family
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You’ll see odd things sometimes Behind the Bamboo Curtain. You’ll notice businesses and government departments moving their employees around at short notice. The Thai élite are paranoid that their senior staff will find ways of cheating them. On the other hand, they can sometimes be very caring. Benjawan had been taking a lot of time…
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Sunday’s short post in the Beyond the Bamboo Curtain series of Thailand topics. All my family will be there including my cousin’s German husband. You’ll enjoy meeting him and joining in with the village festivities. It lasts all day. Plenty of food, plenty of drink. Khun Fon said I would be able to talk to a fellow…
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Behind the Bamboo Curtain – Part 8 : You Are In My Country Now From honeymoon haze to household budgets, Derek’s escape to Thailand takes a turn. He’s no longer a visitor. He’s a resident—having to report to Immigration every 90 days, remembering to re-apply to stay in the kingdom every year, and dealing with…
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Chapter 6 Talking to my son My hospital appointment came more quickly than I had expected. Hooked up to several machines by what seemed like an endless flow of wires, I spent two hours on a bed while examinations on my heart were completed. The good news was that the hospital had found nothing out of…
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Beyond the Bamboo Curtain It seemed like longer, but Toy and I had been together for only nine days. Were we going too fast? Was I going too fast? Did I know enough about her after such a short time? Much of what I’d gleaned about Thailand had come from internet forums and from Richard’s…
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Part 3: A Thai Thief I had crammed a lot into my first five days in Thailand. I had been puzzled and perhaps confused by some of the differences I noticed between Thai and Western ways. Although the people seemed happy and relaxed, maybe there was something being concealed behind the smile that was on…
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Part 1 We’re Airborne This is the first in a 14-part series tracing Derek’s journey through the subtle, often unseen layers of Thai society. Each instalment offers a glimpse behind the bamboo curtain—where social cues, quiet tensions, and unspoken hierarchies shape daily life. We begin mid-air, with altitude and anticipation, as Derek’s story takes flight.…