isaan afternoon sunshine is something that’s probably only understood by mad dogs and Englishmen. But even so, my hosts humoured me in my expressed intention.

So, armed with only a mobile phone and my camera I departed alone for my stroll around the village, and it was fascinating. And I’ll tell you about some of the things which I saw, and I’ll show you some of the photos which I took in the next entries on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

************

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Leisurely Drive to an Isaan Village

We arose in the early morning and embarked on our trip into deepest, rural, agricultural Isaan. For the majority of our journey we travelled along roads similar to the one pictured below (you can click on the photo to enlarge it).


This road is typical of the majority of roads which connect the smaller Isaan townships. Such roads are adequately wide, two-way affairs. They’re rarely busy, and other than during the dead of night they’re equally rarely deserted. Most of the main arterial roads that traverse Isaan are dual carriageways, but we employed precious few of those for our cross-country journey.

One thing that always fascinates me when I travel by car in Isaan is to see cattle grazing close to the roadsides, and in the case of dual carriageways along the central reservations too. These animals appear to be totally oblivious to the motor traffic which roars past them, often at high speed, and often only centimetres away from their noses. It must be a great gift to be able to find such detachment in such bothersome and unsettling conditions.

The final twenty minutes or so of our journey were spent chugging along cart tracks and dirt tracks. These tracks were reasonably wide and not too badly contoured, but they were never intended for saloon cars. And we were travelling in a saloon car. I saw it as a testament to our driver’s concentration and courage that we arrived at our destination in as good a condition as we did.

And what an arrival it was! We were greeted with a rapturous welcome, good humour, great kindness, and great warmth from our hosts. They’re lovely people. It was great. And I’d like to tell you a little more about the people that I met, their hospitality towards me, and the way that our visit to this Isaan village panned out in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

************

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

TV or not TV? That Is Rarely The Question

Her@Home is always excited when we reach her hometown in Isaan. She’s always anxious to meet up with her family and friends at the earliest possible opportunity. It’s only natural that they all like to catch up on each others’ news – and exchange a little idle gossip too. I’m always pleased to indulge and humour her during these happy homecomings.

But during our recent visit I chose not to accompany her to the family home on the evening of our arrival. I like her family. They’re good people, and they always treat me with kindness, warmth, and respect. But I was very fatigued from our journey and I felt that my sagging eyelids and grey demeanour would do little to add any joy to the family reunion. So I remained at the hotel, comforted by the knowledge that Her@Home would wisely use this opportunity to fascinate her family with tales of my kindness and valour – or maybe they’d all just sit around, eat som-tam (som-tam is a spicy papaya salad), and talk about trivia. One or other of these scenarios would be certain to reflect reality.

I read a book for a short while in the room, and then I switched on the TV. I’m not usually a big fan of television. I used to watch TV a little when I lived in the UK, but since coming to Thailand I barely watch it at all. I find Thai television programmes difficult to understand and their subject matter rarely appeals to my taste. And I hardly ever see any English language TV, although it is available in Thailand. Anyway, I switched on the TV in the hotel room and began surfing through the channels. I soon discovered that the receiver was capable of delivering thirty or more channels to the room, approximately a third of which were Thai language channels. All except four of the remaining non-Thai channels were broadcast in a variety of Asian languages. But there were four channels which were English language channels. And they were all religious channels.

Three of these religious channels were very forthright and evangelical in both content and delivery. They were not at all to my taste. I find it very tiresome to listen to people who claim to know all the answers to everything, and by their attitude imply that they know all things and that I know nothing - although I do accept the possibility that they could be right. But the fourth channel consisted of reasoned, albeit heavily biased, discussion. And I soon became transfixed by it.

I deduced that this fourth channel is a Jehovah’s Witness channel, although that was not made clear. But the attitudes purveyed implied that it was so. Most of the discussion content revolved around promoting tolerance, understanding, and good will to all people. These are principles that I find myself to be very closely in tune with, although I’m painfully aware that they’re not always easy to live by. I know that I don’t always adequately do so. But it was not the content matter of the broadcast that captured my attention. The aspect of the broadcast that enthralled me was its delivery. I listened to these very committed and dedicated folks debating one ethical concern after another, and as I did so I found it amazingly refreshing to hear educated, articulate, well-spoken people using my native language creatively and with grace and majesty. It was a joy to hear.

I hadn’t before realised just how much I miss hearing the English language being used so beautifully. This was a moment of truth for me. I conduct my day to day life predominantly in Thai, and my relatively infrequent English language conversations are mostly confined to chit-chat and simple practical exchanges. So it was nothing short of wonderful for me to hear my mother tongue being eloquently and poetically delivered.


It seemed that hardly any time at all had passed before Her@Home returned to the room. She told me with great gusto and excitement about how she, her family, and friends, and neighbours too had enjoyed a wonderful evening of simply sitting around, eating som-tam, and endlessly chattering about nothing in particular.

“Sounds fun,” I said, and then I reclined, feeling relaxed, revitalized, and more than ready for a good night’s sleep. And I knew that it was important that I should enjoy a good and invigorating night’s sleep on that particular night, because our itinerary for the following day promised to be hectic. We planned to embark on an excursion into deepest Isaan (which I will tell you a little about and show you photos of in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand). I knew that our proposed trip was going to be interesting and fun, and probably very tiring too. But as I lay there on the bed, waiting for sleep to speed me through the night, I just hoped that somewhere amongst all of the following day’s activity I would be able to find a little time to watch TV again.

************

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Dickens of a Day: Part Three

(You may click on Part One and Part Two to see the previous two episodes of this entry).

We made ourselves known to the staff member at the hotel reception desk, only to discover that she had neither knowledge nor record of our booking. My battered and bounced old body was already tired from the stresses of our journey, and my entire being was not less than a little fatigued, but even so on receipt of this news I felt my weary self lurch into potentially argumentative most-miffed mode. But my spirits were soon lifted and my objections were placated when it was revealed to us that there were two rooms still available for occupation. One of these vacant rooms was slightly more expensive than the one that we’d originally booked, and the other was marginally cheaper than the second room which we believed that we’d already booked for our driver. We took both rooms without hesitation.


I ensconced myself in our room and lay down for a much needed nap. The room was not air conditioned. I switched on the fan – and it didn’t work. Her@Home reported this matter to the desk staff with all due haste. They responded with, “We know. There’s no electricity at the moment. Power cuts don’t usually last for this length of time”.

Her@Home reported this information back to me, and we quickly and unanimously decided that we should seek another hotel. In pursuit of this objective she telephoned to her brother for help. He responded rapidly to our situation. Within minutes he arrived astride his motorcycle at our hotel. Her@Home leapt into a side-saddle position on the pillion seat, and the pair of them disappeared into to the hot, dry Isaan dusk.

I laid down on the bed, ready and anxious to enjoy a perspiration soaked doze in the fan-less room.


Approximately thirty minutes later I was woken by the sounds of grating, screeching, and sporadic rattling that signal that an ageing fan is about to whir into action. And the ceiling strip light flickered into life. This was a moment of great relief for me. The electricity had come back on!

A few moments later I heard the sound of a motorcycle in the hotel courtyard, followed by the welcome music of Her@Home’s delicate footsteps approaching the room. She entered the room and reported her findings to me. She informed me that the rooms in the first hotel that she’d looked at were extremely small and poorly appointed. And then she continued by telling me that the rooms in the second hotel that she’d investigated hadn’t been blessed with the luxury of running water for more than a month. She added that the staff at the second hotel had informed her that the lack of running water had been very bad for business. It just shows how fussy potential hotel guests can be, uh? There are no other hotels in the locality. Under the circumstances we decided to stay put where we were. This wasn’t really a decision. It was more a reluctant acceptance of the fact that we had no viable options.

Then Her@Home sat down next to me on the bed (there weren’t any chairs upon which to sit in the room). I like it when Her@Home sits close to me. She emits a warmth and an aura that makes all and anyone close to her feel calm and peaceful. She clasped my hand, and I suspect as result of her contemplations concerning our already exhausting day she said, “Today’s been the best of days. It’s been the worst of days. It’s been a journey of wisdom. It’s been a journey of foolishness”. I left school at the age of sixteen, therefore much of this type of philosophising is lost on me. She continued, “It’s been….”

I interrupted her. “What the dickens are you talking about?” I enquired, and then added, in an effort to divert her train of thought, “Let’s see what’s on the telly”.

We plugged the TV and the little channel selector box that sat on top of it into the electricity sockets, and switched on both items. It was only then that we discovered that neither contraption was supplied with a remote control. And suddenly I felt optimistic. I knew that things could only improve from now on. After all, what tribulation can life present that is more cruel and more vexing than the torment of a perfectly good and functional TV supplied without a remote control?

************

COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: More pictures and observations from our trip to Isaan.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Dickens of a Day: Part Two

(For the background to this entry please click on A Dickens of a Day: Part One).

Our driver employed a more thoughtful and restrained driving style for the continuation of our journey, and we sat back and for the first time that day we were able to relax a little. We soon passed Korat and then forged our way onwards through the sun drenched Isaan countryside, gobbling up kilometre after kilometre of tarmac, but in a controlled and measured fashion. It was grand.

I didn’t find an opportunity to take a nap. I was always too busy surveying the scene ahead of us and making frequent reference to our atlas.

After a little (or maybe more than a little – I can’t quite remember) over an hour of travelling along the main highway I spotted the side-turning that we needed to take – but we missed it. We were in the wrong lane, and couldn’t switch lanes quickly enough to make our turn. But a kilometre or so further along the road we were able to make a U-turn and retrace our steps. And so we entered the side-road that would lead us directly to our destination. I felt a certain elation that we were so near to our goal, but even so I anxiously yearned for the moment of our safe arrival.

The side-road that we followed was at first narrow. It wove its way through the traditional teak houses, the two storey concrete shop-houses, and the plethora of market stalls which constitute the delightful rural settlement at the site of this arterial road junction. And then this narrow side-road opened up to become a finely constructed, generously wide, tarmacadammed highway. And we sped along it. There was often not another vehicle in sight, and we carved up the kilometres with nothing more to distract us than the lush green Isaan countryside. It was great.


But then the finely made highway narrowed to become a heavily potholed country road. There’s been an unseasonable amount of rain in Isaan just recently, and the resulting seepage and leakage has caused movement to the surface of some minor roads. This movement has opened minor ruts and revealed major potholes, many of which are positioned very closely together and are often barely visible until you’re very near to them. Our driver adopted a leap-’em-and-hope strategy at this point in our journey, but only with limited success. We successfully leapt very few of these potholes. We rattled, clonked, impacted, and shuddered our way through all of the others, but our driver’s optimism and hope seemed to carry us through with the minimum amount of damage or disturbance to our vehicle and its occupants.

And so we reached our destination, and our hotel. But unbeknown to us, disappointment was only moments away. And I’ll tell you about that and how our day progressed in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand.

************

The next entry on Doodee’s Thailand will be published very soon.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Dickens of a Day: Part One

Last Monday we embarked on another of our regular trips to Isaan. We used a different car and driver this time. I had never met this particular driver before, but he came highly recommended. He arrived at our apartment block in good time, and I immediately liked his attitude and demeanour. He was affable, but not gushing, and he displayed an enthusiasm to please. And there was a courtesy and a humbleness about him which I found most agreeable.

We loaded our few possessions in to the boot of the car and set off on our journey. As we navigated our tenuous course through the Bangkok traffic I asked our driver if he was familiar with exactly where we wished to go and what route he considered would be best to take us there. I found his responses to be somewhat evasive. I had previously anticipated that he might respond in such a fashion to direct questions concerning our itinerary and had therefore armed myself with a road atlas (which I’d purchased only a few days before for a hundred baht) for our reference. This particular publication became worth its weight in gold during the hours and days which followed our departure.

As a precaution against wasted time and pointless use of petrol I instructed our driver as to which road numbers I thought that we should follow and which towns we should pass during our journey. This information increased his confidence immeasurably, and within moments he relaxed into his normal, natural driving style, and we sped with abandon along the dual carriageways that lead away from Bangkok. He maintained his unrestrained driving style (which in the UK is referred to as FHD – “Foot Hard Down”) for the entire two hours that it took us to reach our first stop. I was dumbfounded. I found it quite incredulous that someone so affable, courteous, and outwardly humble would drive a car as if he was trying to cull the human race.

I’ve encountered unwelcome situations with cars and drivers before. It’s been my experience that whenever I travel with friends (Thai friends or Westerners) in their own private cars the standard of driving is usually good, and always better than merely acceptable. But whenever I hire a car and driver I’m almost always subjected to a jerky, bumpy, overly fast, overly aggressive display of automotive ineptitude. I suspect that this is simply a misunderstanding of objectives. I think that the commercial driver mistakenly believes that the main reason that a customer rents a car and driver is for speed of transit. But my objectives are not so. I rent a car and driver for convenience and comfort. And I require that respect for the safety of the vehicle and its passengers overrides all other considerations at all times. But my requirements rarely seem to be understood.

Her@Home explained my preference for a more defensive and passenger friendly driving style to our driver during the first stop on our journey. Our driver’s response was, “Why didn’t you mention that before?” I wondered why we needed to mention it at all.


We’d stopped for lunch at the side of the lake created by the Lam Takhong Dam. It’s close to Ban Chan Teurk (often written as Ban Chan Thok) on Highway 2. I took a photo of the restaurant where we ate for you. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


There are many similar restaurants at this location. I’ve used a few of them in the past. The food at all of the ones in which I’ve dined has been very pleasant, as too has been the service. But the main attraction of these restaurants is location. They stand perched on stilts at the edge of the Lam Takhong Lake, and diners are treated to the pleasure of a splendid view whilst being caressed by the delightful, cooling breeze from the lake.


We enjoyed a light lunch by the waterside and then departed the restaurant to begin the second and final leg of our journey. I’ll tell you about the second leg of our journey in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand.

************

The next entry on Doodee’s Thailand will be published very soon. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Reader’s Photo

It seems that you folks, the readers of Doodee’s Thailand, really do enjoy the photos of signs that I sometimes publish. In fact one reader enjoys them so much that he sent me a photo of his own that he suspected might amuse me. And it did. So I’d like to share it with you all today.

This photo was not taken in Thailand but even so I find it sufficiently amusing to be worthy of publication on this blog. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


Just in case the above photo does not display well on your computer, please allow me to inform you that the English translation on the sign says:-

“For Restrooms, Go back toward your behind.”

Hmm. Nice trick if you can manage it….

Thanks for the photo, valued reader.

************

COMING UP on Doodee’s Thailand: More photos and observations from this wonderful country.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Right Ripe Photo

Today’s photo on Doodee's Thailand was taken in the morning rush hour traffic in Bangkok. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.


I’ve pondered at some length over the above photo and I’m still undecided as to exactly what it depicts. Is it a tuk-tuk driver transporting home the fruits of his labour? Or is it an entry for the “Most melons in a tuk-tuk competition”?
Incidentally, I understand that the official record for largest number of people in a tuk-tuk stands at twelve.

By the way, this tuk-tuk was also carrying cauliflowers, but they’re obscured from view by the mountain of melons. But this mixture of cargo, melons and cauliflowers, could explain why the driver looks a little melon-cauli…..

************

COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A photo sent to me by a reader.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Couple of Special Benches

The first photo on today’s entry on Doodee’s Thailand shows three young Thai men working tirelessly in Bangkok’s searing heat to install two new benches in a corner of one of Bangkok’s most beautiful parks. There’s nothing very unusual in that, I know, but for some of us these two particular benches are very special.


These benches were commissioned by Mr Singh as a memorial to our friend Sa-too who passed away in Bangkok earlier this year. Mr Singh has worked assiduously during the weeks and months following Sa-too’s death, and in collaboration with Sa-too’s friends, relatives, and the park authorities has arranged this very appropriate tribute to our friend.

I’m aware that Sa-too’s friends and relatives have made donations toward the provision of these benches, and I’m aware too that a significant number of the people who’ve made such donations read this blog. So, on Mr Singh’s behalf, my own behalf too, and on behalf of all people close to Sa-too, I would like to thank those of you who’ve made donations for your kindness and empathy. Likewise I’d like to thank on behalf of all concerned the park authorities for allowing those of us close to Sa-too to make this gesture.


I’m really pleased that Mr Singh was able to arrange the putting in place of these benches. It’s gratifying to know that this silent memorial stands in memory of Sa-too in the city that he loved, and for the use and benefit of the people that he loved to be amongst and planned to live amongst.

And I’m pleased too that albeit in a most minute way the landscape and facilities of this beautiful place have been improved forever by this unmarked memorial. This tiny improvement to the park landscape stands in stark contrast to the way that the landscapes of the lives of all who knew Sa-too have been altered by his passing.

************

COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Fruit on three wheels.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

Positive Attitudes Reflected in the Thai Language

I enjoy chatting with my Thai friends. I enjoy chatting with my English friends. I like to chat with most people that I encounter. I find most exchanges of ideas stimulating. And I like to learn about the people around me, their beliefs, and their culture. Of course, in reality most conversations in which I’m involved are fairly trivial and superficial, but even so I find that the word usage employed by others does reveal a huge amount about their mindset. This generalisation applies equally to conversations with native English speakers as it does to conversations with Thai speakers. But because the Thai language is fundamentally foreign to me and also because I only enjoy fairly limited proficiency in Thai, the cultural disclosures revealed by Thai phraseology and word usage often strike me with the immediacy and ferocity of an electric shock. I would like to share some of these perceived disclosures here with you today on Doodee’s Thailand.

The first example that I’d like to discuss today that I find very telling of the Thai mindset is the way that Thai people choose to express the concept of badness.

There are a number of words and expressions in the Thai language that mean “bad”. Many of them mean bad in a specific kind of way, or have a meaning closer to very bad, awful, dreadful or horrendous in English. But the word usage for bad that I most commonly encounter in Thai is “mai dee” (literally “no/not good”) or “mai dee loiy” (literally “no good at all”).

I find it interesting, and revealing of the Thai mindset, that bad is most often referred to as “not good”, or put another way, bad-ness often seems to be referred to in negative measures of good-ness. I realise of course that we English speakers will often say “no good” or “not very good” when we mean “bad”. But we don’t use those expressions all of the time. We often use the word bad. Thai people rarely seem to use any of their words for bad in the same context.

Does this reveal that Thais in general make judgements about how good something is, whereas Westerners often make a judgement about whether that same something is good or bad? I suspect that maybe it does.

Another example of the way that I perceive that Thais express their positive view of the world and their fun-loving national character is in their liberal use of the word “sanook”. Sanook literally means “fun”, but in Thailand “fun” is not merely a useful noun or adjective. It’s an entire concept.

For example, if ever I ask a Thai person a simple question (i.e. What’s it like, living in Bangkok? Or, How is it, working in the pickle factory?), I will often receive the answers “sanook dee” (good fun), or “mai sanook” (no fun) in response, and then further explanation will follow.
If I were to ask an English person the same questions I suspect that I would hear such words as “convenient”, “crowded”, “hot”, “cold”, “busy”, “good prospects”, etcetera, long before I heard any reference to whether either situation is good fun or not.

Does the above indicate that the search for fun and the assessment of how much fun that there is in a particular activity or situation is important to Thai people? And does it also indicate that perhaps fun as a concept is rather more important to Thai people than it is to Westerners? I suspect that the answer to both of these questions is “Yes”.

The Final Example of this positive and cheery word usage that I am going to offer for you today is the way in which Thai people use the word “len” (literally “to play”) as an accessory to a sentence.

For example, to sit and chat together is often expressed in Thai as “nang khuiy len”. “Nang” is the Thai word for “sit”. “Khuiy” is the Thai word for “chat”. And “len” is added to indicate that the activity is play i.e. it is being indulged in for pleasure or fun.

In much the same way, although “Gin” (the “g” is pronounced as a hard “g”) is a commonly used Thai word for eat, Thai people will often use the expression “Gin len” (eat for fun) when referring to eating.

And likewise the Thai word for walk is “dern”, but again Thai people will often respond to the question “Where are you going?” with, “bai dern len” (literally “go walk play”, but more accurately “going for a recreational/fun walk”).

There are very many examples of this use of “len” to transform a mundane activity into a fun pastime. Does this frequent use of “len” to qualify a phrase in this way indicate that Thais find enjoyment and fun in activities that us Westerners find to be routine? I suspect that it does.

It’s not my belief that Thais are constantly positive, constantly light-hearted, fun-loving, carefree people for twenty four hours of the day, seven days per week. But I do believe that the way that the Thai language is constructed and used does reflect the Thai propensity towards finding the fun and the pleasure in things, and equally reflects the Thai aversion to constantly searching for and seeking out the negative qualities in things.

I like the positive attitudes that I perceive in the construction and usage of the Thai language. I like the very positive attitudes that I see in the everyday behaviour of most Thai people that I encounter. These easy-going, positive attitudes help to generate the delightfully intoxicating, all-welcoming, all-embracing, all-accepting environment that makes it such a joy to live amongst Thai people.

************

COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: A couple of special benches.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment (in English or Thai) please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.

A Balloon Bursting Conversation

I’ve had an unbelievably busy week this week. As a result, the item that I was planning to publish for you about Thai attitudes has not managed to get itself written yet. But it will be completed very soon.

In the meantime I’d like to quickly tell you about a humbling conversation that I almost enjoyed with Her@Home the other day. At the time off this conversation we were nonchalantly strolling along the outward bound assault course that masquerades as a pavement alongside Soi Sribamphen, and I was sharing a few of my fascinating reminiscences about what life was like in the UK before these heady days of cultural prosperity which have been heralded by the arrival of Busted, the Cheeky Girls, and the revival of Take That. I was speaking only in Thai. Her@Home was listening intently, smiling at all the right times, and even emitting the occasional unforced chuckle as I entertained her with a constant flow of rich British witticisms.

And as our mainly one-way conversation progressed I began to feel that Achilles heel of middle-aged and older men swelling within my entire being. I am of course talking about that smug, proud, pompous, desire to indulge in compliment seeking. And soon it overwhelmed me. I resisted temptation no longer, and with all the enthusiasm of a seven year old boy out with his father on their first fishing expedition together I asked, in Thai, “Tell me Precious Poppet” (Precious Poppet is a pet name by which I often call Her@Home – she likes it) “Do you understand absolutely everything that I say to you in Thai?”

I have to admit that at the time of asking the question I was anticipating a reply somewhere in the vein of, “Of course I do Macho Man” (Macho Man is another pet name that we use – I don’t feel that it requires any explanation). And I was hoping that she would continue her reply with a consignment of compliments, perhaps rounding off with, “You speak Thai almost perfectly”.

But it was not to be. Her@Home’s previously untroubled countenance began to contort into a kind of bemused, semi-apologetic frown as she answered my question with two further questions. “What was that?” she enquired. “What did you say?” She concluded her salvo of balloon bursting retorts with, “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what you said”.

I felt much less talkative for the remainder of our stroll.

************

COMING NEXT on Doodee’s Thailand: Observations about some Thai attitudes.

If you’d like to receive Email notifications whenever Doodee’s Thailand is updated you can arrange them by visiting ChangeDetection.com.
If you’d like to Email this article to a friend please click on the Email link below.
If you’d like to leave a comment please click on the comments link below.

Thanks for visiting Doodee’s Thailand.

Have a nice day.