Matt Owens Rees

I just don’t get it. Why do motor cyclists pull out from sois onto a main road without looking? This is one of the two things I still don’t understand about Thailand.

Yes, some roads have cycle lanes into which they can filter reasonably safely, but most roads do not have these. So, they just pull out into the line of traffic. As a motorist, if a car is coming towards you, you can’t even swerve to avoid the rider.

This rider, just coming out of a soi, is pausing before joining the main carriageway. In my experience, most riders just push their way out.

Police checks
Mostly, they’re checking for illegals and drug-smugglers. They’ll stop and fine those with out-of-date tax discs or those not wearing a crash-helmet. But, they won’t stop Thais who they know don’t have money to pay fines.

The police will rarely prosecute a motor cyclist for any dangerous riding offence. The motorist will usually pick up both the blame and the tab for any expenses. Particularly up-country many riders are uninsured and may have no licence in any case.

It is common for riders to approach on the wrong side of the road, but in most cases, you can clearly see them and adjust your driving accordingly. Weaving in and out of lanes is expected so there are no surprises there.

Moving directly from the inside cycle track to the offside lane in order to complete a U-turn happens regularly. You’ll get used to it. I have. But I still don’t understand the casual and blasé way they pull out of the sois.

Is it fatalism?

The Buddhist view is that life is full of suffering and is impermanent. That your life is predetermined so that you have no control over events anyway. I’m not convinced that is the reason. Are you?

The police learnt to ride the Thai way when they were children. Their sympathies are, therefore, with the biker not the motorist. Perhaps motor cyclists realise that. Particularly up-country many riders are uninsured and may have no licence in any case.

It is common for riders to approach on the wrong side of the road, but in most cases, you can clearly see them and adjust your driving accordingly. Weaving in and out of lanes is expected so there are no surprises there.

Moving directly from the inside cycle track to the offside lane in order to complete a U-turn happens regularly. You’ll get used to it. I have. But I still don’t understand the casual and blasé way they pull out of the sois.

Substack, Medium, and WordPress

Substack is much more powerful than both Medium and WordPress, with features which allow readers and writers to communicate amongst themselves. This allows readers to add their own ideas and opinions in the posts they read. It’s a win-win situation.Everyone gains from expanding the original topic.

But it suffers from being difficult to navigate and is not easy to use. They use algorithms, which are not adequately trained, to provide customer service. Response time is immediate but rarely answers any query raised. Human help is eventually made available but with a 6-month wait.

It uses an old-fashioned editor which is impossible to use. Both Substack and Medium are firing staff to try to contain costs. Substack’s balance sheet is very weak. My intention, over the coming weeks, is to incorporate the best features of Substack into the www.MattOwensRees.com website.

A True Story from A Thailand Diary

“Goong told me this evening that she was in a hurry to get to work today but wasn’t wearing her crash helmet. It was still in the bike’s basket. Turning a corner, she saw the police check. But Goong didn’t stop. She just smiled and said that she was late for work. The officer waved her on.

He didn’t even make her put her helmet on.”

Quite normal practice apparently. Not sure I’d get away with it.

Free Downloads of My Books

Not all my books are about Thais and their culture. You may be interested in The True Story of a Welsh Godfather.

I wrote this true account of the activities of a Welsh Godfather in collaboration with my childhood friend, Johnny Illsley. Neither of us knew anything of those activities until after Johnny’s parents had died and personal letters of the Godfather, J.O.Williams, were available. A Welsh Godfather shows how J.O. manipulated politicians, who had difficulty in dealing with and controlling him.

If you’d like a free epub or pdf copy, download either the epub or pdf app (both are free) and use these links.

You can download my book in Epub format here.

I hope you enjoy

A fuller description of the book

Matt has written this true account of the activities of a Welsh Godfather in collaboration with his childhood friend, Johnny Illsley. Neither knew anything of those activities until after Johnny’s parents had died and personal letters of the Godfather, J.O.Williams, were available.

Because the UK and Newfoundland governments were involved in J.O.’s activities in Port Hope Simpson, a new settlement in Newfoundland, and because there were other vested interests, not all the archive material has been released following freedom of information requests. However, many facts and data have been pieced together from sources who knew J.O.’s family to make this book an interesting read. Expect many twists and turns in the narrative and watch out for some cliff-hangers.

A Welsh Godfather shows how J.O. manipulated politicians in the UK and Newfoundland. He sought friends and influential contacts and avoided making enemies whenever he could. J.O. wanted people on his side. We see how politicians had difficulty in dealing with or controlling him. They claimed the cover-ups were in the public interest. But, was it not also in their interests to construct a cover-up?

J.O. had a sharp business-like and analytical mind and a gift for clear thinking. He did things his way. He did not suffer fools gladly. He outclassed most people with whom he came into contact.

From his personal observations and experiences, Matt Owens Rees sees a mafia as a benevolent dictatorship run essentially as a “family” concern. The violence portrayed in movies has been overplayed. The only deaths in this true story were that of three family members of J.O.’s family in the 1940 fire, and they were probably committed by the loggers who had grievances over working conditions. They took the law into their own hands. That in itself is a typical mafia strategy.

J.O. wanted to create a wealthy and powerful family. There is no evidence that he ever used violence. He was, as far as Matt was aware, not involved in drug smuggling, protection rackets, human trafficking, illegal gambling, boot-legging or the other oft-quoted activities of mafias. It’s not illegal to outwit international governments and make a great deal of money doing so.

Provided that you showed him respect, J.O. would be benevolent towards you and you would be regarded as a member of his extended family. Although he was open to discussion and would listen, his decisions were final. J.O. Williams saw the crookedness and unfairness of much in society. He knew and experienced at first hand the corruption, bias, and self-serving of the political and judicial establishment.

We think of mafia as a corrupt organised crime family not following the law as we know it. In that sense, mafias are examples of a dysfunctional and broken system. The mafia businesses themselves, of course, have a different view. To them, it is the establishment, the government, which is corrupt and dysfunctional.

As portrayed in film, we are told that they are violent crocked criminals with no redeeming features. We need to view them in a different perspective when reading the narrative of the J.O.Williams family.