RAWBangkok

This blog is just some miscellaneous, largely unrelated crap that couldn’t possibly be of interest to anyone.

More about being a tenant in Thailand

I went to 7-11 a little while ago, and upon my return I spotted a new sign posted next to the lift on the ground floor.  It says that rent must be paid between the 1st and the 5th each month or they will cut off water & power.

I have to say, whether this is true or simply an empty threat, I find it astounding that a landlord could openly threaten such a thing.  Back in Australia, where I knew a bit about real estate law, taking such actions would result in serious consequences for a landlord.

Perhaps here in Bangkok it’s just business as usual.

Most landlords, I believe, have a policy of charging a fine of 100 baht per day or so for late payment.  In my three years renting I have only ever made one late rent payment (room rent is chow hawng in Thai) and the landlord made no mention of a penalty, though it was clearly posted in the building lobby.

Clumsiness; saying all the wrong things

I have an interest in a couple of females that goes beyond the casual.

One is my favorite go go dancer, who is currently shacked up with a customer somewhere in Europe.  I have her mobile phone number and I trade a couple of messages with her and talk to her by phone one time per week.

The other is a nurse here in Bangkok that I have been trying to make some headway with.

I sent sms messages to both of them on Friday night.  In both circumstances I seem to have, over  a series of three or four messages, said exactly the wrong thing and caused some misunderstanding.  With my favorite go go dancer I am not much concerned, but with the nurse I am a little disappointed in myself.

Things have been moving along nicely with her.  We have been out a couple times and she has been touching base with me by phone or email once every day — more of an accomplishment than it sounds given her demanding schedule.

Realizing that my message exchange had ended awkwardly on Friday night I sent her an email today with what I meant to be a nice message that I thought would guaruntee a response from her, saying basically that since she hadn’t called or messaged on Saturday after calling daily for the past week I missed hearing from her.

She replied, but with only a two word message: “I’m sorry”.

Not quite the response I’d hoped to inspire.  Her English is weak, and I think the messages I sent on Friday night and today ended up being misunderstood.  In retrospect I wouldn’t have sent any of them, but that’s the value of hindsight.

Chinese New Year

I was only vaguely aware of Chinese New Year being this week, but it ended up costing me money because a client cancelled some work this weekend on the basis that she wanted to spend time celebrating with her family.

Also because of the timing of Chinese New Year followed by a public holiday on the 9th I’ve had other clients who have delayed the start of new work until mid-February, leaving me very light on for work for a couple of weeks.

This afternoon a string of firecrackers went off below my room somewhere.  The very loud crackling of firecrackers went on for two minutes or longer.  I was in a shit mood that was made worse by the racket.

Tonight, at 8:30 the Chinese Drums and percussion started up in the same place — presumably in conjunction with a Lion Dance or some such as that.  It was shortly after I received the email from the nurse and I admit to being highly irritated by the racket.

I have seen many enjoyable Chinese New Year celebrations in the US and Australia, so I was surprised at myself for being so peevish.  Getting old I guess.

Ripley

For Christmas my sister sent me a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble online.  I ordered several books.

The first one I read is one that I have wanted to read for many years, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.  It was very well written.

I also ordered a box-set of five novels about the character Tom Ripley authored by Patricia Highsmith.  The first of the five novels is The Talented Mr Ripley, which was made into a movie starring Matt Damon not so long ago.  It was the movie that interested me in this set of books.

Until I saw the box set on the B&N website I was unaware that the movie was based on a novel, much less a series of books about the Ripley character.

Once I finished the first book I eagerly reached for the second novel, Ripley Underground, keen to read a story that I didn’t already know about from the movie.

From the first page I realized that ambition would be frustrated.

I saw a movie on cable tv a few months ago that starred — among others — Willem Defoe.  I recognized the characters and the story immediately.

I managed to read the entire novel in a day, and cracked #3 (Ripley’s Game) tonight, but my attention is waning.

The first two novels are very entertaining.  The worst thing I’d choose to say about them is that they are a bit too short, taking only a few hours to work through.  The same can’t be said of the last book in my Barnes and Noble order; a novel by Ken Follett called World Without End — another of Follett’s massive works running to 1013 pages.

The thing that keeps reaching out of the pages to me in the Ripley novels is the degree to which characters communicate by post, telegram and scratchy telephone connections.  Often the characters manage to make themselves unavailable for long periods of time by simply lying about where they are going, or not answering the phone.  The exact time period covered by the novels isn’t stated within the story, but the copyright on the first book is 1955, so presumably the three novels cover a time period around 50 or 60 years ago.  Hard to reconcile the relatively unsophisticated communications described in the book with today’s instant access.  I try to remember my youth and understand if we were so relatively out of touch.

I guess we were.

The diet

My weight loss program seems to have reached a plateau.

For me, weight loss has never been a straight line affair — my weight can vary up & down by two or three kilos in a single day — perhaps just from the start of a meal to it’s conclusion at times.

Today, though I am at the lowest weight I’ve been since moving to Thailand, it is the same weight I achieved ten days ago.  I find it frustrating to focus on accomplishing something, then go for an extended period of time with no measurable progress.

I have my gym membership, Penfold is expected in Bangkok later this week.  We already have an appointment for the gym.  Hopefully that should jump start the fitness if not the weight loss.

Getting old(er)

I find myself grumpy and irritable this week.  I’ve snapped at a few friends and, as discussed above, been clumsy in my communications even when there’s been no good reason.  My irritability about the clamor of Chinese New Year today is probably another symptom.

I suspect that it’s because my birthday is occuring around this time.

I’m not inclined to post my exact date of birth on the world wide web, but sometime around now I transition from 48 to 49 years of age.  I find that I am starting to begrudge the passing years.

I spoke to my sister the other day and she mentioned that she will soon be 60, and she talked about the physical signs of age she is seeing on her face and body.  My sister is quite beautiful… even at her age she is slender and lovely and she turns heads when she walks down the street — she was cover-model beautiful when she was young.  It is hard to reconcile my vision of my eternally young sister with the idea of a 60 year old woman.  Likewise, I can’t quite figure out how I got to be a year short of 50 so quickly.

I still think of myself as 12 or 24… young in any event.  The reality still takes me by surprise every day.