The love of fields of paddy,
Of dusty concrete lanes.
Of random trees and back yards
Is running in my veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown skin and dreamy eyes
Long hair and slim lithe figures,
This land was made for Thais.

I love this Asian country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding plains.
I love her pretty ladies,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
Its Lala land for me!

The fake gold Buddha statues
And all the Hoi Polloi,
The go go girls and tuk tuks,
That wait at Soi Cow Boy.
Prime minister in excile,
His sister close to jail,
While those accused of murder
Are walking free on bail.

Core of my heart, my Thailand!
Her smoke obscured blue sky,
Another bus drives off a cliff,
And thirty people die -
But then we hit the highway,
And drive without a fear
Of hitting motor cycles,
And have a Singha Beer.

Core of my heart, my Thailand!
Land of the Taksin clan,
Through flood and fire and famine,
They tax us all they can -
No alcohol in Tescos,
Between two and five p.m.,
But got to any local shop
And there buy all you can.

The three month trip to Mae Sai,

A town of ninety thousand-

Fifty per cent illegal,

The rest dealing contraband.

Plus Six ageing male farangs

With their faithful cute escort-

Passport and cash in hand

Make their Ninety day report.

An open-hearted country,
A wilful, lawless land -
All you who expect justice,
You will not understand -
There may be better countries but,
Wherever I may die,
I know that, while I live here,
I’ll just say Mai Pen Rai.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing.

55. Written by a homesick bloke from Aussie who'll be back in Chiang Rai next month.

Simon

Mae Chan

You don't hear much of Dorothy McKellar these days, she was required reading when I went to school.

You don't hear much of Dorothy McKellar these days, she was required reading when I went to school.

Never heard of Dorothy, is she the one from The Wizard of OZ?

An Australian poet of quite a while back.

When I did trip through our inland last year I posted a verse with some photos on my FaceBook page.

It's actually Dorothea.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

Not great literature but it sprang to mind when I was standing by my car looking at the great empty plains of Australia.

"I’ll just say Mai Pen Rai."

And whilst we say, mai pen rai,

we always, should not be shy,

For the day will come,

when we all must die.

We hope it will not be, from the hands of a Thai,

but in this country, people are there, to sell and buy.

We must remember, that we are only guests,

and I do not say that, for your jest.

For you will always need, a visa,

just like every other, geezer.

For those of you who live here, that think they have the right,

I will tell you, that is a load of <deleted>.

My friend has mentioned, Mr. Thaksin,

I bet his sister, Yingluck

would be a good <deleted>.

Enjoy this place all you can,

but make sure you do not go home, with a man.

There is the cheap beers, with all the cheers,

and all those lovely, little dears.

Alas, those dears, can bring on the tears,

you really should listen, to you fears.

They say this is the land of smile,

but many who come here, sayt it is vile.

This place is not for most,

and I laugh at the farang, who constantly boast.

I make no excuse,

for I am here, for the abuse.

For surely my liver will fail,

as I get old, and more frail.

Here and there, I spend some baht,

but mostly, in Family Mart.

Living here, sometimes we moan,

but it beats living, back home.

I urge you all, to take care,

and use this forum, so you can share.

If one day the pain, is too much to bare,

over the balcony, if you dare.

You may find my ode, a little dark,

in comparison to the OP, it is quite stark.

We live in a land, made of many nations,

but inside, we are all relations.

Yesterday, I watched the Formula 1,

I don't know what more, my team could have done.

We are so many seconds, off the pace,

talk about, a loss of face.

As you sit and ponder, your life,

rememeber, corruption here, is rife.

You do not want, to get in strife,

so don't forget, to obey your wife.

Lucky for me, I am single,

so I am free, to go and mingle.

I think tonight is boom boom time,

you can get it here, for just a dime.

Soon, out I will go, to watch the big, Thailand show.

In one hand, I will have a glass,

and in the other, a piece of ass.

So now I will go,

but to the ATM, for more dough.

It's not hard, to make words sound the same,

the idea, it just came.

Please contnue on, in this thread,

I will read it again, before going to bed.

The question is, who with it will be,

but I guarantee you, it will be a she.

Be it what it may,

I have nothing left to say.

NKM - 21/4/14