In 1973, due to civil and religious unrest, travellers were advised to avoid areas of southern Thailand, so my travel buddy Nigel and I decided to head for Koh Samui Island. There were no tourists or hotels there at that time, so we stayed on the balcony of a local family’s house. We spent a few days with the family who took us snorkelling and squirrel hunting. Apparently, the squirrels ate the coconuts growing in the forest and had to be shot.
One day we walked to the end of the village wharf, where we met the captain and engineer of a tugboat waiting for the raft full of produce they were to tow up the Gulf of Thailand to markets in Bangkok, a week’s sail away. The captain invited us aboard for a dinner of rice, fish and chilli vegetables followed by several glasses of the local Mekong whiskey.
A little later, feeling very content with the world, we happily followed the captain when he beckoned us back along the wharf towards the village, where we were welcomed by a crowd of locals who guided us to two rooms, each housing a girl wearing white make-up and trying to entice us inside. We quickly realised that these were the local ladies of the night intent on a public performance with the two young white boys. “Oh dear,” I thought. “How do we escape this situation, being quite tipsy and after having enjoyed the hospitality of the local tug captain and crew?” Fortunately, a kind god answered my prayer in the form of a local dog which took offence at my presence and sunk his teeth into my leg. Despite the pain and the blood, I was mightily relieved as I could escape back to the boat to access the required medicine, depriving the locals of their hoped-for entertainment.
The next day the captain offered to take us to Bangkok which entailed a journey of seven days, calling in at small coastal villages to buy provisions on the way. What an adventure. On some days we saw hundreds of brightly coloured striped sea snakes swimming on the surface, and at night flying fish, attracted by the ship’s lights, would land on the deck to be scooped up by the engineer/cook who fried them Thai style to supplement our rice and veges. What feasts we had.
As we approached Bangkok, we started to encounter more and more cargo ships waiting to dock at Bangkok and when we entered the Chao Phraya River our captain said he would drop us ashore as he didn’t want his boss to know about his two Kiwi hitchhikers. Thank you captain for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
In Bangkok, Nigel and I had arranged to sleep on the floor of a hotel room occupied by two Kiwi friends, Jan and Bicky. When we arrived, we were also introduced to Gam, Bicky’s new boyfriend, a giant, jovial African American who was part of the US army drug squad, who were trying to stop the export of illegal drugs to the US. It was around the end of the Vietnam war during which Bangkok was used as an R and R base for US troops during their breaks from the fighting. It is hard to imagine how those young soldiers could return to killing North Vietnamese after a few weeks partying hard in Bangkok. I am sure that, being a bit of a pacifist and not a very brave one, I would have risked court martial and deserted that army that was involved in yet another unjust and unnecessary conflict.
Thinking about the tragedy of what transpired in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, I am reminded of Anzac Day and the phrase ‘Lest we forget’. I often wonder what these words really mean. They are rightly a reminder to honour the young lives that were lost at Gallipoli and subsequent wars. But should we also be reminded of the idiocy and futility of becoming involved in ill-conceived foreign wars, often involving deception and dubious motives.
The Vietnam and Iraq wars are two that come to mind. But hey, what is decided in the halls of power is often kept from the general population, and after all, when all is said and done, war is good for business. An obvious example is that of George Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, whose former company Haliburton received $39 billion worth of contracts during the Iraq war in the early 2000s. Could this have been a conflict of interest?
At our Bangkok hotel, there was a Thai girl called Lek who was staying with an Australian businessman who was working in Bangkok. She had nothing to do during the day while waiting for her Aussie beau to get home and sometimes we chatted around the pool.
One day she asked if I would like to visit her family. “Yes, please” was my obvious answer so off we went on the bus and ended up in a poor district where her family of eight lived in a tiny two-roomed apartment. They had one room for cooking and living and the other for sleeping – her parents, grandparents, brothers, sister, and her young daughter, the offspring of an American soldier who had promised Lek the world during his R and R breaks, but had left her alone pregnant and returned to the US when the war ended. Lek supported her daughter and family with the money her Aussie companion gave her. She told me that a lot of her working girlfriends were in a similar situation, sending support money to families in distant villages. It was certainly an eye-opener and a lesson not to judge the girls who earned money like that.
Another group in Thailand that deserves recognition is the kathoey or ladyboys, or as many refer to themselves, phuying, the Thai word for women. Unlike in the US where the Trump government has declared there are only two sexes, male and female, most Thai people have a more tolerant attitude towards sexual diversity, possibly because the main religion of Buddhism teaches kindness and non-judgement, with no damnation to a Christian hell if you are gay, trans or any other sexual genre.
To be continued …
Words by Ross Liggins
Coromind: Coromandel’s Collaborative Magazine
Help us take Coromind Magazine to new heights by becoming a member. Click here
Change the Weather for Your Business: Advertise with Us.
Advertise your business in the whole Hauraki Coromandel in the coolest Coromandel Art Magazine, from Waihi Beach/Paeroa /Thames up to the Great Barrier Island.
Advertise Smarter, Not Harder: Get in Touch
