Eine sehr gute Analyse bzw. Einschätzung der Situation in Bangkok (geschrieben vom Schriftsteller Christopher G. Moore) kann man unter folgendem Link finden: http://www.internationalcrimeauthors.com/?p=520

Wir werden sehen, wie sich die Situation entwickelt.

Laut Bangkok Post sollen ab heute die kleinen, grünen Minibusse der Vergangenheit angehören. Angeblich würde jeder Minibusfahrer, der noch einen grünen Bus fährt, ab heute seine Lizenz verlieren und auch eine Freiheitsstrafe riskieren, wenn er in Bangkok erwischt wird. Es gab bereits eine Übergangszeit von 5 Jahren, die aber heute abläuft.

Link zum Artikel: http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/32993/

Meine Meinung: SCHADE! Ich habe die “grünen 6,50 Baht Teufel” immer gerne genutzt; die Fahrten waren zu 99% ein Abenteuer für sich. Damit geht wieder einmal ein Teil, dass jahrelang das Stadtbild von Bangkok geprägt hat, verloren. SCHADE! Aber es gab schon öfter solche Meldungen; mal sehen, wie die Wirklichkeit in ein paar Wochen aussieht!

Seitens der bekannten Webseite TripAdvisor wurden mal wieder die 10 “dreckigsten Hotels” in Asien gewählt (Basis sind die Einträge der Webseitenbesucher in der TripAdvisor Datenbank). Thailand ist mit 2 Hotels “vertreten”.

Die Liste findet Ihr —> HIER (Link zu der Tripadvisor-Seite)

Nach Möglichkeit vermeide ich ja gerne auf Werbung, aber die nachfolgende Info, die ich gestern per Mail erhalten habe, finde ich einfach “berichtenswert”:

Jetzt NEU in Bangkok: Der erste ECHTE „Berliner Currywurst-Shop“ in Bangkok: EURO-CURRY
Der Currywurstshop zu Schnäppchenpreisen in der Hauptstadt Thailands (Navamin Soi 133)
Unser Motto: Bei uns werden Sie satt ab 19,- Baht
Weitere Infos unter www.EURO-CURRY.com

-> Na das werde ich mir mal baldmöglichst ansehen!

Der Dezember Newsletter der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok. Bitte beachten: die Datei ist 1,4 MB groß; die Anzeige dauert also ein paar Sekunden.

Link zum Dezember Newsletter der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok.

Der Newsletter der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok. Wie immer: lesenswert!

Link zum Newsletter November der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok.

Anbei ein Link zu einem Artikel der “Welt” über den thailändischen König Bhumibol Abdulyadej / Rama IX. Ein Bericht, der zeigt, wie sehr der König das Land beeinflusst hat und immer noch beeinflusst. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass er bald wieder gesund das Krankenhaus verlassen kann. Thailand und die Thais haben schon viel negatives erleben müssen, aber der Tag an dem der König stirbt, wird einer der schlimmsten Tage in der Geschichte Thailands werden. Hoffentlich dauert es noch viele Jahre, bis dieser Tag kommt.

Link zum Artikel der “Welt”

Ich werde oft gefragt, wie und wo ich den Abend in Bangkok verbringe. Ein Ort, wo ich jeden Abend vorbei schaue, wenn ich in Bangkok bin, ist das Balcony. Das Balcony findet man in der Silom Soi 4, also in der Nähe der Patpong. Kommt man aus der Patpong heraus in Richtung Silom Road (also man schaut auf das Mac Donalds auf der anderen Strassenseite der Silom Road), geht man ca. 100m nach links; die Soi 4 ist die 2. Seitenstrasse.

Die Soi 4 ist bekannt für die dortigen Gay-Bars (auch das Balcony ist eigentlich eine Gay-Bar), aber Paare und Frauen sind natürlich auch sehr willkommen. Die Außenterasse des Balcony ist sehr groß und immer gut gefüllt. Es gibt immer etwas zu sehen und die Preise sind sehr angenehm. Für mich immer wieder ein Höhepunkt: das Essen im Balcony. Vor allem die Currry-Gerichte sind SUPER; das Red-Curry mit Seafood (steht zwar so nicht auf der Karte, aber man kann das Red Curry auch mit Seafood bestellen) ist grandios. Die beste Zeit für das Balcony ist aus meiner Sicht der “frühe Abend”, also so ab 21.00 Uhr.

Übrigens ganz witzig: die Kellner haben jeden Tag T-Shirts mit ihrem Vornamen an; die Farbe aller Shirts wechselt jeden Tag. Unnötig zu erwähnen, dass die Farbe der Shirts an Montagen “gelb” ist (der König wurde an einem Montag geboren und gelb ist die “Farbe des Königs”.

Sie ist inzwischen eine der bekanntesten Garküchen für Farangs: die “Lucy Bar”.

Der Aufbau findet meist gegen 0.30 Uhr statt und es gibt gutes und preiswertes Essen bis in den frühen Morgen.

Die “Lucy Bar” ist einfach zu finden: wenn man in der Sukhumvit an der Kreuzung Soi 7 steht, etwas in Richtung Nana gehen (ca. 50 Meter). Wenn man das “Ever Rich Hotel” erreicht hat, ist man 6 Meter zu weit gegangen. Achtung: es gibt Nachts in der Sukhumvit sehr viele Garküchen, aber die “Lucy Bar” ist etwas besonderes. Hier treffen sich viele Farangs, die seit Jahren in Bangkok leben und es gibt immer etwas zu sehen. Für mich ist die “Lucy Bar” immer wieder ein schöner Abschluss eines Tages in Bangkok!

Nachfolgend der Link zum immer sehr interessanten Newsletter der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok.

Insbesondere die Seiten 12 bis 12 (Zu guter Letzt…..) sind sehr lesenswert! Meine persönlichen Erfahrungen mit der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok und den dortigen Angestellten: sehr positiv und sehr hilfsbereit.

Da ich ja “das Glück” hatte und meist während oder kurz nach Krisen in Bangkok zu sein, habe ich mich schon oft gefragt, wie die Leute es schaffen, auch bei Hunderten von Nachfragen noch so freundlich zu bleiben und zu reagieren, als wäre man der Erste, der sich über die Situation erkundigt. Aber leider ist ja “meckern modern”…..

Link zum Newsletter Juli der Deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok.

Nach vielen Jahren (inzwischen gibt es das Ibiza Bangkok Web ja schon mehr als 10 Jahre!) habe ich mich entschlossen, das Design von Ibiza-Bangkok.com auf eine “Pflegeleichtere Variante” zu ändern.

Begonnen habe ich am 22. Juli 2009 mit dem deutschen Bangkok Web!

Neue Bilder sind auch verlinkt, also viel Spass beim Durchsehen

Gruss
Norbert

Zu den 769 Bangkok Bildern (einfach auf ein Bild klicken) / Link to the 769 Bangkok Pictures
Die Bildergalerie 2009 -> auf ein Bild klicken und schon erscheinen die 769 Bilder aus Bangkok!

Bangkok, Thailand: seit mehr als 20 Jahren versuche ich so viel Zeit wie möglich in Bangkok zu verbringen. Warum? Weil Bangkok eine einmalige und faszinierende Stadt ist. An jeder Ecke gibt es etwas zu entdecken und sei es auch nur ein Essensstand mit irgendeiner Köstlichkeit.

Viele Touristen machen den Fehler und versuchen innerhalb von 1-3 Tagen “alles” in Bangkok sehen zu wollen; dies ist einfach unmöglich und entsprechend groß ist der Frust, wenn man nur von “Sehenswürdigkeit” zu “Sehenswürdigkeit” hetzt. Ich kann jedem nur empfehlen zu Fuß durch Bangkok zu schlendern (!) und so “sein eigenes Bangkok” zu entdecken. Chinatown, der Fluss Chao Phraya, die Flusstaxis, etc. etc.; es gibt IMMER etwas zu sehen und zu entdecken. Wenn man sich Zeit lässt, wird Bangkok schnell zur “Sucht”; man will immer und immer wieder hin!

Auf den Bildern zu sehen: das normale Leben in Bangkok; kostenlose Konzerte des Bangkok Symphonic Orchestra im Lumpini-Park im Dezember und Januar; Bilder vom Baiyoke II Tower; verschiedene Märkte; die deutsche Botschaft inkl. Botschafter Hr.Dr. Hanns Schumacher; das Leben auf beiden Seiten des Flusses Chao Phraya; High-Tech und Nobelmarken im Siam Paragon (einem der luxuriösesten Kaufhäuser der Welt); Abends am Shangri-La, einem der besten Hotels in Bangkok (kleiner Tipp: die neue Terrasse des Shangri-La ist einfach einen Besuch wert! Die Aussicht ist super! Und wie immer in Bangkok gilt: man muss nicht Hotelgast sein, um sich ein Hotel anzusehen oder um einen Abend auf der Terrasse zu verbringen); Bilder aus dem Königspalast und dem Wat Po; Modenschau von Estee Lauder Bangkok; “Sea World” im Untergeschoss des Siam Paragon, etc. etc……

Einer der Höhepunkte war für mich persönlich dieses Mal der Fototermin in der deutschen Botschaft in Bangkok mit dem Botschafter Doktor Hanns Schumacher.

Tja, wann bin ich wieder in Bangkok? Hoffentlich bald! Kontakte zu Reisemagazinen, die an neuem Bildmaterial interessiert sind, bestehen schon wieder, also “schaun wir mal”

Zu den Bildern aus Bangkok/Link to the Bangkok Pictures

Es war mal wieder WUNDERBAR! Da ich momentan etwas im Stress stehe, kommen mehr Infos zu der Woche in Bangkok in den nächsten Tagen…… noch 4 Monate, dann bin ich wieder “unten”……

Gruss
Norbert (NPX-Photo)

Zu den Bildern / Link to the Pictures

Zuerst mal die beruhigende Mitteilung für alle, die den Militärputsch in Thailand bei meinem Abflug mitbekommen haben: es war davon in Bangkok fast nichts zu merken! Ich bin ja seit Jahren ein- bis zweimal pro Jahr in Bangkok und alles war “wie immer”, und zwar “wie immer phantastisch”.

Doch zum Narcissus selbst: es war mal wieder eine heiße Nacht im Narcissus, dem mehrstöckigen Techno- und Trancetempel in Bangkok. Bei gefühlten 45°C Außentemperatur und einer noch höheren Innentemperatur wurde mal wieder der Geburtstag des Narcissus gefeiert.

Das Narcissus befindet sich in der Sukhumvit Soi 23 in Bangkok und ist vor allem Samstags ein Treff für alle, die “in” sind oder sein wollen. Das Narcissus hat in all den Jahren seiner Existenz immer seinen Still beibehalten (Techno/Trance) und der Erfolg gibt ihm recht. Erfolgreiche DJ´s, wie zum Beispiel Tiesto, haben schon im Narcissus aufgelegt.

Das Narcissus hat nur einen Nachteil: die 10 Nebelanlagen, die recht oft im Einsatz sind……. irgendwann kann man einfach keinen Nebel mehr sehen…

Übrigens: wer sich über die vielen farbigen Zahnspangen auf den Bildern wundert: kaum zu glauben, aber wahr: das ist momentan der Modegag schlechthin in Bangkok. Mal sehen, ob sich dieser Trend auch bei uns durchsetzt.

Fazit: es hat mal wieder richtig Spass gemacht im Narcissus die Meute bei guter Musik zu beobachten.

Zu den Bildern / Link to the Pictures

Gruss
Norbert (NPX-Photo)

Stephen Leathers Buch “Private Dancer” ist zwar recht “brutal” geschrieben, aber das Buch, das inzwischen auch in Deutscher Sprache erhältlich ist, sollte zur Pflichtlektüre für alle werden, die sich auf eine Beziehung mit einem Bargirl in Bangkok einlassen.

Stephen Leather is a well known Book writer, who is living in Bangkok. One of his Novels (Private Dancer) could be downloaded as PDF-File for free. Bombmaker, a Novel written by him for Sky-TV, could also be seen as TV-Movie on Sky-TV.

Norbert:
Since how many years do you live in BKK and in which district do you live?

Stephen:
I’ve been coming and going for the past fifteen years, but have been here consistently for the past five years. I live in Sukhumvit, not far from Soi Thonglor.

Norbert:
A lot of people hate BKK, because of the traffic-jam and the smog and so on. What is your kind of view about Bangkok: do you love, or do you hate BKK?

Stephen:
Like most people, I have a love-hate relationship with the city. Yeah, the traffic can be horrendous and the smog is sometimes so bad that my eyes sting, but there are so many wonderful things about Bangkok, too. Great restaurants, great shops, friendly people. I feel more at home here than anywhere else in the world. Once you understand how the city, and the people, function, it’s a very easy city to live in.

Norbert:
Bangkok has changed a lot in the past years. In your view: what have been the 3 most positive changes and what have been the 3 most negative changes?

Stephen:
Positive

a. The Skytrain. It makes getting about so much easier.

b. The weak baht. Everything is stupidly affordable.

c. Luxury cinemas. Okay, it costs 300 baht a ticket but you get a seat you can lie down on and waitress service. It’s the only way to see a movie.

Negative

a. Mobile phones. No one here seems to be aware of correct mobile phone etiquette (ie don’t shout and switch them off in cinemas and restaurants.)

b. Russian tourists. Loud, brash, no manners and their ugliest women insist on taking their clothes off on Thai beaches.

c. Tailor’s shops. It seems I can’t walk more than a hundred feet down Sukhumvit without being accosted by an Indian tailor trying to sell me a cheap suit. I haven’t worn a suit since 1988.

Norbert:
Nightlife: there is a lot in Bangkok. Could you tell us your favorite places to be (Restaurants, Bars, “Entertainment Plazas”)?

Stephen:
Favorite restaurants are “Bei Otto” in Sukhumvit Soi 20, “the Zen” Japanese Restaurant in Soi Thonglor and “the Seafood Market” in Sukhumvit Soi 24.

Favorite pubs are Jool’s Bar in Sukhumvit Soi 4, Witch’s Tavern in Soi Thonglor and Shenaningans in Pattaya.

Favorite go-go bars are Safari in Patpong, Long Gun in Soi Cowboy and G-Spot in Nana Plaza.

Norbert:
Do you prefer Thai or “non-Thai”-Food and what is your favorite meal? And which is your favorite drink?

Stephen:
I prefer Thai food, but my favorite meal is Berliner “Eisbein mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelpuree” at “Bei Otto” though sadly I have to ration myself to once a month otherwise I put on too much weight. I’ve just given up drinking gin and tonic and switched to Black Label and soda.

Norbert:
After all the years living in BKK, do you still go out to Patpong, Nana, Soi Cowboy or do you avoid this places?

Stephen:
I still go to Nana Plaza, maybe a couple of times a week. It’s a good place to meet friends if you don’t want to talk too much. Just sit, watch and drink.

Norbert:
I like the “Skytrain” very much, but it seems, that the Thais don’t accept the Skytrain as much as the owner wish. What could be the reasons for this behavior out of your view?

Stephen:
The Skytrain is brilliant and the Thais deserve more credit for how good a system it is. The problem is, it’s expensive in Thai terms. If two people or more are traveling together a taxi is almost always cheaper.

Norbert:
Your books are real “Best-sellers”. As you know, I am a German and a lot (about 10 percent) of the visitors of the Ibiza-Bangkok Web are Germans too. Will there be a translation in German language in the future?

Stephen:
Some of my earlier books were translated into German and sold quite well. I haven’t had an agent for the last two years and so things have gone quiet on the translation front. If anyone knows of a German publisher who would be interested, put them in touch and I’ll give you a ten per cent commission!

Norbert:
You have a special offer at your website and also here at the Ibiza-Bangkok-Web (take a look at the bottom of this Interview): It is possible to Download your novel “Private Dancer” for free. That’s a real nice but unusual offer. Why do you do this?

Stephen:
I write a particular type of book – international thrillers. But I also like to write in other genres. I have written a book called Once Bitten, about a psychologist who tracks down vampires, Dreamer’s Cat, which is a science fiction murder mystery, The Basement, which is a police story with a twist, and Private Dancer, which is the story of a writer who falls in love with a Thai bargirl and the havoc that ensues.

They are all so different from the type of books that I normally write that my publisher is reluctant to put them out as books. So I thought that I would offer them to my readers free, through my website.

Private Dancer has been a big success on the internet – it gets downloaded more than twenty times a day and all the feedback has been favorable. It is especially welcomed by guys who are planning to visit Thailand for the first time because it warns them of the dangers of losing your heart – and your wallet – to a bargirl.

The books are all available as free downloads at www.stephenleather.com/unpub.html. They are PDF files and need Adobe Acrobat to be read – most computers these days have Adobe Acrobat, but the latest version is also available as a free download at www.stephenleather.com/unpub.html.

Norbert:
How many email you receive in one day? What are the most common questions?

Stephen:
Considering I get up to three hundred people a day visiting www.stephenleather.com, I get surprisingly few e-mails from readers. Maybe one or two a day. That’s good for me because it means I can reply to them all. The most asked question is if Private Dancer is a true story or not. I usually say that it’s a novel so it’s a work of fiction, but based on events that have happened, if not to me then to people I know.

Norbert:
How could interested people buy your novels?

Stephen:
Most bookshops in the UK, Australia and South Africa have them, and they are generally on sale in South East Asia. Especially at airports. Outside of those areas the best place is through www.amazon.co.uk. There are links to Amazon on my website, www.stephenleather.com.

“The Fireman”, “Hungry Ghost” and “The Vets” are based in Hong Kong, “The Solitary Man” is based in Thailand, and “The Tunnel Rats” is based in Bangkok and Vietnam.

I have four free downloadable books, including Private Dancer, at www.stephenleather.com/unpub.html.

Norbert:
I know, you are looking around different Websites, so we both also got in contact while you visited the Ibiza-Bangkok-Web. Could you tell us your favorite Websites?

Stephen:
My favorite search engine is www.google.com. For information about Thailand I go to www.soicowboy.net, www.nanapong.com (great bulletin board), www.pattayagogoguide.com, www.bangkokbob.net, www.baronbonk.com, and Stickman’s excellent guide to Thailand at www.chopsticks.net/stickman/.

Norbert:
Could you please describe a typical day in your life in Bangkok?

Stephen:
Pretty boring, really. I get up and go for breakfast at Jool’s Bar in Sukhumvit Soi 4, just down from Nana Plaza. The bar in Private Dancer is called Fatso’s and is based on Jool’s, and the owner of Jool’s, Big Dave, is Big Ron in the book. I try to write in the afternoon. Whenever possible I try to write a thousand words a day. In the evening I go out for dinner, or go watch a movie. Then maybe write some more.

Norbert:
Which of your novels is your personal favorite and which Novel from another Book writer is your favorite?

Stephen:
I love Private Dancer and am proud of the way it shows the same story from so many different viewpoints. All the viewpoints are slanted, but valid, and by getting inside the heads of all the characters you come to some understanding of why the situation developed in the way that it did. You can sympathize with everyone involved, and even when they do bad things you realize that they are often acting from the best of intentions or because they really had no choice. I think that it goes a long way to explaining why relations with bargirls often go so badly wrong.

The book I’ve read most often is “One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch” by Alexander Solzheinitsyn. I never tire of it. One man’s struggle against adversity, taking small victories whenever he can.

Norbert:
While living in BKK always “strange” things are happening: What have been your funniest adventure in BKK???

Stephen:
One of the funniest things that happened to me taught me a lot about how to deal with Thais. It happened about eight years ago and I’ve included the story in my book Private Dancer:

I was on the outskirts of the city and it was close to rush hour and I couldn’t get a taxi to take me back to Sukhumvit. All the drivers just shook their heads. I knew why: at rush hour it can lock up solid. Eventually I just climbed into the back of a taxi and told him in English where I wanted to go, then I sat looking out of the window, ignoring his protests.

Eventually he gave up complaining and started to drive. Half an hour later, the car juddered to a halt. He started up again, we drove a few hundred feet, and we stopped again. “Car no good,” he said. I leaned forward and watched as he started the car again. The engine stalled – because he was deliberately slipping his foot off the clutch! He was faking it!

He got out of the car, muttering to himself, lifted up the bonnet and stood looking at the engine and shaking his head. He opened the passenger door for me. “Car no good,” he said. “I get new taxi for you. Sorry.”

So I got out of the taxi and he walked to the back and started trying to flag down another cab. I could see what his plan was. He was going to get another taxi to stop, then he would tell the driver to keep me talking while he drove off. Then taxi driver number two would refuse to take me, and he would drive off as well, leaving me stranded. I knew that was what he intended to do, but I didn’t argue with him because I knew that wouldn’t get me anywhere.

I just smiled and nodded, and then when he wasn’t looking I climbed into the driver’s seat. He had left the keys in the ignition and I started up the car, put it in gear and drove off. I drove off slowly, just above walking pace, watching him in the mirror. He saw what I was doing and ran after me, waving his arms and shouting. I let him run for a hundred yards or so, then I pulled up and wound down the window. I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. “Car okay,” I said. “I car doctor. I fix.”

He looked at me. He smiled. He knew that I knew he’d been lying. I knew that he knew that I knew. But there was no confrontation. “Car okay?” he said. “Oh yes. No problem now. I fix.”

I got out of the driver’s seat, and moved into the back. He got’s into the driver’s seat, put the car in gear and drove off. He smiled. “Okay now,” he said, nodding approvingly.

We drove all the way in to Bangkok without any more trouble. The driver was right, of course: we hit traffic and it took us more than hour to cover three miles. But when he did finally drop me off, I gave him a huge tip. He smiled. I smiled. Face was saved on both sides. A situation that could have turned really nasty became an object lesson in how to get what you want in the Land of Smiles.

Norbert:
Did you ever get in real crime trouble/danger in BKK??

Stephen:
Never. Not once. It must be the safest city in the world and it puts London to shame.

Norbert:
Out of your view: which places should every visitor of BKK visit and which should he avoid???

Stephen:
I don’t think there’s anywhere a visitor should avoid. You should experience everything. Just keep out of the sun! Everyone should visit the Grand Palace, and take a long tail boat on the river and around the canals. And visit the weekend market. And eat food on the streets.

Norbert:
Because I think I never could learn it: could YOU speak / write / read the Thai-Language???

Stephen:
I can speak a little and am taking lessons in reading and writing.

Norbert:
and finally the last question – if YOU could change something in BKK, what would this be?

Stephen:
Bigger roads and more of them. Less pollution. Fewer mobile phones. Fewer Indian tailors. Fewer Russian tourists. If Russian tourists do come, make it compulsory for their women to keep their clothes on in public.

Stephen, I thank you very much for this nice interview and which you good luck for the future!

The Interview was made by Norbert in April 2001!

And here are the Links to Stephen Leathers Website and the link to the free copy of “Private Dancer” is also attached. It could be downloaded at Stephens Website or direct here at the Ibiza Bangkok Web.

http://www.StephenLeather.com

Download of free Books at www.stephenleather.com/unpub.html

Download of private Dance direct here at the Ibiza-Bangkok-Web:

PUSH THE BOOK!

Publishing of the Pictures with Permission of Stephen Leather.

Jake:
I’m on my way back to Bangkok from LA right now. Actually, believe it or not, at this very moment, according to the flat-panel TV screen at the foot of my seat, I’m at 39,000 feet just south of the Aleutian Islands, about six hours out of LA and five hours away from Tokyo. I’m on a Singapore Airlines 747 today on which SQ is testing an in-flight system which provides continuous in-flight access to the internet and all your email accounts. They’ve even given me a power adapter so I can plug my laptop into the power outlet at the seat instead of running off the battery and waiting for the damned thing to run out.

Norbert:
How many years have you lived in Bangkok and in which district do you live?

Jake:
Aey I were married almost ten years ago and we’ve maintained an apartment in Bangkok since then — although we actually lived a fair amount of the time in California and Hawaii since I’d been writing for film and television since the mid-80’s and needed to be nearer to the States when I was still doing a lot of it. When our youngest son went into the first grade, however, we decided we wanted him to go to school in Bangkok, so we bought a large duplex apartment and remodeled it into a permanent family home. It’s off Sukhumvit Road, out near Soi Thonglor

Norbert:
A lot of people hate Bangkok because of the  traffic, the smog and so on. What is your kind of view about Bangkok: do you love, or do you hate it?

Jake:
Foreigners living in Bangkok do seem to have this almost unnatural emotional relationship with the city, it’s true. I’ve written about San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and London and have never heard a peep out of anyone as to what they thought about the things I said concerning those cities. But Bangkok is a different deal entirely. Would you believe I get a fair bit of hate mail as a result of my novels? A couple of people have written me that since I obviously detest Thailand I ought to go back where I came from; another said I must be just another of those dim-witted foreigners who’s been in Thailand only a couple of times but thinks he knows everything; one told me it was stupid for me to write about things that I knew nothing about and that I make so many factual errors that everything I write is just a lot of rubbish. Of course, I also get a lot of letters saying how my books make people miss the city, or love it more, or something like that because the portrait I draw of Bangkok is so overflowing with affection. So go figure. It’s clear that Bangkok seems to engage a lot of people on some genuinely emotional level, and that it pisses some of them off deeply whenever anyone says anything about the place that differs in even the slightest from their own personal perceptions. A remarkable number of foreigners here see themselves as the self-appointed guardians of ‘the truth about Bangkok,’ and they sneer loudly at anyone who sees things differently or who may have a different perception of the place. They swell up at you like you’d insulted their girlfriend. I don’t get it. Really I don’t. This is a great place to live for a lot of reasons, and I’m very fond of it, but I don’t intend to marry it.

Norbert:
Nightlife: there is a lot in Bangkok. Could you tell us your favorite places to be (Restaurants, Bars, “Entertainment Plazas”)?

Jake:
Philippe’s in Sukhumvit 39 is the best French bistro east of Paris; the Pacific City Club on top of Pacific Place has one of the best all-around kitchens in Asia (it’s a private club, so find a member to take you); the Greyhound Café in the Emporium is the best place in town for a simple but very good meal while watching how terminally-hip among young Thais pass their time; and the Bulls Head is the best of the pubs. I haven’t been to Patpong in something like twenty years, and I probably average about an hour a year altogether at Nana and Soi Cowboy. On the other hand, Clinton Plaza has turned into a surprisingly good place for a beer on a sticky night. It’s got possibilities.

Norbert:
Do you prefer Thai or “non-Thai”-Food and what is your favorite meal???? And which is your favorite drink?

Jake:
Aey and I eat pretty much the same way here that we did in California, a bit of this and a bit of that. When we are home our cook does primarily Thai food. Since she is a very, very good cook, that’s fine with me. My usual drink is a Tanqueray martini, but if we’re somewhere I don’t know the bartender, I generally stick to Heineken or maybe a Compari and soda. Asking a Thai bartender you don’t know to make an American martini can louse up your whole evening.

Norbert:
After all the years living in Bangkok, do you still go out to Patpong, Nana, Soi Cowboy or do you avoid this places?

Jake:
I really don’t think about them much one way or another. Either I’ve grown up, or all that stuff’s gotten old. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I think a lot of people develop a certain myopia from looking at Thailand for way too long through the bottom of a beer bottle. All in all it’s a pretty cheerless way to see this oddball little village we live in, and it’s just not a very big part of my life.

Norbert:
As I know, you are used to drive your own car in Bangkok. This is real fascinating for me, because driving in Bangkok seems to be like a war. How is it possible to win this war??

Jake:
Easy. Hire someone to fight it for you. We have two household drivers and I leave the whole problem to them.

Norbert:
I like the “Skytrain” very much, but it seems, that the Thais don’t accept the Skytrain as much as the owner wish. What could be the reasons for this behavior?

Jake:
Actually, everyone I know loves the Skytrain. Aey certainly prefers it to sitting in traffic, even with someone else driving, and she uses it frequently. I, on the other hand, would generally rather spend an extra few minutes in the back of the car reading the papers than slog up and down the steps to the Skytrain when it’s either stinking hot or raining, and as you know, it’s almost always one or the other in Bangkok. I think the overall ridership of the Skytrain is low principally because it covers only a very limited part of the city, and to be fair, it’s the part of the city that’s home to most foreigners. There are an awful lot of Thais for whom the Skytrain just isn’t much use.

Norbert:
Your novels, “The Big Mango” and “Tea Money,” have been big bestsellers, I know. I am a German and a lot of the visitors of the Ibiza-Bangkok Web are Germans too. Will there be a translation in German language in the future?

Jake:
Yeah, I’ve been very happy with how well the books have sold. TEA MONEY is still on the bestseller list nearly six months after it was published. We’ve done  something like 20,000 copies of both books over the last year or so, and that’s just a huge number of books for the small market in which they’ve been distributed —- way more than any other novels have ever sold here. Incidentally, I’d absolutely love for the books to be translated into German, but I haven’t yet heard from any German-language publishers asking to do it. I’d be delighted to give a publisher permission to bring out German-language editions of both books. If you know of anyone who wants to, just ask them to email me at mail@jakeneedham.com and I’ll be happy to try and work something out.

Norbert:
How could interested people buy your novels?

Jake:
I’m happy to say that they’re prominently displayed at bookstores, hotels, and airports all over Southeast Asia, and they’re also sold by a number of the larger on-line booksellers such as:

at www.www.paddyfield.com

http://www.paddyfield.com.hk/?isbn=9748237462

http://www.paddyfield.com.hk/?isbn=9748237362

and at www.dcothai.com :

http://www.dcothai.com/books/bigmango.htm

http://www.dcothai.com/books/teamoney.htm

But if you still can’t find them, send an email to the marketing director at Asia Books and she’ll get them to you. Her name is Rhian Owen, and her email address is Rhian@asiabooks-thailand.com.

Norbert:
Your wife is a very nice Thai-Lady. I think she and her kind of view (the “Thai-View”) is a good support for your novels, is this correct?

Jake:
Too right it is. Aey is the greatest support that anyone could hope for, both personally and professionally. What’s more, she’s quite prominent in her own right since she is the only Thai woman ever to graduate from  Oxford and was a reasonably well known concert pianist, now prematurely retired. Being married to her has given me an insight into life here that most foreigners don’t normally have.

Norbert:
As a writer, you sure don’t write the whole day. Could you describe us a typical day of your life in Bangkok?

Jake:
Well, actually I do write most days, although not from dawn to dusk, of course. For example, I’m working on a new novel now which I expect to have done by the end of the summer. Then I’m also committed over the next couple of months to do a screenplay for a Thai movie and a treatment book (which is sort of like an extended outline of a screenplay) for a film version of THE BIG MANGO which is being done by an American production company. It’s usually like that, three or four projects being juggled at the same time. By eight every morning I’m normally in my study at home dealing with email as well as taking care of whatever personal business may be pending, and there always seems to be more of it than I can believe. When that’s done, I usually write without interruption for four to six hours on whatever project has pushed its way to the top of the pile that day, having lunch at my desk while I work. By mid-afternoon I’m pretty well burned out, so sometimes I play a little tennis or Aey and I might go to the gym together. We’re out four or five nights a week as well. My wife is a bit of a socialite at heart, I guess, but don’t tell her I said that. In Bangkok I’m principally recognized as the guy who’s married to Khun Aey.

Norbert:
This questions sounds stupid, but how do you write a book?? When you start writing a book, do you know the end of the story? And how much time does it take to write a book like “The Big Mango”?

Jake:
No, it’s not a stupid question at all. Every writer goes about the writing process in an entirely different way, and people are often interested in the way a particular writer works. I tend to work in a fairly structured and disciplined fashion. Six hours or so a day, six days a week, for three or four months, and I usually end up with a first draft. I work fairly free form, not from an outline, so frequently the progress of the narrative takes me by surprise and that’s one thing that really pushes me forward. The second draft goes a little faster, usually six or eight weeks, then there’s a third draft which is really just a polish, so it goes very fast, never much more than a month. That adds up to about six or seven months from the first blank page to the final manuscript. After that, of course, there’s another three or four months of work with an editor to whip the manuscript into publishable shape, and then dealing with sales and promotional planning for the publication, so in round numbers, if you work very, very hard, you can do one novel a year. That’s always my goal.

Norbert:
I know, such things are secrets, but……. we will not tell it to anybody, accept to the visitors of the Ibiza-Bangkok-Web. Could you tell us a little bit about your next project?

Jake:
I’m working on a novel set largely in Phuket. It’s about a prominent American fugitive who takes refuge there under the protection of some powerful Thais while the US Marshals plot to grab him and take him back to the States. It’ll be published sometime near the end of this year.

Norbert:
You have seen a lot of places at this earth, what are your favorite places?

Jake:
Anywhere my wife and sons are. I know that sounds awfully corny, but it really is the truth.

Norbert:
If you take some days for vacation, which is the place you and your wife choose for a nice vacation?

Jake:
I guess it doesn’t sound very imaginative, but we mostly tend to head down to Phuket whenever we have the time. It’s a hard place to beat, and it only takes a couple of hours to get there. I have to make three or fours trips to the States every year, mostly in connection with film work, so I average about a month each year in New York and another couple of weeks in LA, God help me. Aey goes along whenever she can, but not always. Anyway, sometimes it’s a vacation to me just not to have to travel too far.

Norbert:
Which places should every visitor to Bangkok visit and which should he avoid?

Jake:
I’m not much of a temple-and-museum guy myself, so I can’t be of much help to you there. Whether I’m on the road myself, however, my favorite thing to do when I have some spare time is just to hit the streets in whatever city I happen to find myself. I walk out of the hotel, turn left, and let things develop from there. And as far as I’m concerned, Bangkok is the best city in the world for doing that kind of thing. The street life here is unlike any other place in the world. It’s incredibly rich, endlessly amazing, and completely safe. You can poke around anywhere you like in Bangkok anytime you want. What could be better than that?

Norbert:
For “Non-Thai-People”, the thinking of Thai people normally looks strange. Yes means No, No sometimes means perhaps and sometimes (that is real strange) yes means yes. After all this years, you are living in BKK, do you understand the “Thai-Way Of Thinking”???

Jake:
Yeah, most of the time, and I love it. Life in Thailand is rooted in the art of creative ambiguity. The national motto seems to be mi pen rai, never mind. Who can resist that? Most everything about the way the Thai people live and behave is aimed at avoiding conflicts. Contrast that with almost anywhere in America, where sometimes it seems most people think the primary point of life is to have conflicts. Lord help us.

Norbert:
Because I think I never could learn it: could YOU speak / write / read the Thai-Language???

Jake:
Aey always told me that she thought I could do a lot of things more useful than learning Thai. After all, we’re not talking a particularly widely used language here, are we? I took her word for it and never undertook any formal training. Of course I’ve picked up a bit here and there, but Aey and the rest of her family graduated from English universities, so none of them care whether I speak a word of Thai or not. Also, my sons assure me that they don’t think I’m stupid since I barely speak a language they can not only speak but read and write perfectly. So I guess it’s no great loss.

Norbert:
Have you ever been at Ibiza/Spain ?

No, but if you’ll get somebody to send me a couple of first class tickets, I’ll be willing to write a novel about it.

The Interview was made by Norbert in Mai 2001!

And here is the Link to Jake Needhams Website:

http://www.JakeNeedham.com

Publishing of the Pictures with Permission of Jake Needham.

I have had the honor to have a lunch with Christopher while I have been in Bangkok. We met on 16. Jan 2001 at “Ship’s Inn” near Soi Cowboy:

Norbert:
I am glad that you find a little bit time for this Interview, Christopher. I know, that you are a very busy person, so lets start:

Norbert:
You are living in Bangkok and you look, like you are happy to live in this VERY chaotic city. How long do you live here and what do you like / dislike in Bangkok???

Christopher G. Moore:
I first came to Bangkok in 1983 and have lived here on a permanent basis since 1988. In some ways a very long time, in other ways a midsummer’s night sleep. Bangkok is a 24-hour city, with excitement, adventure, and diversity. I have lived in New York and London, and spent substantial time in Tokyo and Paris, but it is in Bangkok one finds a truly international city living in the midst of a very old, unique culture. It is a place of many contradictions and this provides more than ample material for a novelist to drawn upon.

Norbert:
You are doing something, which I thought it is absolutely impossible for all “farangs” to do: you drive in Bangkok with your own car! How many cars did you destroy for “learning driving” in Bangkok )))?

Christopher G. Moore:
Driving in Bangkok is like going to the frontline of a small guerrilla war on foreign terrain where the locals have all the advantages, a place with landmines and snipers and massive delays and boredom. What is amazing is how seldom a Thai ever leans on his horn. Most of the time if you see someone going Horne crazy it is a farang who has finally been driven over the edge into madness as yet another smoke belching bus cuts in front of him without signaling. I own a Honda City, the kind of car a first year student at local university would lose face being seen in.

Norbert: Are you still “on the road” at night-time? Do you still visit Nana-Plaza, Patpong, Washington Square or did your live change in this item??

Christopher G. Moore:
Bangkok is constantly changing and this includes nighttime Bangkok. There are many more venues than before. Lot’s of pubs and upscale bars like the Q-Bar have in the past couple of years transformed the night landscape and fractured the expat community into many more different parts. In my fiction I try to set scenes in contemporary Bangkok, and that includes the night life, so I am always scouting out the latest hotspots. Otherwise the novels would simply take readers through a Bangkok of the past and the intention is just opposite: to take readers on an adventure into the moment of what this city has to offer.

Norbert:
Bangkok is very big and there are thousands of nice bars and places. But everybody has some favorite places to be. What are your “Top Five” favorite places?

Christopher G. Moore:
Q-Bar, G-Spot, Bossy, The Ship’s Inn, Voodoo Bar, Baan Khanitha.

So it is six and not five. I was never any good at maths.

Norbert:
When we are talking about Bars, what is your favorite Drink?

Christopher G. Moore:
Champagne / Single Malt Whiskey

Norbert:
We are in email contact since some years and one time you wrote: “Bangkok is changing every day”. Is it a positive change or a negative? What has been the main thing in your view, that changed in the last years?

Christopher G. Moore:
Is the class half full or half empty? The older people become the temptation is to grow more grumpy, cynical and negative. The job of a novelist is to bring some larger truth to his or her times and place. In most cases, the message is a mixed one, as one expect from the world we live in, there is joy and despair, humor and anguish, love and hate, forgiveness and revenge. For each person there are choices of paths to take and that includes emotional and psychological paths as well. It is no good to be nostalgic about a past that no longer exist. We live in the present and that ever shifting present is the bridge we cross every day of our lives. Bangkok is in a state of constant change; but, then, so is every other place in the world. The weave of the expat community is less tight, the local color has been largely replaced by international symbols of wealth and influence, the bourgeois are slowly gaining more power. Wealth still triumphs. The message from the artistic community is muted and disconnected from most people’s life. There is an awkward relationship of using the tools of creativity and irony to assess and evaluate the sexy modernism of these times.

Still one must draw a line in the sand. Mine is this: make no mistake about it, this is the Golden Age. It will never get any better any where in the world as it is for a foreign living in Bangkok.

Norbert:
Lets talk about a good friend of you: “Calvino” (for all, who don’t know Calvino: he is the hero of some of Christopher’s novel’s). Is he still in Bangkok?

Christopher G. Moore:
Calvino is working on a murder case in Bangkok at the moment. If it all comes together, then the results of that case will be recorded in novel number 7 in the series. I have been encouraged by my distributor in Singapore to take Vinee on the road, say (no surprise here) to Singapore. I am consulting the private eye to see if this fits in with a visa run he might be planning.

Norbert:
Ok, I know, that there are so many beautiful Girls in Bangkok, but do you think Calvino will choose one (!) and marry her, or will it be better for Bangkok, if he is available for all of them?????

Christopher G. Moore:
Calvino is a captive of his professional and literary genre. This dictates that he must be a solo act acting on the margins, trying to give help to those without power and influence, seeking to make a difference in lives that for most would be throwaway lives. It is difficult to find such a character living a bourgeois life.

Norbert:
Because Calvino seems to drink to much sometimes, did he never choose “a wrong one”, one of the Girl-Boys, which could be found everywhere in Bangkok, when he was drunken?

Christopher G. Moore:
Calvino says he’s never made that elementary confusion of gender. He once had a Katoey client who makes an appearance in Novel 7.

Norbert:
I have heard, that “you and Calvino” have some contacts with Hollywood. If there will be a movie, based on one of your Novell’s in the future, who be the best actor in your mind for the Calvino part?

Christopher G. Moore:
Recently there have been several inquires (and a couple of offers) to option the Calvino series. So far none of the offers have come close to what Calvino would regard as fair and decent. Most of the people in show-biz have the kind of patchwork morality that makes them colorful, pumped up with inflated self-value, and basically without a clue about Bangkok, Thai or expat cultures. I am reminded of an endless parade of cowboys who have never been to a rodeo, who talk bull, but have never ridden one.

Norbert:
You have wrote so many novel’s (not “only” the Calvino-Novel’s), what is your favorite of your own Novels? And what is your all time favorite Novel by another author?

Christopher G. Moore:
I think of the Land of Smiles trilogy as one big novel in three parts: A Killing Smile, A Bewitching Smile, and A Haunting Smile. They were written very close together, and this is among my best work. I notice, for example, that Christopher Isherwood’s novels set in Berlin are reissued as The Berlin novels.

My favorite novel would Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, followed by Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Isherwood’s The Berlin Novels.

Norbert:
When I read a book, written by you, I am always thinking, I am standing in Bangkok, in front of the Police office and so on and so on. Your books are very authentic. I think it is hard work, to write such authentic stuff, even if you are living in Bangkok, isn’t it?

Christopher G. Moore:
People who have been to Bangkok know a great deal about the city and have a high expectation that anyone writing about it will not let them down on the small details. For it is the details that makes the reader suspend disbelief, to climb into the second story of imagination, and like a good cat burglar know exactly what valuables are worth putting in the bag before making an escape.

Norbert:
Your Novell’s are sold all over the world. In how many languages are your Novell’s translated??

Christopher G. Moore:
My novels have been translated into Chinese, German, Japanese and Thai.

Norbert:
I know, that you started to sell your Novell’s with a “sales tray” years ago. Then you worked with the internet and it is still possible to buy books at your website http://www.cgmoore.com (which is very interesting, even if someone has bought all your books). At moment, every new book is sold worldwide in a very high number of copies. What will be the next step?

Christopher G. Moore:
My first novel His Lordship’s Arsenal was first published by a traditional publishing house in New York City in 1985, and the paperback rights were sold to another New York City publisher in 1988. Since that time I have had a number of publisher in Thailand. Heaven Lake Press is the latest publisher, a Thai company situated in Bangkok. My international sales are handled through www.cgmoore.com .
The books are shipped all around the world by airmail and the staff has a good reputation for reliability and following up. We have never lost an order in three years. I get a fair number of order for 5 or 10 books as there are special discounts for those amounts. A reader will write that he saw an advertisement for my books while standing at a urinal in Voodoo Bar, buy a book, read it on the plane, then discovering they aren’t available in his local bookshop, he finds his way to the website and orders the whole lot. This reader loyalty and support has been very important to me as a writer. Not only are the sales to regular readers an encouragement to keep at it, the money from the books allows me to keep on writing full time. And there aren’t that many people in this part of the world (or anywhere for that matter) who have the luxury to write novels full time and not starve to death in the process.

Norbert:
Last question: if you could change any thing in your past live, what would you change?

Christopher G. Moore:
I would have learned more magic.

Christopher, Thank you very much for this meeting and for the very interesting interview with you!

The Interview was made by Norbert at 16. January 2001 in Bangkok.

You could get all books at
http://www.cgmoore.com

It is also possible in some countries to get them at Amazon.

And some news for all German readers from Christopher (written to me at 08. October 2001) :

Dear Norbert,

You will likely be the first in the German language world to know.

Unionsverlag will publish a German language edition of Cut Out. The contract will be signed at the Frankfurt Book Fair this month.

Cut Out is set in Thailand and Cambodia at the time of the UNTAC deployment and the story revolves around the stolen Saudi jewels….

Spread the word.

Best,

Christopher

And his new Book in English Language:

The Pictures on this site are published with the permission of Christopher G. Moore.