True tales of Thailand life I / BREAK ON THROUGH

 

Ivar Brinkman is feeling lucky at Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

  · Pattaya  · 

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True tales of Thailand life: I

BREAK ON THROUGH

https://youtu.be/YCohm_CilUY

Weird scenes inside the gold mine...The full moon in Pattaya brought some strange events yesterday:

A fall off the fence in the night after one drink too many and without a key somehow, the iron grid was slightly bent. Deep apologies- Japanese style- and a steep 500 baht repair fine the next day. Then 5 hors of sleep and no workout in the morning.

Then a Thai lesson at 11.00 and I learned many useful expressions ( please be polite, your service is under par, I am sorry for you but...etc). And an invitation to come with and observe a student ( Japanese!) on SAT for an English lesson.

In the PM I visited the former manager in a nursing home. Miracuously, he is still aliveafter dengue fever , a hospital infection and a major 6 week coma,. And he is determined to live on, somehow. I have to say that this was a major compassion experience for yours truly...

On the way back, my friend Rick, a talented Dutch musician, warned me about working here, the local contracts and the issues surrounding business here (visas, permits, fines, and labor issues). That was another warning: international schools only if I am going to teach herein the future.

So no drinks at night, a light meal and a Zolpi set me straight with 10 hours of sleep for today. I am looking forward, and grateful that I did not sustain any injuries yesterday. First of all : putting the bike in order and a test drive this morning.

To conclude : I am now ready to take off and leave Sodom, which is exactly what I experienced the last time I was here after 10 days. I feel I can go deeper into the heart of things now, instead of skimming the surface here. Deeper into the heart of the goldmine, to speak with my old friend Jim , whom one could almost imagine encountering here on the beach...at night under the full moon.

And then Jim would probably hum, in that insanely cool voice of his :

https://youtu.be/YCohm_CilUY

 

TRUE TALES OF THAILAND LIFE IV/ THE DAY I MET CHANG, THE ELELPHANT 

https://youtube.com/shorts/O4h6nGiNEzw?feature=share

Animals are highly revered in Thailand, and on Ko Chang specifically the elephant ( Chang). In fact the island looks like an elephant head and there are actually Changs present on this island. As I was motoring along I decided to take a look a look a the elephant ride park. One lonely elephant stood in the shade , gnabbling on some vegetables.

Is the elephant indigenous to the island ? I asked

- No elephant come from Changmai long time ago. Woman. We call her Sawaii. 

And does the elephant work ? 

-She is old already. Other elephants work and do rides

Business is OK ?

Yes OK now, many people love elephant here and want to ride. 

Some remarks can be made on the status of the elephant, which is a sacred animal in Buddhism through S.E. Asia. It is considered wise and of superior intelligence, and fierce. It is best to leave it alone since it remembers pretty much every encounter. As for the tours industry, that did no really start until the 1980’s, when Thailand became available to mass tourism. Approximately 7500 elephants are being held for tour purposes and to give tourists them an encounter to the wildlife, like the snake farm and the crocodile farm. 

( add vid) 

And how old is Sawaii now ? 

-Don’t know, maybe 20 years, she here long time. Have baby too.

Wow, and is the baby here too ? 

- Baby die long time ago. Sawaii now finish. 

- You want to ride another one ? 500 baht… 

Our conversation fell silent. There were many other questions I wanted to ask ( what is your business model, and what does your marketing look like), do you have an interest in durable tourism ? What do you tink about animal rights ? Etc. But I had run out of text. Sawaii the elephant did not have much to add either. Plus there were no customers to interview on their experience.

In short, it seemed that all were quite happy with the current situation. And maybe I should be too. I decided not to shoot any pics from the spot. And it left me with 2 serious questions.

- If here is the Buddha nature in every living creature, and it speaks to us, how is this possible ? Probably because we ( or some people) do not listen and have out own interests prevail over those of the elephants. 

-Lastly, if the elephants could speak to us when we encounter them in a next life what would they say ? Or would they just look at us - compassionetly ? 

TRUE TALES OF THAILAND LIFE III/ THE ELIXER OF LIFE

 TRUE TALES OF THAILAND LIFE III/ THE ELIXER OF LIFE 

When jogging in Thailand wear your Hoka’s , as my friend and endurance athlete Henry Dullink said a few weeks ago. This morning while enjoying the dawn and a coffee on the beach, I decided to go barefoot for a jog. As the beach was being cleaned Thai style , had some time to observe and shoot a few picks of this labor of love. Good that they are investing in a durable future for tourism I thought, only to nearly miss a glass shred on the way to the horizon. Be HE kept me safe some somehow..

This led me to contemplate a little more on the plastic soup, the Thai energy drink industry and my role in this. As I am an avid dfan of market research I observed a little bit where and how Red Bull is sold here , in comparison to the Netherlands. You may know that Red Bull was a Thai invention and that Matenitz bought 49% of it back in the eighties. Red Bull now holds a market share of 38% in NL ( figures from the Nielsen database of 2017) and also has a 38% market share in the main supermarkt descanter Albert Heijn ( AHOLD). This is what we call a locked- in situation in FMRG marketing. They can not do without each other. 

This means that prive promotion does not have a large effect on sales, and you will know that with a retail price of 1,29 Red bull makes a lot of profit on their elixer for an exiting life. In face the only promotion RB does is 6 for the price of 5 before Grand Prix in Formula 1, some YouTube commercials and a good deal of exciting sports sponsorship, like cliff diving. A golden formula resulting  in a global al turnover of 9 billion USD in 2020.

What does this have to do with Thailand, you may ask ? Well RB is sold here in small 12mm bottles as extract only, and people still hold  the firm belief that it gives you the strength of a bull. At 7-11 the largest convinience store chain ( franchise based) here,  RB is prominent both in the fridges and on the counter. 68 % of buying decision are made in the store, so RB is also likely to be market leader here.

Are there any RB cans on the beach like in NL ? No, all the glass is dumped in bins and recycled here. Contrary to the plastics - which burn very clean btw, they end up on the street and the beach. Again: a strong marketing proposition by RB. I carry one bottle with for emergencies to mix with a coke while stopping a seven eleven. Just in case they have run out… 

And there you have it: you’re truly has become a part of the economy here, while contributing to the ocean clean up. And that thought  gives me wings for today 

TRUE TALES OF THAILAND LIFE II / FRANK AND I

 TRUE TALES OF THAILAND LIFE II / FRANK AND I 

In the mornings I am at my best in Thailand, with the birds singing and the quiet all around. 12 days here have brought many strange events and some contemplation about life and it’s values.  Here is one observation from the nightlife.

Generally a conversation would go like this:
-Hello mister, come in and have a drink.
For how much ?
-150 and nice girls

pom ma gaan ben kru Anglie ( I am an English teacher ), 1000 baht for you!

(Laughs)

-I am very old ( pom gae leaw) and you are young and beautiful ( kun sawaii)

This generally proves a solid base for a game of pool, a drink and more culture exchange. Where as my friend Rob in Pattaya was a very goog player, we  would  regularly lose a game to the girls in Pattaya. Also to extend our drinks. And those girls get plenty pf practice and a re very competent at the table. And they do not like losing to a pool shark. And that is when it was tine to leave for y.t. No use in getting caught up in romance here Rob said, you will soon be paying for he mother (illness in the hospital) and the water buffalo ( also sick). It is an economical thing.

On the rad I like to sing songs to myself : Rambling man, Ramble on  and also Jet airliner. Upbeat songs about rambling.  

At the Heineken bar, a lot of Dutch songs are played and one of my ATF’s came on: Kronenburg Park, by freak Boeijen. The quintessential song about street prostitution. And it hit me. In fact it mad me sad for a whole night. Not for anyone in particular but mankind in general. Hoever as I am not Jesus, on a mission to save them, but only a single observer here, I managed to relate the verses to the system here.

Ik weet niet wat je zover heeft gebracht,
als ik jou zie savings in het park ( in the bar) 

De auto lichten beschijnen je lichaam, 

zonder ogen  zonder herinnering   

(….) 

This refers to the anonymity of existence, not being seen and lurking.

Ik weet niet of je ooit liefde hebt gehad 

Ook niet toen dat zo belangrijk voor je was 

Etc. 

(The trauma’s of early life)

And then the chorus that my kids used to holler along to , 10 years ago :

Ga die weeereld uit

1 seconde en rij snel door, die wereld uit 

Ga die weeeereld uit 

En lijk goed rond in ons para ijs, 

En vraag niet naar de weg 

Want iedereen is de weg kwijt…

(We are all lost in the world, so don’t ask me the way). 

That last line is kind of cryptic, as it implicates there is no way of this world. In fact here may to be a real world at all, but only our experienves of it. And sometimes : grave and compassion, to quote my friend Bert Flier. so if there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.  This led me to an experience of compassion and the many Buddha’s along the way seem to conform that every day. I follow the white line, focus on the task at hand, and  keep on breathing, in this paradise by the sea.