My Thai Eye

By Edwin Tipple

A wry look at Thai life by British ex-pat, Edwin Tipple. In his many extended visits to Thailand, he never ceases to be amazed by ordinary Thai people: the way they organise things - like the way they travel - their kindness and outlook on life. All, except one, of the twelve short tales in this book are amusing experiences you're unlikely find in any travel guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edwin Tipple
• Release date: Jan 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465997494

Edwin Tipple

My first book, 'My Thai Eye', is a collection of twelve short tales of my Thai experiences I originally wrote for friends and relatives in the UK. There are some 4,000 copies out there and it has mostly favourable reviews on the Amazon site. It is not a travel book in the true sense of the genre but I'm taking on board comments and will publish in 2014 a second edition with some useful information about coming to Thailand, too.I've published a one hundred-thousand word murder mystery in December 2013. It's set in post-war Britain and is a thriller based on England's worst train crash, which happened in October 1952. If you are familiar with the protagonists in Foyle's War and Morse, I hope you will like my DI Crosier.

Book preview

MY THAI EYE

Table of Contents

Introduction

Logic?

Trains to Hua Hin and beyond

Pavements are for farangs

We’ve been fumigated! M6 northbound, no reported delays

Well dressed

Was Santa crucified this Christmas? And who won the boat race?

Too much orange about the place and maybe a charade too far

The last banana is at 17:50

We have bad wind and loudspeakers. Monday seems an odd day to do some things

Was that a freight train?

You could have someone’s eye out with that!

Hitchcock’s The Bikes and one up the arse

Review

Murder Mystery Sample

This e-book is dedicated the people who suffered

during the Thai floods of 2011.

Introduction

Have you thought about visiting Thailand? If you have, you will probably have read some travel books already. But few, if any, will give you a sideways glance, that insight to the many amusing things Thai; the way they think, do and organise things. I hope my wry look at living here will persuade you to come.

But why Thailand? What is so good about the place? The answer is simple: the people, the food and of course, the weather.

I've travelled a lot over the last thirty years. When I visit somewhere — a town, city or a country — that's new to me, I always ask myself, could we live here? Probably not, however delightful the place may be. I returned to Hua Hin in Thailand with my wife in 2008. I asked her the same question. Liz's response was yes. So we did.

You will already know they call Thailand The Land of Smiles, and it certainly is. No matter how they are troubled by the lack of basic things, like enough money (many earn a massive $3 a day or just $50 a month) they are generally a happy people. They make you welcome, stand up to offer elders – Thai or farang – a seat on the bus, are very hospitable and will help you as much as they can. They don't deserve most things thrust upon them.

Right now, they're experiencing the aftermath of a natural disaster. Months of torrential rain in the north and central Thailand triggered severe flooding, the worst for fifty years. The water which gradually moved south caused major flooding in and around Bangkok. The Gulf of Thailand — the repository for most of this huge amount of fresh water — has suffered too. Normal fish stocks have been decimated and will take years to recover.

The new government, a few months in power, seems inexperienced to deal with the catastrophe effectively. Industries, which you might not expect to be here, are flooded. Production has ceased with many majors – Sony, Toyota, and the like – and there is a fear they may not choose to remain in Thailand. Companies such as these have resource and although their balance sheets may be dented, they will survive.

The local populations are not so fortunate. Over seven-hundred have died — more than fifty by electrocution – numbers the western world would consider unthinkable. Throw in a lot of dangerous snakes and escapees from crocodile farms and you've got a frightening extra layer of surviving to deal