Mr. Trink Is Back.

[Doro22]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

[adjan jb]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

I don't give a hoot

[cdnvic]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

Much better than his later night owl stuff

[Doro22]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

I don't give a hoot

[Andrew Hicks]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

Yes, but the Nite Owl is not exactly back is he! A restaurant revew!

He's been doing book reviews for the Bangkok Post for ages and they're usually useful and informative except for the occasional rant against bar girls for whom he has a strange non-affinity.

This is noted by Jerry Hopkins in his great book, 'Bangkok Babylon' which runs chapter by chapter profiles of Bangkok characters. Trink is one of the few who gets an unsympathetic write-up for just this quirk.

It's amazing The Post ran his column for so long.

[rixalex]

Pardon if this been mentioned already, but did not realize he's back writing for The Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/240807_Realtime...2007_real33.php

Yes, but the Nite Owl is not exactly back is he! A restaurant revew!

He's been doing book reviews for the Bangkok Post for ages and they're usually useful and informative except for the occasional rant against bar girls for whom he has a strange non-affinity.

This is noted by Jerry Hopkins in his great book, 'Bangkok Babylon' which runs chapter by chapter profiles of Bangkok characters. Trink is one of the few who gets an unsympathetic write-up for just this quirk.

It's amazing The Post ran his column for so long.

Not all that amazing really... it was a very popular column and was only ditched for political reasons.

[Ulysses G.]

It was a dark day for freedom of speech when they stopped running it!

Edited August 25, 2007 by Ulysses G.

[marshbags]

He has to make a crust i suppose, buttttttttttttt is it really the old night owl or another clone with part of his brain took out.

Eating out places are far more respectable subjects of course and more agreeable to most readers of the B.Post.

Me for one for a starter.

Forgive the pun.... i know pathetic.

He could always add the the useful info on product availability and were to purchase it PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

marshbags

Edited August 25, 2007 by marshbags

[Rinrada]

Spoke to him a couple of times and always appreciated the plugs he gave to our old "Irish Rover" Bar in PP in the mid 90s.......things were so different then.....

We eventually got into the Lonely planet and one night started off the story about the mad cows running over the minefields.......flying steak on the hoof..... ....went round the world thanks to a couple of lads from AP/Rauiters

........first cabbage and bacon /paddy stew in Camb.........and although long gone .the IR...(plug )Toms Bar is still there ...although hes has departed the mortal....etc.. as well........

must try for a visit been at least 5 years...

[adjan jb]

It was a dark day for freedom of speech when they stopped running it!

It was a much darker day when they fired the journalist who reported the cracks at the new airport. Trink is to journalism what Msg is to gastronomy. Let's get serious.

[Ulysses G.]

I don't mind a little MSG now and again.

[adjan jb]

I don't mind a little MSG now and again.

It can lead to impotence in the long term. But I guess you don't care, you're more into the short time.

[Ulysses G.]

Bingo!

[GuestHouse]

While I agree that Trink's Night-Owl did turn into repetative and non discript waffle I was a fan of his early stuff and very much enjoyed reading the Nightowl when it was a page or more long (and barely censored).

Highbrow journalism it was not, but it was entertaining and above all else it was something very much of its time and very much of Bangkok. He has also left his mark in the lexicon of expatriates in Thailand. As time passes and new faces appear, I wounder how many expats and visitors alike use terms like T.I.T. - ManUre (Human Nature), 'Nightery Entertainment Business' or any number of the other terms he coined.

In a sense Trink writing restaurant reviews is going back to where he started - Read the biography 'I Don't Give A Hoot' for an insight into just how much he did write and how central he was to publicizing the nightlife of Bangkok.

I've written to Trink on a number of occassions suggesting he write an account of what expat life was like back in the 50s and 60s, his experiecnes are surely unique and would I am sure be worth reading.

I'm of the opinion that it was a dark day that he was squeezed out, one more nail in the coffin of life being full of characters and a move towards bland conformity.

[cdnvic]

The Night Owl columns at the end were rubbish, and if anything I think it was out of tradition that he was allowed to keep going as long as he did. They were poorly written and repetitive. I would have scrapped them long before that. On the other hand he does seem to do better with his restaurant reviews. I think the cancelling of the Night Owl was more a question of taste than politics.

[lazeeboy]

The Night Owl columns at the end were rubbish, and if anything I think it was out of tradition that he was allowed to keep going as long as he did. They were poorly written and repetitive. I would have scrapped them long before that. On the other hand he does seem to do better with his restaurant reviews. I think the cancelling of the Night Owl was more a question of taste than politics.

dont read the bangkok post.

[taxexile]

I've written to Trink on a number of occassions suggesting he write an account of what expat life was like back in the 50s and 60s, his experiecnes are surely unique and would I am sure be worth reading.

did he ever reply ?

[GuestHouse]

Yes he replied twice - Firstly he replied that he thought things he might write about from the past might better be left unsaid. Perhaps thinking I was suggesting he 'spill the dirt'.

In response I pointed out I was suggesting he write about day to day experiences and impressions (surely of interest) He responded that perhaps that was something for the future.

That was a while back, perhaps time to write again.

I think Trink has a good writing style and surely a wealth of memories to pass on.

[Jersey_UK]

I think Trink has a good writing style and surely a wealth of memories to pass on.

I enjoyed reading "Nite Owl" right up to the end - boringly repetitive? yes! - but like an old pair of slippers reasuringly so!

He even responded to an E-mail in print...........and it wasn't a nice e-mail

[wileycoyote]

Personally I'm glad he has returned

Wiley Coyote

[Aujuba]

Like him or not he is a part of farang Thailand. The place would be a lot different with people like him over the years. I can't understand the hatred some people seem to have for the guy. It seems like the hatred that comes out on a lot of other threads over a variety of topics from successful foreigners to pattaya to marrying country girls.

[Ulysses G.]

A lot of people do hate him, but not always who you expect. The sleaziest whoremongers that I know seem to hate him more than anyone else.

[mackayae]

Personally I'm glad he has returned

Wiley Coyote

I didn't realize he had left. I always thought he had the same job, same desk, same typewriter, same salary, just was not published.

I bet he doesn't write any bad reviews, I think he learnt that lesson.

Vive Trink the Dink! A real survivor.

[Spaniel]

Personally I'm glad he has returned

Wiley Coyote

I didn't realize he had left. I always thought he had the same job, same desk, same typewriter, same salary, just was not published.

I bet he doesn't write any bad reviews, I think he learnt that lesson.

Vive Trink the Dink! A real survivor.

"Trink the Dink" Now theirs an expression only an old timer would remember about Trink. I recall seeing it many times stenciled on bathroom walls in many Cowboy and Pat Pong bars as well as the Therme. I haven't seen Bernard for a while now but seems whenever I do see him it's either in Foodland Soi 5 or Villa.

[bangkoksingapore]

trink and stickman are the two experts on thai culture that we can rely on

[Andrew Hicks]

The Night Owl columns at the end were rubbish, and if anything I think it was out of tradition that he was allowed to keep going as long as he did. They were poorly written and repetitive. I would have scrapped them long before that. On the other hand he does seem to do better with his restaurant reviews. I think the cancelling of the Night Owl was more a question of taste than politics.

I agree this wholeheartedly.

Trink is a good journalist despite what I have said and towards the end, 'Nite Owl' was doing him no favours. Newspapers have to find new blood.

[rixalex]

The Night Owl columns at the end were rubbish, and if anything I think it was out of tradition that he was allowed to keep going as long as he did. They were poorly written and repetitive. I would have scrapped them long before that. On the other hand he does seem to do better with his restaurant reviews. I think the cancelling of the Night Owl was more a question of taste than politics.

I agree this wholeheartedly.

Trink is a good journalist despite what I have said and towards the end, 'Nite Owl' was doing him no favours. Newspapers have to find new blood.

He might not have been to your taste or others, but the fact remains that right up until he was dropped, his column remained popular with many expats.

Night Owl column was simply a bit of light-hearted fun and provided some interesting information for bar-hopping. It's missing the point therefore to look too deeply into the literary merits of it. You only have to take a glance at Britain's biggest selling daily newspaper to know that the quality of the writing isn't for many the reason why they read the newspaper they do.

I maintain, it was political reasons that lead to the column being dropped. Have a read of his interview on Stickman and you'll see why. If you want to split hairs and call political correctness a matter of taste you can but i fail to see the difference.

[Neeranam]

trink and stickman are the two experts on thai culture that we can rely on

You're joking, I hope

I read trink until he started saying that HIV was not the cause of AIDS. Very irresponsible sying this with so many whoremongering readers.

[grahamhc]

I understood that Nite Owl was dropped by the Bangkok Post because it did not fit with the image of a Family Newspaper, just as the Pattaya Mail dropped Nightmarch, as talking about Pattaya Nightlife was not suitable reporting for a family newspaper.

I understood that Trink was still employed to do Book Reveues and it seems Restaurant reviews as well.

He tried out publishing Nite Owl on-line under idonegiveahoot dot net, first at an annual fee of 480 baht and when no takers for that price, it later was free access free, but then never got updated. I just checked and the URL is dead and now front page one of those stupid search sites.

When I was living in Farangland, it was a nice column to read on-line, but it ended up just republished emails and whats-on adverts. In the last year, there was very little new stuff written by Bernard in person. But I still miss it.

[DerringDo]

I enjoyed reading it as a new guy to Thailand as it had some different places to go for a drink and a show.

It didn't fit in with P's "Social Order policy" and I believe thaty's why it was dropped. Who wants a national newspaper telling your visitors where to get a cheap s**g when you're aiming for the upmarket spend all their money in the big resorts type of people. It didn't fit with the image the previous crowd were trying to hoodwink people into believeing.