THE WEEK THAT WAS One Night in Bangkok makes a Brit guy crumble - even today Rooster is not "remotely in control!"

[rooster59]

 

There’s no changing the past. We have our memories but the here and now and the future are what matters most. Regrets are largely pointless; moving on and learning from our mistakes are key. 

 

Such sentiments loomed large in the last week as my family began the recovery, both physical and psychological, from the trauma of the incident at the condo pool.

 

I recalled with some trepidation a time when having a family seemed like opting for a prison sentence - giving up the enjoyable recklessness of youth for the boring responsibilities of true adulthood.

 

It was 1986 and I was being tossed up and down in a tuk-tuk outside Lumpini Park trying to read a letter (yes, those things we used to get) from my Filipina ex-girlfriend in Sydney. We’d split up months earlier at New Year; I’d told her I loved Thailand more than her, or words to that effect. How nice....

 

As I scanned the words, what really registered was an inclusion in the letter. 

 

An ultrasound picture of a baby in the womb….

 

It was resolved later after many machinations that Charity (who had a twin sister Faith...there was no Hope) would visit with the now seven month old boy in June, 1987. 

 

The date was set as I excitedly prepared for their late night Don Muang arrival. Final preparation was with two mates over several stiff beverages at the infamous Thermae Coffee shop, where entry was by the toilets.

 

When the time came for my moment with destiny we all took off to the airport to meet mother and child from down under.

 

In the meantime, unbeknownst to me, one of my Japanese housewives had called my apartment to cancel her upcoming English lesson. The call was taken by my flatmate’s Thai girlfriend, home alone, whose English was just as bad as the student’s. She determined that this was in fact a call from Australia and that my Filipina was not coming to Bangkok after all.

 

The reality was the complete opposite.

 

On arrival at Don Muang I was paged and told to call home where my flatmate informed me that the ex and baby son were indeed not coming.

 

“Oh Joy!” - the three of us piled back into a taxi and returned to the Thermae where by means of celebration Rooster teamed up with a “JBC” as we used to call the desperate ladies wanting to be taken care of for the night.

 

This Juke Box Casualty was known to me as “Mrs Peacock” as she had a husband in the UK. Like the rest of us she had been listening to Murray Head’s “One Night in Bangkok” that was still all the rage. Though it was about Chess it had become a Bangkok anthem.

 

(Bargirls used to imagine the lyric “you’ll find a god in every golden cloister” was in fact “golden Kloster”...)

 

Off we all trooped in a tuk-tuk back to our apartment in Soi 39 where “yaam” (the name we all gave to the “gateman”) was wide-eyed in disbelief. 

 

These idiotic Englishmen had behave badly before but now this….

 

“Tham arai wa” (what the hell are you up to now). “Mia maa laew, mia maa laew, yuu khang bon ay...” - Your wife has arrived! She’s upstairs you numpty!

 

Barely able to comprehend this turn of events I sprinted up the stairs and opened the front door. On seeing a pram laden with nappies I slammed it shut in panic and belted off downstairs to pay off a bemused Mrs Peacock.

 

Charity and the baby - now seven months old - were still awake in my bedroom having been let in by the maid. 

 

She had arrived and finding me absent had been taken under the wing of some concerned construction workers who had given her a lift in their truck to downtown Bangkok. 

 

I’m afraid that after a three week holiday from hell I decided at age 25 that I was not ready for fatherhood. Her dad came to pick her up. A few days later her mum - The Wicked Witch of the Western Suburbs - telephoned to say that she had hired a hitman and I would be dead presently. 

 

I sat in the back of bars and restaurants for a while, keeping a close eye on the door. 

 

It was three more years before I married a Thai woman and several later when I had two children who I took responsibility for and cherished.

 

While this “night in Bangkok” was a monumental one in my life I often pondered what might have been if I’d been less of a jerk. But ultimately what is the point of regrets or recriminations? I made my choice and lived by it and the Filipina’s parents ultimately raised their grandson.

 

My thanks to the many posters who empathized and showed their support after the near death experience of my eight year old - a child of a subsequent marriage - who was saved by my wife with CPR after her long hair was caught in a swimming pool suction pipe at my condo on November 4th.

 

The news is great - she is making a full recovery after four nights in ICU. At the time of writing she is being looked after in a communal ward at the National Children’s Hospital by Mrs Rooster while I take care of our other daughter at home. 

 

We were lucky on so many levels. The condo management said they would pay our bills. These won’t be much - the private hospital - 30,000 baht a night for ICU - said the government would pay almost everything as it was an emergency. 

 

At the government hospital - where she was transferred due to the presence of a specialist in children’s lungs - she was covered by Bat Thong - universal health coverage. 

 

I took the precaution of filing a report of the incident with the Phahonyothin police who heard me out and did a professional job. I don’t intend to sue anybody.

 

I was shocked to see that there was a volunteer lawyer at a desk in a corner of the station. He said that my actions were all good so far.

 

The sign said that he was pro bono; I smiled thinking I didn’t care much for U2 myself.

 

Fortunately, we have all kept our sense of humor and the smiles of my once stricken daughter have replaced the tubes that kept her alive.

 

I took most of the week off work as a translator for ASEAN NOW though the following stories mostly from the last seven days and some before caught my beady eye:

 

PM Prayut enjoyed his moments hobnobbing with Boris and co at the Glasgow climate change conference COP26. 

 

He thought it was about policing until 2526 but I’m sure his advisors put him right and explained that not all emissions come from his mouth and the illegal burning of sugar cane fields.

 

He returned to Bangkok to hear that governor Aswin - another general - had predicted more PM 2.5 this year. 

 

Ah, another two and a half years at the helm, mused Prayut contentedly.

 

He was obliged to bark some orders before going to the mess (where officers eat, not the November 1st reopening of Thailand). These were to fix the “Thailand Pass” debacle, the latest IT project that wasn’t tested properly and resulted in predictable glitches. 

 

A tourism expert said that it’d be 2022 before leisure travellers returned to the kingdom, clearly articulating that most of those so far are returnees, as everyone knew.

 

Richard Barrow featured stories about several arrivals left in the lurch after testing positive for Covid on arrival in Thailand or being close to those with the lurgy.

 

Well, they took their chance and frankly there were only a few handfuls of such unfortunate cases probably covered by the mandatory insurance.

 

Meanwhile the TAT’s Yuthasak banged his drum about wanting “high value travellers”, 80% or airlines returned their high season airport slots and it was announced that Thailand was 18th in the world after vaxxing 80 million souls.

 

Apropos the Oxford English Dictionary announced their word of the year: It had to be VAX! They also mentioned “anti-vaxxer” and “double-vaxxed” as candidates and noted that the use of the word pandemic had rocketed 57,000%.

 

Rooster played his first Bangkok Scrabble tourney in a year the other week. We had a new dictionary to use after the wokes at Mattel demanded that 400 slurs were now to be deleted. These include ABO, HONKY and LEZ.

 

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss arrived burbling about business and went to visit the Triumph Motorcycle factory. Hopefully the workers there cleaned up the oil spills from the leaking engines…..

 

Loy Krathong will be celebrated nationwide next Friday, November 19th. It will be interesting to see the crowds; my own trips to shops and Chatuchak weekend market post November 1st D-Day meant seeing large numbers of people out for the first time in a year and a half. 

 

There is a firework, lantern and Chinese cracker ban for Loy Krathong in Krung Thep. This always reminds me of my first LK at Chula in the 80’s when I was struck in the stomach by a rocket. And back to my primary school in London in the 60’s when all children took in a Roman Candle or Catherine Wheel in their satchels for the PTA display on November 5th. 

 

Times changed in the west and they still need to in Thailand and elsewhere when it comes to the peril posed by fireworks. 

 

In lighter news a village headman in Don Mod Daeng, Ubon, called the police after seeing a naked man loitering up against a wall. After Plod discovered it was a mannequin the village chief said he might need new glasses.

 

The same could be said for Rooster. 

 

After secretly congratulating myself for manfully acting as the head of the family in a crisis, being in charge and responsible in the wake of my daughter’s near tragedy, myself and my five year old wondered where on earth the TV remote had disappeared to. 

 

The backs of chairs and sofas were checked, under table areas were examined, upstairs at the duplex, in bathrooms, cupboards opened. Everywhere. No luck.

 

Baffled and panicked that I might not be able to switch from one EPL match to another, the riddle was finally solved in the kitchen area.

 

The True remote was found covered by paper and slathered in discarded food in the deep recesses of the rubbish bin.

 

Yes, I’m completely in control.

 

Rooster

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-11-14

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

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[Gandtee]

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

[smedly]

good to hear your daughter is doing well - what a story 

[fangless]

30 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

I was being tossed up and down in a tuk-tuk outside Lumpini Park

I really was expecting some very saucy aftermath to the above statement but it turns out to have been about letter reading!

Oh well note to self; "put dirty mind back where it belongs"!

 

PS; Seriously. Thanks again for another interesting read and glad your daughter is continuing with her recovery.

Edited November 14, 2021 by fangless
PS; added

[ezzra]

I gave the OP a like just because of tenacity and vigor writing such long post, what's in it i'm not so sure, still groggy from last night...

[Tropicalevo]

Wishing your daughter a full recovery.

Sounds like she is doing well.

[Henk Langeweg]

I really like your thumb ....

[Epidemiologist Dave]

3 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

Quote

Triumph would not be the sole engine supplier to MotoGP2 if they leaked oil. I was once told by a mechanic in 1949 that if a Triumph engine didn't leak it meant that there was no oil in it!

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Epidemiologist Dave
Symbols deleted

[crouchpeter]

3 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

60 years ago they leaked oil, you slanderous moped rider! How dare you!

[Stargeezr]

With the COVID spikes happening in other places in the world, maybe the PCR test on arrival and a short stay in

Bangkok is not the worst thing that could happen to an inbound traveler.                                                                                                                                                             Glad that your daughter is  recovering okay, lucky girl.  

  The PM got his picture with Boris and others, so he should be happy for a few days.

  Anutin will have his 4th shot soon, so he can travel abroad, so all is well with Thailand.

   Geezer

[nonthaburigeorge]

Your comment on Triumph reminded me of the old joke that the reason England never developed a computer industry was because they couldn’t figure out how to make them leak oil

[Jon1050]

4 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

No they don’t , I’ve had several and not a drop, as for Meriden triumphs go that’s a different story.

[Noah K]

Sorry to hear about your daughter, but very glad she's okay. And you found the remote in a remote location, so yeah, you are totally in control!

[robin hood]

5 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

Not any more they don’t 

[paahlman]

Good to hear good news about your daughter.. Incredible stories also from wayback.. 

[Gandtee]

5 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

My son on my Triumph Thunderbird 1956 I can't recall any leaks. It didn't stop him from riding Triumphs, nor his son. ????

[sawadee1947]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

raised their grandson.

Well, it's easy to father a girl and let the child be upbrought without the father.

I doubt you supported the mother by sending a good lot of money every month.

However, again, it's too easy to send money only.

Not the best character!

Nothing to tell publicly.

Shame on you.????

[kennw]

5 hours ago, paahlman said:

Good to hear good news about your daughter.. Incredible stories also from wayback.. 

Also glad to hear that your daughter is OK. Just a correction though about those unfortunate enough to have been sitting close to someone that tested positive after arriving. My under standing is that insurance will NOT cover their costs because they are not sick. The insurance is health insurance, unless they have separate travel insurance that has a clause that covers them.   

[Jonathan Swift]

10 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I take umbrage at the slur on Triumphs. My Thunderbird leaked oil in 1956, but I doubt Triumphs do now. Do they?????

Those Thunderbird Y block engines were a scourge, among the very worst designs. I have a Corvette 350 cu engine with Turbo 700R4 Tranny in my '57 T-Bird, courtesy of a very smart previous owner. 

[ancharee]

nice one

[OneMoreFarang]

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

at the infamous Thermae Coffee shop, where entry was by the toilets

It seems guys in Thailand can be divided in two groups. The once which experienced that place (in the original location) and those who don't know it.

I remember at that time I looked it up in the newsgroups on the internet - there was not much of a WWW.

Users agreed that Thermae couldn't be compared to any other place. If you want to compare it at all then the nearest similar place was that bar in StarWars I ...

 

[DJ54]

Glad to hear your daughter is ok....

[Maybole]

I never owned a Triumph, they had a hinge in the middle, I had a Norton, a Velocette and several BSAs. All leaked oil. It was standard practice for a dealer to keep a tray underneath each bike to catch the leak. Only when I bought a Yamaha did I get a clean floor.

[starky]

Well I've never liked Roosters musings at all so I'm not really surprised to find out he's a right karnt as well.

[JetsetBkk]

16 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It seems guys in Thailand can be divided in two groups. The once which experienced that place (in the original location) and those who don't know it.

Weird. I remember the name. I know I went there. But all memories of it have completely gone from my brain. Old age, I guess.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

19 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Weird. I remember the name. I know I went there. But all memories of it have completely gone from my brain. Old age, I guess.

Maybe the first question should be: How much of it did you remember the next day:

And then: How much of that would you rather forget? ???? 

[JetsetBkk]

24 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe the first question should be: How much of it did you remember the next day:

And then: How much of that would you rather forget? ???? 

Do you remember the small (about A5 size) glossy colour booklet about Bangkok nightlife? I think it was called "After Dark" but I can't find any images of it.

 

Some hotels and bars would have free copies lying around. As well as night life places, it would have adverts for tailor shops, shopping malls, etc. I think that's where I saw the advert for "Der Herr" tailors - 3 silk suits and 8 silk shirts for a ridiculously low price. I still have the shirts in Phuket, but way too "classy" to wear here! 

 

And that's probably where I saw the advert for Thermae. Can't be sure - about 20 years ago!

 

[OneMoreFarang]

12 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Do you remember the small (about A5 size) glossy colour booklet about Bangkok nightlife? I think it was called "After Dark" but I can't find any images of it.

 

Some hotels and bars would have free copies lying around. As well as night life places, it would have adverts for tailor shops, shopping malls, etc. I think that's where I saw the advert for "Der Herr" tailors - 3 silk suits and 8 silk shirts for a ridiculously low price. I still have the shirts in Phuket, but way too "classy" to wear here! 

 

And that's probably where I saw the advert for Thermae. Can't be sure - about 20 years ago!

I know those "maps" existed. But I never paid any attention to them.

I don't remember when the old Thermae was closed and the "new" one opened. I think it was before year 2000. The "new" one is obviously filthy enough but no comparison to the old one. The entrance to the old one was through the kitchen and the toilets - I forgot in which order.

I can't pretend that it was my favorite place because it was always totally f$#% up - I think by design. But it is something that is difficult to forget.