Enjoy Thailand

Do you recognize this? You are walking somewhere in a town or village, where you are visiting, whether or not by chance, and see something in a shop or market that you have wanted for "a very long time". You buy it and not long after that you see the same thing for sale near your house, maybe even for a lower price.

We journey nowadays all over the world, for example for a holiday to Thailand, and see all the tourist attractions, which were recommended to us by the travel agency and brochures. The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Walking Street in Pattaya, Hua Hin beach, we know everything about it just as much as about Thai culture, Buddhism and the many sides of the sex industry. We can talk about it at birthdays, can't we? But if you ask the same person if he has ever been to the recreation area of ​​Geestmerambacht – I lived in Alkmaar – where you can enjoy walking, fishing, swimming or drinking a beer on a terrace, the answer is: “Well, eh, nah!”

What I want to say is that our gaze and thoughts are often directed far away, while we do not see the beautiful, interesting, sometimes heart-warming things in our own environment. Well, we do see it, but unconsciously and we just don't think about it.

I now live in Thailand as a pensioner and enjoy it every day. Yes, I know very well that there are all kinds of problems in this country, in the Netherlands and in many other countries that need to be solved. Do I have to spend all day on that and participate in the sometimes fierce discussions on, for example, this blog? Yes, you may say, you should have a purpose in your life and help make the world a better place. Oh yeah? Well, I have already achieved that goal and I have also done enough to improve the world, the latter unsuccessfully. Just let me enjoy everyday life, I see all kinds of things around me, much more when I walk through the city. I see or hear it, smile and then think, I have to tell someone that. But yeah, you can't convey the feeling you had when you saw it. Perhaps the audience nods amiably, but thinks, what can I do with that and the event is lost in nothingness.

I walk quite a lot here in Pattaya and then see all kinds of things, events and scenes, which are therefore hardly worth retelling. And yet they give me a warm feeling inside, a sense of pleasure and contentment in the ordinary things of life.

Take the street where I live. It is “guarded” by two dogs, each of which has marked its territory. A strange dog cannot enter and strange people, suppliers or street vendors are also barked at violently. The dogs do nothing, they are not false, but they do produce a lot of noise. I had a bit of trouble with those two at first, but I've beaten them both once and I now have all the respect. When I come out of my house, they pull aside or disappear under a car and when I come back late at night on my moped, they are both asleep and at most raise their heads. I think they recognize the sound of my moped: good folks! I love that.

During a walk I regularly pass motorbike taxi drivers who ask me: “Taxi, khap”? I then point to my upcoming tummy and say: “Mai au, khap, exercise, walk, walk”. Invariably the thumb goes up and sometimes I get a comment about the cigar in my mouth. I continue smiling.

At a traffic light I see a young Thai couple on their moped waiting for the green light. He steers and she sits on the back with her arms lovingly around his waist. Of course for safety, but then I think it's also to show her love for the man at the wheel. That will be a happy marriage!

A little later I walk past an open field, I see two dogs copulating with about eight looking on and barking fellow dogs. Encouraging or envious is what goes through my mind?

At the corner I show two handicapped Norwegians in an electric wheelchair the way to Big C and a little later on Beach Road I tap an Englishman on the shoulder with the warning that he better zip up his back pocket, because his wallet is a very easy target for a pickpocket. Thanks is my share and satisfied I continue my way.

I could tell many more such incidents that are hardly worth telling. However, my “message” is, take a look around you and enjoy those ordinary little, but oh so interesting things in your immediate vicinity. Then have no opinion about whether the red shirts or the yellow shirts are right in Thailand, or whether the Rutte cabinet in the Netherlands is doing well or not.