Village Life This is becoming monotonous, sorry. It’s been a week now… up and down more often than knickers in a city’s public toilets. I’m sick to death of the crappy Internet ‘Service’ in this village. I don’t want to take part in village life here any longer. I mean that, nobody complains about anything, […]
Clouded Monitor This is an update on the Clouded Monitor I told you about yesterday that has been living in our garden for the last two days. I asked Neem if she had seen him today and she said that she hadn’t. Neither had I, but a friend reported having seen him twice, just wandering
August Site Stats As usual at about this time of the month, I will give a brief analysis of the visitors to this site for the benefit of anyone who’s remotely interested. Hopefully, that will include current and prospective advertisers and other bloggers who are wondering how they are doing in the scheme of things.
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 is the noblest profession after the monkhood. Face is difficult to explain because it is
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 hear it every day, which should make it easier – trying to learn Thai and
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 the king’s birthday in December. It is also the day that I went home after
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 Thailand. I say Thailand and not the whole world as many of them would like,
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 you will find listed under the category ‘Diary’ on this blog, should you wish to
Snakes in Thailand I look out for snakes… but then I suppose most people do except the British and the Irish, because we don’t have many at home. After all, no-one wants to step on one in the grass or get bitten by one in the woodpile, but I don’t mean it like that, I
Holidays in Thailand – How Much? Thailand is, and has been for at least a decade, right at the top of both the world’s holiday resorts and travellers’ wish-list destinations. The same goes for retirees and expats. The question people ask me most often, as someone who lives in Thailand is, how much are holidays
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 putting them down. They do have their pride, after all, and rightly so. Sometimes, a
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. The monsoon has also begun to show itself in fits and starts, which will lower
Easter Monday Today is Easier Monday, not in Buddhist Thailand, but there is still something going on and there seems to be every year at Easter. I suspect that it is because Easter is a moveable feast which has something to do with the full moon, and Buddhists celebrate every full moon. However, I can’t
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 to write, but then a lot of the terminology and technology employed in the story
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’. Describing Songkhran as a water festival is like calling Christmas a festival of wrapping paper.
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 true that there are a lot of events that a Protestant Christian would probably see as
Pattaya Beach By John Elray A Common Tale of Woe Told in an Uncommon Way Review by Owen Jones When I was given this book by it’s author because he had heard that I lived in Pattaya, it was two years ago, but little did he know that I was writing my own first novel
I don’t keep a diary as such, but I do like to record special days. June 23rd, 2014 is one such day for several reasons. Please read on…
