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A Bangkok Post Opinion Piece that looks back on the past decade

I found this opinion piece written by Pavin Chachavalpongpun to be fairly interesting, especially the latter part of the article. I started to quote only the last half, but decided to post the editorial in full.

The original can be found at:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/30019/next-decade-will-see-thailand-undergo-major-adjustments

NEXT DECADE WILL SEE THAILAND UNDERGO MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS

* Published: 26/12/2009 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News

The end of the first decade of the 21st century is approaching. The “Noughties” have staged major events and seen incidents that have had tremendous impacts on Thai society.

Like previous decades, celebrations and catastrophes give birth to the numerous interesting stories of the nation. They are also essential elements that define the nation’s essence and how well we can cope with challenges.

A Very Merry Werewolf Christmas

My not-so-crazy-ex-girlfriend called me this week to ask if I had plans for Christmas. As it happened, though I had the day off, I had no plans at all.

“I’m lonely in Pattaya. You come see me, na?”

I thought about it for a minute, but then I agreed. So on Thursday night – Christmas Eve – after work I hopped a bus at Ekkamai, pulling out of the station around 9 p.m.

I arrived in Pattaya a bit past eleven. I had been to my not-so-crazy-ex-girlfriend’s place once before, so I told the motorcycle taxi where to go, called her on the mobile, and she met me at the front door of her building. She looked like she’d been having a nap; she was wearing cotton shorts, a thin cotton sleeveless shirt with no bra, and flip flops.

Awatan

When the movie 2012 was released here in Thailand, the Thais had a particularly difficult time knowing how to say the name of the movie when speaking English.  When a Thai friend would say that they’d been to the movies and I asked for the title they would hesitate, umm & awww, then usually say “two… oh… one… two”.

One reason is that Thais sometimes have trouble with the western style of giving dates as a number pair (eighteen-seventy nine or nineteen-thirty two) and their confusion has been doubled by the inconsistency of two-thousand-and-nine instead of twenty-oh-nine.

the farang doesn’t speak at all

By now many readers would be aware that The Farang Speaks 2 Much blog has been taken offline.

shift change

After a small bit of strife with the snuggler on Sunday/Monday I talked to her on the phone on Tuesday and we made arrangements to go to the movies on Wednesday night — she wants to see Avatar (pronounced Awatan by my Thai friends).

She was commited to something last night (on Tuesday night) and wouldn’t be free until about midnight.  I needed to be awake early this morning (Wednesday) for work, so I wasn’t encouraging her to come stay with me, even though she asked if she could come.   But talking on the phone around 5 pm on Tuesday I told her that she could come over after midnight if she really wanted to.

I finished work around half past six and, instead of going straight home, I stopped at a few small bars, drinking a beer at each one, chatting to a girl and moving on.

boring recent events

I wrote in a recent blog that every time I write about the future on the blog, things seem to fuck up.  It’s a seeming truth that’s  been amazingly consistent every time I’ve tempted fate by posting about my plans or expectations.

In that post, and one earlier blog, I talked about arrangements to go out with a girl on Friday night.  This “date” was with a bar girl… we had arranged for me to meet her and bar fine her on Friday night, and then go out to drink beer & listen to music together.  I fully anticipated that she would be going home long-time with me at the end of the night.

On Friday night, when I finished work, I went to her bar to get her but she wasn’t there.

No problem.  I called her.

She told me that she was no longer working at the bar.

Hmmmmm…..

Dean Spotting

Dean Barrett is a well-known Bangkok resident.

He is a published novelist and has a bi-weekly blog.  Dean has never been shy about putting his face in front of the public.  You’ll see his photo on his website, videos on you-tube, and scattered around the internet like so many old gum wrappers pushed around by the wind.

In short, it’s not hard to know you’ve seen Dean when you actually do see him.

I see him a lot.

Shabushi all-you-can-eat

The girl who cancelled the movie with me on Wednesday night called me this afternoon to try to re-schedule for tonight (Thursday).  I was working late and I have to be up before sunrise in the morning, so I said it wasn’t a good night for a movie.

She suggested maybe getting together for dinner instead.  That was doable, but we were having a bit of trouble deciding where to go.  I was working up near Lad Prao and she was shopping in Bang Na, so we decided to meet at 9 pm at Major Ekkamai.  There are several restaurants there, so we could figure it out after we got there.

The girl was on time — ten minutes early in fact — so at a couple minutes before nine we walked through the center looking for a suitable restaurant.

My companion pointed at a restaurant called Shabushi and asked if I wanted to eat there.

Sure, I said.