Doubts and parallels

After an article with the subject prostitution reading on Thailand blog, I started to wonder if that is the most remarkable thing that the outside world and especially relatives and acquaintances in the low countries normally think they know about it.

Sex is indeed everywhere! Just look at the immense offer on the internet; sites that are increasingly being blocked by the Thai junta! That's what annoys me; the hypocrisy, wanting to pretend otherwise. That sows doubt.

Before Sunday morning, November 1, we had planned to look at a piece of land, for which we had already driven the rot from Sattahip to Kram about two years ago. But now we live on site so the bike is enough for me! Cuddly love goes on four wheels anyway because drinking water needs to be bought. I suggested that myself to get rid of the must, well, feeling. I am also curious what she thinks of it, after I established on Saturday that the plots have been raised and that electricity has indeed been installed along this country road.

Although a few hundred meters from the main road towards the Sunthorn Phu monument, it is a beautiful place with an unobstructed view of the watery surroundings and the hills near Klaeng. We call the mobile number on the yellow banner, and to our surprise, the owner still turns out to be the young German man from Pattaya. The price has since risen considerably. You wonder; why look again? That is a long story!!

See to my horror that the agreed time to arrive at the massage parlor has already been exceeded, so it's full on the pedals. Had an appointment for that on Saturday afternoon. Before I got to the door she was already outside. A beautiful slim woman with the features of a boy, but I wasn't sure. Also saw a man working inside, that put me at ease. Nothing against a transgender person, but wouldn't know how to behave.

She is standing outside watering the flowers. “I thought you had forgotten me!” she laughs. Make it clear to her that we had been looking at a 'lok din'. “You don't want oil?” No, just Thai! Inside I see that two people are lying behind the curtains, so they are already enjoying a smooth treatment. A lady is waiting in a bucket seat. All three are of Swedish nationality.

There are a whole gang of compatriots living in this part of Thailand. After some confusion, where to change my clothes, I go flat on my stomach. “Can you turn please?” Let me put up with the foot-washing, and when she (I'm still not sure) starts to knead the muscles on the inside of the left leg, I feel an excruciating pain. Did I have an accident? No.., but I've already felt it coming the last two days. “Wife kick you?” Mai chai!!

With gritted teeth, I let her go and try to relax. From behind the curtain next to me, a voice says.. “Hello.., you were in my sauna yesterday!” A hand pushes the fabric aside. Oh hello Hogen! No Friday I was with you! He is completely alone here, has rented a large house and built a steam sauna with a small cooling pool. It needs to be repaired, because I almost burned the sole of my right foot from leaking, sweltering hot water.

Then come the parallels. There are also saunas in the Netherlands and Belgium, but in large numbers; only there we go in the bare butt and often also mixed. Massage no problem, but of course much more expensive, usually with a sporty approach or on the advice of a doctor. Below, a towel will do. Here you have to wear a shirt and trousers, and then they are cheerfully massaged through it. Except, of course, for the oil addicts, who are shielded just in case. There is a secret giggle as the deep sigh of the man next to me indicates that he is having a hard time.

Red windows with us tell you what you can do there. Here it is with Karaoke, or awkward Ladies on a bar stool, who want to share a room after expensive drinks. If you change your mind, they become poisonous!

On a bicycle in the 'outdoor area', you see the most unlikely living situations, which are difficult to explain to people in Europe. The big difference lies in the degree of poverty, and the associated indifference to the garbage that people collect around themselves. The suspicion of a clear lack of respect for the environment and nature falls on people who want to make big money at all costs and who drop or leave their waste where it suits them. Where do I know this from? Those responsible do not do much more than empty the blue barrels every week. There are no or insufficient facilities to dispose of construction scrap. Gone is gone, in the roadside or a ditch!

Then the doubt comes again, what to think of the fact that wages remain at 300 baht per day for the time being, that prices are rising, AIS and True are leveling the rates for their services to the earnings of the middle class and above, and that the food in the seafood restaurants of Laem Mae Phim, are certainly not for the under layer. Even I have resolved not to make a habit of it, also because what is offered is not always tasty. A tourist does not notice that he has lost more money than five years ago, and in us they always recognize the falang who has a very convinced Thai lady at his side. She, doesn't have to pay it though? They usually carry the trousers and purse with them.

There is even more doubt about whether or not you want or can stay in this paradise. A TV presenter very well known in the Netherlands, whom I once counted among my close friends, wrote to me two years ago: “Even if you think you have found paradise…” he meant Bonaire… “then you will be disappointed. There's something everywhere!"

He actually said, you will no longer find paradise on this earth! And with what's happening in Europe right now, maybe we'd better stay here. At least if we get the chance!

Want to read more from John D. Kruse? Then order his latest book: 'Not yes, is No', which is available as a PDF: www.boekenbestellen.nl/PDF/niet-ja-is-nee/15318 or as a paperback: www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/niet-ja-is-nee/9789492182425

John D Kruse: The title is derived from Chai and especially Mai Chai, and I wrote it entirely in Thailand. Several chapters have it living and live here as a subject, both in general, and our specific living situation at the moment. There is a lot of dreaming and telling, but also grumbling. Just under a hundred pages are reserved for a fictional story. Also my travels this year to Spain (still a residency), and
Holland have been described. Also in connection with a new song Freedom, of which also a version in Dutch 'Vrijheid' will be released on iTunes, under John Deeh. A stage name that I have carried with me for 52 years.

We moved three months ago from Sattahip to Kram, (Rayong), 23 km from Laem Mae Phim beach.