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.