Bangkok of the mind

Au Hareutai (อุ๊ หฤทัย): Missing You

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:11:00 +0000

Yes, I’m a romantic, I admit it. It can cloud my judgement, and annoy readers.

Lately I haven’t let my girly side out much, as I have been busy going through old posts, tidying some of the appalling English I found.

Now that I am getting over the shock, and am managing to beat the blog back into some kind of shape, I am almost ready to indulge my emotional side again.

No surprise, then, if I should succumb to tears so easily when I heard Grammy artist Au Hareutai Puangboonsri‘s new song Missing You.

Au, who has branched out from singing to become a local body councillor and boxing promoter as well, peels it all away, at least for this fan.

Missing You is from Feminine Night, her new joint album with Grammy singer Amp Saowaluck Leelabutr. The the pair held a concert to promote the album in late September. Au is the one on the right.

The lyrics (quick translation below) are right on the button of what we feel when we are no longer with someone who used to make our lives complete.

It's like an emotional precision bomb. Lyrics this knowing can only have come from the heart of a woman – probably long-term Grammy song-writer Nim Si Fa. Read more about her here.

I found the song on the internet, and recited the lyrics for Maiyuu as he made us breakfast this morning.

Like me, he is a fan of Au and Amp. He promised to buy the album.

‘I haven’t gone anywhere,’ he said, referring to the lyrics. ‘I’m still here, caring for you.’

Read Au’s story here. She has one of the best voices for contemporary Thai music around...what a shame we rarely get to hear from her. Her involvement in boxing and local politics keeps her too busy.

Missing You

I have gone back to the place where we first met.

The trees, the flowers, the lake look the same.

Everything looks familiar

Nothing has changed...it's only missing you.

The sun shines through the window, and the past floods back.

On the outside, my life looks the same

At home, nothing has changed.

But really, my life is not complete.

Since you left, it’s not the same.

How can it be the same without you?

Where are you? I miss you...

Whenever I close my eyes, I think of you...

We’ve been apart many years

Life appears to go on

But it’s never been the same

How can it be, without you?

ขาดเธอ – อุ๊ หฤทัย

กลับมายืนอยู่ตรงที่เดิม ที่เราเจอกัน
มองต้นไม้ ดอกไม้ สายธาร มันยังสวยงามอยู่เหมือนเดิม
ได้แต่มองอย่างคนคุ้นเคย ที่ตรงนี้เหมือนเดิมทุกอย่าง
ไม่เปลี่ยนแปลง ขาดแต่เธอเท่านั้น
ดวงอาทิตย์ยังส่องแสงมา ที่ตรงหน้าต่าง
ภาพความหลังกระจ่างขึ้นมา ได้แต่ยิ้มทั้งมีน้ำตา
รูปเธอวางอยู่ตรงที่เดิม บ้านหลังนี้เหมือนเดิมทุกอย่าง
ไม่เปลี่ยนแปลง ขาดแต่เธอเท่านั้น
* อยู่ไหน คิดถึงเธอ
หลับตา ฝันถึงเธอ ทุกที
จากกัน นานหลายปี
ดูชีวิตเหมือนจะเดินไปด้วยดี
แต่มันไม่เคยสมบูรณ์เลย
ไม่เคยจะดีเหมือนเดิมเลย
จะดีอย่างไรเมื่อไม่มีเธอ
ซ้ำ *

The song is here.

Back to Mum's shop

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

On a whim, I decided to catch a ferry boat down the Chao Phraya river.

‘Do you want to come?’ I asked boyfriend Maiyuu.

‘No...I want to make jelly and pears. But you go...it’s an outing, so should open your eyes and ears,’ he said.

Where to go? Mum's shop at Pin Khlao sounds like a good place. I hadn't been there in six months, since Maiyuu and I moved into town from the Thon Buri side of Bangkok.

I took a motorcycle taxi to the pier at Saphan Taksin, and a ferry boat down the river. It was packed, mainly with tourists, school students, and monks.

I overshot the pier by two stops, as I am not used to seeing the place from the river. I took another ferry back, and walked down to Mum's shop.

These are partial glances at the shop, and the eatery next to it. I took the pictures while no one was looking.

Mum looked surprised to see me. We sat down for a catch-up, which took less than five minutes.

'We bought this marble table for the shop - three thousand baht,' she said.

‘I have to go to the market. What a shame, you will miss the big party.’

Mum’s husband celebrates his 60th birthday today, and has invited regulars to join them at the shop for food and drinks. I can’t go, as I shall be at work.

Mum has swapped shifts with her husband. After years of working the night shift, she now works days, while her husband comes out after 6pm.

'He wasn't sleeping properly...he was drinking here for hours after he knocked off. We changed over so he could get more rest.'

By midnight, the end of our little street was humming, thanks in part to our lively group...farang C travelled out from town, as did bad boy Kew, who brought a friend.

‘It is my birthday next month,’ said Mum. ‘Don’t forget!’

We were born in the same year, one month apart.

Mum will make large pots of several dishes, including Thai curry, for the party. She uses a small space for cooking at the back. Mum and I picked the tops off baby chili peppers, in preparation for their party.

‘Are you still with your boyfriend?’ she asked.

‘I am...’

‘So you moved together?’

‘We did...’

'I pay just a fraction of that price at my place just around the corner,' she said, referring to my rent.

I went walkabout, with Mum’s three dogs accompanying me. At a food cart nearby I took a pork/rice meal, then dropped in to see a friend.

My friend Wut owns an eatery. When I dropped in to see him, Wut was putting up a light outside his shop.

‘Where did you go...you just disappeared!’ said Wut. ‘We don’t see you any more.’

‘I moved...we're now further away,’ I said.

'The new place will have a bigger kitchen, more seating for customers, even space for a live band,' he said. 'You must come back for a visit.'

At the eatery next to Mum's shop, I bumped into another face from the past. Young Pao, a young tearaway from the Northeast, still works at the shop.

‘He’s free!’ called out the cook, a family member.

She meant, ‘He has yet to find himself a boyfriend or girlfriend, so you can have him!’

I pretended not to hear.

Kew turned up late, after delivering flyers in the area, a part-time job which supplements his earnings as a security guard.

'How's your Mum?' I asked.

'She's at home,' he said, which is his usual answer whenever I ask after her health.

'I know she's at home...but how is she?' I asked, laughing.

About 1am, farang C and I left.

Kew grew teary, his usual reaction to drink.

'Come back again soon,' he said.

'I will..maybe two weeks,' I promised.

At Mum's shop, I feel like I have been reunited with family after ages apart...though another part of me feels as if I never left.

Minimalist Loy Krathong, kitchen delights, Vincent lives

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:27:00 +0000

Why jostle for space with the crowds on busy Loy Krathong night, when you can float your own boat at home?

Maiyuu and I tried something new last night. Rather than join the crowds on Pra Ram 3, the closest revelling spot to our home, we conducted our own candle-lit ceremony in the bathtub.

While families and young couples cast their candle-lit banana boats into the Chao Phraya River, we decided to stay indoors and do it privately instead.

About 9.30pm, Maiyuu went out to buy two krathong, which you can see above.

‘Have you taken a shower yet?’ he asked. ‘Do it now, because we need to use the bath to float the krathong.’

I did as I was told. Half an hour later, we charged the bath, and lit the floats.

Maiyuu held his, the smaller one, momentarily to his head, and made a silent wish, presumably for good fortune in the year ahead. He cast it afloat.

I cast a silent wish for the boyfriend. ‘I wish you happiness in the year ahead,’ I thought as I held my float to my forehead.

I cast my boat in the bath to float about with its little brother, turned off the light, and kissed Maiyuu's head.

For Maiyuu, the romance of the moment passed quickly. As I sat watching the floats, Maiyuu inspected the wall. He had just bought a towel holder for the bathroom, and was figuring out where to place it.

The city puts on a fireworks display for Loy Krathong each year. Half an hour later, we stood on the balcony to watch as the firworks burst into the sky over Silom.

For us, Loy Krathong was quiet, but romantic nonetheless.

See blogger Nye Noona's explanation of Loy Krathong here.

Last year, I visited a canal close to our old place in Thon Buri to watch families set their leafy candle-lit boats into the river.

The year before, I mixed with kathoey, young gays and a bossy trader to float a krathong close to Mum’s shop in Pin Khlao.

-

A sample of Chef Maiyuu’s cooking over the last few days...roast beef/ salad, khao tom pla, chicken pasta, ham/egg croissant.

PS: US-born, Taiwanese singer Joanna Wang's Vincent...just to lighten the mood.

Keeping the riff-raff out, gay search by Thai cop

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:39:00 +0000

We now live in a gated community.

Tiring of youngsters on motorbikes and taxis passing through this condo on the way to the main road, the owners of this complex have now erected large metal green doors at one entrance.

After 11pm, they close the doors to stop vehicles getting through, so that residents inside are no longer bothered by the noise, and can sleep in peace.

The security guard abandons his post at that end, and goes to sit at the other entrance, manned by a wooden barrier. He keeps that closed, too.

If residents return after 11pm they must open the doors to let themselves in, which is fine if you are on foot, but less convenient if you have to get out of your car.

Still, it’s better than letting the public in.

During the day, non-residents are also being fined if they want to pass through the condo precinct – 10 baht for motorcycles, 15 baht for cars.

-

Maiyuu met a policeman as he left the condo on foot. He was carrying a tap fitting, which he had just bought at Klong Thom market, when a passing policeman stopped him.

The policeman asked him where he was going. ‘I am walking out to the main road to get a taxi, to see a friend,’ Maiyuu replied.

It was after midnight, and Maiyuu was in a residential area, so perhaps the policeman was suspicious.

Or maybe he just wanted to subject Maiyuu to a gay body search, which Thai police have down to a fine art.

I have seen police search young motorcyclists by the side of the road. They don’t just pat their pockets, or frisk them, but rub, as if trying to get themselves aroused.

‘Lift your shirt,’ the policeman ordered.

Maiyuu did as he was told.

Rub, rub over his chest.

Then he started on his pants.

Feel, feel.

The policeman, whom Maiyuu reckons was drunk, then asked to see his identity card.

Maiyuu handed it over, but still the policeman would not let him go.

‘You should come with me for a urine test,’ said the cop.

‘I am not going anywhere for a test, as I don’t drink and am going about my business. What is it that you want...money?’ asked Maiyuu.

‘I don’t want money,’ said the policeman, who was wearing uniform.

‘So why don’t you let me go?’

The policeman asked to search Maiyuu a second time. He refused, and walked away.

‘Hey...I said stop!’ barked the cop.

‘I am not stopping. If you want to take my ID card, then take it. But I am carrying on,’ said Maiyuu, who left, leaving the policeman standing there with his card.

At home, Maiyuu was angry.

‘He talked about calling a police friend to help him search me,’ he complained.

The encounter left my boyfriend feeling nervous. He peered out the window of our condo, and made several trips down to the forecourt to see if the policeman would come back.

‘The card is just about to expire, so I will make a new one,’ he said.

‘I might also ask the motorcycle taxi guys if they know the policeman, or where he works,’ he said.

Police here are a menace, because some act as if they are a law unto themselves.

Maiyuu has decided against visiting the police station to lodge a complaint, as that could provoke them.

He was needlessly harassed, lost his card, and subjected to a gay body search. But that was minor, by the standards of some Thai police.

Next time he could lose money or worse, so why tempt fate.

Nervous driver/cook, skinny-leg jeans, Seng Ped arrives

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:06:00 +0000

‘When is the last time you were behind the wheel of a car?’ asked my father, pointing at the family vehicle.

‘More than two years ago,’ I admitted.

The last time was on a previous visit to see my parents. I drove their car on the dirt roads around a large historical park and picnic area close to home, with Dad in the passenger seat.

Dad gets me to try out driving when I am staying with them because it is the only chance I get to exercise whatever remains of my driving skills.

In Thailand, I do not own a car. In the past nine years, I have probably driven a vehicle for no longer than half an hour in total, and always when I am overseas with my parents.

Here, I get about in taxis, or friends take me.

My parents want me to keep up my driving skills, as one day I might return to the West to live. There, I would have to be more independent. In my last life I owned a car and drove regularly.

‘Would you like to have a go?’ he asked.

I climbed in behind the wheel, while Dad took the passenger seat.

I should join a reality show on mastering real-life challenges. The previous night, I tried cooking a meal, again for the first time in more than two years.

It’s not nerve-wracking; it’s just depressing, realising how much I have forgotten, and how lacking in confidence I had become. Once, I cooked regularly.

This time, Mum was my instructor.

Just as Dad is worried about whether I can still recall how to drive, Mum is concerned that in the Land of Smiles, I rarely make food.

Here, cooked Thai food is available for sale on the streets. I no longer have to provide for my own needs. Apart from that, boyfriend Maiyuu enjoys cooking, so I rarely feel the need to pick up a saucepan or chop up a clove of garlic myself.

‘Let me make dinner tonight. I want to give you a break.

‘’What do you want to make?’ Mum asked.

‘Well...whatever you like, as I might need your help,’ I said.

We made a lamb chop casserole, made from one of Mum’s recipes, which she had inherited from her own mother years before.

She assembled the meat and vegetables on the bench, found the fry pan and saucepans, and lit the gas.

‘When you cut the onions, look out for your eyes,’ said Mum helpfully.

The evening meal was a success, though most of the credit has to go to my mother, who had planned the meal the evening before, and knew we had everything we needed to make it.

‘This is delicious,’ said Mum approvingly.

‘Really, it was all your work,’ I replied.

Next day, I dusted off a few skills outside home, as Dad attempted to show me how to drive.

Behind the wheel, I started the engine, but the gear would not shift from Park.

‘How do you get the thing to move?’

‘Put your foot on the brake. It releases the gear,’ he said.

We crawled down the driveway, and on to the road outside, which was deserted.

I drove for 50m, when double lines suddenly appeared on the road.

‘This doesn’t feel good. The lines in the middle make my lane feel too narrow,’ I said.

Dad had asked if I wanted to take the car down the road to fill up with petrol. I decided against, as I might have to share the road with other vehicles. Avoiding other cars might be too hard.

Dad suggested it might be time for him to take over.

He didn’t bother praising my driving, because both of us knew I was no good. Mum, however, provided words of comfort.

‘When I drive, Dad gets feels just an anxious,’ she said.

‘Will you try cooking when you get back to Bangkok?’

‘I will have to ask the Master of the Kitchen,’ I said, referring to Maiyuu.

Back in Bangkok, I asked Maiyuu if he would let me cook for us occasionally.

I used to enjoy cooking simple evening meals when I lived in the West. I reckon I could get those old feelings back again, I told myself.

In any event, I owe it to myself and my parents to try, right?

‘If you cooked, I’d have to spend all my time cleaning up the mess,’ said Maiyuu.

The next day, I tried again.

‘Can I cook?’ I asked.

‘Unless you are a chef of professional standard, access to the kitchen is forbidden!’ he declared.

I will have to save my enthusiasm for cooking for future visits to my parents.

My visits overseas provide an escape from the narrow, at times suffocating life I live in exciting Bangkok.

I am like a child, learning how to take first steps in the adult world again. My poor parents are having to show me how to do things again which they long ago must have hoped I had mastered, such as chopping up the vegetables.

Despite that, my parents and I enjoy each other’s company more as we get older. We should make the most of the opportunity while we can.

Low-rise jeans which cling to the hips and the legs are popular with the young, including Maiyuu, who turned up at the airport to greet me in a pair similar to the ones you see here.

I can’t see the appeal. On skinny legs, they make men look spindly. On fat legs, they make them look even bigger.

Writing at the popular Pantip webboard, one daring poster is wondering why young men bother.

‘I know these are the fashion, but just how are they supposed to make me look fashionable or trendy?’ he asked.

‘It depends on the wearer,’ readers replied.

Indie Thai gay movie Seng Ped (เซ็งเป็ด - Boring Love) starts today, at the Lido cinema, the only place in town where you can see it, as it is in single-cinema release.

The trailer is here. No subtitles are provided, and I doubt the movie has any either. Read about it in this earlier post, here. Wise Kwai’s Thai film blog also takes a look at the film, here.

Ped, who works for an airline, fights off the advances of a colleague at work who wants to be more than just friends.

-
Sister blog Thai Boy Gay is back. Please give her an appropriate welcome.

Condo gets make over, boyfriend goes bohemian, Mr Graceful says goodbye

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:04:00 +0000

I walked into my condo, and barely recognised it.

Boyfriend Maiyuu has taken advantage of my absence over the last 10 days to revamp the place.

Gone are the writing table and bed base in his room. He is now sleeping with the mattress on the floor.

The computer, which used to sit on his desk, is now on the floor. He has even bought a dinky fan to keep himself cool while he is using it.

Maiyuu switches into busy gear when I go away. He appears to relish the freedom which my absence provides. He can go to work on ‘big picture’ stuff, as he can suit himself what he does, and at what pace.

'I can do a much better job at cleaning and decorating when there are no farang around nagging me to clean this and do that,’ he told me on the way back from the airport.

We took a taxi home, but he took a bus out to the airport to greet me, to save money.

Maiyuu has also cleaned the place top to bottom, and hung pictures on the walls.

But the highlight of his welcome home was undoubtedly the changes he made to my room. Maiyuu moved the bed sideways, so it is now parallel to the green-tinted windows rather than at a right angle.

The headboard is now in front of where I used to sit at the computer. My old built-in table has now become an extended headboard, where I have placed framed pictures of my family.

Maiyuu also bought a two-tiered study desk for my computer, which you can see in the picture. Now, when I am working, I can turn to my left and watch him in the sitting room.

Before I had to leave my work station if I wanted to talk to him.

This is the first big shake-up of the furniture and other arrangements in our place since we moved in six months ago, and our condo looks much better for it.

If I want to know how much Maiyuu has missed me, I need only look around at the changes he has made. It’s all there, in the many hours he must have spent cleaning and transforming the place.

-

At the airport, Maiyuu turned up looking fashionably depleted – a faded pair of jeans, cardigan over a T-shirt, and bright green sneakers without socks.

‘You look sir-sir...in a good way, ‘ I said, referring to the Thai word for fashionably bohemian, or rough.

‘Run down and haggard, more like it,’ replied Maiyuu, though his face was beaming.

When I am away Maiyuu rarely looks after himself properly, as it is no fun to eat alone.

‘I make food for myself, but it does not taste as good,’ he told me in a text message while I was away.

-

The graceful one has gone. Silom Farang wants a break from daily
blogging, and has stopped filing regular updates to his blog, Gay Boy
Thailand.

The story of Silom’s adventures in the Land of Smiles was pulling in
3000 or more readers a day by the time he pulled the plug last week.

It was much more than just a picture blog, Thai novel or diary of life with his Thai boyfriend, though it was all of those as well.

It was him; Silom’s ‘voice’ came across clearly in everything he wrote.

He treasured his interaction with readers, perhaps even needed it,
which gave his writing an earnest and vulnerable quality which is
lacking in many other Thai blogs, mine included.

He wrote in a personal manner, like a friend. At times I wondered what Silom might have made of some of my Thai encounters. In the manner of any good friend, he appeared to be there, watching.

By nature, Thais are gentle and self-effacing. The same qualities come across in
Silom's writing, which made his blog better suited to his subject matter than perhaps even he himself realised.

He is Gentleman Silom, and we are fortunate for having known him
through his blog.

Western breakfast send-off, my elephant protector

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Chef Maiyuu has made me a Western breakfast – a full-on affair with Paris ham, sausage, eggs, fried chips drizzled in farm honey, wholesome looking bread...

He cycled to the market this morning to buy the ingredients. Normally we eat Thai, but as I am about to go away...

Maiyuu cooks me farang food on my last days here so that while I am away, I think of Thailand.

I know...perverse.

I am going overseas to see my parents, which I do every year. On our last night, my parents and I eat Thai at a local restaurant. We eat Thai so that when I go back, I think of the country of my birth.

Yes, as I say...odd.

The last time I was there, I stole a look inside the kitchen of the farang-owned Thai restaurant we visited on our last night.

I saw a young farang man standing before a large pot. He was holding up a Thai cook book, for instructions on what to do next.

The chicken curry which came out was laced with coconut milk. I think they even added banana, to make it more 'exotic'.

Occasionally we visit Thai-owned restaurants. My parents urge me to speak in Thai to staff, but I try to avoid it, as I don’t know how good their Thai will be.

-

As a thank-you gift for my parents, Maiyuu has bought a carving in leather of an elephant, gilded in gold. Next, he will get it framed.

It took him days to find anything he liked. ‘I went to Suam Lum night bazaar. It has changed so much...I saw many more clothes sellers, though fewer tourists. But I did find the leather elephant there.'

My parents don’t want too much Thai clutter on their walls, as it reminds them of the country which took their son away.

But the elephant, hand-carved on leather, does look uniquely Thai.

If they have not yet tired of telling newcomers that their eldest son is lost to the wilds of Thailand, then they can point to the elephant and say: ‘He’s probably riding around on one of those.’

Postscript: This blog is taking a two-week break. While I am away, the moderating bar will be in place, to keep out spam. I promise to take it down as soon as I return.

Why the diet didn't work (2): Prawn salad, chocolate mousse

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

When food becomes art: Chef Maiyuu’s prawn salad, served on potato fritters.

Also pictured here is a dessert he made last night: chocolate mousse with toffee slivers.

Nathan Oman: Ekachai's a believer, Poj says he's full of it

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:14:00 +0000

A reader asked for an update on Nathan Oman, the former singer who reckons he’s about to make it big in Hollywood, but whose story few others believe.

Below is a story I wrote based on reports in the Thai papers at the end of last month, the last time we heard anything of note about him.

Nathan still has a few believers: one friend has given him work as a DJ, while country music singer Ekachai Sririchai, a fellow southerner, has given him a place to stay at his plush home in Bangkok (see picture).

Since stories about Ekachai’s generosity appeared, another story came to light about a row between Ekachai and outspoken director Poj Anon.

Ekachai appears in Poj’s latest comedy, Hor Taew Taek Haek Krajerng (Hor Taew Taek 2). Unlike Ekchai, who still believes in Nathan’s stories, Poj says he thought they were nonsense from day one.

'I thought from day one he was not acting in that Hollywood movie like he claims, or if he is, it's nothing like that,' says Poj, who knew Nathan back in the days when he was still a singing star, and wrote a pocketbook about his life talking about his supposed childhood in Oman.

Poj and Ekchai (see picture - Poj's on the right, with the flowers) argued over him, but then decided to forget about the affair, as presumably Nathan wasn’t worth getting into a tizz about.

-

Nathan Oman, the former singer who claims Hollywood has hired him to
appear in a blockbuster, is holing up with a southern singing star
until the fuss over whether he is not actually a con artist passes over.

Country music singer Ekachai Sriwichai, who like Nathan hails from the
South, says he offered Nathan a place to stay because he sympathises
with his plight. He also wanted to speak to a fellow southerner in the
native dialect.

'I knew he was sitting in a condo all alone as he deals with the publicity.

'I don’t judge Nathan on what appears in the media, and nor have I
asked him about the film. I feel sorry for him, and wanted him near so
we can speak in the southern dialect,' says Ekachai, who reckons
journalists are too keen to dig up scandal.

In July, Nathan told the media he had spent the past six months in the
Arabian desert, acting in The Prince of Red Shoe, a blockbuster
directed by Wolfgang Peterson for 20th Century Fox.

He claims he is getting 100 million baht for the three-part adventure
fantasy which is based on his own life.

On webboards, Thais questioned his claims, saying they could find no
trace of the film, which supposedly stars Bruce Willis and Christina Ricci.

Journalists have also tracked down members of Nathan’s family, who
insist he was raised in the South, and is not part-Nepalese as he
claims.

'I have seen what the media says – that he is a fraud, a swindler –
but I want to ask what good comes out of it. Assuming he is what they
say, who benefits from the scrutiny if he has done no one any harm?'
says Ekachai.

'He’s not the prime minister. You have no right to go digging up his
past. Everyone has done something wrong which they would like to keep
hidden. Let time be the judge.'

Nathan is also embroiled in conflicts with friends who say they owe
them money. They have laid a complaint with police, who have summoned
the former singing star for questioning.

In the latest issue of WHO magazine, Nathan responds to his critics,
saying no one knows him as well as he does himself, and one day the
truth will out.

'When the film is finally released, I know what will happen –
everyone will say, ''Oh, I knew it couldn’t be like they said...''

'But in the meantime, who is around to console me or give me moral
support when I really need it? This is a life lesson which I shall
never forget.'

Pomelo/prawn surprise, breakfast memories, thinking of home (which one?)

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Chef Maiyuu’s fried prawns, onion, and pomelo. I didn’t know pomelo and prawns went together, and in fact he may have thought up the dish himself.

It was delicious, as he made sure the onions were burnt, if that’s the right word, to add extra flavour.

The next picture portrays a typical breakfast, at least at our place. Most of the dishes come from the local market, though Maiyuu did make one of them, a chicken and vegetable soup.

We have our best conversations of the day over breakfast. For the rest of the time, Maiyuu is often too busy rattling around in the kitchen (on his active days), while I am doing my own thing elsewhere.

In a week or so from now, I shall be with my family overseas, where we have traditional farang fare – cereal, toast, fruit and so on. How can it compare?

-

The pomelo was a present from the mother of my new student, who I wrote about yesterday. She gave it to me when I taught her son a few days ago. I am supposed to go back today...or was it tomorrow, I can’t remember. My memory is getting so bad, I need to keep a diary.

-

Maiyuu is still convinced I won’t come back from my trip overseas. Or maybe he just says it as a joke.

I will come back...I promise. Whenever I go overseas, I look forward to my trip, which is natural, as I enjoy spending time with my family.

However, I find ‘farangland’ (Silom Farang’s memorable name for it) hard to take.

No sooner do I arrive than I start getting restless, probably because I feel out of place. I also miss my boyfriend, who I know is waiting for me at home. He counts down the days until my return, as do I.

Mario Maurer does comedy, goes Korean

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Mario Maurer and Chompoo Araya A Hargett, who will star in Saranair Sip Lor (สาระแนนสิบล้อ), the next big-screen spin-off from the Saranair reality television show.

Saranair's three hosts play pranks on celebrities, who don’t know the cameras are watching.

Six months ago they launched the first movie spin-off, Saranair Haow Peng, which made B50m in its first week.

Here’s blogger Wise Kwai on the film:

'It's a tragedy that this passes for entertainment.

'And therein lies the value of [the movie] - it is a documentary artifact of the abysmal state of popular culture, in which 90 minutes of hidden cameras and handheld video footage of juvenile antics can be made into a feature film.'

Sahamongkol Films, which knows a good thing at the box office when it sees it, has now invited hosts Willy Mcintosh, Nakorn Silachai, and Kiatisak Udomnak to make a second film based on the 11-year-old series. The buang suang (blessing) ceremony heralding the start of production (see pictures) was held yesterday.

Mario will play a quiet young man whose parents reckon he's gay. His father sends him to relatives who drive a 10-wheel truck for a living, for training in how to be a 'man'.

Mario denies he took the role under pleading by his manager, A Supachai Sriwichit, who is himself gay.

'I accepted the role because I am interested in the part, and an actor should be able to turn his hand to anything,' said Mario.

'These days Thais accept the idea that people of the same sex can love each other. On the skytrain, I have even seen two guys kissing. It's not like 30-40 years ago, when Thai society could still not accept the idea.'

Mario shot to fame playing a youngster smitten with another male teen in the family gay drama Love of Siam.

Mario has also signed up for a joint Thai-Korean soap opera, Tai Fa Tawan Deo (ใต้ฟ้าตะวันเดียว), his first foray into television, he told the media yesterday.

The soap opera will be shot in Korea with a mixed Thai/Korean cast, including four Korean actors: Ryan, formerly of the band PARAN, two members from the band You Kiss, and Kim Ki Bum, a member of the boyband Super Junior.

For a glimpse of them, see this news clip from Modernine TV [link harvested - it died], or this post from the Pantip webboard [link harvested -it died]. The series will show on Modernine TV early next year.

Mario, who gets around, also appears on the front cover of this month's Image magazine, with actor/musician Pae Arak Amornsupasiri. The two are locked in a manly embrace, and have tied themselves in black.

Why the diet didn't work, lonely boyfriends, Thai family in spares

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +0000

A tuile desert...the boat-shaped part is plain tuile, and the sail-like wafer slice sticking out the top is tuile made with thin slivers of almond.

The other picture is a hotdog (sausage hidden).

-

I am going overseas to see my family this month. Maiyuu is looking for a present for my parents. ‘People your parents’ age are so hard to buy for,’ he complained. ‘They must have everything they want by now.’

Maiyuu is not looking forward to my departure.

When I am here, he pedals to the market every day to buy food.

‘When you go, I won’t have to go any more. I will be alone in the condo, and missing you.’

‘I will call, and send many text messages,’ I said.

-

Two days off from work lie ahead. What to do with them?

Maybe I should do something young and energetic, like going to see friends (I still have some of them, don’t I? Let me check).

I live in a big, exciting city after all. But I doubt I can be bothered.

At midday we will watch Mamma Mia on television. That should kill a couple of hours.

-

I hate the internet in the mornings.

About 9am, when I like to post, my internet service is intermittent at best, presumably because everyone is getting into work and switching on their computers.

Bugger them...they should just wait. Can’t they see an artist is at work?

-

‘Mama...Do this. Ma...Do that.’

That’s a Thai-Chinese student of mine, who I teach English.

We meet at his family’s shophouse for lessons.

One day I walked in to buy something. My young student, as he would become, jumped to his feet to serve me, and spoke in English.

This was unusual. Most Thais I meet are too shy, or gave up on the language years ago. But here was a young man who enjoys learning, and is keen to practise.

I asked him about this and that in English, to test his skills. He understood everything, and replied promptly and politely.

‘Would you like to meet my son for conversation?’ asked Mum, who was listening.

And so we began. We meet most days in the afternoons.

Mum likes to watch us talk, but her son would rather she do jobs.

‘Ma...fetch more paper, please. And a pen?

‘Ma, please answer the phone.

‘Mama, a customer needs serving.’

Mum does as she is told.

Middle-class Thai parents indulge their offspring, as we know. But their kids are also expected to pull their weight, at school if not at home.

It is school holiday time. My student, who is 15, helps his mother in the shop, but spends most of his days playing computer games, and talking to his girlfriend (‘No, just friend,’ Mum insisted, when I let the dreaded ''girlfriend'' word slip).

He spends hours a day talking to the girl, who he met on the internet.

Mum lets him get away with it, because it’s her part of a deal she has made to keep her son on the right path.

In return for this indulgent behaviour at home, he is expected to work during term time at school, and where girlfriends or other potential sources of academic disruption are concerned, keep his sights set low.

‘He is too young for girlfriends...still a baby. He must finish school, go to university and get a job before he can think about such things,’ said Mum.

‘That’s a long way off yet,’ I reminded her. 'I don't think of him as a baby.'

Unlike her son, whose English comprehension is excellent, Mum has none. The boy attends an all-boys state school; before that, he studied at private single-sex school where most instruction is in English. His academic record is excellent.

Mum and Dad make sacrifices, as they must if they want their kids to grow up with better opportunities. This is the contractual arrangement, if you like, which results.

The son is spoiled and indulged by his parents, but at least they get to keep him at home most days. After school, he takes extra tuition classes. On one day a week, he takes military training. They might do something as a family - go the shops, play sport - once a week.

The rest of the time, it’s work, work, work.

His rigorous academic regime reminds me of my own at secondary school. But that was in the West, at a school which charged high fees.

My young friend goes to a state school, admittedly a good one. Mum and Dad could probably afford to give him more freedom and independence without risk of spoiling the goods.

My new family makes me feel whole, so I hope our teaching arrangement lasts, even if it does have its odd moments. Mum rewards me with fruit, Chinese tea, home-made chrysanthemum juice, and other treats.

If I started issuing orders to Mum too, would she jump just like she does for her son?

Energy drinks, mad dogs, and mass tetanus shots

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Boyfriend Maiyuu is feeling better after his dog bite.

His mother took him for tetanus injections when he was a child, he told me last night.

Maiyuu, who grew up in Chon Buri province, lived in a shared housing compound with his grandmother, aunt and other relatives.

‘My grandmother owned a dog called Lipo, named after the energy drink. She used to take this energy drink late at night during marathon card-playing sessions.

‘Anyway, one day Lipo started going mad. My aunt was teaching students at home.

‘Doctors from the Ministry of Health visited us and gave us all a tetanus injection as a precaution.

‘Lipo never did bite me, but one day he did go mad so they put him down.’

Thankfully, they took Lipo away to do that.

In the provinces, Maiyuu says public health authorities can visit folks at home to administer care, such as tetanus injections.

Alternatively, they visit schools. Students line up and are given an injection one by one.

Mor Krit: Taking 'obnoxious' down a notch

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:40:00 +0000

Fortune-teller Mor Krit’s defamation suit against R&B singer Lydia Saranrat Wisutthithada has no grounds, the Criminal Court decided yesterday.

The court has refused to hear Mor Krit’s B100m counter-suit against Lydia, who is suing him after he incorrectly forecast she was pregnant.

While Mor Krit (Sukrit Patumsriwiroj) intends filing an appeal, and still has a similar defamation suit against Lydia pending in the Civil Court, he is now looking dangerously exposed.

The young fortune teller filed a criminal defamation suit against Lydia and her boyfriend Matthew Dean, after they claimed he lacked professionalism and was trying to leach off their fame.

They were reacting to a forecast Mor Krit gave at the request of journalists last year, that Lydia was pregnant.

Lydia denied it, but his remarks (‘Mor Krit confirms!’)set off media speculation that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a family friend, was the father.
Some reports even had Lydia travelling to Malaysia for an abortion.

Mor Krit said he forecast only that she was pregnant. The media provided the Thaksin backstory, not him.

The court noted that when celebrity magazine Dara Daily published Mor Krit’s forecast with the Thaksin embellishments, Mor Krit did not bother to correct them.

Lydia was entitled to believe that Mor Krit actually made the remarks alleged. As for Matthew Dean’s remarks criticising Mor Krit, that was a natural response for anyone trying to protect his girlfriend.

Mor Krit’s lawyer Sakorn Sirichai says his client will appeal against the decision.

He denied it would have any effect on Lydia’s B50m suit against Mor Krit. A parallel B100m defamation suit against Lydia and Matthew, filed in the Civil Court, would proceed.

Maiyuu's tasty ankle

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:17:00 +0000

A street dog has taken a bite out of my boyfriend’s leg.

Maiyuu was on his bicycle yesterday when he tossed a cigarette in the direction of a neighbourhood dog.

He doesn’t like these dogs, as they chase him when he is on his bike.

This one didn’t appreciate the cigarette butt gesture, so bounded after him. It took a bite out of Maiyuu’s leg, just above the left ankle.

Maiyuu suspects the dog belongs to a som tam (spicy Thai salad) trader, who witnessed the scene.

‘He looked bewildered, as I didn’t stop to inspect the bite, but just kept going,’ said Maiyuu, who presented his wound for my inspection when I returned from work last night.

The wound is not deep, but looks angry. Maiyuu has applied an antiseptic, and is walking around with the wound uncovered, so it stays dry and heals quickly.

‘At first it felt numb, so I didn’t race away, but kept up my normal speed.’

Normally Maiyuu darts about when he is on his bike, but when he passed the som tam dog yesterday was dawdling.

Maybe the dog was confused to see him going past so slowly, so decided to bite him. Or maybe he is a reformed smoker.

‘I kicked the animal off me. I think I struck it in the head,’ said Maiyuu.

Excellent. If it had been mine, I would have hopped off my bike to have a self-indulgent moan.

Thais would have been sympathetic, as they love a good drama. They would laugh and point, as laughing is the best antidote to misery, even if it may seem an odd reaction to foreigners worried about the prospect of getting rabies.

I have been bitten by Thai street dogs, usually while tired and emotional. They know how humans walk, and when we weave about reckon we have hostile intent. Thankfully those days are long past, as I am now too old and sensible.

Maiyuu is taking it all in his stride. He walks normally, without a limp, though the wound looks red and swollen this morning.

‘Did you have bad dreams?’ I asked.

‘No.’

At my smart inner-city condo, we are surrounded by street dogs. A huge pack of 10 or more lives in the slum section. Another large family lives on the leafy side opposite.

During the night, they howl. A particularly plaintive howl by one mutt can set off a doggy chorus which reverberates around the neighbourhood like a Mexican wave.

I will take a different approach tonight when I pass the dogs on my way home. When I walk past, they sniff at my ankles, as if looking for a tasty spot to bite.

I am never sure how to react. Talk to them? Pretend I don’t notice? Throw burning cigarettes?

Just kidding about the cigarette butts; I don’t smoke.

I try to look friendly, but tonight I shall be extra nice: I might blow canine kisses. If I am lucky, they might let me pass.

Boring Love (เซ็งเป็ด) : Internet tale turned indie gay flick

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:40:00 +0000

A small-budget Thai gay movie arrives at the Lido cinema next month.

Seng Ped (เซ็งเป็ด - Boring Love), directed by Sarawut Intaraprom (The Boyfriend), tells the story of Ped, a Thai man who reckons he's straight, but forms an attachment with a gay man, Oiy, which goes much deeper than he realised.

Ped and Oiy work at an airline. Oiy, who is gay, wants more than just friendship with Ped, but his heart as well. Ped, who has just broken up with his girlfriend, tries to get Oiy out of life, as he can't accept being gay.

He draws closer to Oiy without realising it, as he sympathises with his plight, and Oiy is a good friend at least.

However, acting on his old instincts he sets up a meeting between his old girlfriend, Kai, and Oiy, in the hope Kai can persuade him to go straight. Kai secretly fancies Oiy, and fancies her chances of converting him.

Oiy discovers the meeting was a set-up. Feeling betrayed and rejected, he leaves Ped's life, just as Ped had wanted.

However, once Oiy has gone, Ped discovers he can't live without Oiy, and was much closer to his friend than he realised...

The story started life as a series of posts which 'Ped' published about his perplexing love life at the Pantip webboard two years ago. The opening lines are memorable, and have popped up on many websites since: 'I am not gay! Why are you flirting with me?’

The story, which ran for four months, was so popular with the Pantip crowd that Anit Publishing turned it into a pocket book, which became a best-seller. Now it is being made into an indie film.

Seng Ped has just one star in its cast: Cartoon Intira Ketworasoontorn, who in the opening scenes must strip. The director asked a stand-in to do the naughty scenes, sparing her the embarrassment.

She appears alongside two male leads, acting newcomers Nattaphon Nillpoom (left in the group shot), who plays Ped, and Attiwat Lumkool, who plays his friend Oiy (ณัฐพล นิลภูมิ และ อธิวัฒน์ ลำกูล).

The film is showing at the Lido cinema only, opening on Nov 29. It was launched before the media late last month. As it is made on a low-budget, the film probably won’t have sub-titles. See more stills and a clip here.

For those who can read Thai, the memorable opening lines from Seng Ped as it appeared at the Pantip webboard are below.

” กรูไม่ช่ายเกย์….จะจีบทำม้ายยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย
…..เมิงขออะไรหน่อยได้มั๊ย……
……ขออะไร
……ขอหัวใจเมิงอ่ะ หัวใจตรูมันเรียกร้อง
แมร่งงงงงงง ประโยคพรรค์นี้ผมได้ยินบ่อยมากกกกกก
ได้ฟังที่ไรปวดไปถึงตับ จุกทุกที คิดได้ไง
เรื่อง ของเรื่องคือผมเป็นน้องใหม่ แล้วมันทำงานมาก่อน ทีนี้มันคงแอบชอบผมมั้ง หน้าตาก็ดีทำไม๊ ทำไมไม่ไปเอาผู้หญิง ผมเคยถามมัน….มันบอก กรูไม่ชอบตีฉิ่ง….ไอ้กร๊วก…
ทุกเช้าวันจันทร์ผมจะเจอน้ำเต้าหู้ตั้ง อยู่บนโต๊ะ เมื่อก่อนมันซื้อปาท่องโก๋ด้วย แต่พอผมบอกว่ากินปาท่องโก๋ทีไรนึกถึงแฟนทุกที มันก็ไม่ซื้อมาให้เห็นอีกเลย
……..ทำไมมันถึงคิดว่าผมจะชอบมันน่ะเหรอครับ มาดูเหตุผลมัน
1. ก็เมิง(มันเรียกผมว่าเมิง)เดินตูดบิดนี่หว่า
2.เครื่องประทินโฉมเมิงเยอะจัด
3.เมิงทิ้งแฟนเมิง แสดงว่าเมิงไม่ชอบผู้หญิง…(ที่จริงเค้าทิ้งผม)
4.ถึงเมิงจะเตะบอลแต่ เมิงเล่นบอลไม่เก่ง เมิงเล่นวอลเล่เก่งกว่า
5.เมิงไม่กินเหล้า ไม่สูบบุหรี่เหมือนตรู
6.ที่สำคัญตรูว่าชาติที่แล้วเมิงต้องเป็นเมียกรู ไม่งั้นกรูไม่รู้สึกกับเมิงแบบนี้หรอก…….

Today I visited a temple (not)

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Want a travelogue-style account of life in Thailand?

Most blogs written by foreigners in Thailand fall into that category.

I need only glance at the sidebar of a typical blog to tell me how me about the author’s experience of the place.

If the author posts links to the local English-language papers, and other helpful ‘resources’ for the foreigner finding his way around, I know he’s still painfully new.

As the blog author spends longer here, his stuff becomes more esoteric. He develops his own interests. What he offers on his blog is a compromise between what he wants to say, and what he knows visitors want to read.

I seldom provide travelogue accounts of anything. I write about common, everyday stuff, like a walk to the market with the boyfriend. The Thai stuff is almost incidental. I can write like that, because I've been here a while.

Readers appear to enjoy such stories, as they can ‘relate’, to use the jargon. The other day, this blog had 900 unique visitors. So why is everyone so quiet?

Until recently, posts about life with the boyfriend (the most popular ones) attracted an average of eight to 10 responses each. Now, hardly anyone comments. What happened?

My lengthy battle with Anon the Shrink might have put readers off commenting. These days, I am also happier with the boyfriend. If I wrote more about my problems with him, readers might be more inclined to comment. Readers like to offer advice. And I don’t mind getting it, as long as it’s polite.

Most good stories have a start, middle and ending. This one has a start and a middle. I can't provide the ending, as that's up to you. So, what about it?

Ticking-off over breakfast

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:05:00 +0000

‘When will you eat that beef dish?’ asked Maiyuu.

He pointed at a dish we bought at the market yesterday. It is full of bones, and has no meat. It is also laced with chili.

‘I don’t like the look of it,’ I said over breakfast.

‘Well, you insisted we buy it...it cost B30!’ he said.

This is a good illustration of why, as I was saying yesterday, I should leave the food buying to Maiyuu. He knows when he is getting quality. This dumb foreigner doesn’t.

‘You farang always go for dishes you think look attractive. You don’t look at them carefully,’ he said.

’I don’t know how they have the nerve to sell it. There’s no meat on those bones, and it is stringy and sinewy,’I said.

‘Some Thais like to suck the bones,’ he said, passing me a dish of dried fish.

‘Here, eat this. Fish is good for your brain,’ he said. ‘You can do with the help.'

Boy Chokchai: I don't need no sugar daddy

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Where his gay fanclub is concerned, model /actor Boy Chokchai Bunwonmethee believes in facing up to potentially bothersome admirers.

Boy (บอย-โชคชัย บุญวรเมธี) plays a man who hits on gays in the soap opera Burnt Sugar.
Real life did a strange flip when a gay admirer called him recently and offered to be his sugar daddy.

‘Advertisements for Burnt Sugar had only just started airing when I received a call at home from a man who said he was a member of my fan club. He asked me out for a meal.

‘I accepted his invitation, as I thought it might be the easiest way to deal with the matter. If I had refused, he could have kept calling,’ says Boy.

‘I called my manager, who accompanied me to the meal. The man who called turned out to be no ordinary member of my fan club. He was an older man, who offered to look after me.

‘My manager explained on my behalf that I was actually 100% man, not gay. He accepted it, and parted on friendly terms.'

In Burnt Sugar, the actor enters a relationship with actor Ta Warit Tipkomuth (ต๊ะ-วริษฐ์ ทิพโกมุท), who plays a married man who is secretly gay. Boy’s character is ostensibly straight, but hits on Ta because Ta is wealthy. They are pictured together above; Ta is the one on the left.

Watch the actors discussing their role in this clip, posted at the Lakorns blog. The segment starts at the 1.00 mark.

Ta has played gay men before. If Boy shows promise in Burnt Sugar, gay characters might become a regular fixture for him, too.

Long-term readers might recall Boy the pillow-chewer in a spread from Need magazine, published on this blog more than two years ago.

He’s toughened up since then, so much so that I did not recognise him the first time I saw the video of him and Ta.

Postscript: Ta and the male lead from Burnt Sugar, Aum Atichart Chumnanont, get cuddly in a blokey fashion, in a spread together for Vogue magazine, which you can see in this post from Man of the Rose.

Flirtatious watch, market spend-up, cute car dreams

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:39:00 +0000

Maiyuu and I bought food at the market – enough for two days, he assures me.

The market is about 10 minutes’ walk from home and opens twice a week. Stall-holders set up on a large piece of vacant land next to a dormitory.

Maiyuu walks in front, as the space between the rows of stalls is narrow. I call out when I see something which appeals. Tonight it was fish.

Maiyuu turned up his nose at most of my choices. ‘It doesn’t look tasty enough,’ he said. Or: ‘Not fresh enough.’

I trust his judgement, as Thais know their food.

One vendor was selling minced chicken, cooked in red curry powder. Yum. I about to call out when I felt Maiyuu’s firm arm on mine, pulling me away.

‘That’s enough! We'll have no space left in the fridge.’

-
‘We should buy a small car,’ Maiyuu announced, as we were trudging towards the market.

A cute red Mini passed us, but they are expensive, so we considered other makes.

‘A Proton from Malaysia – they are cute too,’ said Maiyuu.

Cuteness rather than reliability is the crucial factor for us – though I would add another condition, that Maiyuu also learns how to drive.

‘Of course I’ll take lessons – how else will we get around?’ he asked, as if I was stupid.

‘What about your teeth?’ I asked. We are saving to get his teeth done, so the car might have to wait.

‘We will make saving for the car a project for next year,’ he said.

-

I put on my watch before I went out. Lately I have been feeling frisky. If I see a wristwatch on a man, it tells me he is ready for action.

If I see a young man outdoors without a watch, particularly if he is in the company of someone else, I know he is probably settled, and not looking.

I rarely put on my watch when I venture into the neighbourhood around home, unless I am going to work. Tonight I did slip it on, because I want to catch someone's attention.

The leather strap is fraying at the edges, as is the body wearing it, but with darkness gathering outside, hopefully no one would be able to tell.

I paused. ‘Will the boyfriend notice if I put on my watch?’ I wondered.

Outside, I put my worries to rest. My boyfriend was himself wearing a watch, a smart one with a silver band. Maybe he’s on the prowl too.

-

Like the pictures?

He comes from The Boy magazine.

I pinched him from the Tenchunk blog, which I added, and then took off the ‘Other Blogs’ blog roll, after I spotted nude pics. This is a family gay-themed blog, if there is such a thing. We don't do bare bods.

Nicky's nine inches still intact

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Model Sura 'Nicky The Stick' Theerakol, in hospital after a motorcycle accident, is still in one piece where it counts.

'My right elbow is shattered, and I cut my nose, but my nine inches are still intact,' said Nicky, referring to the ''stick'' which gives him his nickname.

He was speaking from Piyawet Hospital, where Nicky is recovering after his motorcycle overturned in the Rachayothin Rd area early on Tuesday.

Nicky was heading to the market when the front tyre on his bike burst.

The model underwent a three-hour operation on his elbow, and will wear a cast over his arm for six weeks.

Nicky still intends taking part in this year’s Superstar reality show/performance contest on television, a show ‘where they make D-list Thai stars do crazy musical numbers on stage’, as Lyn of the Lakorns blog puts it.

The Godfather of Nude, as he is also known, says he will press ahead with competing on the show because he needs the money.

Tata, her ex-love, and gay ghosts

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:53:00 +0000

The latest MV from superstar Tata Young’s new album has her fans guessing about whether she is having another subtle dig at her former betrothed, socialite Prem Busarakamwong.

In the MV for Bloody Valentine, the second single released from the album Ready for Love, Tata’s character has slain her Valentine’s lover. We see him lying under water in the bathtub.

Earlier, the same young man is seen following her about in a hotel. He watches as she inspects a video he made of himself with another woman.

Fans who have seen the video assume the young man is the spirit of Tata’s now-slain Valentine, who doesn’t yet know he’s dead. Tata’s character, we are invited to believe, knocked him off after discovering he had been seeing someone else (the girl in the picture) on the sly.

That’s all well and good. More entertaining is whether the song tells us anything about her doomed relationship with her fem-looking former fiancee, Prem Busarakamwong.

A year ago, the pair called off their engagement, sealed in a lavish ceremony the previous December in which Prem’s wealthy family gave Tata’s kin a dowry of B100m.

Some cynical Thais say Tata agreed to get engaged (but not marry) Prem, so he could enter the entertainment industry on her petticoat tails. Prem is now a movie/singing star in his own right, though he spends most of his time working for his boxing-promoter father.

Regardless, Tata has made little secret of the fact that some songs on the album refer to her broken love with Prem. The song ‘Suffocate’, for example, is widely thought to be a dig at Prem:

‘You’ve got me stuck in a corner, and you can’t see what you’re doing to me...when you hold me under the water, I can’t breathe...why can’t you see, that you’re suffocating me...’

In Bloody Valentine, Tata takes the key to her room from an old guy at the front desk. The check-in guy looks at her Valentine’s companion, then at a stuffed deer’s head hanging on the wall.

What’s Tata telling us – that the young man following her about is actually gay?

Thai youngsters use two common words for deer - keng, and kwang (เก้ง, กวาง) - to refer to gays. Maybe the old guy at the desk is himself gay, and has spotted that Tata’s Valentine’s guy is the same way inclined. Both probably are also ghosts (a case of one ghost - and gay - spotting another - ชายแก่ก็เป็นเกย์ - ผีเห็นผี)

The MV is here.

Mor Krit: My stars can't help me now

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:50:00 +0000

Celebrity fortune-teller Mor Krit’s chances of settling his defamation dispute with R&B singer Lydia Saranrat Wisutthithada look more dismal than ever.

On Friday Lydia refused to attend a conciliation meeting at the Criminal Court with Mor Krit (Sukrit Patumsriwiroj).

Lydia, who has just bought a house with its own airstrip and small private airplane, took a flying lesson instead.

She sent along her lawyer to court with the news that she was not interested in talking to Mor Krit, after he refused to show any remorse when he appeared before the same court the week before.

Lydia is suing Mor Krit for B50m after he forecast incorrectly that she was pregnant. She says the forecast damaged her reputation, as it led to speculation that she had fallen pregnant to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a family friend, and travelled to Malaysia for an abortion.

Mor Krit is fighting back with lawsuits of his own against Lydia and her boyfriend, worth B100m.

The previous week, the fortune-teller to the stars attempted to convince the court why it should accept his counter-suit against Lydia.

‘I confirmed she was pregnant, based on her stars, but I never said it was a fatherless child, or that she obtained an abortion,’ he insisted.

Lydia takes those remarks to mean that he is unrepentant.

Explaining her decision not to attend the meeting, she said: ‘He refused to say sorry. It’s gone beyond the point where we can compromise or reach a settlement,’ she said.

The court will give its decision on whether to accept Mor Krit’s defamation suit this Friday.

Unloved wafers, guard perks up, Kew calls in

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Chef Maiyuu has made a lemon cream to fill his tuile wafers, but it is sitting in the fridge waiting for him to make the next move.

‘I am worried that if I fill the tuiles with the cream, they will get soggy,’ he says.

-

‘Both security guards need to work together. If one of you lets the kid through on the bike, then the other will have to lift the barrier too.’

I was talking to a security guard at our condo. He was a new face, so I thought I would let off steam about the young man who lives in the slum section next door, and likes to pass through the place many times a day revving his noisy engine.

He usually approaches from the entrance closest to his place in the slum, but if he's heading back home, can also cut back through the condo by using the entrance closest to the main road.

Guards at both ends have asked him not to use our condo as a short cut; he ignores them.

If one security guard raises the traffic barrier blocking access to the road, then the other is obliged to follow suit, if only to ensure he leaves the condo precinct.

I suspect the first guard he meets can't be bothered dealing with the problem, so just lifts the barrier to let him in.

The barriers are now fitted with a sign saying, ‘Access forbidden if you don’t live here, as this is a private road.'

Last week a guard in his 60s told me that he lifts the barrier because he is afraid that if he resists, the teenager will round up his mates and come back in the middle of the night to assault him.

The guy I spoke to today was more helpful.

‘We need to get together to discuss how to deal with his lad. He has passed through the place many times already this morning,’ he said.

-

‘I really miss you, na,’ said bad boy Kew.

The other day he called, and we spoke for the first time in many weeks.

Kew’s 25th birthday passed last weekend, but he spent it alone, as no one was around to help him celebrate.

‘I just went to work, and went home to bed,’ he said.

He asked if we could meet again for a few beers.

‘Try me again this weekend,’ I said.

Since my visit to the Thon Buri side of town to visit farang M, I am keen to stretch my wings.

I want to see more of my Thai friends outside work. Since we moved to a condo in town, I have barely ventured out of the area.

‘I miss you – jing jing, pee,’ he said, sounding almost pleading.

If I could reach over the phone to give Kew a hug, I would have done so. I miss Kew, and am touched he still remembers me.

Tuile wafers shape up, visit to the 'real' Thailand

bkkdreamer@gmail.com (Bkkdreamer) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Chef Maiyuu’s almond tuile wafers, spread out on a wooden stick.

He attached the rod to a baking tray with a rubber band. As soon as his tuile came out of the oven, he draped them on the stick, to give them the curvy shape which these little wafer biscuits need.

Next up, he will decide how to fill them – a sweet cream, perhaps?

Thank you to loyal readers Wouter and Celeste 33 for the comments on tuile wafers.

-

I went to see a foreigner friend who lives in a remote part of town, near Sang Krajai temple in Issaraphab Rd.

It took me only 45mins to reach it, but then I left in the middle of the day. My friend, farang M, lives with his Thai girlfriend at a house owned by her boss, a property owner in the Khao San Rd area.

This was my first trip across the river to see any friends in the six months since I moved from the Thon Buri side of town to our new place close to the city centre.

Farang M, 48, who is in poor health, looked little different than the last time I saw him, which is a good thing.

However, his house and garden were in a shabby state. ‘The owner rarely comes to do the garden, and I am not strong enough to handle it myself,’ he complained.

Farang M does not work, so lives on his girlfriend’s meagre earnings as a receptionist. We have known each other for years, since the days when Mum’s shop in Thon Buri, where we used to socialise, was still a busy place.

Back in those days, farang M lived just down the road from Mum’s shop. Since then he has moved, so rarely sees it.

In fact, he seldom gets out at all, as he doesn’t have the money.

'I met my girlfriend in that area about a week ago, as it happens. She was coming home from a trip to see her family in the provinces. It was my first time out in five weeks,’ said farang M.

We sat in his overgrown garden, drinking whisky and watching the sun go down. A storm came and went, and then I went home.

The main road outside his place looked dilapidated, as if it was barely holding up against the recession. But the Thais I met were charming.

On my way to farang M’s place, I dropped in to a store to buy a bottle of whisky. The young man serving me asked where I came from.

‘I live in town, but I come here to see a friend,’ I told him. I also chatted briefly to his Mum, who gave me directions.

Later, as I went to fetch Coke, a young man in another shop held up one finger of one hand, and two fingers from another. He couldn't, or wouldn't speak English, so sign language had to do. ‘What’s that – 30 baht?’ I asked him.

He laughed and turned to a guy sitting behind a computer. As I left, I saw him tell his friend about our small encounter.

As I waited for a taxi home, I parked myself in front of another shop, where three youngsters in their late teens were chatting. They smiled, and one said hello.

Before moving to our new place, I contemplated looking for a house to rent near farang M. I decided against, as it is even further away from my office than was my old condo, itself a good 30-minute's bus ride away.

The road is barely wide enough to walk down, and in peak hour is packed. However, the temple is attractive, and the atmosphere lively.

Youngsters gather in hairdresser’s shops or email cafes. Issaraphab Rd is close to several tertiary outlets, so the place has a vibrant ‘demographic’.

Families live in shophouses, which have a basic shop on street level, and sleeping quarters above. When they get home from school, many youngsters help Mum and Dad run the shop.

It is very different from the safe, middle-class neighbourhood I inhabit, where neighbourhood dogs mill about more often than the well-heeled residents.

‘I’ll come back again soon, as this place is fun,’ I told farang M.

His neighbourhood feels a world away from my concerns at home or work - more like the 'real' Thailand which I came here to experience nine years ago, but which lately appears to have slipped through my grasp.