letters to thailand - part 4

To the boys and girls of the LEO CLUB
c/o the honourable chairperson BeeBee,
The Construction View Hotel Ao Nang, Krabi

DOUBLE DUTCH

So meanwhile, my dear friends, I’m holding on for dear life… riding the glacier, wondering where it will bring me, though at times I let the magical herb help me slowing it down, creating ample opportunity to reflect.
Lately I’ve been looking in every nook and cranny, bringing home memories that were long lost. The more I hold them against the light of present day, the less I feel at home, realizing I had actually forgotten why I had turned my back on it all…moving east.

The middle ground never was my turf, however now it’s gotten to be so wide…I don’t know where to put my feet. It feels like being pushed towards the very extremes of society…maybe you know the place where people hang by their nails to the rim of humanity.
Remember the people begging for receipts and free coupons in front of the bigger department stores downtown Bangkok? It became a normal sight at every Dutch supermarket.
Supporting that gargantuan incubus that government has become, the indifference by the majority towards the well-being of the individual is becoming almost unbearable.

By the way, anyone of you beautiful people thinking to bring your Thai loved one to the Netherlands? Think twice.
Integration is the name of the game; it became synonymous to intolerance.
One of many tricks to keep your lover, your spouse, yes even your kids outside is that they will have to learn Dutch before they are allowed to climb over the dikes that protect those lower lands of paradise.
Ever heard a Dutch government minister speak English?
Imagine Thai authorities reciprocating with a vengeance…what you think would happen to all those beer-bellied assholes looking for a cheap ride in Pattaya, to just name a place?

When however, you do decide to settle in the Netherlands, that very centre of the world (judging by the content of the daily news-bulletins), you can bring either one of two current dictionaries.
The first will give you the Dutch word ‘gastvrij’ as a translation of the English hospitable; the other will spell it as ‘gast-vrij’, meaning free of guests.

The choice is yours.

©ml

letters to thailand - part 1
letters to thailand - part 2
letters to thailand - part 3