Wan di, wan mai di (new series: part 2)

Chris regularly describes his experiences in his Soi in Bangkok, sometimes well, sometimes less well. All this under the title Wan Di Wan Mai Di (WDWMD), or Good Times, Bad Times (his mother's favorite series in Eindhoven). 

In addition to the main characters I introduced in the previous episode, there are also a number of colorful Thais who play a secondary role. Almost all of them live in the same condo building as me, but on different floors.

Ducky lives on the second floor with his wife and granddaughter. Ducky is 44 years old and is from Buriram. Last year he invited me and my wife for his birthday. We bought a new rice cooker at Tesco. I also suggested buying him a real cake. That is not so common for Thais because most of them only go to the temple on their birthday (in the morning) and do nothing else about their birthday. I have introduced in the soi that this is not possible. The day after his birthday my wife heard that he shed a tear that night because he had never had a cake on his birthday in his life.

Ducky does not have a permanent job, but knows a number of small builders for whom he does something every now and then. The rest of the time (at what time of day is not interesting) he spends drinking Lao Khao. He is actually drunk or drunk every day. I can't really blame him. Ducky doesn't actually hurt a fly (even when he's drunk) but he is very often in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is why he has seen the inside of the prison (in Indonesia) for three months (arrested on a Thai fishing boat without a permit) and is known to the local police. He also knows Kamnan Poh, the big mafia boss in Pattaya, well. He is afraid of nothing and no one.

His wife has a job as a maid for a retired army general who lives in an immense house (with guest house) at the end of the soi. And they look after their granddaughter who now goes to primary school. Their daughter lives in Buriram and the son-in-law has been in prison for more than 10 years because he committed three murders in a drunken stupor. Ducky's wife works with another Thai woman I know by the name of Kuhn Deng. Kuhn Deng (about 55 years old) is married to a Thai man (something in his sixties) who is one of the drivers of Wat Arun. A nice man but gambles with a relatively large amount of money in the lottery.

A younger married couple (around 30) without children also lives on the same floor. Both a job and just nice people. She works for a bank and he is a yoga teacher. They also come from the Isan and that can be tasted by the som-tam pala that the woman sometimes makes (and which I no longer risk my stomach or my nose).

Furthermore, the condo has a limited number of facilities: a shop, a hairdresser's shop, a restaurant and a small launderette. The Thai woman (I estimate her around 50) who now runs the restaurant, Pat, also runs the launderette. We actually always do the laundry ourselves, but the ironing (that is mainly my neat trousers and shirts that I wear for work) is sometimes outsourced to her.

For about 1,5 years, an empty space has been transformed into a barbershop annex beauty salon. The business is run by an attractive Thai woman whose husband also helps out when he has no other work. That other work mainly consists of driver services for the Toyota company. In the evening he makes himself useful by barbecuing fish or pork, which is eaten together. Their son lives with her parents in Sisaket and they travel to Isan about 2 to 3 times a year.

The clientele of the barbershop consists mainly of residents of the condo and a number of (attractive-looking) girlfriends from the nearby neighborhoods. As a result, there are sometimes more (single, but not all!!) men at the entrance of the condo building than was previously the case. Nature must take its course; I can justify that, Wim Sonneveld used to say. If you see my photo you will immediately understand that I am not a customer of this business. And my nails never have to be painted in the latest fashion colors and designs.

The small shop is actually the most important facility. There are two hatches to place your order and you cannot enter. The store does not sell fresh stuff but the regular dry (such as toilet paper, shampoo, soap, tissues, cigarettes, peanuts, telephone cards) and wet groceries (such as beer, whiskey, Lao Khao, water, ice cubes). In principle, the shop is open every day of the year and the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages on days and times when this is officially prohibited is not disturbed.

In the 6 years I've lived in the condo now I've seen about 4 operators come and go. The current operator, Ann, has returned to her old place (more about Ann in a later episode). The shop operators all have a few characteristics in common: female, divorced with children and changing contacts, but at least 1 friend and closed on Sundays. When I see the closed shutters on Sunday morning, I remember it again. Sunday (Wan Athit) is Wan Gig.

To be continued