I was a dickhead today and I got my way. This is very unusual in Thailand.
Back in the US, it frequently paid off to act like a dickhead in certain situations, but here in the Land of Smiles it usually gets you nothing but an uneasy smile, a shaky apology and a shrug of the shoulders.
Here’s what happened.
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With the exception of my first couple of months in Bangkok, and one brief 2-week period last year when I had a minor hiccup, I have always had a non-immigrant B visa while living in Thailand. Unlike many people who have to leave the country every 90 days, I have always been lucky enough to have a 12-month visa that can be renewed annually without the need to leave the country.
The only administrative requirement aside from the annual renewal of my visa and work permit is to report to immigration every 90 days to tell them I’m still in the country. It is a simple administrative procedure that takes less than 15 minutes in and out of the front door. I’ve taken care of it several times myself, but it is actually a function that can be taken care of by an agent without the need for me to go to immigration for the 90 report.
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On Sunday morning I went to the park and played a game of 4-on-4 full court basketball. I was easily the worst player on the court, but the other 7 guys were pretty indulgent.
After the game I shot around a bit by myself, then walked home. All in all a good hour of exercise.
But I could feel my body calling out to me for nutrition. I’ve been very focused on dropping my weight, and I’ve been eating very small portions of food three or four times per day. Over the weekend I’d weighed in at 108 kilos on both Saturday and Sunday. It seemed like a good time to reward myself.
So I called my friend, the Dude, and asked if he’d like to go to dinner at the Moo Kataa in Prakhanong.
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The last five years or so that I lived in Australia I was fairly fit. I went to the gym three days a week and worked out with a personal trainer. I played competitive volleyball weekly. I was never slender or athletic, but for a guy in my 40s I was in reasonable nick.
Here in Thailand I suffered a descent into flabbiness. I gained about a dozen kilos and added 4 inches to my waistline as the muscles in my upper body melted and settled as fat deposits just above my belt.
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This is my fourth winter in Bangkok and I did something today that I’d never done here before. I put on a jacket because I was cold.
How cold was it? Well, on the 11th of January the low for the day was 14 degrees C, and on the 12th it was 15 degrees.
Checking one of my favorite websites, , I find that these are both historic low points. The previous records were 15 degrees for the 11th of January and 18 degrees for the 12th of January.
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If you live in Thailand, you undoubtedly know about Santika. If you don’t live here and don’t know already, let me offer the barest of facts.
Santika was an upmarket and fashionable club here in Bangkok that was frequented primarily by young hi-so Thais and a fair number of foreigners. On New Year’s Eve the place was packed full — estimates of over a thousand people were reported in the newspaper — when it caught fire and burned. The last news report I read quoted 64 people dead and more than 200 hospitalized — many of them with critical injuries.
By any measure it was a tragic event. The fallout will probably be with us for a long time to come.
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