A good written analyze of the situation in Bangkok in March 2010 (written by famous Christopher G. Moore) could be found at the following link: http://www.internationalcrimeauthors.com/?p=520

We will see, which impact the “protests” will have.

Starting from today, the green mini buses in Bangkok are “past”. After a 5 years transition period, the drivers of the remaining green buses could loose their license and get arrested if they still use their green buses.

You could find the original article here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/32993/

WHAT A SHAME! I loved the green buses, because every drive has been an “special adventure” which costs 6.50 Baht.……. Anyway: in the past their have been similar announcements before, which have not been implemented so far……

Based on comments in their database, the well known website “TripAdvisor” has published a list with the “Top Ten” of the “dirtiest Hotels” in Asia.

You could find the list —> HERE (Link to the Tripadvisor-Webpage regarding the “Top Ten”)

Dear Friends,
I am back from New York where I met with my publisher, editor, publicist and people who are producing the Vincent Calvino film. On 6th November Grove Press released Paying Back Jack. The reviewer of I Love Mystery said, “This story is so tightly woven and entertaining it is hopeless to try to put it down. Not only was it new and fresh, but I feel like I have taken a trip to the underbelly of Thailand. It is impossible not to love this book.” Things are looking very good for the film to start production next year.

By the end of November, The Corruptionist, the 11th novel in the Vincent Calvino series will be out in Thailand, along with The Vincent Calvino Reader’s Guide. Once the book has been delivered, I can be ordered from my publisher’s website.

Meanwhile, technology rolls on and that means, in this case, some good news. The Land of Smiles trilogy can be downloaded for the Kindle reader. I blogged about A Killing Smile, A Bewitching Smile and A Haunting Smile today. http://www.cgmoore.com/blog/index.asp

Regards,
Christopher

After all the years, I have changed know the design of the Ibiza-Bangkok-Web.

The English Bangkok Page has been changed on 23. July 2009

There are also some new pictures -> enjoy them!

Gruss
Norbert

Link to the 769 Bangkok Pictures
Bangkok, Thailand: an amazing town! Click on one of the pictures to open the big bangkok photo gallery!

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)

Link to the Pictures from Narcissus Bangkok

The Narcissus is my favourite club in Bangkok! Trance and House music and an amazing location! Take a look at the pictures and “join” the “Night of the Narcissus” with me.

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.