My Other Thai Eye: My Thai Eye series, #2

By Edwin Tipple

My wry look at Thai life continues in My Other Thai Eye but includes many tales about the other side of Thailand. Corruption, prostitution, the May 2014 military coup and just about everything you need to know when someone asks you, 'What do you want to go there for?'

Warning: this is no ordinary guide book.

However, there are some links to sites to help you get around and information about visas.

This book gets updated a couple of times a year and these are free if you subscribe to my non-fiction news emails.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edwin Tipple
• Release date: May 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513027586

Book preview

Author Note

Welcome to the second in the My Thai Eye series: My Other Thai Eye. A special thank you to all those who read the first, particularly those who posted reviews on amazon.com or amazon.co.uk – just why reviews on one site don’t appear on all Amazon sites is a quirk beyond me. Nevertheless, I’ve taken on board most reviewer criticisms.

You wanted more amusing stories and more information. (I’ve included a handful of the original articles from MTE, so that new readers don’t miss out, and marked them ** so you can easily skip them). I hope that with some information about getting around Thailand and Links to useful websites you will find My Other Thai Eye a much better read. This edition is still a collection of my observations, most of which are humorous. But please note, this is not a standard guide book.

If you’ve thought before about visiting Thailand, you will probably have read some travel books already. Few guide books, if any, give you that sideways glance, that insight into so many amusing things Thai, to prepare you for your visit: the way the people think; what they do; how they organize things. Thai antics never fail to amuse visitors. There are few days you won’t see something to make you smile or gasp, like a woman breast-feeding her baby, while riding her motorbike! I hope my wry view will persuade you to come.

You also wanted to know more about ‘the other side of Thailand’, so I’ve included information relating to this year’s military coup of May 22nd – a result of the recent political unrest that had been going on for months; correction, years. Note: it is likely to last until at least the spring of 2016 when, it is hoped, elections will be resumed. Every article has been researched from news reports in the world’s press or broadcasting organisations.

But don’t let the coup put you off coming. It really isn’t bad; quite the reverse in fact compared to recent times. If you were not in Bangkok at the time or don’t study the media, you may not even have been aware it’s the latest in a long string of Thai political upheavals.

But isn’t there another big problem: don’t a lot of tourists get murdered? The death of one person is a tragedy which I don’t set out here to demean. To put it into perspective, over the last five years 15 UK nationals were murdered in Thailand. Yet in the same period, in England, Scotland and Wales, over 2,922 UK citizens were murdered – see:

http://www.citizensreportuk.org/reports/murders-fatal-violence-uk.html

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

You’ll probably know Thailand is known as ‘The Land of Smiles’ and it certainly is. No matter how many of the people are troubled by the lack of basic things, like enough money, they are generally happy. They make you welcome, stand up to offer elders – Thai or farang (westerner)– a seat on the bus, are very hospitable and will help you as much as possible. They don’t deserve most things thrust upon them, especially incompetent leaders.

Between stories – marked in bold italic text – you’ll find short paragraphs of unrelated issues: some bizarre, some funny, some simply unbelievable and some to make you think.

***

So you have decided to come.

You’ve booked your flight which will probably arrive at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, an airport as modern as any western one you’ve passed through. From there, you can be whisked off by a large comfortable taxi to your three, four or five star hotel where you can unwind by the infinity pool which, if you have researched the Internet well, will be overlooking the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.

Just imagine, you’ll be able to sip your gin and tonics, relax and tell yourself the journey was worth all the effort; and believe me, it will be. A very nice waitress will arrive, wai and ask you if you would like dinner. Apart from her beauty, you’ll notice how slim and polite she is, and you will come to learn that she’s just like all Thai people you will meet as a tourist.

Over dinner – for it’s best to stay up as long as you can to adjust to the new time zone – you can decide what to do after breakfast tomorrow. Okay, I’m sure you’ll be by that very nice pool again but don’t spend all day there.

Take a peek around the city. Try a long-tailed boat ride and explore the klongs – canals. When you’ve torn yourself away from your hotel and are rocking along the klong, you’ll begin to notice that this country is about as different as it can be from any in the western world. It’s colourful, it’s vibrant and, it’s very definitely quirky. It’s just about every other adjective that springs to mind, too.

You’ll see wooden houses built on stilts, rising above the klongs, ideal for children to dive into the busy waterways. When you look back, towards the mighty Chao Phraya River, you can still glimpse the high-rise apartments and hotels. And it’s only then, when your gaze returns to the klong, you realize that you’ve floated into a country which, despite all the luxury you have just become accustomed to, is still developing.

***

Edwin Tipple, Thailand, November 2557 (2014)

At the end of this book you will find a couple of chapters of my crime novel

Harrowing, set Britain in the 50s/60s. And how you can get it 50% off!

It might be something for you to read whilst chilling out in Thailand.

back to TOC

PART ONE

Getting about can be tricky, so here’s some observations on

WALKING, BUSES, TRAINS.

WALKING

Pavements/Sidewalks are for farangs,

We have a new pavement

Advice for crossing the road.

Pavements/sidewalks are for farangs**... skip to We have a new pavement

Keeping hospital visits to a minimum is a good idea, I think you’d agree. With medical insurance becoming prohibitive, you have to be very careful to reduce the risk of ending up in one. Just walking to the local 7-11 and back for a litre of milk can become an obstacle course in itself.

There are few good pavements in Thailand. What is the point of maintaining them? Pavements are for farangs – westerners to you and me – not Thais ... aren’t they?

Thais tend, no insist, on riding everywhere; even for the shortest of distances. The only time you will see Thais using a pavement is to park their mopeds across them or their heavy SUVs – not exactly what they were designed for – resulting in broken flags everywhere. And it doesn’t stop at that.

Signs, erected in a seemingly haphazard fashion, make your walk more like an assault course, though there’s relatively little climbing to be done. Thais are generally short in stature, so it makes sense to erect signs low, so that farangs have to duck under them. Add some overgrown bushes and a few trees leaning dangerously towards the road, the occasional power cable dangling in your path, a motorbike coming towards you and you’ll begin to see how nimble you must be. And if you do step into the road you may just be hit by a biker, going the wrong way of course. Groups of farang walkers can be seen looking more like school crocodiles. Walking side by side to hold a conversation is virtually impossible.

At Christmas and New Year, vast amounts are spent on decorations and fireworks. If a small percentage were to be spent on repairing pavements, walking would be a much more enjoyable experience and maybe