Massage North-Thailand Style I treated myself to a massage today. The woman who does it teaches massage at Sukhothai University and is not your average twenty-five-year-old masseuse. She is twice that age, and practices massage north-Thailand style. For those of you who don’t know, massage north-Thailand style is pretty rough. This woman, who is fairly …
Christmas 2015 in a Thai Village The first thing to say is that Christmas 2015 in a Thai Village is nothing like any Brit would recognize as Christmas. Not even in the slightest now. However, when I first arrived here, eleven years ago, some families with kids did put up some decorations, although ninety-odd percent …
Google Accounts I don’t know whether you think Google is great or garbage, but I tend towards the latter for several reasons. The first was when they called me a liar four years ago and closed my Adsense account costing me $1,000 per month, but I have other reasons too now. Geo-location is a pet …
Wat Party Last night, we went to a party at the village Buddhist Temple, which is called a Wat in Thai. My wife and many others had been helping the holder of the party prepare for it for three days. The occasion was the elevation of a friend’s son to vice abbot, or perhaps deputy …
The Holiday Season I am not talking about what some people in America and Britain erroneously call the holiday season, because that is Christmas and New Year, and I am sure that no-one who in not a Christian minds us calling it that. It’s only the misguided white Americans and Brits who think they have …
Loy Krathong 2015 Loy Krathong is usually described as the Thai equivalent of Saint Valentine’s Day, which is true in that it is the day of lovers. Loy Krathong in 2015 was yesterday, November 25th. I say that, because it is always in November, but it is moveable, like Easter, depending on the full moon. …
Hearing Deficiencies It’s funny. My parents always predicted, from the day that I bought my first album, Deep Purple In Rock, that I would be hard of hearing or even deaf by the time I reached their age, which would have been about thirty-five. I spent the following thirty years going to insanely loud rock …
Cock Fighting Yesterday evening, while I was enjoying my usual pint in the corner shop that I euphemistically call ‘The Pub’ and which readers of Behind The Smile will know as Nong’s, a youth carried two chickens onto the plot of land opposite, put one down, but held the other firmly around the body. Then …
Books and Newspapers I am not going to claim that this idea is revolutionary or even new, but it occurred to me yesterday that the main difference between books and newspapers is fact and ideas. A friend was telling me that he gave up reading books years ago and only reads free online publications these …
Village Life This is becoming monotonous, sorry. It’s been a week now… up and down more often than knickers in a city’s public toilets. I’m sick to death of the crappy Internet ‘Service’ in this village. I don’t want to take part in village life here any longer. I mean that, nobody complains about anything, …
Our Garden Haircut My wife normally deals with the day to day running of the garden, and takes it in her stride. I think it’s one of her favourite pastimes, but three or four times a year she has to call in help. When this happens it’s usually after a period of exceptional growth like …
Clouded Monitor This is an update on the Clouded Monitor I told you about yesterday that has been living in our garden for the last two days. I asked Neem if she had seen him today and she said that she hadn’t. Neither had I, but a friend reported having seen him twice, just wandering …
Garden Visitors I haven’t written anything in this, my diary, for a few days for a couple of reasons, but I am writing today because of two special garden visitors. Anyway, first why I haven’t been keeping my diary. Three or four days ago, I started writing ‘Behind The Smile’ 6, which I call either …
Myths and Pseudo-wisdom Myths and pseudo-wisdom surround us and so can, or probably do, play a significant part in our lives, and I should imagine that that role is greater than most of us realise. Here are a few examples old and new of myths and pseudo-wisdom, but I’m sure you can think of many …
Embarrassment in Thailand Face is just about the biggest motivator in Thai society; face and money, which means status, and status confers Face, as does increasing years, a good job (money and status), any uniform, or being a teacher, which is the noblest profession after the monkhood. Face is difficult to explain because it is …
Illness Isn’t it peculiar how illness can spread, especially through a family? We were five boys at home as children, and if one picked anything up we all got it sooner or later. Not that I remember being sick more often than anyone else in my class. I actually think now that it was a …
Pronunciation I have formally studied six languages to fluency, taught myself another and am now learning Thai and Thai is hard enough for me! I perfectly understand how difficult pronunciation must be for most other students of it. However, I hear it every day, which should make it easier – trying to learn Thai and …
Premonitions Thais are pretty superstitious, perhaps even more so in the countryside than in the cities like in all countries in our village, people are always looking for phenomena to use as premonitions or explanations after an event. The owner of the shop where I have a beer and write to you every day couldn’t …
