Hot August Night 1972

Yes last Friday was the 40^th anniversary of the recording of Neil Diamond’s most famous double-LP. 40 years, where have they disappeared too?

Anyway this as introduction to the point I will try to make clear.

One of the songs, an all time favourite of mine i.e. I am, I said ….., got me thinking about my situation here in Thailand, where I’ve lived for the past 26 years.

Is Thailand my new home? Well most of the time it is, and sometimes it isn’t. Depends on the mood I’m in.

Do I regret having moved here? Overall no, there have been times when I had my doubts.

Am I happy here? As much as a man can be I guess.

Is the country where I was born still my home country? Not really, there are things I miss about the old days, but upon my regular returns I don’t recognize most of the places that were dear to me, only some very good friends from my youth still remain of what I remember.

So, am I lost between 2 worlds or has time past me by?

Yermanee

p.s. please be gentle

I know the feeling well, but have no regrets whatsoever.

“I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.” —

W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

“I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.” —

W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

...that was beautiful man...

If the weather in Thailand was more like California or the Mediterranean...I'd never leave, being abroad and living in nice weather is the only thing keeping me away from Thailand right now. I think Thailand has more to offer than most people realize. To me it's just so much friendlier than any other place ive lived, with the exception of Hawaii.

I'm back in the UK, having left everything behind in Thailand.

Although I'd go back to Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia for work, I'll never return to Thailand.

In fact, I'll probably wind up in Cebu, Singapore or Hong Kong to see out my remaining years, once I've sorted out my UK property and other holdings.

I'm back in the UK, having left everything behind in Thailand.

Although I'd go back to Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia for work, I'll never return to Thailand.

In fact, I'll probably wind up in Cebu, Singapore or Hong Kong to see out my remaining years, once I've sorted out my UK property and other holdings.

Honkers and S'pore, too frantic,

Cebu, yups, it would be good.

I understand you a bit yermanee, although ive personally always been displaced. So have a general feeling of lostness. Chiang Mai has so far been the longest place ive ever lived in. Before that was when i was a kid, and even then 6 years was the longest i stayed in one place.

Actually DO wish i could call some place home, particularly seeing as i'll never really have real security in Thailand.

This song says it all........

I Am I Said lyrics

L.A.'s fine, the sun shines most the time

And the feeling is 'lay back'

Palm trees grow, and rents are low

But you know I keep thinkin' about

Making my way back

Well I'm New York City born and raised

But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores

L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home

New York's home, but it ain't mine no more

"I am," I said

To no one there

An no one heard at all

Not even the chair

"I am," I cried

"I am," said I

And I am lost, and I can't even say why

Leavin' me lonely still

Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein' a king

[- From: http://www.elyrics.n...aid-lyrics.html -]

And then became one

Well except for the names and a few other changes

If you talk about me, the story's the same one

But I got an emptiness deep inside

And I've tried, but it won't let me go

And I'm not a man who likes to swear

But I never cared for the sound of being alone

"I am," I said

To no one there

An no one heard at all

Not even the chair

"I am," I cried

"I am," said I

And I am lost, and I can't even say why

Leavin' me lonely still