The week that was in Thailand news: Focus on the important things – whatever they are to you!

 

 

When I first came to live in Thailand in the mid-1980s I had one overriding goal that I was going to stick to no matter what.

 

To learn the Thai language. Not just speaking but reading and writing. Not just “getting by” but being an expert was my target.

 

Two years earlier as a newbie I had been inspired by an American man called Jim that I met while travelling in the area of Tak in Thailand’s north-west. Jim, who worked for the Peace Corps on malaria eradication programs, could speak Thai.

 

He seemed to be having a whale of a time and had so many friends and had had so many experiences that I wanted a piece of that action. So I went to Australia to work day and night saving money that I used to enroll at AUA in a Thai course on my return.

 

I went to school in the morning and taught English in the afternoon to supplement my savings.

 

By night I practiced what I had learnt in class and at weekends I surrounded myself with Thais of many social strata who were so kind to help me in my ambitions.

 

Unlike my pitiful and directionless efforts in French and German at school Thai came easily  – but then it was hardly surprising. Virtually every minute of every hour of every day was geared towards achieving my goal. It was easy because I loved every moment of it and could see it heading somewhere.

 

I used a Linguaphone course to teach myself to read and write and help with the speaking too. I kept doing it over and over again until I knew the 40 lessons back to front and sideways.

 

The fruits of my labors were swift making life in Thailand so much more fun in so many ways. When I met all those farangs who say “I’ll get round to it someday” I smiled and said “Of course you will…”

 

It was, however, nearly ten years before I made much money from my Thai ability. I got a job teaching the language and culture at an international school then four years later earned a small fortune as Head Of the Thai Department at another one just opened.

 

Now I am a Thai to English translator for Thaivisa and a language advisor to one or two other firms.

 

Thailand has been good to me and I have always been positive about the country. I don’t wear rose tinted specs but I tend to focus on the good things and try to keep the negative to a minimum.

 

When I see some of the comments on a forum like Thaivisa I feel that the negative attitudes and constant Thai bashing have brought a kind of miserable karma reigning down on certain people. I pity them because doing well in Thailand is really not so hard.

 

You don’t even need top Thai language skills though it helps. That was just MY thing.

 

All you need is a positive attitude, a willingness to accept the Thais for who they are and do you best for yourself, your family and the wellbeing of the country and its people.

 

Some things will work out and some things won’t. That’s life and none of it is the fault of Thailand or anywhere else for that matter. It is all down to you.

 

This is one of the reasons why when I see successful people in Thailand I am never envious – merely curious as to what they did to make the best of THEIR lives. I have friends who are multi-millionaires (that’s in pounds I might add) who started one of Thailand’s foremost recruitment firms from scratch.

 

I know foreigners who invested in things that forum curmudgeons warn newbies never to touch – like property. They are rich too…much more than me!

 

Others made similar wedges from jobs as simple as teaching English. All it took was hard work and that magic word…focus.

 

In recent weeks it has been a pleasure to chat privately with people behind the news who are making a go of things in Thailand. Like a British guy who was jailed in the 1980s because he had overstayed with no passport who is now a Thai citizen.

 

Like a US man in Phrae who wants to get Thai nationality because he loves his adoptive homeland to its core. Even like a YouTuber from Middlesbrough, who also speaks Thai well like the others, who hasn’t been here long but clearly understands the modern Thai landscape as well as many who have been here decades.

 

The last of these is “Danny Mac” who this week got embroiled in a tricky situation as an extortionist sent him an email demanding 200,000 baht. It looked like it came from a French man prompting the usual round of Gauloise bashing on the forum.

 

Rooster, however, would far rather believe that Russians are behind this one. The email address belonged to Thierry Perenon who was at the center of other shenanigans regarding the editor of Khaosod but maybe unscrupulous Ruskies, after everyone from Presidents down, were opportunistically onto this one.

 

Go online at your peril!

 

The week began with the usual humor associated with taxis and politicians while those other sharks in Hua Hin became yesterday’s news.

 

It was announced first that taxi drivers were going to get a “Crash Course” in English. It was hard to work out if this would improve the carnage or solve language problems.

 

Then the junta told an astonished public that they were banning populist policies according to some article on “fiscal discipline”(One suspects that is really article that attempts to control the color of one’s shirt).

 

Deputy PM and chief of fugliness Prawit also sent the titter-o-meter off the scale with his suggestion that Drumph and Kim should have a cozy gathering in Krung Thep over tea and crumpets.

 

Years ago that crumpet would have meant a state sponsored visit to an Ap Op Nuat (soapy massage parlor) but these days political correctness has begun to worm its way into Thai society, albeit at a snail’s pace.

 

Apropos, the cops who had earlier raided a “sex orgy” in Pattaya came under forum scrutiny as Australian and British media laid into Thailand with their usual file stories about sin city and sleaze central.

 

Rooster – rather than reporting such drivel – went on a Pattaya charm offensive to defend the resort where, if the truth be known, I often take Mrs Rooster and the nippers for pleasant family holidays.

 

In comments I was challenged by “sawadee1947” to be “brave” and admit that I live in Pattaya. You, sir, are welcome to visit me in my little corner of paradise – if you can find the Elephant Building in Ratchayothin, northern Bangkok.

 

Others suggested I should reveal my identity after attacking the foreign media in defense of the indefensible.

 

No thanks…I’ll stick to boring old Rooster if you don’t mind not least of all after reading the trials and tribs of activist Andy Hall.

 

The writer who named and shamed a pineapple producer is now wanted on an arrest warrant that should read “Wanted in Thailand for spreading the truth”.

 

Andy won’t be returning any time soon as he – and most sane others - would not consider that he has a name to clear. The story had all the Thaivisa trolls banging on about due process – methinks that the moderators were busy and I might even suggest they should be busier when the forum gets inundated with such patent nonsense.

 

Inundation was also the watchword in much of central Thailand as the rains came to give some much needed relief from the high summer temperatures and bring the roads of Bangkok and Pattaya to a standstill.

 

The drains are obviously a bit out of practice since the rainy season was so long ago.

 

Isn’t it amazing how much difference just a few degrees makes? The thermometer in the Rooster household invariably hovers around 32 degrees C but when it drops to 28 it feels cool enough to don an “I love Thailand” shirt.

 

Heaven forbid when the low twenties are reached and Mrs Rooster reaches for the drawer that contains her seldom worn bobble hat….

 

Top foreigner behaving badly of the week had to be the whitey in Pattaya who mistook a bar for a toilet – easily done according to the resort’s detractors. Thaivisa called for the sleuths to name and shame the miscreant but at least it encouraged some good old fashioned Blighty humor in the shape of “Thaiwrath” who said that the perp was: “Increasing the number of stools in the venue”.

 

Public Enemy Number One in the Thai community this week was yet another driver failing to get out of the way of an ambulance on its way to pick up a drowning victim who died. An advocate of changes in the law suggested that the penalty for blocking an ambulance should be more like 20,000 baht than the current purple note.

 

Indeed, there are many inappropriate fines on the books that seem to have been promulgated when Thais sped around in oxcarts and the internet was but a twinkle in some British scientist’s eye.

 

But while a huge number of laws and fines need updating, the overwhelming problem that exists remains twofold – a lawless population who places personal freedom above the public good and the almost complete inactivity of great swathes of both city and up-country plod.

 

Charges of police laziness and inefficiency could hardly be levelled at the new pin-up boy of the constabulary in the trim shape of Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal – the wonderfully named Big Joke of Thai media fame.

 

Surachet – the deputy commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau who enjoys a much larger remit – has taken up the role vacated by Sanit Mahathavorn of the met police who retired last year to concentrate on working for Thai Bev.

 

Big Joke – with his attractive female translator and sidekick at his side – is clearly the flavor of the year rather than just the month and I am sure that the top brass love the fact that his antics are at least making it appear that the constabulary have put the pro in proactive.

 

Anyway, I hope the major general appreciates my translations that always present him in a positive light despite the double entendre of the Big Joke moniker; “Joke” actually refers to the rice gruel that Thais enjoy so much for breakfast rather than suggesting there is any cause for laughs at the law’s expense.

 

Much of BJ’s work has concerned tidying up the foreign riff-raff in Thailand. A visit to the alleys around the tailors of upper Sukhumvit confirm there are now more Arabs than Africans.

 

Astute forum watchers will have noticed recently the increasing presence of the word “mummy” (that’s mommy for those who struggle with British English across the Pond). The word appears in many stories concerning Thai men who find it difficult to live off their wives.

 

This week we saw the word in use as the police interviewed the S.O.B. who assaulted his wife “live” on Facebook for hiding his fags.

 

“Mummy” took him in to face the music and seemed to miss the irony of her statement that her son was not a kept man…..she herself gave him the 18,000 baht monthly that he needed to enjoy beer and inactivity rather than work.

 

Rooster believes the term mummy is wonderfully evocative of spoilt men only surpassed by “mumsy” that will doubtless appear if things get any worse for Thai men!

 

For me, Thai men are no worse and no better than men of any nationality. My experience is that most are thoroughly decent with no more bad apples than you would expect in any society.

 

My theory why so many foreigners in Thailand seem to dislike Thai men is that they are influenced by the bargirls they invariably meet who by the nature of their presence in bars are likely to have had a bad experience resulting in distrust of Thai men.

 

Since mixing less in bars and more in mainstream Thai society my own prejudices have abated and I can thankfully count many Thai men as among those who have both inspired and encouraged me every bit as much as the nation’s womenfolk.

 

And so to a few Rooster awards. The “Bareheaded Barefacedness” award goes to TV anchorman Sorayuth who ordained as a monk in the north after being convicted of embezzling 136 million baht of advertising money.

 

How convicted sexual predator and America’s former number one family man Bill Cosby must wish that he could simply put on some saffron robes and escape from the Madding Crowd!

 

“Best Innuendos” of the week I award to myself for the story about men clamoring to buy “Viagra that grows on trees” – in reality a hard fruit in the north of Thailand.

 

Bless! Some posters thought that references to the “erection” of a “protective” fence and the “gooey secretion” of the Pha Daam tree were an accident rather than the childish work of a British translator who has never grown up and thinks that a fart is still the funniest thing on Earth.

 

More tea, vicar?

 

Rooster.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-04-28

Great article.

Nice to read about someone who has made the effort, respects the people and doesnt bleat on because things arent exactly as they believe they should be. Truth be known things were never the way they want them where they came from and never will be wherever they live.

 

As always a great read bringing a smile to my face !
This week Rooster strayed into some serious straightforward writing and I sense that Roosters patience level is at near boiling point with the negativity and generally uncivilised ( and uncouth )comments that come forth on some of TVF topics.
Sad to say that some posters seem to want to argue about any topic under the sun and seem to take pleasure from disrupting the threads any which way they can !!
Rooster is a shining example of someone who “ knuckled down “ to learn the language and understand the mentality of the people around him. !

After all if we cannot help ourselves we cannot expect others to help us !!

Life is what you make it !

When I see some of the comments on a forum like Thaivisa I feel that the negative attitudes and constant Thai bashing have brought a kind of miserable karma reigning down on certain people. I pity them because doing well in Thailand is really not so hard.

 

Bravo ,,,Bravo,,,

I am so glad to read your post about negative attitudes bashing people .

If outsiders would know what a difference it makes when you can speak pasa Thai, 

The daily bashing is so negative and boring ,,,,  

I speak Thai fluently and it sure makes a big difference in communication and specially with your neighbours, friends  and  public services.

The lack of respect for other people beliefs is not a proof of intelligence and certainly not of education 

Always enjoy the Sunday Sermon, Rooster.

 

Today, with the first part about Thai bashing, you have excelled.

 

A good read as usual.  I congratulate you on your ability to speak, read and write Thai to expert level and your perseverance to achieve that goal.  I can fully understand the usefulness of this ability in day to day life, regardless of the opportunities that it has also allowed you to make some money out of it as well. 

 

Sadly, if truth be told, I seem to be one of those farangs who say “I’ll get round to it someday” and I smiled when I read your comment, "I smiled and said “Of course you will…”  ". Because, of course, I probably won't, but it certainly gives me food for thought.

 

Thank you for the reminder of my long held resolve, that if I ever lived in a country where English was not the first language, then I would learn whatever it was.  I need as many reminders as possible.  So, until next week.............

Edited April 29, 20188 yr by mikosan

You seem to imply that a British scientist started the internet when everything body knows it was Al Gore.  Shame on you.

and a fart is still the funniest thing

I found myself looking forward to your column and you didn't disappoint.

I'm astounded...the first non whingeing Pom in Thailand!!!

 

Hats off Rooster!