Far From Worries: A Year In The King's Town

By Todd Crowell

A couple of years ago, the author moved next door to the King of Thailand working as an editor of an online magazine published in Hua Hin, a seaside town. At the time, the king lived there permanently in his summer palace known in Thai as the Klang Kangnon palace, which delightfully translates as ‘Far from Worries’. The book is a chronicle of the author’s year there, but in a larger sense, it is a portrait of contemporary Thailand; part memoir, part history and part travel book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398467811

Todd Crowell

Todd Crowell spent more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent, first in Hong Kong and later in Hua Hin Thailand, the setting for this book. While living in Thailand he covered King Bhumibol’s 60th anniversary. He is the author of six books on Asia.

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About the Author

Todd Crowell spent more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent, first in Hong Kong and later in Hua Hin Thailand, the setting for this book. While living in Thailand he covered King Bhumibol’s 60th anniversary. He is the author of six books on Asia.

Copyright Information ©

Todd Crowell 2022

The right of Todd Crowell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of the author’s memory. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398467804 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398467811 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

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Chapter Synopses

The Royal Rain Makers

Our aircraft banked gently to the right and entered clouds. To my untutored eye, they didn’t look like promising rain-making material. They were broken and wispy and I could see patches of the ground below, including the sinuous path of a river. For a moment I wondered if the mission might be aborted. I was about to shout a question to Prinya over the roar of the engines when the crew behind me suddenly came alive. With practiced moves, they began to empty sack after sack of sodium chloride into a chute, from where the chemicals were released under the belly of the aircraft.

Long Live the King

It was impossible to ignore King Bhumibol in his hometown. The Bank of Ayuthaya at the entrance to the soi where I lived sported a huge, 30-foot portrait of the King on the front of the building. For a while, I used it as a sign post to my bungalow – the alley near the bank with the big picture of the King on it. Except that the Siam Commercial Bank next door had an identical portrait of the King on it, as did the Government Bank of Thailand a few yards away at the town’s main intersection. In August the King’s picture on the government bank was replaced with an equally towering portrait of Queen Sirikit, in honor of her birthday. She was depicted wearing a shimmering silk red gown with a golden sash across her breast.

My Jim Thompson House

I had not been living in Hua Hin long before I stumbled across my Jim Thompson House. I called it that because it was a teakwood bungalow constructed in the Thai style just like the famous complex in Bangkok. Of course, my house had only one room, while the Bangkok establishment has a dozen. But it was a genuine Thai House constructed with dull red teak and set in a small garden in the middle of Hua Hin. In the early mornings, I sat on my balcony feeling the breezes wafting in from the Gulf of Thailand and feeding the myna birds that flew in like clockwork every day to root around in the garden. I loved it.

A Day in Hua Hin

Aside from the establishments that cater to tourists, no storekeepers in Hua Hin seem to have cash registers. Hand the store owner or laundry proprietor a 500 baht note (about $12) and he or she looks at it for a while, inspecting it and wondering how to make change. Then he opens a drawer and pulls out a plain box or a purse and rummages through it, looking for notes or coins inside. Not finding enough to make a change, he smiles apologetically and disappears into the back of the store or runs to the store next door to borrow some change or break a larger note, while you wait patiently. Ten or fifteen minutes later he returns with a smile on his face and a fistful of smaller banknotes and hands you your purchase.

A Rainy Night in Bangkok

"We were awakened at five in the morning when one of my wife’s friends called from Japan, which is two hours ahead of Thailand. She had just read the news in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

There’s been a coup d’etat! she said.

Where? I asked stupidly.

Here, in Thailand.

We turned on the TV, but the Thai channels were showing nothing but file footage of the King. Finally, we found an Australian channel that informed us that the army had seized power and ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra."

The Star of Siamese History

The Legend of King Naresuan was playing on all four screens at the Siam Paragon shopping mall cineplex in Bangkok and I was lucky to find one with English subtitles. The Thais are quick to dub all Western imports into their own language but are not so generous with subtitles on Thai language films. Even with English subtitles, it was difficult to follow the characters or the storyline. Where was this place called Hanthawaddi (modern Burma) and who was King Bayinnauang (Burma’s most famous warrior king)? Who, for that matter, was King Naresuan?

Jazz on the Beach

"I found Panadeanang Tippagonut, the project director and asked her why the [Hua Hin Jazz] festival was so much smaller than last year’s festival (even as the crowds seemed to be getting bigger).

You know the situation in our country now, she said.

Situation? Was she talking about the recent coup? Do the generals have something against jazz?

She elaborated: We wanted a more modest effort in keeping with the King’s sufficiency economy.

Ah, the sufficiency economy. That was certainly the buzzword this year. It is a vague economic system promoted by the King and his supporters, calling for Thailand to be less dependent foreign investment, technology and industry. But a representative of Hitman, the Thai recording label that was responsible for booking the talent had a more succinct explanation: ‘budget constraints’."

Jatukam Fever

Ten monks took their seats on a long bench on one side of the City Pillar and began a steady, droning prayer chant that lasted for about 40 minutes. On the far side of the complex, several men were kneading clay that would soon be pressed into new Jatukam amulets. The chanting came to a close and a senior monk took his place in front of the press, having the privilege of striking off the first amulet. Then he stood up, cupping the newly minted medallion in the palm of his hand for all to see. People crowded around to gape and take pictures as if it were some kind of exotic and fabulously expensive rare jewel. Another Little Buddha was born.

A Goat on the Goat Track

My table companions were pretty disparaging of the Royal Hua Hin Golf Course.In Australia we would call it a goat track, said Paul. I was surprised to find myself offended by the remarks. I’ve come to think of the course as ‘my course’ and I take criticism of it kind of personal. I love this course. I love its old-world feeling [it’s Thailand’s oldest, laid out in the 1920s]. I love the beautiful old-growth trees that line the fairways, even if I do spend a lot of time hacking my way out from under them. I love to hear the bong-bong of the Buddhist temple bells in the foothills. I like to think that the monks are praying that I get off a good tee shot. I need all the help I can get.

A Taste of Hua Hin

I confess that after I first arrived, I was a little intimidated by Thai cuisine. I had been warned that some of the dishes were unbearably spicy. Their Thai names were difficult to pronounce and to keep in my head. But in time I began to learn a few things. For example, nam means water, or some kind of juice. Moo means pork, while khua stands for rice and kuay for noodles. String these words together and you come up with something like nam tok moo, or slices of spicy pork. Nam tok literally means ‘waterfall’, which is a way of describing how in cooking the pork is grilled and the juices that flow out of the meat; the ‘waterfall’ are saved to mix with the pork slices. Add chilies, some lemon juice and red onions. It became my favourite Thai dish and I ordered it frequently – at least when I could make my pronunciation understood by the waiter.

By the Sea

Then I caught a glimpse of it through a hole in the cave. The pathway through this breach in the wall is not smooth. I carefully worked my way over the rocks, falling and scraping my knee on one occasion with a young Thai helping me back to my feet. I finally scrambled clumsily down the rocks into the cavern itself. The cave is huge with an opening at the top that lets in a shaft of light illuminating the pavilion against a bright green backdrop of trees growing up toward the light. The pavilion itself sits on a mound in the middle of the cavern and seems almost tiny against the grandeur of the setting, like a beautiful gilded birdcage.

One Hour in Myanmar

Slowly the mainland of Myanmar emerged on the horizon through the mist and drizzle. In British times this was known as Victoria Point and it was the southern-most point in Burma, indeed the southern-most point in British India, Burma then being a province of the Indian Empire. Today the town is known as Kawthaung and the point has been renamed Cape Bayinnaung after a sixteenth century Burmese king with aggressive designs against Siam. At the southern point, there is said to be a large statue of the king brandishing a sword pointing in the general direction of Thailand.

Into the Heart of Thailand

"The courtyard was practically empty in the late afternoon as we walked among the ruins. The feeling of forlornness was accentuated by the eerie spectacle of the headless Buddhas. Along the walls of the inner courtyard on all four sides are 120 Buddha statues, one beside each other and every one of