I can understand the disdain that hi-so Bangkok people feel for the rural Thai population living on farms and in small villages. I tend to think Thavorn's family is no different than most village families, apart from the police chief and the doctor, and perhaps the headman.
I have mentioned often that Thai people that I know live very much in the present (bar girls excepted) and do not worry about the future. Also, if cleanliness is next to godliness then most Thai villagers are destined for hell, or in Buddhist terms, destined to slip down the wheel of life rather than ascend.
I can't understand how they are willing to live in such filth rather than taking out a rag, and a bit of Windex, and cleaning off some dirt. The last time, many tables, chairs, TV, etc were cleaned was when Shaun and I were here about a year ago.
We took a motorbike ride into the village to buy some cleaning stuff for dishes (the existing ones were filthy) and I told Thavorn there was something wrong about the bike. It was night, but the next day, I put the bike up on its center stand and rotated the wheels and as I suspected, the rear wheel and in particular, the clutch assembly bearings had gone bad. I told her to tell her mom and of course she deferred to the good for nothing son (as Farangs are stupid) and he said, yeah, something wrong with the bike). This despite the fact that he had borrowed the bike for 4 hours the day before and had used it without saying a word. The last time I was here the bike had 9,000 kms on it and now it has over 20,000 kms so the son has been using it a lot and knowing the piece of shit as i do, probably abusing it.
I also told the useless live in bf what the problem was and he seemed a wee bit interested, but not much. I asked Thavorn to query the family as to what their plans were to fix the bike as it is now also ridden by Thavorn's children. I know what the answer is. No plans, ride it until it stops working and then look to Thavorn to either pay to have it fixed or put pressure on her to buy a new one. I have already told Thavorn, that will never happen. If Thais lived in Canada in the 1800's they never would have made it past the first winter. They would have all frozen to death through lack of a plan.
Darwinism has been at work for quite some time in the northern latitudes and I tend to think it has weeded out the non planners (thinkers).
I told Thavorn before that I should probably stay out of the village as it probably brings out the worst in me. My fellow workers back in the Board used to joke that, 'Jim does not suffer fools gladly!', and there is definitely no shortage of fools in the village. The really amazing things is they are too stupid to know they are stupid (especially the brother). Perhaps that is a bit harsh as they are a product of their educational system and culture. The culture seems to stress that the males are the boss and the female is subservient whereas in my view, the women are much smarter than the men, especially the men that I know. In the upper hierarchies of government there seem to to some smart men who know how to rule and hold onto power.
The other thing that never fails to amaze me is how lazy the majority of villagers are. They eat, sleep, and watch TV, all in great quantities. I forgot to mention drink, but this is one area where the men excel as compared to women. You can add in crack and maryjane as well.
The last thing that shocks me is their belief that the Thai people are superior to farangs and live in the best country in the world. As the prime minister was quoted recently, 'Thai language is superior to English as we have 45 characters in our alphabet whereas English has only 26. He can have my vote any day given that logic :-)
Enough negativity. Thavorn just brought me an iced coffee that the good for nothing brother's wife just made and charged her 20 baht for it, despite owing us 20,000 baht. Just goes to show they live in the present and the loan occurred in the past and is no longer relevant. Buddha will look after the future.
It boggles my mind that Thavorn is a product of that environment and is so level headed and considerate. Must be the farang influence :-)
However, there are many great things about the Thai culture I love such as very little political correctness and personal freedom.
TTYL
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