STAYING with WAT and LEK in BANGKOK

Our second trip of the year to learn the techniques of modern style backpacking preparing for retirement in four years time. Written in retrospective blog form in 2017 initially published without photographs which will be added when digitised from 35mm film or paper prints.

Wenesday 15 October 1992
Stayed overnight with Geoff and Helen in Wokingham in a house because Robert and June were there with daughter Allison and friend and son Fraser. Robert kindly took us to Heathrow for 11am and by 13 am we were airborne with Qantas on an 11 hr non stop flight to Bangkok. There was a frightening amount of sideways judder as the 707 took off, but fine for the rest of the journey. Almost all the cabin staff were male and the standard of service was poor compared with other airlines. Across from the airport we caught a normal train to the city and went to Khao San Road and booked into the Super Siam for 120Baht.

16 October
We called Tawatchai and eventually spoke to someone with English, but communication was difficult but we did arrange to see him to go there for 1pm when he was expected to return from lunch. His bank was not far so we walked in and were shown to the tenth floor.a big open plan office with perhaps 50 workers. His boss, a woman who spoke excellent English, made us welcome with tea and coffee. She had been to England and Europe for two week trip with the bank. When Tawatchai came back from lunch she kindly gave him the afternoon off.

We three took a taxi to the Super Siam to pick up our rucksacks, then an Express Boat terminal and got a hang yao (long tailed boat) to the police station across the river in Thonburi and into a market to buy fish and a half duck (100 B) for dinner plus some vegetables.

TWATCHAI

It was as well that Tawatchai was with us because the route to his house we had previously followed was flooded. 

LOG BRIDGES

A great deal of that way was on an elevated concrete path with canals on either side and even the occasional street lamp from the pillars which carried the electrical power and the telephone lines. In the immediate approach to the house two dogs were decidedly vicious so Wat (Tawatchai' nickname) told us to stop and went ahead before calling us to follow. The house next door which last time had been just started was now nearly finished for Pranee's sister Venus and her husband who was working in the south as a General in the Forestry. It was a large and impressive house.

We were immediately made very welcome and this time they had borrowed a mattress for us. When Pranee (Lek) came home she prepared us a lovely meal with the fish and duck.

PRANEE GREETS US

We were concerned to see the reaction to the presents we had brought, though they has stressed they didn't expect. The top Joan had chosen went especially well and Pranee was delighted to wear it for work the next day to show what had come from England. The presents for their son Kim also went well apart from the smartees which he was forbidden to eat to protect his teeth. The alphabet jigsaw was right helping to introduce him to English writing, eg 'A' or a' for apple  By contrast he already had a Thai alphabet on the wall, - Thai script is of course totally different in form. What little Thai I knew was based on Linguaphone phonetics.

That night it rained extremely hard and we were advised not to go south since a typhoon was currently hitting Hong Kong. The next few days TV was full of pictures of floods all over Thailand but especially so in Bangkok and Nakhon Sawan.

Friday 16 October 1992
Tawatchai phoned the office and took the day off but Pranee went to work at 7:30 a usual after taking Kim to his grandmother's nearby. (Any wealth came from Pranee's family who had a larger fine much older house). Wat suggested we go to the National Museum at Sanaan Luang and hired a motorbike taxi to take Joan and I to the #4 bus, which is the way he daily travels to work. The drivers wore yellow waistcoats as uniform. It was scary for two people who never ride on motor bikes as they negotiated their way through heavy traffic, overtaking on the wrong side, and on the pavement and gutters! The museum was OK but I felt absolutely exhausted all day. 

We found our way back by #9 bus to the end of Thanon Theot Thai road and walked along it before following yesterday's concrete paths to the house.

PRANEE'S KITCHEN

That evening Pranee again cooked us a meal but Tawatchai just drinks whisky, in fact he was asleep on the floor when we got back but got up rapidly when Pranee returned. Later that evening he showed us the rifle under his mattress and warned us yet again to beware of gangsters. He had previously demonstrated the ease of killing with a gun to the head and throwing the body into the canal, no one would know. He said there was no risk with immediate neighbours but was clearly worried about the streets and alleys in the area, saying 5% of Thai's were bad. 

That evening he showed us the picture of his sister, who was a painter, on the wall along with one of the king. He also told us of the riots and how he feared for his life as he crawled on his stomach across a major square to safely pass policemen and soldiers on his way home from the office recently, thinking he may never see Kim again. 

He showed a book with a 30 day history in English of the riots and the events leading up to them. The people were now happy with the outcome which was gained by their massive peaceful protest. The book had pictures of the huge sit down protest of people with the soldiers and police with rifles at the ready. 

Pranee said she had arranged a gathering of the group from Phru Kradung but it never took place largely because Samlok who was now married to Son was eight months pregnant and would find the slippery paths too treacherous. Tawatchai had purchased several bags of rice based food for us to have at breakfast, which we couldn't eat a shame because we were faced with huge English breakfasts instead which we didn't want either - in truth I was not feeling at all well. Instead I worked hard on my Thai language and added words I needed to use to my indexed notebook.

Sat 17 October
Pranee went to work again at her clothing manufacture factory but Wat works only Monday to Friday whereas needs to work hard every day, cooking, washing, ironing and mending for me. Nothing is too much trouble she appears to have boundless energy. They are both wonderful hosts, but Tawatchai with the far superior English is the talker. 

That morning we woke to a sound like many chain saws, in fact everyone was running pumps so as to lower the water level on their property by pumping it into the main canals. The alternative is that otherwise the trees would become waterlogged and die. Next to Pranee's was a shack owned by a farmer where bananas and coconuts have been planted. In the immediate vicinity of the house are mangoes in flower , lemons and pomelo 'som oh'. 

Wat took us to see his sister Nitaya Sakchareon, the painter. We went by taxi and for the first time I was allowed to pay for anything! She wasn't there but her studio was interesting with several part completed large canvases.

TWATCHAI'S SISTER'S ART STUDIO

The pattern is drawn in and the painters fill in the colours. We saw them rubbing in gold leaf which had been made tacky. The paintings were traditional Thai style, one displayed elaborate barges on the river. The paintings were exported to Japan, America and Europe at a cost of around £1000 each.
A teacher he called his 'brother' was there plus a few painters and his mother. She had made us a lovely meal which we all ate sitting on the floor.

TWATCHAI'S MOTHER WITH HER DAUGHTER'S BABY

There was a piano on which his sister's son and another girl played very well choosing the tunes of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Beatles, perhaps aiming at us but we remembered Tawatchai had a treasured tape of Nat King Cole which he was always singing. 

PLAYING THE PIANO at THEIR ART STUDIO HOME

Joan went upstairs to thank his mum and found her lying down to rest in a huge dormitory in which presumably the whole family slept.

His brother invited us to his home which we got to by hired motor bike, Wat and I, being two passengers on one bike. His brother's wife was also a painter who had been taught by Wat's sister and she exported work to many countries with exhibitions recently in Sweden and Denmark. Their daughter Jib worked as an interpreter for the TAT (the Thai Tourist Authority), she spoke fluently in English and helped me willingly with my Thai.

TWATCHAI'S BROTHER, WIFE AND JIB

Wat drank his way through a whole bottle of whisky he was given at his sister's and got very drunk. Jib said he had drunk whisky heavily for the ten years she had known him and was clearly very worried about him. She also said we were lucky to meet him because he was a joker - until the drink wins he is a very interesting companion who never stops trying to talk and explain. Wat's brother called a taxi and somehow Wat walked home on one oc
occasion he would have fallen in the canal if I hadn't caught him, other times he was just lucky but concentrated had on the narrow planked sections. He had bought flowers for Pranee but they only got home because Joan carried them. When we got to was to the house of the Head of Village he was risking going further, as Joan remarked he had a good survival instinct. So we phoned Pranee and a boy with a boat was sent to fetch him. Whilst we were waiting they kindly gave us a bottle of orangeade each. We learned that Wat's VW was at his sisters so that he wold not be tempted to drive it.

My cold is now streaming but I expect to be better tomorrow!!

Sunday 18 October
In the morning we go by boat to Pranee's mother's house but neither she or he father are in but her elder sister Venus a baby and two teenage boys are - typical. 

PRANEE'S OLDER SISTER at THEIR MOTHER'S HOUSE

Their house is a traditional Thai style, according to Wat 130 years old,  made of teak.

PRANEE'S FATHER AT NEARBY HOME

The bedrooms have doors but the main living area is open at the sides and roofed with corrugated iron, it contains the TV, chairs and washing machine. They are obviously wealthy by Thai standards because of the ownership on a great deal of land including perhaps the large tract that Tawatchai describes as his enormous garden. It doesn't show but nevertheless their daughters have fine houses. We show our photographs and Joan nurses the baby whilst we eat pomelo and drink coconut juice. 

PRANEE'S FATHER ON BOAT

We learn that falling coconuts can be dangerous and that one hit Wat on the head knocking him unconscious into a canal from which Pranee pulled him out, but he was admitted to hospital. We have often wondered if this was the start of his problems with alcohol.

After lunch I ended up in bed feeling very ill, very hot, without energy and a terrific headache. I even wondered if I had malaria. Joan went out with the others to the house of and old man, Pranee's mother's brother who was half Chinese, half Thai. He was disappointed on my non-arrival because he had cooked chicken for me because I was ill. At Pranee's request Joan took photographs including his two grandaughters. When they returned I gave him a packet of the shortbread we had brought to give as presents. 

Pranee made me a rice soup for dinner with curry, scrambled egg, mixed vegetables, shrimp and fish. In the evening I gave Pranee the presents we had brought for the Phru Kradung group including Samlok and Son, Taniya and Sackawat, Gin and Ping Ping. 

They talked of their salaries, 700B/month for Pranee and 8000B for Wat. Each had a yearly bonus of three months salary, Pranee 's last bonus had paid for their trip to Phru Kradung where we had met, this year it would pay for a 10 day holiday on Koh Samui and kept offering us help to get there from Venus's husband. In many ways they regarded Thailand as a dangerous place particularly the border area to Laos and Burma, but unless it is much changed over the past year it doesn't seem to effect budget travellors like us. But Jib who worked for the TAT  had told us of daily problems of thieving including with razors. 

They were both saving to afford a full education for their son Kim of whom Wat is clearly very very fond too. They were students together but Pranee resisted his advances because of his whisky drinking. I don't think Pranee's father or mother like him for the same reason. Pranee showed us a picture of her at 21 receiving her degree from no less than the King. She now talks of coming to England with Kim but without Wat. 

Tawatchai obviously feels lonely, he says he cries and drinks because of it. Nevertheless he is very interested in democratic politics, a keen player of football in his youth, and music.

Like Thais in general they are very fond and respectful of the king who clearly has great authority. They pointed to the informality of the princesses on a recent visit to Laos, sometimes wearing jeans and singing into a microphone at a dance, dancing and playing xylophone with obvious enjoyment. 

At night I got up to investigate a noise expecting to find a bird but it was the family geco in the waste paper bin presumably after the ants who had gone there in search of the sweetness of the pomelo dip we had been eating. Not only was there the sound of heavy rainfall and an incessant sound of crickets but also a lower noise which I took to be police radios as I thought about Tawatchai's rifle.
  
Monday 19 October
Still not feeling well so we stayed in the empty house until 3:30 pm before going for a walk to the river ferry we were going to catch again tomorrow. By the evening I was starting to improve and we announced we would leave tomorrow for the south the next day.

Tawatchai passed on an invitation from his boss Sawiitii to accompany her to Kanchanburi next Friday for the long weekend of the King's Birthday. I would have loved to accept if nothing else for the chance to improve my Thai. But we had to move on.