Saphan Hin is an area of parks and public facilities where Phuket Town meets the sea. It’s a charming little area where Thai families go and have picnics. It used to be full of thick woodland where Thai couples would go to sin, and it was associated with gangs, violence and robberies until it was cleaned up. By day it’s one of Phuket Town’s gems, but come the weekend and it transforms into something else.

There’s a large car park area where there is a weekend market during the day. There are basketball courts and a few old skate ramps – nothing out of the ordinary for Thailand. But at weekends this same area plays host to some serious car enthusiasts. South Thailand’s top suppliers of car parts showcase their ultra-modified wagons here at a kind of all-night rave.

The stereo systems are turned up full whack, anything that can flash is made to do so, bonnets are raised, boots are opened, and coyote girls dance in front of the cars – it’s Thailand’s answer to a Max Power convention.

One of the guys there when I went said that people come from all over Thailand to show off their wheels at Saphan Hin, although most of the top motors are from local shops.

There’s huge amounts of money behind these cars, going up into the millions of baht. The atmosphere at Saphan Hin was a lot calmer than what I’d expected. I’d gone thinking it would be full of gangs and shady characters, but it was just a bunch of kids drinking beer out of cans looking at the dozens of cars on display.

I know absolutely nothing about cars but managed to feign a wealth of knowledge and everyone was pleased to have me take photos of their cars.

The things that stood out to me were the pickup trucks with “Back to the Future” doors, modified minibuses and sound systems that made my brain vibrate. These machines are the kings of Thailand’s roads.

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Phuket, Cars in Thailand, Driving

Sometimes blog posts can come back and bite you with a vengeance. Those harmless ramblings you write can cause all sorts of problems. It happened to me once, when a woman labeled me a sexist and took great pleasure in telling me she was going to blacken my name in the English media because she didn’t agree with an article I had written.

It’s difficult to deal with people in that mindset, but most of the time when someone gets irate over something you’ve written you don’t expect it to have serious consequences in the real world. Step up Iris, a Filipino girl who moved to Bangkok at the beginning of June.

Iris got a job as a teacher and, judging from email correspondence with her, she was happy and excited about the prospect of work. Iris also has a blog (two blogs actually). I enjoy reading some of Iris’ posts because they contain brutally honest ramblings that have a dark tinge to them. A lot of her posts are about sex, and this has been her undoing.

Iris is new in Bangkok, and so a lot of her observations should be taken on board with that knowledge. Thailand only reveals its true self once you start pealing back the layers, and that doesn’t happen straight away – I still have many more layers to peal.

One post on Iris’ blog dealt with dating in Bangkok. Iris had been going out with a farang for a couple of weeks and she posted her observations about whether or not he was boyfriend material. The post was inoffensive (to me) and off the cuff. Iris concluded with this paragraph:

Dating a Western man is a tedious exercise. It is even more so in Bangkok. Honestly, is there still a farang in Bangkok who isn’t just out to dip his wick in as many Asian crevices as he can? That’s what I’m here to find out.

That’s the concluding paragraph of an article that got Iris fired from her teaching job. After just one week of employment in Bangkok, her boss emailed her and said that he was worried she would eventually start writing about her school, Iris wrote.

To read the full article (and you should to see if you think it is worthy of a firing) go here and read it on a page of my blog (Iris has it password protected now). Iris’ post about getting fired can be viewed here.

It makes a case for anonymous blogging in Thailand because Iris has lost her job and been subjected to torrents of abuse for things she’s written. I don’t think it’s fair to begrudge Iris because of her inexperience in Thailand, and neither do I think it’s fair to sack her by email without at least sitting down with her and telling how things are.

I know the name of the Bangkok school Iris was fired from and I know the name of the man who did it, but I’ve decided that neither of those details are mine to give out because I haven’t heard both sides of the argument (there are always two sides).

What do you think about this? It’s a real life drama that stems from blogging in Thailand.

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Bangkok, Teaching in Thailand, Blogging in Thailand

It took them long enough, but access to the popular video-sharing website Youtube has been restored in Thailand after three months of “will they, won’t they?” I may be premature with my celebrations as Youtube has been known to come back on in Thailand for short periods before disappearing again, but this is the first time I have been able to access it since it Sitthichai blocked it.

Hardcore porn mag or acceptable entertainment publication? I think Thailand’s got its issues confused. At the risk of becoming an X-rated blog, I’m going to put this post below a “more” tag. There will be some brief nudity so don’t click if you will be offended.

Read the rest of this entry »

Once I left Bangkok, the need to use MySpace to organise my life diminished. I find myself only logging on to check messages. I noticed that every now and then I get an email saying, “I’ve added you as a friend on Facebook”. A lot of my friends seem to be getting on it, so when I had a few spare moments I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Oh my. If you’re living in Thailand and missing home, it’s a real nostalgia trip. The few spare moments turned into a few hours. I was amazed with what I found. When you’re out working in Thailand you sometimes forget that the people you went to school with grew up, or that the people you were at uni with went on to do amazing things.

The first thing I found was a community of people I was in halls with at Sheffield Uni. There were tons of people who I haven’t seen for years. Some of them are married, some making heaps of cash in top jobs, some doing other peculiar things. Those faces brought back some real memories.

Then I came across other random friends who I’d forgotten to stay in touch with. It was like a reunion of my life. I even found this embarrassing picture from my days of more “serious” clubbing. Did I really dress like this?

I think that was taken four years ago at Godskitchen Global Gathering. I actually used to make my own clothes out of fridge magnets sometimes. Luckily I’m not wearing any UV face paint in this picture. The shame of it! Those days are well behind me now; Thailand’s nightlife will never see that Lost Boy.

The best thing about FB, and something that really got to me living in Thailand, was finding people I went to primary school with and haven’t seen for about 15 years. It was amazing to see everyone all grown up.

You never forget those friends you had when you were 10 years old. There was even a class photo taken, I’d guess, in 1993. Can you guess which one I am?

I’m not hard to find, as I was the only boy in the class with bright blonde hair. I got in a lot of trouble for what some teachers and parents saw as a smile that ruined the photo. When that picture was taken I still thought that Thailand was the place where ties come from.

Anyway, here is my FB link for those already hooked up. MySpace is more popular in Thailand than FB, but MySpace is such a glitchy, poorly developed utility that there is a real need for FB. I don’t think the fad has quite caught with those living in Thailand, but for expats it’s a great resource.

Techno’ tags: Thailand, Bangkok, Facebook, MySpace