"Cha cha" we shouted "slowly slowly". The taxi driver couldn't, or at least didn't want to, hear us. It wasn't surprising considering the volume of the contemporary mor lam music screaming out of the radio, the syncopated rhythms and off-key singing cacophonous to our Western ears. We had been on a night out in Bangkok drinking cheap …
About this time of year Bangkok becomes a liveable, bearable - dare I say it - nice place to be. The swamping heat is replaced by cool breezes. First thing in the morning is refreshing and, mercy upon mercy, you can run. Outside. Without dying. People seem genuinely more relaxed - perhaps perception rather than reality on …
When I was a child, I used to love watching pro-wrestling. At school on a Monday morning we would talk about what we had seen on the previous Saturday afternoon. Who had hit whom with a chair. What vendettas had progressed. How amazing the high-flying moves looked. And then come break time, we would run around …
Christmas is coming and I can't wait. We're heading home to celebrate with our families for the first time in three years so all the kitsch, rubbishy stuff that everyone gets sick of we are very excited by. Yes, including Wham! It appears we're not the only ones to be excited by Christmas. Thailand has …
I'd bumped into him at the airport, got chatting and in a rare lapse of reason, decided to share a taxi back into town. "Are you married?" He'd asked, out of general politeness and to fill the gaping silence that had grown between us after a few kilometres on the highway. The stuttering conversation had to …
Continue reading "Random Encounter Monday: No. 1 – The Canadian"
In Thailand the months slide in effortless fluidity from one to the next; the year seems to lose its footing around May and then it's December and you're wondering how you seem to have missed being present when October happened. When living in the land of permanent summer it's hard to keep track of the year. November …
It all started a couple of weeks ago. Our neighbour Tim (the only other Englishman on the mooban) wondered over, trailing cigarette smoke as he did. "Hello mate," he said casually "just noticed we've got a King Cobra under the house, so..." he paused to shrug like a mechanic who had to suddenly charge you way …
In 2008's The Dark Knight Alfred turns to Bruce Wayne and says 'Some men just want to watch the world burn'. This surmising of the motivations of the Joker highlights for the audience the fact that this is a criminal that has no reason, no focus or desired outcomes. It is existentialism gone too far. A …
You know I went through Bangkok 12 years ago when me and my then girlfriend were travelling. Meant to see the sights but ended up drunk most nights and then it was time to catch our flight, down to the islands. It was great to see, a great place to be you know, you really …
I read something today that made me angry. Which is unusual because (as many of my family and friends will attest) I am one laid back chap. That which induced my ire was a blog post written by an expat based on Phuket - she was bemoaning the lack of availability of her favourite brand …
tastehitch 