(written on 21/08/09, posted on 06/10/09)
Today has been a bit of a nothing day. A few temples, chat to a Buddhist monk for a while about the Karen hill tribes north of Chiang Mai and the work that VSO is doing with Burmese refugees at the border. I try and get a massage at the Disabled Centre but no-one is there. I order a juice and some spring rolls at a bar opposite. A chain-smoking 60-something man from Birmingham shouts through the order to his baby-carrying Thai wife. The spring rolls arrive cold in the middle and I make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there. Is this the other side of Thailand I’m seeing?
I spend a few hours on the internet backing up pictures and emailing until it’s time to meet M. M is on his VSO language training today as part of his two month long in country orientation.
I get heckled on the way back by four ex-pats calling me into their bar for a beer. As I’m early and it’s 4pm on a Friday I go in. ‘Why not?!’ as they say here. Text M to tell him where I am. The bar is empty and they are rattling. We chat and I joke is this Chiang Mai on a Friday: lots of beers with the men, sitting around arguing which is what they mostly do. The depressing answer is everyday is like this in Chiang Mai. For you maybe I think. After I’ve been bought a couple of beers I escape as this lunatic with a fascination for taking photos of his penis turns up. He has on Thai silk pyjamas unbuttoned, a headband, receding curly hair and John Lennon glasses. In summary, he looks like he dropped out at Woodstock and never regained a sense of reality. All of them have been in Thailand for about eight years and some have children.
I meet M back at the hostel and we discuss the whole thing over beers. Yesterday with L we went to the night market on the way for food and went down a whole street of bars with young Thai girls and seedy looking older men. I’m not that naïve but I really don’t get it that this still happens. Even more intriguing is the fact one man was accused earlier as being a bit of a crim by one of his cronies when they were arguing. He admitted he couldn’t return to the UK to see his daughters. M tells me in 2006 when the tsunami struck, a lot of people used it to ‘disappear’. We nod at each other with knowing looks and finish another beer.
Today has been a bit of a nothing day. A few temples, chat to a Buddhist monk for a while about the Karen hill tribes north of Chiang Mai and the work that VSO is doing with Burmese refugees at the border. I try and get a massage at the Disabled Centre but no-one is there. I order a juice and some spring rolls at a bar opposite. A chain-smoking 60-something man from Birmingham shouts through the order to his baby-carrying Thai wife. The spring rolls arrive cold in the middle and I make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there. Is this the other side of Thailand I’m seeing?
I spend a few hours on the internet backing up pictures and emailing until it’s time to meet M. M is on his VSO language training today as part of his two month long in country orientation.
I get heckled on the way back by four ex-pats calling me into their bar for a beer. As I’m early and it’s 4pm on a Friday I go in. ‘Why not?!’ as they say here. Text M to tell him where I am. The bar is empty and they are rattling. We chat and I joke is this Chiang Mai on a Friday: lots of beers with the men, sitting around arguing which is what they mostly do. The depressing answer is everyday is like this in Chiang Mai. For you maybe I think. After I’ve been bought a couple of beers I escape as this lunatic with a fascination for taking photos of his penis turns up. He has on Thai silk pyjamas unbuttoned, a headband, receding curly hair and John Lennon glasses. In summary, he looks like he dropped out at Woodstock and never regained a sense of reality. All of them have been in Thailand for about eight years and some have children.
I meet M back at the hostel and we discuss the whole thing over beers. Yesterday with L we went to the night market on the way for food and went down a whole street of bars with young Thai girls and seedy looking older men. I’m not that naïve but I really don’t get it that this still happens. Even more intriguing is the fact one man was accused earlier as being a bit of a crim by one of his cronies when they were arguing. He admitted he couldn’t return to the UK to see his daughters. M tells me in 2006 when the tsunami struck, a lot of people used it to ‘disappear’. We nod at each other with knowing looks and finish another beer.
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