Discover thrilling tales from Thailand to Wales – 60 novels by Owen Jones!
Discover thrilling tales from Thailand to Wales – 60 novels by Owen Jones!
This title refers to the first trilogy I ever wrote and sel-published and ‘Behind The Smile – The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya’ refers to the fact that Thailand is called ‘The Land of Smiles’.
‘Behind The Smile’ is a category used on our blog Megan Publishing Services https://meganpublishingservices.com to identify posts relating to the series Behind The Smile by Owen Jones
Embarrassment in Thailand Face is just about the biggest motivator in Thai society; face and money, which means status, and status confers Face, as does increasing years, a good job (money and status), any uniform, or being a teacher, which…
Illness Isn’t it peculiar how illness can spread, especially through a family? We were five boys at home as children, and if one picked anything up we all got it sooner or later. Not that I remember being sick more…
Pronunciation I have formally studied six languages to fluency, taught myself another and am now learning Thai and Thai is hard enough for me! I perfectly understand how difficult pronunciation must be for most other students of it. However, I…
Thai – A Succinct Language I have been living in Thailand for eleven years, and learning the Thai language organically from day one with the help of a ‘Teach Yourself’ book and a wife. However, I am still not there…
Mothers’ Day Today, August 12th, is Mothers’ Day in Thailand. It also happens to be the queen’s birthday. I don’t know whether they shifted Mothers’ Day onto her birthday or not, but I suspect so, since Fathers’ Day is on…
University Degrees in Thailand My stepdaughter came home from Bangkok University for a fortnight today; it’s lovely to see her again. This is her fourth and final year in Business Studies, so then it’s off into the business world of…
Today’s Thailand This is going to be a collection of random observations about today’s Thailand, because not enough has been happening in my life in the last twenty-four hours to fill even a short post such as this series, which…
Progress The concrete boys were back today and surprised me yet again. Instead of just laying storm-water drainage, they are resurfacing the road (lane) to a depth of five or six inches with reinforced concrete. Now that’s what I call…
Being a Foreign Man in Thailand. In general, Thai people are gentle and peaceable, but they do know that they are poor compared to the West and they are very quick to notice if someone is even only apparently…
Expats’ Desires Another forty-sixer today! It makes me so apathetic and dozy. At two o’clock this afternoon I put my head down for forty winks and woke up three hours later! That’s not like me, I haven’t needed an afternoon…
Ting Noi, Ting Noi, Ting Noi, Ting Noi Another day in the forties centigrade! That’s about a fortnight now and is unheard of. Thailand has the odd day at that temperature, but it averages ten degrees lower in its summer.…
Hundred Days Well, believe it or not, the Day of Merit (see yesterday’s post) has seemed to make people happier, despite the fact that one girl’s father has his ‘One Hundred Days’ today, although that is not necessarily a sad…
A Few Days Ago This early afternoon, my friend Dave came calling. I think that that is the earliest by three or four hours he’s ever come around. Anyway, the reason was that a mutual friend, Murray is leaving the…
Dead Centre II is Finished I have always thought that photos like this were posed, but this one honestly wasn’t. I was on the point of finishing, Dead Centre II, my latest novel at my usual watering hole, when…
Penny Wise, but Pound Foolish We bought a house in need of severe renovation or even demolition and rebuilding in Thailand eight or nine years ago. There was a small vacant plot to our right, which I thought would…
Marketing Books As you may be aware, I am working on a sequel to a novel I wrote about a year ago called ‘Dead Centre’ about a new type of terrorist organisation. This one is proving to be more difficult…
Khao Chae – Thailand’s Special Dish for Songkhran Songkhran is the old Thai New Year. It is a special time of the year for Thais. Nevertheless, it is often trivialised by Westerners, calling it such things as a ‘Water Festival’.…
Party Season in Thailand There is a definite period in the year that most people would recognize as the party season in Thailand. The casual observer may say that party season in Thailand is March and April and it is…