Living In Thailand Blog
Monday 13th October 2014
For years I struggled to find suitable everyday walking shoes in Thailand. The most important thing I look for in a shoe is comfort and most of the locally made shoes didn't give me the comfort that I needed. There wasn't enough cushioning or support and my feet hurt after doing a lot of walking.
One solution was to add gel insoles to the shoes, but even this wasn't very successful if I did a lot of walking because the insoles moved around inside the shoe and disintegrated after a short time.
I started buying quite expensive imported shoes, but found that they didn't last very long. Another problem is that there is quite a limited choice where I live in provincial Thailand.
A couple of years ago I was looking in one of the many 'Army Surplus' type shops that there are in Thailand. They sell all sorts of camouflage gear and also quite a frightening array of weapons.
The shop had the normal stock of army boots, but they also had some shoes that looked interesting. I tried on a pair, found that they were comfortable, and bought them. The soles started to come adrift recently after about a year, but I got them repaired cheaply and they are still going strong. A few days ago I bought myself another pair.
The guy asked for Bt1,500 and I asked for a discount. He lowered the price by Bt100 and I still imagine that he made a decent profit. I could probably have continued haggling to get a cheaper price, but I couldn't be bothered and accepted his first offer.
Just like the first pair, these ones didn't require any breaking in. They are comfortable from Day 1 and perfect for doing lots of walking in. The design is such that they are rigid like a closed shoe, but there is a lot of ventilation which is necessary in a hot climate.
The insoles provided lots of cushioning and thus there are no problems with bruised heels. The rubber soles are also very grippy and suitable for a variety of terrains.
The first pair I bought were fastened with Velcro straps. The second pair have small plastic quick-release buckles instead of Velcro.
The last thing that concerns me when buying clothes and shoes is a brand name. As long as what I buy is well made and functions well, brand isn't important. The other thing about this part of the world is that many goods are fake anyway. The Bt30 underpants I bought were covered in all sorts of expensive brand names, but they were still Bt30 underpants made in an Asian sweatshop somewhere.
These shoes are branded Diadora, but I don't know if they are genuine of fake. They were made in China, as is everything these days.
Brands such as Rohan mean something to me because I know that Rohan clothes will last for many years without falling apart and that there won't be any problems in the laundry. What I don't care for is designer names and buying brands in a pathetic attempt to impress other people.
Having owned the first pair of these shoes for over year and worn them every day, I would be quite happy to recommend them. No doubt, other foreign brands are just as good - or better - but they are also probably a lot more expensive. For the money I paid I have been very satisfied and will continue to buy this type of shoe.
I've written many times about how dangerous minivans are in Thailand. Whenever I drive anywhere there are always minivans racing up behind me trying to get past. They are a menace to the passengers they carry and a menace to other road users.
One killed, nine injured when passenger van crashes into rear of trailer truck
The driver of this van claimed that it wasn't his fault: "The van driver told police that the truck made a sudden u-turn in front of him so he could not stop his van in time."
This statement actually tells you a lot about how stupid Thais drive.
Good drivers drive defensively and anticipate everything on the road that might happen, even though it probably won't. This means that when the unexpected does happen, they can deal with it.
The majority of Thais never drive this way and they think they are expert racing drivers. They never leave a safe braking distance between themselves and the vehicle in front, and they drive as fast as they can and as close to the vehicle in front as possible. This show of machismo, which is crass stupidity, actually seems to be a source of pride among many Thai males.
When something unexpected does happen, such as the quote above about the truck in front making a sudden U-turn, an accident occurs. It's inevitable. Of course the van driver idiot couldn't stop his van in time because he was driving too fast and too close to the truck in front. Whenever there is a rear-end shunt it is always the fault of the driver behind.
The dumbest thing of all is that they can't see that it is their fault and even though they see so many accidents, and are involved in accidents themselves, they don't change the way they drive.
Lots of three year-olds in Thailand are sent for tutoring classes in addition to their regular school classes. They are also given homework to do. I didn't start doing homework until around the age of 13 when I started senior school.
This homework is taken very seriously. It is assessed and used as an indicator of the child's progress. Thai parents are terrified that their child may fall behind and therefore many do their children's homework themselves.
My wife is an art teacher, although she stopped working when our children arrived. She teaches some kids privately at our house and quite often the kids bring their homework, which she then does for them. Her nieces and nephews also turn up at the house when they have art homework and she does it for them.
It is currently the midterm break in Thailand and our daughter will start the second term on 20th October. My wife told me today that she has to complete some homework before she returns to school.
My wife then set about doing some of the homework herself (making a chicken from an empty soap container and papier mache) and I did the rest. She told me to find pictures of fried chicken and instructions on how to cook fried chicken. I then had to put these in a document and get it printed.
My first thought about all this is that three year-old shouldn't be given any homework. They should be allowed to lead a normal childhood as much as possible.
Secondly, if they really have to do homework and that homework is then used to assess them, it needs to actually be done by the kids. It is them who are being assessed, not their parents, and to make assessments about children on the strength of their parents' work is beyond stupid.
On a few occasions our daughter has done homework and it is the standard you would expect from a three year-old. My wife then says it isn't good enough, erases it, and does it herself.
If I dare to question what is going on, I get the usual stuff about me being a farang and not understanding how things are done in Thailand. As I said previously, I have gone past the stage now of trying to put forward my views, opinions, and ideas. In Thailand there is a Thai way of doing things and farangs are always wrong.
When I was teaching and marked homework I regularly found exactly the same mistakes in every piece of work, indicating that one piece of original work had been repeatedly copied. At the start of some classes I saw one piece of homework being passed around and all the other kids were copying it.
This type of cheating, copying and plagiarism goes on right to the top of the education system. Some years ago there was a political scandal and it highlighted the issue in Thailand of Master's degree and PhD students paying other people to write their theses. (Source: Thai Images - The Culture of the Public World by Niels Mulder p.216)
As I have said before, it is all image over substance in Thailand. If the student produces a good piece of work and then passes an exam or receives a degree for that piece of work, that's all that counts. It doesn't matter who actually did the work, or whether the student actually learned anything.
The problem, as is often the case in Thailand, is that good individuals can't beat the system if the system is inherently corrupt. For example, if I absolutely insisted that all my daughter's homework was her own work she would come bottom of the class because she can't compete with her classmates' parents. My wife is pragmatic enough to know this and so she just plays along with the system.
With the Thai way of doing things so deeply entrenched, it makes me wonder if Thailand will ever change. Prayuth is making a determined effort to change things for the better, but there are so many problems to fix and he is only one man. Only time will tell.
Sunday 12th October 2014
I am naturally inquisitive and like to know what there is in my adopted home. For the past 11 years I have made an effort to get out and about to explore my surroundings and I now know the area fairly well, even though my ability to explore has been severely tempered since our kids arrived.
This surprises many Thais. Whenever I ask for directions they seem very reluctant to tell me. I always get the impression they think it is a waste of time telling me because I won't know where anything is. When I mention somewhere to a Thai they almost fall over in amazement that I actually know about local places.
I'm not sure why this is. Why shouldn't I know about my local surroundings after 11 years? It's as if they don't believe that foreigners are capable of learning anything about Thailand, even if they have been in the country for a long time. The same thing happens with language. Thais seem to think that it is impossible for foreigners to read Thai and I get a similarly amazed reaction when they realise that I can read.
There are certain other things about Thai culture and value systems that Thais believe foreigners are incapable of understanding. It's strange.
Another reason for making an effort to find out things is because I need the information for the local guide that I manage. Last week I went to visit a Buddhist temple that I hadn't been to before. It is quite near my home. The evening weather was cool and pleasant so I explored the area around the temple as well. I had a few very pleasant surprises.
I think I've mentioned that I never really wanted to live in Hat Yai, but that it was a compromise to keep my wife happy. She wanted to be near her family (as most Thai girls do), and with kids we need to be near hospitals and schools.
Even though the town is a fraction of the size, and a fraction as busy, as Bangkok, it is still too busy for me. I don't care for beaches and islands, but if I had my way I would live in an isolated area in Chiang Rai with views of just rice fields and mountains.
I find the particular green hue of rice fields to be extremely relaxing. Thais seem to enjoy living on the edge of chaos, but I need to escape from the chaos fairly regularly in order to preserve my mental health.
I know of various places to escape to where I will get the peace and tranquility that I need, but they are all too far away to visit quickly and conveniently.
I was thrilled to find that the area around the temple (only about 15 minutes from my house) is perfect. The first sign was at the temple where, just when I was about to leave, I saw a brilliant flash of turquoise plumage as a White-Throated Kingfisher swooped by.
Instead of returning home I decided to take a look around the temple and that was when I discovered rice fields that I never knew existed and saw flocks of egrets overhead and in the fields. I also saw lots more Kingfishers and will probably return soon with a long lens.
Previously, I had tried to find somewhere like this close to my house but I had been looking in the wrong places. I found plenty of rubber plantations, but they weren't what I was looking for.
I found it quite by chance and it has made a big difference to how I feel about where we live. I appreciate the convenience of having lots of shops, restaurants, schools and hospitals nearby, but now that I also know where to find some peaceful, rural spots it seems a lot better.
Wednesday 8th October 2014
I had a bit of a rant yesterday. Generally it doesn't matter to me how Thais carry on among themselves, but I get upset when Thai ways affect me personally. I get very upset about the carnage on Thai roads and the potential risk that idiotic Thai drivers pose to my family, and I get upset about the Thai education system because it affects my children.
It was also a bit unfair on my wife. She's not a bad person, but she is typically Thai. From a very early age she has been indoctrinated with Thai nationalism and it has been repeatedly drummed into her about how Thailand is such a wonderful country.
She has never been outside of Thailand and therefore has no frame of reference. Her perspective is incredibly narrow and she only has a Thai view, not a world view.
A lot of the students that I taught were a waste of time, but I was amazed at the change in those students who were fortunate enough to get a scholarship to study abroad for a year. When they came back not only had their English skills soared, but their attitudes and way of thinking had also changed.
The Thai value system is another source of problems. Thais place immense value on perceived status, paper qualifications and titles. Do we all remember Dr Thaksin? It's a façade and everything is about image over substance.
This is one of the reasons behind the running street battles that occur regularly in Thailand between students of rival technical colleges.
I mentioned previously that I was very impressed with the quality of car servicing in Thailand. Many Thai men are good technicians and these skills are extremely important in any society. However, vocational students are looked down upon in Thailand because they are not studying for degrees.
Vocational students have low self-esteem as a result of this and in a misguided effort to increase their self-esteem they engage in, and do their best to win, battles with rival students. Quite often, this results in young boys being killed.
Conversely, students wearing the black and white uniforms of Thai university students who study for useless degrees, such as Travel and Tourism, have a much higher status in Thai society.
Any high school kid could work in a hotel after a few weeks of work experience, but they couldn't repair my car. The whole value system is wrong.
My wife acknowledges that foreign education systems are better, but she believes that the only way for a child to gain the all important degree certificate in Thailand is to go through the Thai education system.
It doesn't matter that the child may not actually learn anything. All that is important is the piece of paper at the end. A student that has a good education and learns real, practical, useful skills, but doesn't get the same piece of paper will not be regarded as highly. It's all arse about face. Image over substance is the Thai way.
Thais lust after BMWs and Benz cars, and Germany has the largest economy in Europe. Apart from just focusing on German luxury goods, Thais should also pay attention to Germany's dual education system and the importance placed on vocational training.
I went through this type of education myself and my tertiary level of education included both academic studies and lots of practical work. At the time, and in a developed country, it was considered a good qualification. Years later I ended up in the Third World and discovered that I was unemployable due to being under-qualified. You have to laugh.
Anyway, I have now said my piece.
Today is my daughter's second day of tutoring and it is working out better than I anticipated. She starts at 9am, which allows me to wake up at a normal time and drive into town after the morning rush hour has finished.
I also get an opportunity to sit down with a coffee and write this stuff without any interruptions, which is a very rare treat these days.
The lady doing the teaching is a very nice person. She's a retired teacher and I guess that she is almost 70. Despite her advanced years, she still has huge amounts of enthusiasm and she is good with little kids. I always taught older schoolkids and adults, and hated having to teach young kids. I was useless with little kids. Some people have this ability, whereas others don't.
Tuesday 7th October 2014
Depending on your own personal situation and circumstances, your perspective of living in Thailand can be very different to that of other people.
Living in Thailand is very different to being a tourist in Thailand and living in a Thai tourist resort is very different to living in normal Thailand.
Working in Thailand gives you another perspective that you don't get if you don't work. Driving regularly in Thailand tells you a great deal about Thai behaviour and attitudes that foreigners aren't generally aware of if they never drive.
The same applies if you are married, or live permanently with, a Thai, and you get yet another perspective if you have children in Thailand.
What I have found is that knowledge and personal experience of living in Thailand is inversely proportional to happiness and satisfaction in Thailand. By far my best ever experience in Thailand was on my first visit in 1987 when I was completely naive and knew absolutely nothing. Since then, as my knowledge and experience have increased my happiness and satisfaction with the country have gone the other way.
It's not all bad and some new perspectives have been positive. Since becoming a father, it has been impossible for me and the wife to have a decent meal out while attending to two young kids at the same time. At quite a few restaurants the staff have observed what is going on and have kept the children amused so that we can eat in peace. They are under no obligation to do this, but they do, and they seem quite happy to do it. Obviously, this kind of thing is something that I never noticed before I had kids and it is appreciated very much.
Being married to a Thai and living in Thailand isn't always easy. I try not to generalise, but there are certain Thai traits that are exhibited by the vast majority of Thais. Thais tend to be been extremely stubborn and they have a Thai way of doing things. Whenever I disagree with my wife about something, she is always right and I am always wrong, based on the fact that we live in Thailand where the Thai way is always right and any opposing view is always wrong.
I have gone past the stage of even trying to put my point of view forward because it is futile. Doing so only causes friction at home and she always gets her way in the end, so there is no point. This is something that I have become resigned to.
The latest issue regards my daughter's education. The Thai education system regularly features at the bottom of the list in reports about global education, and even Thais admit that it is poor. However, despite knowing how poor it is, they still defend it and want their kids to participate in it.
I didn't start school until I was about five and in some European and Scandinavian countries kids don't start until they are six. When they do start school the education systems are good and they don't suffer.
My wife was desperate for our daughter to start school at three and she had to have an entrance exam before she was even three. It's ridiculous. What is more is that a lot of the kids in her class are already doing extra out-of-hours tuition. The poor little mites attend school at around 7:30am, finish regular school at 3pm, and then do tutoring until 5pm or 6pm.
My daughter missed a lot of the first term because of a medical problem and now my wife (against my wishes) has enrolled her in a tutoring class during the mid-term break.
There are a few areas in town with a lot of tutoring places and they are packed during weekends, evenings, and school holidays. Thais seem to think this is the only way for kids to get educated. Yesterday, we went along to where my daughter will go to class and I heard once again about how hard Thai students work. I have heard this many times.
I asked to see the class room and there were six kids doing an art class. Two girls were working with the teacher and four boys were running around the room going crazy. When I mentioned this, I received the standard reply in Thailand: "They are boys." This is what I kept hearing when I worked briefly at an all boys school. Thais males are allowed to do whatever they wish. Many are out of control and no one does anything to rein them in.
When I taught, my students were always complaining about working too hard. They finished school, went to tutoring classes, went home, did their homework, and slept.
Their problem was that many didn't learn anything at school. They slept, talked with their friends, played with their mobile phones, did homework from other classes, or pissed around in various other ways. A few were good, but most didn't learn anything and I assumed that they carried on the same way in their tutoring classes.
'Thai students during an English lesson'
They wasted their own time, their teachers' time, and their parents' money. Thai culture is supposed to respect education, teachers and parents, but this was hardly in evidence.
The entire education system is geared up to getting students through exams and receiving pieces of paper without actually learning anything. The final year of high school is all about gaining university entrance and then there is four years of the same at university with yet another piece of paper at the end.
My three year old speaks English to me and Thai to her mother. She does this naturally without even thinking about switching languages and she now speaks more English than her mother. The other day she was trying to tell my wife something in English, but after a few attempts it was obvious that my wife didn't understand. She then told her in Thai.
We are taking care of her cousin at the moment and yesterday my daughter asked, "Where has Cream gone?" This may seem insignificant to many people, but after teaching English in Thailand for many years to students at all levels up to PhD it is very significant to me.
I don't think that I have ever heard a Thai student use the present perfect tense. Even when I used to ask questions using this tense, they would reply (as they always do) in the present. "Where has X gone?" "She go toilet."
However, Thai students who can't actually use the correct English tenses know the appropriate sentence structures as a result of years of rote learning. Ask a Thai student about the present perfect and they will tell you, "Has/have plus verb three," - the past participle (chong saam in Thai).
Knowing the sentence structure is all that is required in the Thai education system. The student who knows this will get full marks and be an A student in English. This will result in yet another piece of paper, but the same student will never actually use the present perfect and will always speak Thaiglish instead of English.
From the outside it looks good. Millions of Thai kids spend lots of time in classrooms (note my wording) and the country produces hundreds of thousands of graduates every year. But only a very small minority can actually do anything practical when they finish all this 'education'.
My opinion is that if Thai kids really studied hard and effectively for just four hours a day it would produce far better results than the current system. They would learn more, they would have time to play and lead normal lives, and they wouldn't feel tired all the time.
This is what I would like for my daughter but, as I indicated above, we live in Thailand where the Thai way is always right and my opinion counts for absolutely nothing. It's extremely frustrating. All I can do is spend a lot of time with my kids so that they learn to speak English naturally and I will also try to give them a proper broad-based education, which they won't get at a Thai school.
Another huge problem in Thailand is that most Thai teachers who teach English can't speak English. I have found with my daughter that her brain is like a sponge and that she has a natural ability to mimic my speech. That's fine because I can speak English, but if she mimics Thaiglish she will only end up speaking Thaiglish herself.
Some years ago I got talking to a girl who lived in Phitsanulok. She was visiting for a few days and she was an English teacher. She asked me the classic Thaiglish question, "Where are you come from?" This is a question I have been asked hundreds of times in Thailand.
Because she was an English teacher and had the responsibility of teaching children I pointed out her grammatical error and told her the two correct ways of asking this question.
Instead of being grateful, she was quite indignant and told me that this is how her teacher had taught her. Thai teachers tell their students the wrong thing, those students then memorise the error, and if they become teachers themselves they propagate these common errors. This kind of thing is a big problem in Thailand.
My wife went ahead and booked our daughter on a course without my consent. There was nothing I could do about this, but what I did tell the school is that I don't want them teaching her any English. I am quite happy for them to teach her Thai, but please don't fill her head with Thaiglish.
This is just the start and, to be honest, I wasn't expecting to have this kind of a problem so soon in her life. The absolute minimum qualification in Thailand, even for a job changing bed sheets or flipping burgers, is a degree. This means that she won't finish her education until she is at least 21. Our son of nine months will then follow.
I therefore expect to be fighting against the Thai education system for at least the next 21 years and probably until I am ready for my next life. This thought fills me with dread.
This extra tutoring business was entirely my wife's decision but, of course, I am the one who has to pay for it and also the one who has to take my daughter in the morning and collect her at lunchtime.
Still, every cloud has a silver lining. This morning I took a netbook along with me and while she was in class I sat in McCafe drinking a latte and doing some computer work. It is impossible to do this at home because I get interrupted every five minutes with a request to do something. Where there is bad, there is always some good.
Monday 6th October 2014
In 2012, the country in which British tourists abroad were most likely to need consular assistance was the Philippines (Britons requiring consular assistance rises). Thailand was second on the list.
I went to the Philippines in 1997 and it was pretty wild. I arrived at my hotel in Manila at around 6pm eager to take a quick shower and explore Manila on foot. I had always enjoyed doing this kind of thing in Bangkok.
I was thus rather taken aback, and disappointed, when the hotel doorman warned me very sternly that it wasn't safe to go outside. When I did finally venture outside I was amazed that sitting on the street outside many shops was a young male with a shotgun guarding the premises.
As I wandered around I was approached on the street many times by Filipinos trying to engage me in conversation and their opening gambits were always the type of things that scammers open a conversation with in order to cheat and deceive foreigners.
I spent most of my time relaxing and scuba diving on the little island of Boracay, which was fine, but those few days spent in Manila were certainly an eye-opener.
In 2013, Thailand overtook the Philippines to become the country in which most tourists required consular assistance (British more likely to need consular assistance in Thailand). Bangkok seemed like a picnic after Manila, but safety issues in the so-called 'Land of Smiles' have been highlighted again recently with the brutal murder of two young Brits while on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand.
Thailand is now getting concerned that the scams, thefts, assaults, road accidents, rapes and murders might start to have an adverse effect on the tourist industry, especially now that tourist numbers are rising in neighbouring countries. Thailand is the 7th biggest tourist destination in the world and tourism earns the country an enormous amount of money.
There is a very dark side to Thailand and this report from the Bangkok Post highlights some of the unpalatable aspects of Thailand's tourist industry.
Greed: Calls for return to Thai values
The story headline is misleading and is guilty of making the kind of sweeping generalisation that I have talked about before. Referring to 'Thai values' implies that every single Thai national has the same set of values and this is patently wrong. They don't.
The many decent Thais I know who have good basic values, morals and ethics never have anything to do with foreign tourists. The jobs they do and the locations in which they live result in them never crossing paths with foreigners.
It is ironic, and somewhat unfortunate, that the perceived wealth of foreigners and the actual wealth that they bring into the country is an extremely powerful magnet for the many greedy Thais who have immoral values. The only thing they value in life is money and they will stop at nothing to acquire money.
Obviously, Thais like this are drawn to where there are lots of foreigners and all Thais, without exception, know where these places are. The Thai word 'Amphoe' means district and I have even heard Phuket referred to by Thais as 'Amphoe Farang'.
The result is that tourists, because of the limited number of places that they visit in Thailand, are much more likely to come into contact with bad Thais than foreigners who live in Thailand outside of the tourist ghettos.
This is one reason why I have never considered living in a tourist resort and one reason why I avoid these places if I can. There are other reasons, but the fact that there are so many nasty, greedy Thais who make a living from preying on and cheating foreigners is enough to keep me away.
I'm not saying that these places, or the people who live there, are necessarily bad, but the chances of encountering bad people are higher.
Sunday 5th October 2014
The rainy season arrives with remarkable precision each year, bringing with it an abrupt and very noticeable change in the weather. The rains arrive at different times in different regions of Thailand. In the deep south it happens just as September ends and October begins.
For about a week now there has been persistent rain every day and several big storms that roll in at around 2pm. I really enjoy the cooler weather and dramatic skies, but getting laundry dry can be a problem and this morning I got drenched while out on the wife's bike doing some grocery shopping.
This goes on for about three months and ends as abruptly as it begins, normally in early January. October can be very wet and all of the big local floods have occurred in the month of November.
October 2010 was a particularly wet month and for days on end it never seemed to stop raining. This resulted in Hat Yai's biggest ever flood and I was personally affected quite badly. On the morning of 2nd November I woke up to find two metres of water downstairs and was then trapped upstairs in the house for about three days.
That experience was my primary motivation for buying a house - something that I wasn't intending to do until later. My most important consideration for the house purchase was buying a property in an area that didn't flood.
The following photo wasn't taken in the rainy season, but a big storm was approaching. Big storms often occur at the height of the hot season in April and May. I like this photo for the colourful boats and dark skies in the background.
It was taken at a small Muslim fishing village in Kao Seng where the people living there still a very traditional way of life. The men go out on the boats very early in the morning to catch fish and the women stay in the village preparing the fish to sell and repairing fishing nets, etc.
Saturday 4th October 2014
Some things that seem strange when you first arrive in Thailand start to seem normal after several years of living in the country.
When I read the latest about the Koh Tao murders I was reminded of the re-enactment procedure that happens after people are caught by the Thai police for carrying out criminal acts.
Confessed Koh Tao killers re-enact British backpackers' final minutes
I witnessed this firsthand in 2008 when I was living in an apartment building. The girl in the next room was a qualified dentist and was studying for a Master's degree. She never made any noise and was the perfect neighbour.
The second floor we were on was different to all the other floors in that each room had quite a nice terrace. Unfortunately, it was this feature that made it easy for intruders to get into the building.
She slept, as I did, with the glass door open and just the sliding mosquito screen shut. Later, as a result of what happened, the apartment building owners added burglar bars to each room and made other alterations.
One night as she slept a man climbed onto her terrace and entered her room. He beat her senseless, breaking her jaw in the process, attempted to rape her, stole money, and also stole the computer that contained her thesis. It was a particularly brutal attack. He could just as easily have got into my room, but I guess he thought that a man would fight back and if rape was a primary motive that would also have influenced his decision.
I heard the commotion but after living in Thai apartment buildings for several years it wasn't at all unusual to hear Thais arguing and fighting with each other so I didn't really pay much attention. I assumed it was just another domestic disagreement, the like of which I had heard several times previously.
Owing to the brutality of the attack the police put a lot of resources into finding the culprit. It so happened that a nearby shop operated a CCTV system and some clever detective work enabled the police to track him down.
He drove a sawng-thaew, which is a converted pickup truck with two rows of seats in the back used as a passenger service vehicle. There are lots of these in Thailand. They operate on fixed routes for fixed fares.
A few weeks after the attack I was in my room one day when I became aware that a lot of people had entered the building. There were police, news reporters, and throngs of other people. This was the day of the re-enactment.
During the re-enactment the accused person has to trace the exact steps that he (it is normally a he) took when he committed the crime. He is required to demonstrate how he obtained access to the building and then has to show exactly what he did to the victim.
The girl was present for the re-enactment and I really felt sorry for her. Physically, she was still in a very bad way, and she must have been suffering even more emotionally, especially as a result of coming face-to-face with her attacker again.
I'm not exactly sure why this re-enactment takes place in Thailand, but it is a standard routine.
The other thing they do in Thailand for crimes such as drug dealing after they apprehend criminals is to make a very public display of the people apprehended and everything that was used in the crime.
The drugs that were sold, money that was received, mobile telephones that were used, and anything else involved in the crime are laid out on a table and displayed for the benefit of various media outlets.
After the attack on my neighbour she moved to a higher floor, even though the apartment owners added quite a lot of security features. They installed bright lights outside the building, added CCTV, and fitted burglar bars inside every room.
This incident didn't work out at all well for me. After having such a perfect neighbour I then suffered for more than two years with some really obnoxious temporary residents, such as the Coyote dancer who arrived home at about 3am after work every morning, made lots of noise, and frequently fought and argued with another woman.
Friday 3rd October 2014
Whenever I go to Thai immigration and have to fill out the part of the form that asks when I entered Thailand I am always quite shocked to see that I entered the country for the last time in April 2010.
Prior to that I used to escape once or twice a year, but everything changed in 2010 when I got married and then things went crazy when our daughter arrived in 2011.
I had to go back to immigration again to get a re-entry permit for my forthcoming trip to Malaysia. For those are are not familiar with the process, if you obtain a one-year visa and leave the country without a re-entry permit your visa is then void. To prevent this from happening you must have a re-entry permit.
There are two types. A single entry re-entry permit allows you to leave once and costs Bt1,000. A multiple re-entry permit costs Bt3,800. It is valid until your visa expires and allows you to leave Thailand as many times as you wish.
Obviously, if you are planning on leaving Thailand more than four times in the coming year it is cheaper to get a multiple re-entry permit.
Even if you aren't planning to leave this often there are other reasons why you might consider getting a multiple version. It only requires one visit to immigration instead of going there every time you need a single re-entry permit. Also, having just one re-entry permit stamp in your passport saves space.
Expats tend to fill up their passports with various stamps very quickly and getting a new passport because the old one is full involves quite a lot of hassle and expense.
If this trip down to Penang works out well and is hassle free it may become a regular event. However, for the moment, I saved some money and just went for the single version.
Thursday 2nd October 2014
I was asked by a Thai recently if I have seen the farang who makes and sells kebabs from a food cart near one of the local hospitals. I have. If I remember correctly, street vending is one of professions that foreigners are banned from doing in Thailand but nobody seems to mind and he doesn't seem concerned about being arrested by immigration.
Thais get very excited when foreigners do something that normally only Thais do. I remember reading a story about a farang who had set up a food cart selling som tum (the spicy salad from Isaan that is normally made with papaya) and this got a lot of publicity.
In the Bangkok Post today there was an article about another farang who makes the classic flat noodle dish, Pad Thai. I didn't find it particular interesting, but was highly amused once they started interviewing his Thai wife.
The story headline made it clear that he was Swiss, but didn't mention his name. His wife then let on that his name was Toni. It was the best laugh I have had in ages.
Johnny Depp and other fans of the Fast Show - myself included - will probably find this funny, but it won't mean anything if you haven't seen Charlie Higson in a suit with a bouffant quiff.
I was hoping that Thailand's Swiss Toni would explain why making Pad Thai is very much like making love to a beautiful women, but in this respect he left me disappointed. His Thai, however, is excellent. Farangs speaking Thai normally sound like farangs speaking Thai, but he sounds like the real deal.
On the TV news Thai police said that they would be making an arrest in the next two or three days regarding the Koh Tao murders.
Burma man 'admits killing British students in Thailand'
Wednesday 1st October 2014
I just saw that the Thai railway employee who raped and murdered a 13 year-old girl while she was in an overnight sleeping compartment on a train to Bangkok has been sentenced to death. After he killed her he threw her body out of the window.
Thailand still has the death penalty, but Thais seem very reluctant to use it. My only previous reservation about capital punishment was in the event of a wrong conviction. However, since the introduction of DNA analysis in forensic testing the chances of a wrong conviction are almost nil.
It's a highly emotive subject, but as a parent I would want no less if the victim was one of my children. I would even be willing to carry out the execution myself. There are many bleeding hearts in the world who will always oppose capital punishment, but people who commit heinous crimes such as this don't deserve to live. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. The crime committed was pure evil.