Living In Thailand Blog
Friday 15th August 2014
When your wife asks you what day it is you know certain things. You know that the answer isn't Friday or the 15th. And you also know that you are in trouble.
August is the favourite month for weddings in Thailand and we were married in August four years ago. Legally we weren't married (that came a little later after I'd acquired an official letter from the British Embassy to say that I wasn't already married), but the Buddhist wedding ceremony was four years ago today.
The other reason for getting married in August was that she was already pregnant and had we waited any longer there would have been a visible bulge. She was already suffering from morning sickness and felt ill the entire day, but nobody knew about the baby.
Most farangs in Thailand have an amazing ability to know everything about the country after just six months of living there and over the years I have been given lots of advice and been told many things.
Some of the advice has proven to be spot on, but other gems of wisdom ... well.
One guy wrote to tell me that marriages between farangs and Thais never last more than four years. When he told me this I knew it was complete nonsense and I personally knew mixed couples that had been married for a lot longer.
The brains of men and women are wired very differently, but at least couples from the same background have shared beliefs and values. In cross-cultural marriages there is very little common ground and the going can be tough.
In addition Thais reveal very little of the true nature of things - including themselves - and present an image to impress other people. The girl I ended up marrying was not the same person as the shy, retiring girl I thought I was marrying.
Many mixed marriages also have very shaky foundations. The girl wanted to marry a farang because all farangs in the world are fabulously wealthy without exception. Many of the men are just there for sex and companionship.
These unsatisfactory reasons for participating in an unsatisfactory marriage can keep things going for a while, but not for very long. Furthermore, being treated like an ATM on legs gets very tiresome after a while and can lead to a lot of resentment.
If the basic foundations for a marriage don't exist and neither partner makes an effort to bridge the enormous cultural gap, I would guess that four years is the absolute maximum that anyone could endure.
However, if there are some things in common and if there is a willingness on both sides to make an effort to adapt a little, mixed marriages can - and do - work.
Our worst time was the first year. After not knowing each other before we were married, we got to know each other as a result of spending all our time together and it wasn't always easy.
Instead of moving to northern Thailand, as was previously my plan, I had compromised and stayed where we were near her family. The problem in the first year was that whenever we had problems it was easier for her just to run back to her family rather than to try to reconcile the difference.
She remained tied to her mother's apron strings for a long time and the situation has only really improved since our two kids came along.
The children have also really helped with the marriage. Both were born with problems and my daughter's problems are still ongoing. This has been difficult for both of us, but at the same time it has also drawn us to together. There's nothing like a bit of adversity to cement relationships together and she also knows that she can't manage alone without my physical, financial and emotional support.
Many farang/Thai marriages don't work out and statistically the odds are stacked against you if you marry a Thai. Apart from the emotional impact if things don't work out, there is normally also a financial one.
Thai laws are designed to protect Thais and there is lots of protectionism in the country. For example, foreigners can't own land (and thus houses) in Thailand and many farangs who buy property in Thailand do so in their Thai wife's name.
I've seen foreign male tourists and Thai girls looking at each other with lovey dovey eyes and at first it can all seem so perfect. The girls know exactly what they are doing, many are quite callous, and they understand the vulnerabilities of foreign men.
Quite a few foreign men have written to me after becoming obsessed with Thai girls. They ask for advice, but they don't want to listen to my advice. They tell me they understand the risks, but this particularly girl is different to all the others. This is what they always say, but the girls are never any different and eventually most of the men end in tears with broken hearts and broken bank balances.
Many foreigners act very differently in Thailand compared to how they would act at home. In their home countries would they fall in love with a prostitute? Probably not. Would they be desperate to marry a girl they hardly knew? Probably not.
Thailand is very different, but basic common sense is the same everywhere. Get to know the girl first as well as you can, but bear in mind that Thais only reveal very little of the truth and will always present a very favourable image.
Also, as I have said many times, if you are a foreign man looking for a Thai wife don't look in the wrong places. It amazes me that so many honest, genuine men go looking for a partner in Thailand and head straight to the beer bars in tourist resorts where they will meet the worst kind of Thai girls.
Be a nice guy, lead a normal, respectable life, and the good girls will find you. Around 60% of Thai men are immature, unreliable, unfaithful, and a complete waste of space. There are a lot of great girls, and good men are in very short supply. I know some wonderful Thai men, but they are either married already or gay.
Anyway, I have promised to take the wife out for lunch for our anniversary.
Thursday 14th August 2014
What's wrong with the world?
I just took a quick look at the BBC news website and these are the leading stories:
Iraq: UN sounds alarm on humanitarian crisis
Israel and Palestinians begin tense five-day Gaza truce (as soon as the truce was agreed they started launching rockets at each other again)
Ukraine crisis: Russia aid convoy heads for border
China has been getting very aggressive over territorial disputes and the insurgency on my own doorstep has been ongoing for over 10 years with no signs of a solution.
The doctor who my daughter sees in Bangkok was telling me that we are headed for WW3 shortly and I wouldn't argue. What's going on?
In 1982 I got a job in the oilfield services industry and was posted to Saudi Arabia for a month to obtain on-the-job experience. I went to a place called Al Khobar near Dhahran and it was a blast. I was only 21 at the time and the culture was so completely different to anything I had ever experienced before that I found it fascinating. Significantly, at that time there were no problems with the Muslim world at all.
As we continue to make huge technological advancements we just seem to go backwards in other respects.
Other Brits of my generation will remember a BBC programme called Tomorrow's World that was first broadcast in the mid 60's and ran for many years.
The programme took a look at future technology, but the technology available at the time meant that most of the technology showcased was in the realm of science fiction. That remained the case for many years, but in the last few years what always seemed like science fiction has now come to fruition.
When the printing press was invented it made a huge impact on society because information could be spread a lot quicker compared to producing handwritten manuscripts.
The Internet has made an even bigger impact, allowing all of us to communicate and share information easily and quickly. With so many brilliant minds in the world, all of the problems of the world could be solved if there was a will to do so.
Instead, what do many people use this technology for? Making weapons of war? Downloading pornography? Playing World of Warcraft? Sharing photos of their last meal?
At Dusit zoo in Bangkok recently I saw a number of female university students with their smart phones attached to selfie sticks. They were taking photos of themselves as they grimaced at their phones and no doubt those photos appeared on Facebook a few hours later.
Today I read about some sick individuals making evil comments to Zelda Williams on social networking sites a day after her father took his own life. With all this wonderful technology available to us, is this really the best we can do?
Robin Williams's daughter Zelda quits Twitter after being trolled over father's suicide
I have found myself retreating from the on-line world in recent years. I refuse to join any so-called social networking sites and I only look at a few websites. I use the Internet to keep in touch with family and friends via e-mail, to keep up with news events, and to manage my finances, etc.
The technology is wonderful, but when will the world start to grow up and when will we all start being more civilised towards one another?
Rice, the staple of Asia, is much more than just food in Thailand. Thais start to become quite irritable if they don't eat rice for a day or two and my wife gets very upset if rice remains uneaten and has to be thrown away. In fact, we try to avoid throwing any kind of food away these days and instead give it to a family of stray dogs that have set up home nearby.
I haven't seen it observed, but have read in books about Thai culture how a spoonful of rice is meant to be eaten at the start of every meal before any other type of food. Rice farmers are accorded a special type of reverence in Thai society for the essential role that they play.
This special relationship with rice makes the rice-pledging scheme, which has resulted in three million tonnes of rice rotting in warehouses, all the worse. Yingluck and Thaksin will be remembered for many things, and this will probably be near the top of the list.
The good news is that the rice may not completely go to waste. It may not be eaten, but the military government is looking at a scheme that will turn it into ethanol to be used as biofuel.
Ethanol produced this way will be more expensive than ethanol made from other crops - and there is a risk that it may go unsold - but using it in some way would be a lot better than just discarding it.
To make it saleable will requite yet more government subsidies and it was huge government subsidies under Yingluck and Thaksin, that the country couldn't afford, that has got the economy into such a mess.
Thailand looking to produce ethanol from rotten rice stocks - officials
Wednesday 13th August 2014
If you have been here before you may have noticed that this page now looks a little different. Why has it changed?
The world of technology never remains the same for very long. This was one of the reasons why I gave up a career in IT and moved to Thailand (there were lots of others).
No sooner had I got to grips with one technology, a new technology would come along and my knowledge would be made obsolete overnight. It became very tedious and as an experienced member of staff with many years service I got fed up having to ask new graduates questions.
Anyway, I digress.
Just three years ago, almost 95% of people who visited this site did so using a desktop computer. These days, that is only the case for about two-thirds of visitors.
As you will have seen whenever you go outside, lots of people now sit around browsing the Internet using their mobile phones and other mobile devices.
I have always coded my website by hand using technology from the 1990's. That method has served its purpose so far, but for some time now I have been under pressure to make changes.
Most of the Internet is now controlled by a few very large, very powerful companies. These companies now want people who make websites to make 'responsive' websites. These are websites that adapt their format depending on the device they are being viewed on.
The method I was using to build pages relied on a certain size screen and when the pages were viewed on a small screen they were only partially visible. Pages such as this one should change when viewed on different size screens.
The changes haven't been that difficult technically, but what is required is time and freedom from disturbances so that I can concentrate.
These days I never have free time and I am constantly interrupted by my wife or daughter wanting me to do something.
I'm still trying to get to grips with the new technology and so far I haven't converted many pages. I will continue converting my blog archive pages whenever I find time. If you click a link and find yourself on the old site, it's because I haven't converted the page yet.
At some stage the rest of the site will also need converting and apart from the usual problem of not having enough time, I'm also not sure yet how I will do it. I'm using this part of the site to play around with the technology first.
If you find any problems I always appreciate feedback.
Tuesday 12th August 2014
Things are supposed to be changing in Thailand, but whenever I watch or read the national news it feels like being in the movie 'Groundhog Day' where every day is exactly the same as the day before.
Watching Thai TV news in the morning is like spectating at a demolition derby where Thai drivers compete to see who can ram as many other cars as possible. Thai roads are an ocean of carnage. And then there are the usual blazing buildings. Big fires seem to occur in Thailand a lot more frequently than in other countries.
When I looked at the Bangkok Post website quickly this morning I saw that yet another building under construction has collapsed resulting in the deaths of yet more construction workers.
Pathum Thani building collapse kills at least 3
In February of this year exactly the same thing happened at a hospital construction site killing 11 workers. This probably isn't a coincidence. The report at the Structural Engineer website makes the following comments:
"Human rights groups often criticize Thailand's poor worker safety records. Almost 5 percent of the country's workforce is comprised of migrant workers from nearby Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. These workers normally lack adequate training, and they also receive lower wages than Thailand's $9.20 minimum wage per day.
Thailand has a long history of building collapses and the number of incidents has increased over the past few years as Thailand's property market has soared. Unlike many other countries, Thailand does not have a building code. Instead, they have building regulations that are enforced by several different ministries. Many people feel that the building regulations are adequate and the majority of constructions accidents can be attributed to untrained workers practicing unsafe methods."
The house at the back of me has just had a roof added over the external area around the house. It was cheap, but the builders have used the dividing wall between that house and my house to support the roof.
Under normal circumstances the wall bears no load and I'm not convinced it was constructed in such a way as to be load-bearing. I don't suppose the builders bothered to check with the builders who constructed the wall. Anyway, I will find out when the wall collapses.
We would like a similar roof added in the future and I asked the builders for a quote. It wasn't expensive. However, I think they will do the construction in the same way and then the wall will be supporting two roofs. This has made me very nervous about getting it done.
As is often the case, when one big story breaks across the globe it highlights a much wider related problem that exists. The world's attention is now focused on the issue of surrogacy in Thailand.
All sorts of well-meaning reasons will be given for surrogacy, but the main reason for doing anything in Thailand is normally always money. Money is an obsession in the country, and not just among the poor.
The latest story to break is about a 24 year-old Japanese man, Shigeta Mitsutoki, who has made 65 visits to Thailand in the last two years. Using his sperm and the donated eggs from an unknown woman, he has fathered 13 children in Thailand using Thai surrogate mothers.
There is some doubt whether the doctor who carried out the IVF treatment was officially licensed to do so. Of course, the doctor's motivation was money. This was also the motivation for the surrogate mothers, who needed to pay for car instalments, etc. Many Thais lust over material things that they can't afford, buy them on credit, and then have problems with the monthly repayments.
None of this was cheap. IVF treatment costs at least Bt100,000 (The Nation actually quotes Bt1 million) and he was paying nannies Bt10,000 a month to take care of the children. His lawyer maintains that he simply wanted a big family and wanted children to take over his business in the future. Other people suspect that he was planning to sell the children in some kind of people trafficking operation.
This story has been reported by many media organisations and once again Thailand finds itself in the international spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This always seems to be the case with Thailand and it is little wonder that the country has such a bad reputation abroad.
Japanese businessman fathered 13 surrogate babies in Thailand: police
Japanese man 'fathers nine in two years' using surrogate mothers
24-year-old Japanese man sought in surrogacy scam flees Thailand
Monday 11th August 2014
Trying to teach can be extremely satisfying or extremely frustrating. If you teach motivated students who want to learn and who show real evidence of making good progress it can be a very satisfying experience.
On the other hand, if you are trying to teach kids who don't want to learn, have no motivation to learn, demonstrate no ability of being able to learn, and can't remember anything they are taught it can be very frustrating.
When I was teaching in Thailand I taught both kinds of student, but unfortunately the ratio was about 10:1 in the wrong direction.
Now that I have stopped trying to teach English, I try to teach farangs who are interested in learning how to read some basic Thai via my on-line tutorials. And why should anyone who lives in Thailand, or who visits Thailand often, not be interested in learning how to read Thai? It is one of the most useful skills to have in Thailand.
When my reading ability reached a level at which I felt fairly confident that I could teach others I set about writing the tutorials with much gusto. I was quite certain that with so many illiterate expats in Thailand and 20 million tourists visiting the country every year that there would be a lot of interest.
As with many things in life, I was wrong. Very few people look at them. Generally, this is discouraging but what is encouraging is hearing from people who do use them and find them useful. The questions people ask, and errors they point out, tell me that those who do follow the tutorials understand them very well and are making good progress.
In the last few weeks I have received three or four e-mails from people using them and this has encouraged me to do some more work. It was always my intention to keep developing and adding to the tutorials, but with so little interest I wasn't motivated to do any more.
Being able to read Thai has helped me enormously over the years, especially off the beaten track away from the tourist areas. The only disadvantage I can think of is that being able to read Thai opens your eyes fully to the dual pricing policy that exists all over Thailand and it makes me angry to see what goes on and how Thais hide what is happening from most foreigners by using a written language and numbering system that most foreigners can't understand.
I like to be independent and I hate having to rely on other people. A few days ago I went to a restaurant to buy some takeaway food. A woman there started asking me what kind of food I liked and I found her tone quite patronising. All I wanted to do was look at the menu and decide for myself. I then realised, of course, that she assumed I couldn't read Thai.
This is the normal assumption among Thais. They know that some foreigners can speak varying degrees of Thai, but they never expect foreigners to be able to read Thai.
The basics are actually quite easy. I taught myself using the learning materials that very young Thai kids use and a couple of good books. The vast majority of books aimed at foreigners wanting to learn Thai are completely hopeless, but there are a few good ones.
I don't claim to be able to read books, magazines, newspapers and passages of text myself. The scope of the tutorials is just to teach people how to read signs, menus and short instructions. The following, for example, is a drinks menu from a small coffee shop. This kind of thing is exceptionally easy and most four year-old Thai kids can read signs like this.
I was reading a lot of signs and menus after about six months, but the advantage I had was living in Thailand. I was surrounded by signs written in Thai and there was always someone nearby if I had a question. All foreigners living in Thailand should be able to read some basic Thai. There really are no excuses and if foreigners live in Thailand for any length of time and still can't read the only reason is laziness.
If you want to learn, but don't live in Thailand it is a lot more difficult and will take longer. However, it is still achievable.
Learn to read Thai - Tutorial 1
Not only will being able to read some Thai make your stay in Thailand a lot more enjoyable, but you may also impress a few people as well.
Sunday 10th August 2014
I used to work at a large computer centre run by a UK bank in Aldgate, East London - not too far from where I was born. It was on the outskirts of the City of London. Things have probably changed a little now, but during those days there was a huge drinking culture in the City.
All of the big computer centres had their own in-house bars and the local pubs also did a roaring trade. One of the most important qualities for a computer salesman in those days was to be able to remain coherent after drinking six pints of beer with the customer at lunchtime.
I was never a big drinker and after I moved to Thailand I gave up altogether, but in those days frequent trips to the pub after and during working hours was a way of life.
The nearest pub, just across the road from the main entrance of the computer centre, was called The Castle. As far as I know, it is still there.
The landlord at the time was short in stature, but huge in character. He was a typical working class Londoner and he would have looked quite at home on a market stall selling fruit and veg.
However, running a pub was his line of work and he also started dabbling in boxing. Boxing has strong links with pubs and some pubs contain gyms where boxers train.
On one occasion I was quite surprised to see a lad at the pub who I had previously studied alongside when I was doing my HNC. He was a big gentle giant and although I was aware that he played semi-professional football, I didn't know that he has taken up boxing. Danny Moul was another huge character and about twice the size of his new promoter.
At one time there were big hopes for Danny, but his venture into boxing didn't work out. There's an amusing anecdote about him in this article.
Anyway, the landlord's name was Frank Maloney and he went on to quite big things in the world of boxing. At one stage there was even talk of him running as a candidate for the Mayor of London. The reason I am writing is after seeing an article today that Frank is undergoing a sex change. I almost fell off my chair when I read it.
I can still remember the atmosphere in the Castle, the pizzas that came out of the Castle kitchen, and Frank's voice and mannerisms.
Boxing legend Frank Maloney: 'I'm undergoing a sex change to become a woman'
This kind of thing is extremely common in Thailand and I see ladyboys virtually every day, but it's quite unusual in the UK and highly unusual with a tough Londoner who has spent his life running London pubs and promoting boxing.
Life is full of surprises.
I had an HP 5L Laser Printer when I lived in the UK and was always very pleased with it. A couple of years ago I decided that I needed a printer in Thailand and bought an HP model again. It has been fine and it is still almost like new, but last week I packaged it up and put it in storage. It is now taking up valuable storage space and the sensible thing would be to throw it away, but it just seems a shame when there is nothing wrong with it. Why?
The toner cartridge ran out and to buy a new one would have cost me Bt2,300. Instead of doing that, I bought a brand new Brother Laser Printer (which included a toner cartridge) for Bt1,500.
It feels cheaper and not quite as well made as the HP, but it does exactly the same job. Blank paper goes in at the bottom and comes out at the top with whatever I want printed on it. When the toner cartridge runs out it will only cost Bt1,000 to replace.
This rather sums up the state of the world today. Both printers were made in Vietnam, which surprised me because I was expecting them to be made in China. I assume that the HP was designed in the States and the Brother in Japan.
Since the early 90's hardware has just been a commodity and companies from developed companies simply get their products manufactured wherever is cheapest. Quality control systems ensure that quality isn't compromised. This is one reason why so many jobs have been lost in developed countries.
I've been replacing my compact fluorescent bulbs at home with LED bulbs recently and although I have bought mostly Philips, they all seem to be designed in the West or Japan and manufactured in China. I don't suppose that there is any difference in quality between brands.
The other reason why so many jobs have been lost is because so many items are designed now not to be repaired. When they expire they are just thrown away and replaced with new items. I used to work in the IT hardware service industry and along with many others made a good living and saw some of the world. Those jobs have now all disappeared.
When the writing was on the wall for hardware and I moved into software and services (a job I didn't enjoy) it wasn't long before a new threat appeared; that of cheap outsourcing from countries such as India.
By the time the new Millennium arrived I was thoroughly depressed with the working environment and has already started planning my escape to Thailand. That came a few years later.
The world has changed immeasurably during the course of my lifetime, and the rate of change just continues to accelerate. Even though my kids are still very young, I have already started thinking about their futures and apart from not really knowing how to guide them, I'm not even sure that I will be qualified to guide them when they are ready to enter the job market. The world changes so quickly.
From what I observe in Thailand, the best skills to have revolve around sharp business acumen. Being an employee in Thailand pays peanuts, as do jobs in academia. Doctors and dentists get paid relatively well (for Thailand), but they have no work/life balance and no opportunities to enjoy their salaries.
The people I see who are doing well own small and medium size businesses and they have the ability to predict trends and anticipate demand.
The owner of the housing development where I live must have owned the land for many years. When I first came to Thailand this area was deserted and land must have been very cheap to buy. The town centre area has run out of available space and also has a big problem with flooding.
There is available land in this area and it doesn't flood. Consequently, land and property prices around here soared in recent years. Had I waited, I wouldn't have been able to afford the house that I live in now.
Buying land here 20 years ago would probably have seemed very risky, even though it was cheap, but the people who were able to predict what would happen eventually and bought land have done very well. My wife reckons that the owner of our development has made a profit of about Bt200 million. That wouldn't be a huge amount in the States or UK, but that kind of money can buy a good lifestyle in Thailand.
I wrote previously about a girl who I helped with her English some years ago. Academically, she wasn't brilliant and she was always more interested in clothes and make-up rather than studying.
She opened a shop that sells the kind of things that fashion conscious young girls are very interested in and now she is making a small fortune. She buys her stock cheap from Bangkok and resells it locally, making a profit of about Bt300,000 a month and now has several shops.
The problem with these skills is that they are difficult to teach. Neither me nor my wife have great business skills and therefore it's doubtful that the kids will be great business people. Some people just seem to be born to be good at business.
When I learnt how to drive 37 years ago a lot of emphasis was placed on the dangers of speeding and not maintaining a safe braking distance. As I remember, there were questions in the driving test related to the length of safe braking distances while driving at various speeds.
Thais, apparently, have no idea that driving at high speed while very close to the vehicle in front is dangerous. On the contrary, drivers in Thailand seem to pride themselves on how fast and how close to the vehicle in front they can drive. Whenever I look in my mirror, regardless of the speed, there is always a pickup truck six feet behind.
I was therefore pleased to see a road safety advertisement on TV recently that made an attempt to explain the danger of high speed driving to Thais in terms that they might understand.
It showed that the impact of a collision at 80km/h would be the same as a car falling on to the ground from the top of an eight storey building. At 120 km/h it would be the same as a car plummeting from a 19 storey building.
I don't know how many people have seen these ads, but - as is usually the case in Thailand with this type of thing - it doesn't make any difference. Regardless of how many people get killed, drivers don't change their habits. This kind of advertising is to be commended, but unfortunately it has little effect.
I was wondering how the government might actually get through to drivers who refuse to change their ways. One way (quite radical in Thailand) would be to actually enforce laws, but Thais seem very reluctant to do this.
While watching TV this morning I suddenly thought of something that might work. There was an article about cleaning the Great Buddha Statue in Nara, Japan. Every August a ceremony known as 'O-Minugui' is performed and the Buddha statue is cleaned by volunteers. It is never a problem getting volunteers because there is a belief that anyone who volunteers to clean the statue will have no bad luck for a year.
Most Thais have no respect for this abstract thing called law, but the local belief systems are extremely powerful. Perhaps the government should inaugurate a department of belief systems and start generating some new beliefs related to what will happen to those who follow traffic laws and those who don't?
Of course, it would have to be made very clear that lots of bad things will happen to those who upset the spirits who reside inside red traffic lights.
If done properly, for example by adding some suitable story lines in the Thai TV soap operas that Thais love so much, I'm sure it would have a very positive effect on road safety.
Thursday 7th August 2014
I never realised until I lived in my present house how obsessed Thais are with built-in furniture. My house has a couple of recesses that were crying out for built-in cupboards and wardrobes so I got someone in to make them. However, this minimalist approach is very much the exception.
Most other houses in our neighbourhood have had built-in furniture fitted throughout the house before the owners moved in. It takes months to complete and it is quite expensive. My next door neighbour paid Bt1.3 million. Many Thais seem to have the view that it is essential to have built-in furniture everywhere before the house can be lived in. It looks OK, but I can think of far better things to spend my money on and it certainly isn't a necessity.
The way the installers work is to set up a bench saw on site and make everything in situ. This makes an awful noise and goes on forever. My next door neighbour's house took about six months. As soon as that one was finished, the house at the back started and all I could hear all day was a circular saw running. There is also noise from the nail guns they used and the air compressors that drive the nail guns.
Work on the house at the back has just finished after taking about a year. They also added a roof at the back and side of the house. When the noise finally ended I felt like celebrating, but as soon as it finished the water works started and there was yet more noise and mess.
Now that the water workers have finished, the house at the back of my next-door neighbour has just started having built-in furniture fitted. This will mean another six months of noise and wood dust.
After having a vacation in Thailand on a quiet beach, you might be fooled into thinking what a quiet and peaceful country Thailand is. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Our rented town house was in a very lo-so neighbourhood and there was constant noise. People played music at great volume at all hours of the day and night and the sound of pickup trucks and motorbikes with very loud exhaust pipes racing around the streets was ever present.
It's a lot better where we live now, but all the modifications that Thais insist on doing to their houses means that I still don't have the peace that I long for.
I have always loved books. Not only do I enjoy learning from books, but I also enjoy the feel of a real book in my hands, especially a high quality book printed on high quality paper.
I bought a Kindle a few years ago, but I have still yet to pay for a Kindle book. There are lots of free Kindle books and although many are complete rubbish, I have read some good ones as well.
I don't think that I will ever pay for a Kindle book. If I pay real money for a book I want a real book and not just an electronic file.
The other thing with books is that once they are published, they can't be changed. New editions can be published, but the old ones can't be changed. For this reason, authors do a lot of research before publication to make sure their facts are right.
Internet content is very easy to change and the same amount of work and research doesn't go into Internet content before it is uploaded. I therefore have a lot more faith in books than I do in the Internet.
My latest book is the one published in 2011 - 'King Bhumibol Adulyadej: A Life's Work', subtitled 'Thailand's Monarchy In Perspective'. It is beautifully bound and printed on very high quality paper.
Thailand has the most revered monarchy and the severest lèse majesté laws in the world. I therefore had certain expectations about this book. I have to say that it has completely surprised me. It is full of interesting facts and information that I have never previously seen - and I have read quite a lot of material about Thailand. It also includes topics that I was not expecting to see in the book.
As well as being a very detailed biography of the King, there are chapters on such things as the King's theory of Sufficiency Economy, Lèse Majesté laws, succession (The 1924 Palace Law of Succession), the Privy Council, etc. It also provides an excellent overview of Thai history and Kingship in Thailand.
Of the books on Thailand that I have read, there are few that I wouldn't recommend. In the category of books on Thailand that I wouldn't recommend, Mont Redmond's 'Wondering into Thai Culture' springs to mind.
Of the ones that I recommend, there are certain ones that I recommend above others. Anything written by Chris Baker and/or Pasuk Phongpaichit is always worth reading, and Chris Baker contributed to this book about the King. This book is another that I thoroughly recommend if you have any kind of an interest in Thailand.
Having written about health matters in Thailand recently I was interested in some facts about the King's father, Prince Mahidol, who suffered from poor health.
Understandably, he couldn't cope with the extreme cold in Scotland when he went to study medicine at Edinburgh University. After returning to Bangkok, doctors then advised him to quit the tropics altogether for Europe or the US.
In Bangkok before air-conditioning, according to Francis Bowes Sayre, "people either steamed or baked according to the time of year." This is an excellent description for a climate that is continually either hot and dry or hot and wet.
Air-conditioning has transformed everything and made the tropics a lot more bearable, but the climate can still make life very uncomfortable and the heat and humidity can aggravate certain medical conditions.
The book also mentions that leprosy and tuberculosis were "the great scourges of the day" in Thailand in the 1950's. The other book I referred to previously, which gives an account of Thailand in the early part of the 20th century, also described tuberculosis as being a big problem in Thailand at that time.
Sunday 3rd August 2014
Ecotourism, agritourism, cultural tourism, sustainable tourism, medical tourism, sex tourism, and now fertility tourism. Thailand has it all.
Mother country: The harrowing truth behind Thai 'fertility tourism'
This has been a big story in the last few days and I have nothing to add to this particular debate that hasn't already been said. Interestingly, though, I was talking to someone very recently whose sister-in-law used the services of a surrogate mother.
The brother of the person who I was talking to (a Thai) was killed in a car crash. Lots of Thais I have spoken to in the past have lost relatives in car crashes; it is very common in Thailand.
His brother and sister-in-law were childless at the time he was killed, but they had planned for a child. The family then sought the services of a specialist doctor and a surrogate mother. The doctor used an egg from the wife and sperm from her deceased husband's father and implanted the embryo in the surrogate mother.
The result was twins and the surrogate mother never saw them as they were whisked away directly after they were born. Apparently, the surrogate mother was quite easy to find using Google. A fee of Bt400,000 was agreed upon, but she ended up being paid about Bt600,000. The surrogate mother in the big news story received between Bt400,000 and Bt500,000.
My wife told me that she would want at least a million Baht to be a surrogate mother. I then had to remind her that she lives a very comfortable life and is never short of money, both for essential items and luxuries. Many desperately poor women in Thailand struggle to pay for the basics in life and Bt500,000 is a lot of money to them. It is easy to understand why they offer to rent out their wombs for nine months.
I have spoken to many Thais over the years about adoption and adopting a child from outside of the family is something that they would never consider. I've been to the local orphanage on a number of occasions and there are some great kids there. Some do get adopted, but it always seems to be foreigners that do the adopting, not Thais.
Thais will happily raise the child of a relative if the child's parents are unable to do so, but not a child from outside the family. The person I spoke to used the services of a surrogate mother in order for a woman without a husband to have children and still retain the family genes. This is the culture.
In the case of the person I was speaking to, his family's experience of using a surrogate mother was very straightforward and they had no problems. However, as the other story illustrates there can be lots of problems.
I don't know why the woman used a surrogate mother instead of having the embryo implanted in her own body after the IVF treatment. Perhaps there was a medical problem, or perhaps she didn't want to be pregnant with her father-in-law's child. The point of the story is that surrogate mothers are quite easy to find in Thailand.
Friday 1st August 2014
Is Thailand a healthy country in which to live?
It is very hot and humid all year round and although arthritis sufferers may feel better compared to living in cold, damp countries, this environment creates perfect conditions for all sorts of nasty micro-organisms. The following is from Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit's 'A History of Thailand':
"In the past, many species found this a much better habitat than man, including elephants, wild cattle, deer, monkeys, snakes, crocodiles, and a vast range of parasitical insects and micro-organisms."
A lot of the vegetation has now been removed and air conditioning makes the heat bearable, but I am still afflicted daily by parasitical insects, and viruses find their way into my body on average about two or three times a year.
The asthma that I have been suffering with started about four years ago. My doctor told me that asthma affects people when they are children and when they get older. I suffered a little as a child at times when I had a cold, but didn't suffer in my 20's, 30's or 40's. This could be normal, but I suspect that living in Thailand has made it worse.
The other book that I bought recently - Twentieth Century Impressions of Siam - was written in the first decade of the 20th century when very few Westerners visited Thailand. The accounts of Thailand in those days - including matters related to health - are quite interesting.
There is too much in the book to quote here, but the general message is that the climate in Thailand is not at all suitable for Westerners. Only the fittest individuals should consider going to Thailand, and they should take special care of their health because there are so many diseases. The book actually describes Bangkok as being the perfect death-trap for Europeans.
Regarding respiratory illness the book says:
"Of lung complaints contra-indicating residence in Bangkok, phthisis pulmonalis (tuberculosis) and asthma may be mentioned. A strong family tendency to pulmonary consumption makes one very chary, while the actual presence of the disease should emphatically forbid the passing of such a person.
In Bangkok my experience is that phthisis pulmonalis is a very commom disease amongst the Siamese, and in them often runs a very rapid course, but it is nothing to what one, now and again, sees in Europeans, especially young adults. In them the disease can truly be called "galloping consumption," and the only chance of prolonging life is immediate change to a temperate climate.
Asthma is a disease of surprises. It may be a torture to a man in an excellent climate, and yet disappear while residing under what one might consider adverse circumstances. Nevertheless, it is not advisable for an asthmatic subject to come to Bangkok. The disease is common amongst the natives, and generally Europeans who are subject to it suffer badly in this low-lying, damp spot."
This was written over a century ago and, of course, things have changed considerably since then. The science of medicine has come a very long way in the last hundred years.
The book also advises people with bad teeth not to go to Bangkok because of tough meat and poor dentistry. Nowadays, however, I wholeheartedly recommend going to Thailand if you have bad teeth because of the excellent dentistry at very reasonable prices. The country also has many excellent hospitals, both public and private, and some world class doctors.
The weather hasn't changed much in the last hundred years, but air conditioning has made living in the tropics a lot more comfortable. I avoid A/C when I can, but for several months of the year I would hate to be in Thailand without it.
One big change for the worse since the book was written is air pollution in big cities, notably Bangkok, because there are far too many cars. For this reason, Bangkok is still probably not the best place to be if you are an asthma sufferer.
There is some dangerous wildlife in Thailand, but serious encounters are fairly rare. One friend was bitten by a cobra when she was a student (actually, bitten twice - the second time when she grabbed the snake's tail to retrieve it so that it could be identified by medical staff).
Thai news reported a man needing to have a leg amputated recently when he was bitten by a particularly nasty spider. This spider's venom causes necrosis, as does the venom of certain snakes. If you are into diving, snorkelling, or swimming in the sea there are also some highly venomous sea creatures that should be avoided.
I get bitten by mosquitoes almost every day, but most are harmless. The bites are highly irritating and sometimes cause swelling, but not dangerous. Around the house we do get the stripy Aedes mosquitoes that are active during the daytime and these spread Dengue fever. Dengue isn't very pleasant, but it doesn't usually kill.
As far as I am aware, other mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and lymphatic filariasis (Elephantiasis) are only present in fairly remote border areas. I've not heard of anyone contracting these diseases where I live.
As I said previously, after many years of acclimatising I can now tolerate the heat up to about 35°C. If you have problems with heat and humidity you may suffer if living permanently in Thailand.
Fungi love the heat and humidity and a Thai pop singer died after falling into a canal because a particular nasty fungus infected his brain causing it to swell.
When I moved to Thailand I wore soft contact lenses rather than glasses. A fungal infection got into my eye via the contact lens and left me with corneal scarring and irregular astigmatism. The treatment wasn't pleasant and my eyesight has not been right since. If you wear contact lenses in Thailand be very meticulous with cleaning and storing them.
It astounds me that young girls in Thailand who have no problems with their eyes wear cosmetic contact lenses to achieve the Korean 'Big Eye' look. They probably have no idea that they are risking their eyesight by following a stupid fashion.
Viruses are ever present and they never stop mutating in order to fool the body's immune defences. As a result, I get colds fairly often in Thailand. It's worse when my daughter attends school. With 30 kids in an air conditioned room, viruses spread quickly and then the children infect their families.
Having said all of this, the risk from any of the above is fairly low. The news media love a good pandemic scare story involving nasty new viruses and every now and again there are panic stories about some kind of new virus that is just about to wipe out mankind. It was HIV, SARS, West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, etc, and the latest panic is over Ebola.
After a few months of scaring their readers, these stories suddenly fizzle out as soon as everyone realises that the latest threat to humanity isn't a threat at all.
Thailand isn't the safest country on the planet, but natural dangers don't pose that much of a threat. As I have said many times before, the greatest risk to life in Thailand comes from Thai drivers.
Regarding the asthma that I've been suffering from for about four years, the medication that I've been taking for the last month has completely removed all of the symptoms. I am exactly the same now as I was before I started to have problems. It's great. I no longer wake up in the night short of breath and getting a good night's sleep makes all the difference.
I saw the doctor again yesterday and he told me that 95% of the asthma sufferers he sees are very easy to treat. The other 5% need to have injections. He also said that although I seem to have recovered, the tissue inside my bronchus will still be inflamed. I will need to take the medication, which is expensive, for at least a year and maybe indefinitely.
For a long time now, my wife and me have also made an effort to keep the house as dust free as possible. When we moved into a rented house my wife wanted a vacuum cleaner. My belief at the time was that vacuum cleaners were only necessary in houses that had carpets and as we had no carpets it wasn't necessary. However, I never know what to buy her for her birthday and I'm always grateful for suggestions. She therefore got her vacuum cleaner.
The filter is washable and I wash it thoroughly every couple of weeks. After I wash it so that it is completely clean it amazes me how much dust is collected once the cleaner has vacuumed the house. I have now changed my opinion completely about the need for vacuum cleaning in Thailand.
If you have any respiratory problems in Thailand and live in a house that isn't regularly vacuum cleaned, get a vacuum cleaner.
These are the book I mentioned above: