Kat’s Window

Muay Thai sparks the imagination of people around the world and is the reason more foreigners than you think come to Thailand. (See back issues: Muay Thai 21 Oct 2002, http://www.bangkokpost.com/kat/archives/211002a.html) The chance to train at a muay thai camp, learn the ultimate martial art and become fit as a fiddle holds immense appeal all over the world. For Thais, however, it may be one of the few life options they have.

I recently spent two evenings at a respected muay thai training camp in northern Thailand (see Lanna Muay Thai Boxing Camp, 4 Nov, 2002: http://www.bangkokpost.com/chiangmai/attract/041102_attract01.html), where I had the chance to interview three boxers after they had finished their strenuous evening training routines.

There are a total of about 30 boxers training at the camp at any one time including Thais, foreigners, men, women and children. Three brothers are residents of the camp and I spoke to two of them regarding their experiences. Choun (age 23) and Somphong (age 16) have been training for the last eight and five years respectively and are happy to do so. They explained, “They (the owners) give us money and let us go to school. It is not like this at many of the other camps.”

Their parents live outside of Chiang Mai and although the boys are still close to their family and visit them a few times a month, Somphong explained, “They don’t have any money. With muay thai I can fight, get money, and go to school. I don’t want to be a farmer. At the end of the day you are more tired than when you are a muay thai boxer and you have no money. I can fight one or two times a month and get 1,500 baht each time. I buy books, shirts and shoes.” He is currently studying Computer Science. “I like it so much! In the future I would like to be a policeman or go to England and have a computer business or be an accountant. If I make a lot of money, I’ll give it to my parents.”

Choun’s plans are quite a bit different from those of his brother. He has already spent one year in China teaching muay thai at a university. “I broke my hand two times fighting already, so I don’t think I can be a champion anymore. I won two belts in Northern Thailand competitions. I want to teach muay thai in the future. As a muay thai teacher, you get a lot of respect. But I did not like my time in China.” Choun is not currently in school but is considering going back to continue studying marketing.

Both boys enjoy watching TV, playing football and viewing muay thai videos. They have Sundays off. Jono is a 22-year-old Englishman who was training for the fourth time at the camp. He’s been studying muay thai for the last three years and all of his training has been in Thailand. “I am a professional fighter but I have got a long way to go. My life is boxing and working. I live at the camp. I eat, drink and do everything with the Thais. I sleep in the equipment room,” he said. He can earn 1,500 baht a fight, of which the camp takes half.

When asked why he chose to learn muay thai, he answered, “It is the most real martial art. You train to fight. It is about the ring, proving yourself and showing your heart. It is about brotherhood. There is a lot of respect between the students and the teachers.”

When questioned about the gruelling training programme he stated, “There are days you wake up and ask yourself ‘Why am I here?’ but it is like going to school. You make the most of it, have fun, learn and try to achieve something.” He’s already had fourteen fights, broken a knuckle and received fourteen stitches in his face. “You tend to have a lot of walking problems after a match!” he declared.

When asked about the motivation for farangs training at the camp as compared to Thais, he stated, “You might already know this but most of the Thais don’t really want to be here. It is a choice in a limited life route. They can farm, work at a factory or become a muay thai fighter. The foreigners are here for the fun. The Thais are here for the money. The biggest difference between the Thais and the foreigners is the fact that the Thais have no fear when it comes to the fight. They have been brought up around it.”

When questioned about their muay thai experiences, Choun answered, “I have fun. I make money. No muay thai means no money.” Somphong chimed in, “It hurts a bit!” Jono replied, “I love it

People frequently ask me what are some of the more interesting things to do while in Thailand. My answers generally include a visit to the southern beach town of Krabi complete with sea-canoe ride, a journey to the splendid temples of Sukhothai, a tour of the teak home in Bangkok formerly owned by Jim Thompson and a ride along any available khlong (canal) or river. But what about finding a spot (be it sitting on a shaded section of curb or in a pub with a good view) and spending a good while simply watching the traffic go by? In my opinion, this could potentially provide more insight into Thailand and more photo opportunities than any organised tour in the country.

Think of a pick-up truck. In the United States, pick-up truck owners might occasionally have the need to haul some wood or help a friend move but usually most of the pick-up beds you see are empty. This would certainly be a point of confusion for Thais visiting the country. In Thailand, a pick-up truck is the ultimate modern workhorse and is only seen empty shortly after it has dropped off the load of whatever it was carrying in the first place.

If you put a high-roofed cap on the back and stick two long benches along the side, you have a ’sawng taew’ or two-bench public transportation pick-up truck. You can proceed to drive around town and pick up passengers for 10-40 baht a head (US$.25-1.00) and bring them to their destinations. Or better yet, you can fit towering side gates and a roof rack and proceed to stack rice, hay, wood, vegetables, fruit, crates of chickens, propane tanks or anything else you can think of sky high. The load that your truck can carry when properly outfitted with side gates can be four times higher than your roof. Occasionally you can see truck beds snapped in half or axles that have bitten the dust but the general rule-of-thumb is ‘the higher the pile, the better.’ A pick-up truck can also be used to transport 40 people to and from work each day.

Think of a motorcycle. In the United States, owners enjoy riding down sunny scenic roads on their choppers. Motorcycles are for enjoyment. “How odd that there isn’t an ice cream cooler, charcoal grill, bubbling pot of hot broth for cooking noodles or a glass case displaying various sausages attached to the side!” most Thais would think.

A motorcycle in Thailand is the ultimate symbol of diversity. It can be used to bring the kids to school in the morning and return with all the kids plus a week’s worth of groceries in the evening. It also can be used to sell almost any kind of food you can think of. Metal vending stalls with wheels (somewhat similar to the hollow shell of a hotdog stand) are strapped on as sidecars to become mobile restaurants and bars. Another option is to use your motorcycle as you would a pick-up truck by having an empty metal cart-like sidecar. This empty sidecar can carry anything a pick-up truck can - just in smaller quantities. Dogs seem to truly enjoy riding in them, too.

Now on to perhaps the most famous of Thai vehicles: the tuk-tuk. These noisy little things can be found all over Thailand. If one were to suddenly appear on any street in the United States, heads would turn while mouths declared, “What the heck is that?!” Tuk-tuks are basically motorcycles with a two-wheeled passenger cage attached to the back, another fine example of the diversity of motorcycle use in Thailand. Tuk-tuks are unique and annoying but lovable. This makes them a popular form of transport with tourists (a favourite tuk-tuk driver event being the ‘one set of wheels off the ground while taking a sharp curve in order to terrify the passengers’ routine). The author recently road home in a tuk-tuk that had nine people inside of it, so it is best to never underestimate what these machines are capable of.

All vehicles listed in this article can also be easily used as a bed. It is common to find people sleeping on top of that huge pile on the pick-up truck, with their heads down on the handlebars while sitting on the seat of the motorcycle, or curled up on the back seat of a tuk-tuk.

Sure, there are vehicles that are used only for enjoyment in Thailand, but they are the minority and have none of the colour or finesse found in their hard-working counterparts. In Thailand, if it has wheels, it generally gets put to work in any way possible. A vehicle has to earn its keep, pure and simple.

After more than three years of living here, it is becoming even trickier to figure out what the unique features of Thailand are anymore. That’s when having visitors or eavesdropping on tourists comes in handy. Or remembering what the things that used to get on my nerves, but don’t (usually) anymore, were. I have decided to document some of Thailand’s unique features again this week, many of which had almost become unnoticeable to me. (See back issues: Uniquely Thailand, April 22, 2002: http://www.bangkokpost.net/kat/archives/220402a.html)

Do you or does anyone you know use a feather duster to keep his or her car clean? As silly as it may sound, breaking out your feather duster and giving your car a good once over is not considered strange at all in Thailand. Feather dusting cars seems to be most popular in intensely polluted Bangkok where the very idea of having a dust free car seems like the biggest uphill battle one could ever choose.

As bathrooms in Thailand can be very rustic affairs indeed, I always get excited when I spot the occasional sink, proceed to wash my hands in it and then get really annoyed when the water empties directly on to my feet and trousers. I am destined to fall for the ole ’sink without the drainage pipe’ trick again, as it gets me every time.

A friend’s recent visit held some unexpected events and calculations at a travel agency. He wanted to go on a full-day tour of handicraft villages and was offered the following deal: “If one person goes, it is 800 baht (US$20) per person, but if two people go then it is only 500 baht for both of them.” He proceeded to introduce his imaginary and invisible friend ‘Fred’ to the confusion of the clerk.

Thailand has tons of watering holes and restaurants but don’t assume that all of these establishments keep beer or food on hand. It is a surprising fact that customers can sometimes bring food and drink along with them. On top of that, occasionally you may order a beer or a hamburger only to have a waiter or waitress run around the corner to fetch the item from a different store and serve it to you.

Most Thais like to look their best at all times but this can be made impossible during a big rainstorm. Many will find themselves without an umbrella. Some will choose to buy a new one in order to make it home in a semi-dry state. This is why you often see ‘hip people’ (tourists included) walking around the country holding electric pink, yellow or baby blue umbrellas with Hello Kitty, baby ducks, laughing teddy bears, pink hearts or chuckling panda bears on them.

It seems that most everyone has a mobile phone in Thailand. One ‘uniquely Thailand’ feature of these phones is that they come with a large variety of flashing lights as decorative features. But another unexplainable phone phenomenon simply involves answering. Person one answers the phone and says, “Hello?” Person two says, “Hello?” At this point, person one repeats, “Hello?” and person two answers with “Hello?” This can go on for up to twelve “Hellos” each.

Speaking of telephones, an article in the Bangkok Post recently reported that Thailand’s emergency number (191) gets 10,000 prank phone calls a day, many from children. Boys tended to report events such as “a fire burning…at the end of matchstick” or a dead body spotted “at a funeral” whereas girls rang up “just to say hello.”

Temperatures have been falling as Thailand gears up for official ‘cold season.’ That means that when the thermometer reads 28 degrees Celsius everyone breaks out the thickest jacket or sweater they can get their hands on and proceeds to walk around for the day declaring, “It’s freezing!” Yup, I’ve lived here too long. Here I sit with hat, sweater, socks and winter shoes. And it’s 24 degrees Celsius out.

And in closing, Thailand recently celebrated National Police Day. I didn’t know this and eyed pickup truckloads of SWAT policemen holding automatic rifles, with huge smiles on their faces, with some alarm. It all became clear that evening when I attended (by accident) a huge policeman celebration in the centre of town. All the (mostly amateur) policeman bands were allowed to play on stage and were given lots of dry ice for extra effect.

Brass knuckles and knives were on sale by the police and policemen that weren’t formally in a band simply sang karaoke at various information booths. The gruesome photographs of decapitated bodies, DUI casualties and motorcycle accident victims (on display to deter future such happenings) didn’t dampen the spirit of the celebration. “What a great day to commit a crime!” my friend said, as it was apparent that the entire police force was busy having a grand time.

It is compulsory for children between the ages of six and fifteen to attend school in Thailand. After the mandatory schooling is completed, attendance rates drop up to 50 percent, according to some statistics. Only a small percentage of students continue their education beyond secondary school.

Students in secondary programmes can choose vocational or academic courses. Vocational programmes teach skilled trades while academic courses focus on preparing students to enter university. The inability to pass entrance exams, the need to earn money and/or inability to meet the costs of higher education makes attending university impossible for many.

Tuition costs range from extremely modest to expensive. Public university tuition can be less than US$100 a semester whereas tuition at elite private universities can reach up to 100 times more. In Thailand, as in the rest of the world, education means opportunity. Those who manage to make it to university are more than proud of themselves, and their parents are even prouder. Access to education at any level and the quality of the education offered varies from region to region within Thailand. Bigger cities invariably offer bigger learning opportunities.

I recently headed out to Chiang Mai University, the largest school in northern Thailand, to sit down with some students and chat about their lives. I had a short wander through the campus, which was very scenic and green. I then detoured through one of the main buildings where I accidentally entered an impressive computer lab filled with students. Most were using the high-tech equipment to play computer games. Upon exiting the building I ran into Tetat, Chavit, and Piranan (ages 20, 19 and 20, respectively) taking a break outside in the shade at a table. All three are third-year students in a four-year computer science programme. They are learning Visual Basic, C++, Java, Assembly language, and website design.

When asked why they chose to enter their specific course, all their answers resounded with practicality. “I think after it I can get a good job and I like it,” “Computers are important for every job.” “I am interested in new technology and in the future,” was the response.

The tuition cost is 5,000 baht (US$113) per semester. Piranan lives at home with her family and drives 20-minutes to school each morning in her car. Tetat lives in off-campus student housing and pays 2,000 baht a month for rent. Chavit stays in on-campus student housing and pays only 1,700 baht to live there for the entire term. When asked about the cost of food per day, the group agreed fully upon the figure of 100 baht, but explained that sometimes they eat fast food (KFC, Pizza Hut, Sizzler), which is very expensive.

All three students have mobile phones and none would admit to having a boyfriend or girlfriend. “No interest,” “No time,” and “No luck,” were the given reasons. When asked what they enjoy doing in their spare time, Tetat stated, “Studying, playing computer games and surfing the internet.” Piranan said, “Going to the movies, singing karaoke and visiting local waterfalls,” and Chavit claimed, “Eating at a local famous restaurant, like one that serves local steak,” is one of his favourite things to do.

None of the three students had a job at present, although Piranan said she earned money in the past by babysitting. When asked how much spending money they needed per month the answer ranged from 3,000 baht-5, 000 baht (US$68-113).

When asked what each would do if hypothetically given 5,000 baht, Piranan quickly stated, “Keep it in the bank or go out shopping. I might spend it on clothes or some interesting food to eat.” Chavit declared, “Take extra classes,” and Tetat answered, “Spend it all on books about computers.”

Ten years from now Chavit hopes to be selling computers and computer programmes and thinks he will earn about 15,000 baht per month. Tetat sees himself being married with children and working as a systems analyst earning 50,000 baht per month. Piranan hopes to own her own business and make 30,000 baht per month. They explained that Chiang Mai is a ‘low-tech’ town and that moving to Bangkok to get a job is common.

When asked about their college experience, some of the answers given were: “It is the best time of your life!” “It’s a time for friends and discovery,” “You don’t have to work,” and “My future depends on it!”

When questioned as to what they like most about their country, the friendly people, interesting culture, beautiful temples and its natural beauty were on the plus side; traffic jams in Bangkok, dirty air, lax law enforcement, drugs and the heat on the negative.

When asked what their message to the readers of this column might be, they declared, “Come to Thailand! The people are shy but friendly and there are a lot of things to see here!”