My Thailand Oddity – Good Health-

(Part 15)

I’ve posted a fair bit about Thailand’s culture, its social peculiarities, food, and so on, but I have not mentioned much about me, probably because I am not what this series is about, at least in general terms, however… Recently, more people have asked me, “How are you?” or “How are you doing?” With that in mind, I write the following.

Firstly, for those who don’t know me so well, I am no Spring Chicken. Some may say I’m middle-aged, which would be nice, but I doubt if I shall live until I am 132.

Some years ago, I broke some bones in right my foot. They have never healed correctly and often cause me pain when walking. The doctors advised that surgery could leave me worse off and allowing things to remain as they are is best. So, I’ve let my foot mend as far as it can naturally.

When I am cold my foot often pains me. Causing me to limp. The limp changes my gate which, in turn, hurts my knees as my weight is then abnormally distributed. This affects my left hip as it takes more strain, and so to my lower back.

Another infirmity is my right shoulder. My shoulder blade is misaligned. This is due to repetitive strain through the many years I worked as a chef and restaurateur.

I have the initial aches and creaks of Rheumatoid arthritis. Some days when my wrists are extremely painful, and my fingers hurt. I find it difficult to grip, to undo a screw top jar or bottle, or simply to lift something. Even holding a paintbrush, or a vacuum cleaner hose for a few minutes can become exceedingly uncomfortable.

Before I left Britain, all these ailments were daily nagging pains. A constant in my life. I became accustomed to living with them.

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I left England, after being back ‘home’ for three months, in June 2023. The entire year up until that point had been grey, damp, and miserable. The weather forecast that morning said it was going to be overcast, with light showers and a high of 14°.

Twenty-two hours after closing the front door of my house in Yorkshire, I was baking in 34° of glorious, wall-to-wall, sky-to-sea sunshine.

Initially, I stayed at a wonderful small boutique hotel, The Nova Gold, in the Hollywood Klang area of Pattaya, which is only a short ten-minute walk to the madness of central Pattaya’s bars, shops, restaurants, and nightlife, and about fifteen minutes to Beach Road/Pattaya Beach.

Once settled into my room, which was of generous proportions, and had scouted out the swimming pool and gym, I took my first walk down to the beach, stopping for a Latte Yen (an iced Latte,) on the way.

I limped. My knees, particularly my left knee hurt. But I knew, in a day or two, those pains would start to abate, as they had on my previous visits to Thailand.

You see, the constant heat soaks into your body, not just your skin, but your muscles, tendons, and bones. It saturates into your very core. As it does, the muscular and skeletal pains fade, eventually waning away. (Then there are the benefits of the sunlight itself; It helps promote the quality of sleep, increases the production of vitamin D, and boosts Serotonin and Melatonin production. Research shows plentiful sunlight helps protect you from type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, colon, breast, and prostate cancers, along with non-Hodgkin lymphoma).

This allows one to walk further and more frequently, which in turn stretches, loosens, relaxes, and strengthens the body. Soon swimming, walking along sandy beaches, and even a short stint in the gym become a pleasure, not a torturous activity.

The beautiful weather is one reason I love it here.

My body is now a comfortable place to live. I am no longer in constant pain from my injuries. Even the nagging tenderness, the form of discomfort we brush aside and conclude are simply inevitable symptoms of ageing have long gone.

I have not taken any form of painkilling medicine for several months. I have no call for them now.

But this is only one part of my well-being, there is more… read on…

Food.

I mentioned above that I was a chef.

I was a chef who advocated good, wholesome, natural food. Food made from scratch, from produce, not from products. I preach that red meat is healthy, as is real butter, along with lard, and saturated fats, and these things are not detrimental to health. (The reason is simple. Ultra-processed foodstuffs are unnatural, they are either chemicals or processed with derivatives of the Petrochemical industry. They are slowly poisoning you. Their effect is more devastating than Smoking and Alcohol abuse combined. They are insidious, stealthy, crippling, incapacitating poisons).

While some foods in Thailand are prepacked processed foods, they are the minority of the diet for Thais and most foreigners who are residents here. Food in Thailand is not controlled by major supermarkets. Most are produced and sold by local people, in markets, from small stores, and shophouses. The vast majority is made from fresh produce which is prepared from scratch and cooked to order.

Eating this way has had an amazing effect on my ‘gut health’; an area many medical professionals claim to be the most important for overall well-being. I must agree. I have never felt better than I do now after eating this way for such an extended period.

Below are other things which have majorly impacted my well-being.

Medical care is good. Hospitals (both government-run and private enterprises) abound, as do Clinics, Optometrists, Dentists, Masseurs, and chiropractors. Health care is not free. However, the government facilities are heavily subsidised and therefore extremely affordable. Most government hospitals are simply walk-in and be-treated establishments. They are efficient and waiting times, from registration or triage to treatment can be counted in minutes rather than hours.

Socially, the Thais have a wonderful outlook on life. Family and community are major parts of every Thais life. In this village alone there seems to be an event or party, religious (Buddhist), or private (still open to the entire village), official calendar (New Year, Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc.), or celebratory festival, every week or two.

While this village has a central area, where the larger events are held, most parties… the Thais love to party, are held in the street, outside of people’s homes. Marquees are set up, and music blares out from 4 am until late, possibly 4 am the following day. People of the community gather, come and go, bring food and drink and… well… socialise. No red tape, no local authority interference, no special (and costly) licences, just genuine community doing general community things… real social community.

When not hosting an event, this area is used for activities, badminton, for teaching traditional Thai dance, aerobic exercise, young children’s five-a-side football, and many more. To one side is a street gym, like those that one may see along a beach. Meetings are held here on occasion too.

Halfway along the street in which I live is a fenced off area. This is a small, all-weather football/hockey/basketball pitch. The village teenagers use this every single day, older folk once or twice a week. It is floodlit, a necessity here as it gets dark around 19:00 hrs. all year around.

Nowhere do you find drugs paraphernalia or discarded alcohol containers. No needles, wrap packages, no cans or glass bottles. The facilities are respected by all, young, teens, and adults alike.

This sense of community has a wonderful benefit to mental wellbeing, mine included. This is just one aspect of the cultural difference I am experiencing.

I could mention several other areas which have had an impact on my health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally, but I think I have covered enough items for one post.

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Thank you for reading My Thailand Oddity – part 15

Keep Happy, Paul

My Thailand Oddity – part 13 – It’s not feeling a lot like Christmas.

Maybe this post, the thirteenth in the series, was destined to fall at this time of year. As they say, whoever they are, thirteen is ‘Lucky for some.’

Who knows?

Readers of this blog know I am presently highlighting the peculiarities that make Thailand such a distinctive country to visit, or to live in.

This post continues along the same thread, but more as a sidebar, as it focuses on the Christmas holiday period, which does not exist here, at least not in any fashion those of us in the Western world would recognise.

But I stray, jumping ahead of myself as is often do.

To put my following remarks in perspective, I disclose I have spent many a festive season away from home.

The most comparable of those regarding the climate was in Sydney, Australia. On Christmas day, I spent my time eating prawns, and drinking ‘tinnies’ of ice-cold beer, as I soaked up the sun on Bondi Beach. The evening found me at a raucous party at the Bondi Beach Surf Club… but that is another story, to be told at another time.

New York was the total opposite. Freezing cold and snowy. Central Park’s boating lake was a solid sheet of ice. The pavements in the city are just as slippery as the Rockefeller skating rink itself. I drank little beer during my time there, preferring hot coffee, or chocolate, although I may have indulged in the occasional whiskey on an evening.

However, I wander off track again. So, back to Thailand.

I knew when I arrived in the blistering heat of June I would be here for Christmas, but that seemed so far away I paid no heed. I did not consider it at all until I began to see Christmas posts appear on social media.

You see, in the cities, such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chaing Mai, and such, places where there are large numbers of Western tourists (Farang), it is commercially viable to join in with the hype and promotions of the season.

But I live far from a big city. I am in a village located just beyond the outskirts of a small town. It is somewhere the idea of Christmas just about touches, in a fleeting way.

Thailand is a Buddhist country. (It is officially recorded that 90% of the people here follow the Buddhist teachings.) Therefore, Christmas is not commonly celebrated here, and when it is, it bears little resemblance, in spirit at least, to that which I am familiar with from home.

Oh, there is the occasional shop, store, or mall with a display of twinkling lights, a dressed Christmas tree, and Santa, dressed in the now-common red and white outfit devised by the Coca-Cola company in 1936.

Bars in the cities may dress the girls in the same style as Santa outfits, but these rather provocative numbers created with far less material. The bars will play Christmas-themed pop music at full blast but there is nothing of substance behind any of this, at least not in the same way as in the UK, Europe, and the USA. The Christmas spirit is missing.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying this is wrong, far from it. It is simply how things are. It is the same reason we do not celebrate, as a nation, Buddhist festivals in the same way as the Thais.

Vive la difference

For myself, I do not feel ‘Christmassy.’ Partly this is due to no one else around thinking about it, so I have no one to share or bounce the Crimbo spirit with, but mostly it’s to do with the weather.

Recently we had a cold snap where the daytime temperature dropped to around 26 or 27 degrees. I got a little chilly. Thankfully, we are now back up the scale, with an average of 35 to 37 predicted.

While I enjoy the heat, it is in total contrast to the weather I grew up with at Christmas, which was wet, cold, icy, snowy, windy, and dark from around three o’clock in the afternoon. I think this has much to do with me not feeling like it’s Christmas. My seasonal circadian rhythm not recognising the time of year due to outside influences… maybe… or maybe I really am turning into a grumpy old git?

However…

I was pleasantly surprised on Christmas day.

No one in the family mentioned anything about the day. All of them, Kat, daughter, sisters, nice, going about their regular daily routine.

I had been engaged to help with an evening shop, nothing out of the ordinary, except we were visiting a mall rather than the more usual markets. However rare it may be, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

I wondered, at one point, why Kat was happy to sit and relax over a coffee in the mall. Normally she would grab her drink and take it to the car. I put it down to her having a busy day and being happy to chill.

I did not know that wandering around the mall, looking at one hundred and one things we would never buy, discussing colours and styles, amounts and packaging, and examining each piece of fruit and vegetable for slight blemishes, were all designed as a delaying tactic to keep me away from the house for a length of time.

My Thai language is basic, pathetic in fact. It is something I am working on to improve. As for reading… I have not even considered that seriously yet, even though I know I should.

The above means I only grasp the very basics of most conversations, should those speaking not ‘gabble’ too quickly. Once they do, the whole conversation becomes unintelligible to me.

The same is true of texts. A few, very few words I can decipher. But most remain a mysterious squiggle of ink.

This meant Kat could communicate with the family while we were ‘shopping’ without me knowing what the calls or texts were about.

Looking back, there was one more time I should have been a little suspicious. When we drove up to the house all was in darkness. This is unusual for Thailand. As a rule, the lights go on, and stay on, once it’s dark.

I took no notice of the lighting situation, marching straight into the house. As I did the door burst open and I was greeted by a chorus of “Happy Kitmass,” an explosion of party poppers, and the turning on of the lights.

Lo and behold, (see what I did there?) There was a decorated Christmas tree with gift-wrapped packages underneath, tinsel streamers, balloons, and sundry decorations.

I had been waylaid earlier so the family could give me a Christmas surprise… and a surprise it was. I had not suspected or expected a thing.

We dined on ‘Pork barbecue,’ a favourite celebration dish in Thailand, and I even drank a little beer.

The thought and effort the family put into making this a special occasion for me was well-received and much appreciated.

Christmas Day 2023 is now fixed in my memory.

The festive season is not all about Christmas. We have the New Year too.

The Thais love the new year… even ‘our’ New Year.

Thailand celebrates its own New Year. The Buddhist New Year. In 2024 it is April 13^th when the year changes from 2267 to 2568, is celebrated with the Songkran Festival.

However, the Thai people love to party and celebrate, so the international (Gregorian) New Year is a good reason for them to put their dancing shoes on.

Thais celebrate as we do with a party, drinks, great food, dancing, fireworks, and such.

Although the singing of Auld Lang Syne poses problems in both annunciation and interpretation, I am still attempting to instruct the family.

Lyrics

So far, I have only achieved success with the toast, Sláinte Mhath, which we now tend to use in place of the more common San Gell.

As for Auld Lang Syne, let’s wait and see. Just do not get me started on Robbie Burns’s ode ‘To a Mouse.’

Well, that’s it; a short post for number thirteen in the My Thailand Oddity series, but one I hope you enjoyed reading.

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Closer to Home

Because I live in England and generally travel abroad whenever I can. Therefore, most of my travel writings are of places far from my home.

The places I consider close, such as Wales and Scotland, I rarely consider as a holiday or vacation, even though much of these countries are closer to my house than some parts of England.

This is not to say I do not ‘get out and about’ frequently. But what I have been remiss in doing is sharing some of the places I visit.

For me, many of these ‘near-places’ are simply a day out. But if you are visiting England, many would make wonderful destinations, so I shall include various locations in England which I would recommend on a personal level.

One last thing before I get underway…

Wild Geese is an independent blog for independent travellers. It is NOT associated with any travel, tour or holiday company. Nor are any of the posts sponsored or paid for. (Although I am happy to accept gratuities for any posts or mentions which have already been published… just saying!)

The first ‘Local Post’ must be one of my favourites, an ‘Open-air, living museum’ called Beamish.

You may recognise some of it if you watched the TV series, Downton Abbey

Beamish is not far from Washington. NO. Not that Washington, but the original Washington in the county of Tyne & Wear, England.

The neighbouring county is County Durham and Beamish is there, situated just off the A693.

The easiest way to find it is to take the exit at Junction 63 on the A1(M) and head west along the A693, just past Pelton, Nr Chester le Street, you’ll find Beamish.

Getting there is easier than it sounds. It is quite well signposted too.

Just a note.

You will need at least a day, a whole day, especially if you want to see and sample everything. Also, if you do stop for refreshments and/or for lunch. I would, because Beamish is spread out over a large area. So, taking it easy and taking your time to admire it all, is by far the best way.

But don’t worry, because once you have your entrance ticket it is valid for a whole year, so returning the following day, to pick up where you left off, is no problem at all.

Beamish was the vision of Dr Frank Atkinson, the Museum’s founder and first director.

Frank had visited Scandinavian folk museums in the early 1950s and was inspired to create an open-air museum for the North East. He realised the dramatically-changing region was losing its industrial heritage. Coal mining, shipbuilding and iron and steel manufacturing were disappearing, along with the communities that served them.

Frank wanted the new museum to “illustrate vividly” the way of life of “ordinary people” and bring the region’s history alive.

Beamish remains true to his principles today and brings history to life for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Sadly, Frank passed away, aged 90, on 30th December 2014.

His museum continues to grow, with ambitious plans and remains a true legacy of the values and vision of its extraordinary founder.

What’s to see & do?

Visit beautiful the 1820’s Pockerley Old Hall’s new and old houses and enjoy the magnificent gardens. Take a ride on Pockerley Waggonway and wander through the glorious Georgian landscape.

Nestling in the Georgian landscape is this beautiful medieval church, St Helen’s, from Eston, near Middlesbrough. The church was due to be demolished due to vandalism until it was saved and rebuilt at the Museum.

Explore the 1900s Town and see how families lived and worked in the years leading up to the First World War.

See what’s cooking in the 1900’s pit cottages, practise your handwriting in the school and visit the chapel. Don’t forget to say hello to the pit ponies in their stables.

In Ravensworth Terrace, you can see the solicitor’s office and see how a dentist used to practice.

The town’s shops.

The corner building in The Town is now home to an early 1900s photographers and chemist, with a dispensary and aerated water sections.

Visitors can have their pictures taken in Edwardian costume in the photography studio of JR & D Edis, while at W Smith’s Chemist they can try the traditionally flavoured aerated waters, help to prepare medicines, and discover miraculous “cure-alls”.

The businesses are named after chemist William Smith and photographers John Reed Edis and his daughter Daisy, who all worked in Durham City in the early 1900s.

The Co-operative store. Browse the grocery, drapery and hardware departments of this store, which was moved from Annfield Plain, in County Durham. Can you remember your “divi” number?

 

 

Printer, Stationer & Newspaper Branch Office. Downstairs you’ll find the Sunderland Daily Echo and Northern Daily Mail branch office, and a stationer’s shop, where you can pick up some souvenirs from your visit. Upstairs is the printer’s shop – look out for the press in action

 

Food & Drink

You may also like to pop into the Tea Rooms or the towns Public house ‘The Sun Inn’.

Freshly baked cakes and biscuits can be purchased from Herron’s Bakery. While a mouth-watering range of traditional sweets are available from the Jubilee Sweet Shop. If you time it right you can watch the sweets being made in the old-fashioned way too.

Sinkers’ Bait Cabin, in the Pit Village, serves pies and pastries along with light refreshments, as does the British Kitchen where you should try a ‘Black market bacon Hot Stotty’.

 

 

One of the most popular is Davy’s Fried Fish Shop, where they serve traditional British ‘Fish & Chips’ cooked in beef dripping on coal-fired ranges. They really are ‘the best’ I have eaten in many a year and evoke all those wonderful memories of childhood.

Down the Pit.

No recreation of the history of North East England would be complete without a colliery and the people who worked and lived around it.

Generations of families worked down the North East’s pits – it was the industry on which the region’s prosperity was built. In 1913, the year of peak production, 165,246 men and boys worked in Durham’s 304 mines.

 

All aboard.

See this railway station as it looked in Edwardian times with its signal box, waiting rooms, goods yard and spot a variety of wagons on display.

The station was originally in Rowley, near Consett, County Durham, in 1867. It was reopened at Beamish in 1976 by poet Sir John Betjeman.

A wrought-iron footbridge from The Town crosses the railway line and leads towards the signal box, dating from 1896. Across the tracks in the Goods Yard is a Goods Shed, dating from 1850.

The 1940’s Farm

Discover how life was on the Home Front during the Second World War. Look out for the Land Girls and the Home Guard.

 

 

Pop into the cosy farmhouse, and find out about wartime family life. You may smell cooking on the Aga or range (using rations, of course), hear 1940s music and news broadcasts on the wireless, and see “make do and mend” in action.

Getting around Beamish.

Of course, you can walk. It is particularly pleasant to do so during a warm summers day.

But you may wish to ride an original Tram or trolleybus?

The operating fleet usually consists of between four and six trams, with others in store or undergoing heavy maintenance.

There are two Edwardian replica buses based on the London B type (in Newcastle Corporation livery) and a Northern General Daimler.

A 1932 Leyland Cub is presently being restored this will be followed by a further Leyland Cub in 2017.  At present, there is one working trolleybus, Newcastle 501, but this will be supplemented once the development of the trolleybus route begins from 2016.  An Armstrong Whitworth replica car is also available as a limousine, and a supporting fleet of cars and vans dating from the 1920s to early 1960s can also be seen at work around the Museum.

What going on.

This is an important question because there is always something happening a Beamish. Be it re-enacting the ‘Children’s Strike’, Digging for Victory or a workhouse Wednesday, Falconry Friday or listening to tales on a Tuesday.

Fancy driving a tram or a steam-driven steamroller, trying your hand at blacksmithing or becoming a Georgian maid? It is all possible at Beamish.

The future looks rosy too.

Beamish is celebrating a £10.9million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Remaking Beamish project.

The funding is a major milestone in Beamish’s history and it will help the museum create a range of new ways for people to experience the heritage of the North East. It is the largest single investment ever seen at Beamish.

The centrepiece will be a reconstructed 1950s Town – meaning that alongside existing attractions depicting life in the early 19th and 20th centuries, the museum will once again include a period within living memory. Visitors will also be able to stay overnight in a recreation of a Great North Road coaching inn.

The new town will include;

The former Grand Electric Cinema from Ryhope.

A replica of the Coundon and Leeholme Community Association centre at the Leeholme Welfare Hall will help to tell the story of community life in the 1950s.

The 1952-built semi-detached house of Esther Gibbon, daughter Linda Gilmore and their family.

Replica shops from Bow Street, Middlesbrough; Darras Drive, North Shields and Blackhall Rocks.

The interior of John’s Cafe, from Wingate, County Durham.

Billingham Bowling Club’s green and pavilion are set to be copied.

A fried fish shop from Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, will be replicated to serve up this popular 1950s food. We have a 1952 gas-powered range collected from Middleton-St-George.

Spain’s Field Farm, which has been donated by the Jopling family, will be rebuilt at Beamish stone by stone to tell the important story of upland farms and how rural life changed in the 1950s.

I could simply go on and on about this wonderful place, somewhere I shall be returning to soon before this year’s entrance ticket expires and because I want some more ‘real’ Fish & Chips.

 

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