Did Anyone Know Trink?

[geisha]

On 3/28/2024 at 12:37 PM, ballpoint said:

A selection of hotels in 1967, and their prices.  $18 for a double at the Oriental. Might spend a year there.  And the Nana is described as being "just out of town".

 

Also stayed at the Rajah , if I remember correctly it had a large forecourt with Taylor shops and a popular travel agency . Was the Dynesty opposite ? 

[geisha]

On 3/30/2024 at 4:14 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Just for interest, here's Eckardt and Piperell at a book sale event ( my photo )

I’ve got most of their books still.

[HugoFastor]

5 minutes ago, geisha said:

Also stayed at the Rajah , if I remember correctly it had a large forecourt with Taylor shops and a popular travel agency . Was the Dynesty opposite ? 

The Dynasty Inn is still there. About 40-50 meters past Nana Plaza on the same side of the Soi. Has a small and sparse open air bar area in front of the entrance. You can find it on Google Maps. Charlies Kitchen is still there too. Almost right next door. 
 

 

[HugoFastor]

14 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It's vaguely possible I have a copy somewhere, but I never read it. I went through a period of buying interesting books to read after I retire, but I never considered that modern technology would occupy all the time I used to have to read. Now they are all in storage and likely will be sent to an op shop after i pass over, still unread. I don't remember buying it, but that would apply to most of the books in storage.

 

I'd offer to send it to you if I do have it ( after reading it of course ) but I would need to find it first and that would be a problem, so, no promises.

Thanks. I picked up a copy already. I've read the first 35 pages so far. Easy reading, even with my 3rd grade level vocabulary. So far it's only been about Trink's formative years, but the going back in time to the early twentieth century is the fun part. 
 

The book was released in June 2000. It says this about the author:

 

Quote

Jennifer Bliss was an Australian journalist who worked in Vietnam and Thailand as well as at the Sydney Morning Herald. She was a sub-editor at the Bangkok Post for three years where she met Bernard Trink. Her interest in the sex industry was first sparked by a stint as a receptionist in a Sydney brothel.

 

Following are the first 3 paragraphs of the book's preface (some of which also appeared in the Time article I linked earlier):

 

Quote

"I am well aware that my readers are a diverse lot and though my column focuses on the nitery entertainment areas, I know that the vast majority of you wouldn't be caught dead in one. Nevertheless, a good many are curious about them and the detailed information I provide enables you to understand and experience them vicariously." - Bernard Trink

 

If Trink's attitude towards prostitution could be summed up, it would be this: it's there, it always has been there, and ignoring it won't make it go away. In his weekly Nite Owl column, first published in the Bangkok World in 1966, then in the Bangkok Post since 1987, he aimed to inform readers about what prostitutes are really like and to debunk the stereotype of prostitutes as victims.

 

His column was also a window into the world of Bangkok's red-light districts for those who did not frequent them, and a newsletter from the consumers' point of view for those who did. But there has always been more to the column than a "what's on" of the bars and massage parlours. It's a very personal column, imbued with Trink's personality and opinions. And it's very Bangkok: each one a snapshot of what was going on in the city that week, whether it was a flood, a military coup, an economic crisis, or a shortage of Dinty Moore's beef stew.

 

Copyright Jennifer Bliss  

[josephbloggs]

8 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

It has the Emporium logo on the tablecloth in your photo. There was an Asia Books there by the back escalator. Don't know if it is still there as I haven't been to Emporium in years, but I suspect it's gone. In the nineties I used to mainly buy books at either the Asia Books branch in The Landmark Hotel or the one on Sukhumvit Road close to Robinsons between Soi 15 and Soi 17. Both those branches are gone now too I think. 

Asia books is long gone. They used to have a big store which is the one you refer to, now they have a tiny one but nothing of interest (and even that may be gone now, been a few weeks since I was in Emporium).

[HugoFastor]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Asia books is long gone. They used to have a big store which is the one you refer to, now they have a tiny one but nothing of interest (and even that may be gone now, been a few weeks since I was in Emporium).

I think there may only be two branches of Asia Books remaining now between Suk Soi 1 and Suk Soi 24. One is in that Nana Square shopping plaza on the corner of Suk Soi 3 and the other is in the new Emsphere Mall where Washington Square used to be between Soi 22 and Soi 24. There might be one in the Queen SiriKit National Convention Center too. 
 

To be honest, it's been quite a long time since I've bought a new book from a bookstore in Thailand. Everything I've read in recent years has been digitally and usually in ePub format. It's kind of shame because going to a bookstore and discovering some new books used to be exciting, but it's just another way in which the world has changed. 

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, geisha said:

I’ve got most of their books still.

I was happy to see them there. One of them ( I think Eckardt )wrote about a paradise time on Songkhla beach but when I visited it there was no evidence of the beach bars he wrote of, so I was able to ask from the writer if they had been real. They had been, but by the time I visited had been "redeveloped" into a resort. Such is the fragility of a beach- one day it's paradise and the next the greedies paved it and put up a parking lot for a new resort.

 

I also have most of their books, and one of these days I hope to read them.

I'd have to give up AN to have the time though, so ................................

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

Everything I've read in recent years has been digitally and usually in ePub format. It's kind of shame because going to a bookstore and discovering some new books used to be exciting, but it's just another way in which the world has changed. 

The laughs going to be on you then. After the EMP in WW3 you won't be able to read anything, while I'll be able to read heaps of books in NZ while waiting for the radiation to kill off the last remnants of humanity ( I hope that's satire and not the future, but who knows what will happen with the current maniacs in charge? ).

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

I think there may only be two branches of Asia Books remaining now between Suk Soi 1 and Suk Soi 24. One is in that Nana Square shopping plaza on the corner of Suk Soi 3 and the other is in the new Emsphere Mall where Washington Square used to be between Soi 22 and Soi 24. There might be one in the Queen SiriKit National Convention Center too. 

I'm sorry to hear that. I spent a few happy hours browsing in the Asia Books store in the big hotel near Soi 4.

 

Is it because people don't read books in LOS anymore, or they just relocated? In NZ, even the small rural town I live in has a thriving bookstore.

[thaibeachlovers]

9 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

and the other is in the new Emsphere Mall where Washington Square used to be

Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do.

 

NEVER! The vandals that destroyed Washington Square to put up another mall deserve to be consigned to the very bottom tier of Hades for ever and ever and ever.

 

How many malls can one city need in the central zone?

 

Are they trying to make Bkk the world hub of malls?

[HugoFastor]

From what I read, Trink had three children, two sons and one daughter. His first son was born in 1965, his daughter in 1967, and his younger son (Terry) was born in 1969. Terry died of cancer in 1996.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

From what I read, Trink had three children, two sons and one daughter. His first son was born in 1965, his daughter in 1967, and his younger son (Terry) was born in 1969. Terry died of cancer in 1996.

If one loves one's children it must be the worst thing to have them die of a disease. I'm glad I never had any to know that pain.

At my breeding age I'd have been a horrible dad. I'd be a great dad since my 50s, but never met a woman worth having one with.

 

I was a rotten son, but then I had rotten parents- one gets back what one gives, IMO.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/1/2024 at 4:09 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm sorry to hear that. I spent a few happy hours browsing in the Asia Books store in the big hotel near Soi 4.

 

Is it because people don't read books in LOS anymore, or they just relocated? In NZ, even the small rural town I live in has a thriving bookstore.

That was the Landmark. I'd forgotten the name. I once took some visiting friends to the posh lounge bar at the top, and the waitresses still did the kneeling while serving the drinks thing. Never saw that anywhere else. Probably from the same era as BGs that kneel at the foot of the bed to thank Buddha that they got a customer ( when they thought the customer was asleep ).

[placnx]

On 3/30/2024 at 6:31 PM, HugoFastor said:

I did some checking on the tallest buildings in Bangkok dating back to the early nineteen hundreds and they were as follows:

 

1925-26 Nai Loed buiding near Phitthayasathian Bridge (Saphan lek Lang), 7 stories. 

1927-1937 - Phraya Sombat Phaisan building, Yaowarat Rd, Yaowarat. 9 stories. 

1966 June - AIA (American International Assurance) building, Surawongse Rd, Silom. 10 stories. 

1970 February - Cathay Trust Building (Esso Building), Rama IV Rd, Silom. 12 stories. 

1970 - Dusit Thani Hotel, Rama IV Rd, Silom. 

 

1970 - Rama 1 Hotel, Rama IV Rd/Surawongse Rd, now called The Montien Hotel. 
 

As we know, the Dusit Thani hotel was recently demolished. Not sure how many stories it was though, but I think it was about 82 meters tall.
 

Also, not sure exactly how tall the Montien Hotel is, but it and the Dusit Thani were both the two tallest building in Bangkok in the early seventies until the Royal Orchid Sheraton was then built in the late seventies. 
 

Then, in the early eighties it was The Bangkok Bank Building on Silom that became the tallest and eventually Baiyoke in the late eighties. Then it went on from there. 

 I seem to remember years ago reading that in the 30s the tallest building was a 7 story whorehouse in Yaowarat.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, placnx said:

 I seem to remember years ago reading that in the 30s the tallest building was a 7 story whorehouse in Yaowarat.

That sounds about right. Got to get the priorities sorted.

[HugoFastor]

I've finished reading the book "But I Don't Give A Hoot!" by Jennifer Bliss. It wasn't a book I had expected to read, and certainly it was no literary masterpiece, but it is only 230 pages and, if you can find a used copy somewhere, I would say it's worth a read if you are a Trink fan.
 

And, although, I never was a Trinker, nor did I ever follow his column, I found the book even more interesting and informative as a historical retrospective of the nightlife scene in Bangkok dating back to the early sixties, which was also prior to it being transformed into the more untamed Vietnam War nightlife hub in the seventies.

 

The book also carries the nightlife history all the way forward through to the end of the nineties, some of which I lived first hand, but a lot of what was covered was also new to me and still before my time.

 

I give the writer credit for being able to compile a detailed account of Bangkok's history, to a time to when it was still a very SE Asian city, but had a vibrant international nightlife scene, though, in my opinion, that all ended about 20 years ago. 

 

On the subject of books, and one I don't recall reading is "Thai Ways" by Denis Segaller which I believe was published in 2006. Has anyone read this book?

 

Trink was concerned about longevity because of the fact that he smoked a pipe so heavily every day. But four different fortunetellers in India had told him that he would live to be 84. He made it to 89. So he did well. 

Edited April 11 by HugoFastor