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Part 47 |
The View from Nongkhai |
Published |
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26 June |
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2007 |
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Long time no write |
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More than three months have elapsed since part 46.
During the larger part of this gap I was in England,
but I have now been home for more than one month.
For much of the last month I have been quite unwell,
so that I had difficulty putting metaphorical pen
to paper. |
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On my return home, it seemed to
me that
Nongkhai had changed. I have spoken to a number of
people and many of them agree. There seem to be
fewer 'farangs' here, with the result that most
farang bar/restaurants are very quiet. In one case
the blame for this was laid at my door. One bar
owner in all seriousness told me that he has lost customers because I
hadn't written about his bar in sufficiently
adulatory terms. I find this hard to believe, (the
bit about me being the cause of lost customers, not the bit about
adulation). |
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In the last episode I wrote in
glowing terms about a meal in February at the Royal
Cliff hotel in Pattaya. So this month I telephoned
and asked them whether there had been an upsurge in
customers since March. There had not. In fact
despite my fulsome praise, the number of customers
has fallen, but they attribute this to a decline in
the number of tourists coming to Thailand due to the
political situation (nearly half the country is
still under martial law, bombs exploding in Bangkok,
terrorism in the south) rather than anything I have
written on my website. In fact they went so far as
to deny reading this website. |
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It occurred to me that I could
write and obsequiously praise the particular bar in
Nongkhai to see what effect it would have. On his
own admission the owner would be happy, because he
thinks that this is what I should be doing anyway.
Personally I think it unlikely to have any effect,
but there is the possibility that my readers in
Nongkhai would spot the insincerity and avoid the
place. I
have tried to make it my hallmark that I write with
sincerity. If somewhere is good I will write about
it, but beware the sting in the tail, praise comes
with a price! If somewhere is not good,
I simply keep quiet. |
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With
the change in Nongkhai itself, plus changes in my
personal life, after this episode I plan to write
one more. Episode 48 is expected to be the last, and
in part at least will look
back over the highlights of the previous 47. Later this year the
domain name of
www.nongkhai.co.uk will probably be for sale. If you want
to acquire it, contact me. |
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Springtime in England |
I arrived in England in late March, the Sunday
that the clocks went back, to be precise. It was
also the time of the Spring Equinox when day and
night are of equal length. This tree was typical
of many showing no signs of life. Here in
Thailand it would be assumed to be dead, but in
England it was simply waiting for Spring.
I was very lucky that March and April were
unseasonably warm, so that to me it just felt
cold rather than a more normal 'kin freezin. |
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That
warm weather did however encourage some trees to
start producing leaves, as with the willow below
right, but much prettier are the trees in blossom,
such as these cherry trees below left. |
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First Meal |
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As my
arrival in UK was on a
Sunday, my mother had prepared a traditional Sunday
roast dinner of lamb, parsnips, cauliflower, sprouts
and roast potatoes, with mint sauce and gravy.
Delicious!! |
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I always gain weight when I stay in UK, looking at
this plateful, it is not hard to see why! |
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Costain 21 Club |
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I had especially timed my visit to UK around two
events. The first of these was the Costain 21 Club
AGM. This is held in the banqueting suite of the
Surrey Cricket Club at the Oval. It is a superb
venue, and the food is always good. |
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Briefly the club members are comprised of people who
have worked for Costain for 21 years. I was pleased
to see many familiar faces. Seated left is Tony
Moody who gave me the start with Costain on 1st
April 1974, while standing is John Reeve with whom I
worked on the Thames Barrier and Channel Tunnel
projects. Joining us was Joan Perkins for her
'maiden' visit. (joke
alert....maiden....Oval....gettit?) |
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The next weekend, my daughter visited my parents,
bringing her
children. Here are Che with my father and Anisa with
my mother. The purpose of Jacq's visit was to take
me back with her to Bury St Edmunds, as it was now
the school Easter holidays. Jacq has an old Renault
Clio, which is not a large car. It was quite
difficult getting my bags and the five of us in,
mainly because each child now has their own seat so
I ended up squeezed between two such seats in the back. |
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There was so little space that it was not possible
to do up my seatbelt, so already I was committing
one of the three thousand, yes, 3,000 new criminal
offences that have been created under Tony Blair's
Labour. |
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Bury St Edmunds has in the past
won the title "Floral Town of Great Britain", and
these formal displays in the Abbey Gardens show why.
In between the formal displays is a very attractive
informal feature entitled 'Chris and Gemma'. |
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At Easter weekend Jacq's close friend from
schooldays came to visit, bringing her children with
her. I well remember dropping Jacq off to school on
my way to work on the Channel Tunnel, and getting a wave or a big smile
from Jennifer, so it was lovely to see her again. |
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Jacq
planned traditional Easter fare of roast poultry,
but having spent her married life as a vegetarian,
had little experience of cooking joints and poultry. |
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It
fell to me to take over in this department.
Initially this was accompanied by a lot of
wisecracks from Jennifer, but when it became
apparent that I really needed some help, she had no
hesitation in coming to the rescue. As a result, the
meal was a great success. |
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After
Jacq and Jennifer left school, Jennifer went to
university in Northampton, which is where she now
lives, while Jacq went to university in Aberdeen. It
may not be simply co-incidence that Aberdeen is the
farthest mainland university from the Channel Tunnel. While
at Aberdeen, Jacq met Rhiannon who is from the Black
Isle, but now lives not far away in Norfolk. So it
was arranged that Rhiannon would come over for a
'girl's night out', while Dad would stay home and
baby-sit. Here are Jacq and Rhiannon dressed ready to
go out 'otp'. |
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Memorabilia on display |
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On
either side of the main entrance to the Royal Thai
Air Force base at Udonthani stand these two
aircraft. They make a very eye-catching display, on
the main road out of Udonthani towards Khon Kaen. It
was these two aircraft that gave me the inspiration
for this series. |
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Riverside
Walkway |
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The
new riverside walkway is nearing completion,
as I hope this photo shows, taken from just outside
Brendan's bar. It is a very attractive addition to
the Nongkhai riverfront. Far right, a shot of it
under construction, taken from the same spot. |
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Below left is the new
view from inside Brendan's. There were some who
criticised the move to the new premises, but it
seems to have worked out very well for Brendan and
Noi, while below right is the view as it was, and
below that the
view of Brendan's as it appears from the walkway.
For obvious reasons no comparable 'before' shot
exists. |
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Inside Brendan's |
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Inside Brendan's trying
not to look as if they are posing are (Ajarn) Jon
and Mr Murray himself. In the centre is Antti (more
about him shortly) on holiday from Finland, and
right Duan who is an old friend of Noi's, and has
recently joined the staff. Duan won't thank me for
this picture, but it is the only one I have. |
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Duan above should not be
confused with Duang left. Duang was married to Hans
(who died earlier this year). She has been running
the Butterfly bar, which has moved premises, and is
now to be found directly across the street from
Brendan's. |
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The picture on the right
was also taken in Brendan's interior but being a
gentleman, I won't identify the owner of these pink
knickers. Mind you if I really was a gentleman I
wouldn't post the picture here, would I? |
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Antti (above) spoke very good
English, and was very interesting to talk to, it
turned out that he is a theoretical physicist. So
our conversation naturally turned to the Large
Hadron Collider being built at Cern, which should be
operational next year. It seems that there is a
small but finite possibility that when switched on
it could create a 'black hole' in Cern into which
the Earth will disappear, followed shortly by the
rest of the solar system. That finite possibility is
about double your chance of winning a prize if you
hold UK premium bonds. Might be an idea to cash
those bonds and have a nice holiday before 2008.
Also, don't make too many
plans for 2009! |
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The
day after meeting Antti, who is the first
theoretical physicist that I have met, I was loaned
a very good book, entitled 'Faster than the speed of
light', by Joćo Magueijo, who it turns out is also a
theoretical physicist. The book was so absorbing
that I finished it in less than 24 hours. Another
book on loan from the same friend, but one which I
have to admit is not so absorbing, is entitled
'James the brother of Jesus' by Robert Eisenman.
This is a weighty tome running to 1074 pages, but it
is not without humour. I liked this passage:-
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The
man-on-the-street in the world at large - if not in
Palestine - wishes for the most part to feel that
'prostitutes', 'tax collectors' and 'Sinners' like
himself are acceptable and rub the faces of the
Holier-than-thou, more piously pretentious types
into the mud of everyday existence. The presumably
Hellenistic* authors of these Gospel scenes seem to
have understood this very well and played on it - as
Paul obviously did. What fun it must have been to
portray 'the Messiah' in Palestine as keeping
company with such persons, knowing full well the
opposite was true. This is not to mention the
latter-day satisfaction they would have derived from
having people actually believe it for nearly 2000
years had they been around to enjoy it. |
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A few pages late we learn
that 'James had no sexual relations with women.
James chasteness has simply been transferred
in tradition to Mary and the 'Virgin birth'. It is
almost certain, despite facile attempts to disclaim
it that whoever Mary was, she had at least four
sons and two daughters.' |
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(two of those sons being
James and his younger brother Jesus of course) |
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*the
term Hellenistic refers to early Greek civilization |
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Chris & Gemma's barbecue |
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Chris
and Gemma have recently moved in to a Victorian
cottage set in large grounds just outside Bury St
Edmunds. One sunny Sunday they decided to have a
barbecue, but first, to give us an appetite we all
went for a long walk. Although sunny, it was not
that warm. Below is Nowton Park, with a very English
Spring view of thousands upon thousands of
daffodils. In the centre Chris gets the barbecue
going while Steve watches and gives helpful
suggestions. At first it looked like we had half a
sausage each, but Chris did put more food on to
cook. Below right Mus, posing with Che, could pass
in this shot for a male model. |
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For me
there was always something magical about having my
children fall asleep in my arms, perhaps it is
the knowledge that they trust you 100% to take care
of them. Of course my children are now fully grown,
but I still find it equally magical when my
grandchildren fall asleep in my arms. In episode 10
it was Chandi asleep in my lap, in this episode it
is Che.
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Not so
magical was being a victim of crime, while Gemma and
I were queuing at a convenience store in Bury St
Edmunds one evening. A pickpocket managed to open my
shoulder bag and stole my prescription glasses. |
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At first I did not realise I had
been robbed, and assumed that I had mislaid them, but with
hindsight it was possible to reconstruct what had happened.
The irony is that prescription glasses are of use to no one
but me. Then last month in Bangkok a Katoey made a clumsy
attempt to steal my camera from my bag. The Katoey stopped a
passing taxi and got in. I realised that my camera was
missing, and stopped the taxi by opening the door and asking
for the return of my camera. Although the Katoey denied it
at first, I persisted and my camera was handed back. More
than anything else, these two events happening so close
together brought me to the realisation that I am perceived
by thieves as an easy target. I am now being a lot more
careful. |
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Birthdays |
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I mentioned
earlier that my trip to UK was timed around two events. The
second of these was the birthday of my Aunt Ros in
Bexhill-on-Sea. My parents and I travelled there for a
birthday meal with her. Later we were joined by her niece
Sue and husband John and their daughter Joanne and her
husband Howard. |
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Another May
birthday was that of Vera, below left who kindly invited me
to a meal in Potters Bar celebrating her 90th birthday.
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Noi
OK that's
enough for this episode. I did catch up with Noi in Pattaya
in March, but she is now back home in Ubon. I have tried to
persuade her to revisit me here in Nongkhai, but without
success, so the mountain is off to Ubon as the expression
has it.
Best Wishes to you all
Tony |
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If you want copies of any of the
photos, or want to write, but you don't know
my personal email address, you can send email to :
mail@nongkhai.co.uk
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To view
all previous episodes move your
mouse cursor over this big
yellow button and left click |
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