14 replies to this topic

[Haloi]

The following are excepts from an Australian newpaper's account of Harry Nicolaides' imprisonment for Lese Majeste:

"We are woken at 6 and counted in the cell. Mine is 12 metres long and just over four metres wide, holding 50 or 60 prisoners, mostly Thais, mostly murderers and rapists. The cell has one toilet, which is a hole in the ground, and poor ventilation. I sleep in a face mask because tuberculosis and pneumonia are common.

...For breakfast I have soy milk and a biscuit. The prisoners wash and shave around troughs covered in grime. The water is changed once a week. Then there's assembly. We stand to attention as the Thai flag is raised. We're asked to pray to a large gold Buddha. I use the time to collect my thoughts and think about my loved ones. The guards make long speeches in Thai. I imagine they're about prison etiquette.

I'm then taken upstairs with other foreigners to clean another cell block. After that we're at leisure for a while. I used to walk around, but I can't help but encounter the weak and the feeble - such as men with TB, languishing on benches. It deadens me. So I try to spend my time replying to the many letters I receive. Letters keep me alive.

We are allowed one 30-minute visit a day, but not on weekends or holidays. The hardest part is returning to my cell after a visit from family or friends. I break down when I think how they're suffering. At 12 the lunch bell rings. The food is mostly fish bones in hot water, extremely spicy, with rice. I've tried it and felt unwell. . .

There are 20 or 25 cats that run into the mess hall before the prisoners. Some men put cigarettes in the cats' mouths or do other unspeakable things to them. I am barefoot most of my day. It is partly a security measure so we can't climb the electrified, barbed-wire fence, and partly custom. But the floors are covered with fish bones, saliva and cat vomit, so my feet are black. . .

At 4pm we're locked up until 6am. My patch is about a foot wide, the length of my body. I cannot move to the left or right without pressing on another person. I cannot stretch out my legs without kicking someone.

. . .The fluorescent lights stay on at night, so I sleep with a box over my head. I toss and turn on a thin mat on the hard floor. And this, too, shall pass, other foreigners tell me. It's an old adage and true. But time passes very slowly here."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/the-cost-...ge#contentSwap1

[mauRICE]

Deleted at the request of the poster.

MOD 1

[PeterUK]

Surely this horrific account of life in a Thai prison is a product of the writer's creative imagination? Surely the jaidii Buddhists whom we've come to know and love and whose actions some here have defended tooth and nail, aren't capable of such atrocities towards other human beings and animals? Didn't Buddha teach us to love and respect all life?

What a tedious, one-track young fogey you are, Maurice. I don't suppose there is a single farang in Thailand who thinks that conditions in Thai prisons are anything but unspeakably horrible. Doesn't fit your cartoon version of reality to acknowledge that, though, does it?

[mauRICE]

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[Bernard]

What a tedious, one-track young fogey you are, Maurice. I don't suppose there is a single farang in Thailand who thinks that conditions in Thai prisons are anything but unspeakably horrible. Doesn't fit your cartoon version of reality to acknowledge that, though, does it?

Somebody at the beach suggested I pick up your anthology of short stories. It was fairly easy to find at Asia Books as there were stacks of unsold copies. The stories have a common theme: 'angelic' young Thai men on the make who not only fall in love with their decrepit white masters but end up worshipping them - talk about being a one-track old fogey floating in La La Land. Comparing those stories to your posts here I've come to the conclusion that there's no difference between fiction and reality in your world. You have the gift of the written word, I'll give you that, but you should be the last person to chide others on their sense of reality.

[PeterUK]

The stories had a common theme: 'angelic' young Thai boys on the make who not only fell in love with their decrepit white masters but end up worshipping them.

That doesn't summarise even one of the stories. But since your intent is evidently malicious I don't expect you to care about that.

[DOLLY]

Putting aside the snide remarks and hostility, I would be interested to read the anthology which is apparently authored by Peter UK.

Could we have the book title, please ?

[mauRICE]

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Mod 1

[smiles]

Putting aside the snide remarks and hostility, I would be interested to read the anthology which is apparently authored by Peter UK.

Could we have the book title, please ?

The name of the book is "If Truth be Told: and Other Tales of Thailand". You can google the title for places to purchase it.

It's a book of short stories and would be of interest to most gay men (hey, straight as well for all I know, or care) who live in, or visit, Thailand.

Cheers ...


Oops ... looks like Peter has chimed in. Pardon me

[PeterUK]

Thanks for the interest. It's called If Truth Be Told, and other tales of Thailand and is available at 395B at all the main English-language book chains in Thailand. In Chiang Mai it's also available at Book Zone in Tha Pae Road and at the Surawong Book Centre. Maurice, you exasperate me at times, that's all!

[mauRICE]

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[Whore Hin]

Some people have no shame, cashing in on the misery of others. It's unnnnnbelievable how PeterUK has made this thread about himself with the appearance one post wonder "Bernard"!!! I think someone is trying to hawk his book through "negative" publicity. Shameless!!!

For those of you who are intent on wasting 400 Baht on Peter Ferret's book, I've read it and frankly the money would have been better spent on two foot massages (including tips!). "Bernard" got it half right: the Thai characters in the book are all "angels" but the bad guys are all farangs taking advantage of the poor Thai angels, which is how Khun Peter likes to see Thailand. But there is one farang who has a 'good heart', the one whom Khun Peter modelled after himself. I sold my copy at the used bookstore and got 200 Baht for it so all was not lost.

[smiles]

" ... I have 18 cats and I went to my backyard and stroked each one of them after reading this. The smartest and most agile of the pack is called Hedda ... "

Easily the most delicious part of this thread (besides finding out that Haloi has finally figured out how to copy&paste) is the discovery that Hedda is mauRICE's pussy.

Cheers ...

[smiles]

I just choked on my breakfast hahahaha.

Perhaps we'll get lucky and The Whore of Hin will as well.

Cheers ...

[Hedda]

Easily the most delicious part of this thread . . . is the discovery that Hedda is mauRICE's pussy.

If you had bothered to look at my Avatar, dear, you could have figured that out years ago. Maybe now all those lovely folks back at SF will stop calling me the bitch. Then again, considering the general intellectual level of posting there these days, they probably wouldn't recognize the difference between a pussy and a bitch.