Bangkok Superlatives: Stories From Decades in a Crazy City [S7.E18]

Greg (00:00:19) - And on this episode, we take a cue from the insane heat right now to look back on some other superlative memories of Bangkok.

Ed (00:00:27) - So if you've ever thought to yourself that Bangkok brings out the best or worst or most of anything, you'll dig this episode of The Bangkok Podcast.

Greg (00:00:51) - Sahwa. Describe and welcome to the Bangkok Podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 to preach the gospel of the Canadian tuxedo, but has found it a bit frustrating that it hasn't caught on yet.

Ed (00:01:04) - Yeah, that's going to be a stretch. Yeah, and I met Knuth, an American who came to town on a one year teaching contract 23 years ago, fell in love with trying to figure out how to communicate the appropriate level of spiciness to waiters and waitresses in Thailand at Thai restaurants.

Ed (00:01:22) - So I never left. That's funny.

Greg (00:01:25) - You need, like, a little chart. Do you remember that family Guy chart where the guy, like, compares his skin color to determine if someone's a terrorist or something?

Ed (00:01:32) - Actually, I never saw that, but that's funny.

Greg (00:01:34) - Oh, that's great. You should have one with just like, different ed expressions, little photos of you just looking normal to like your face is all red with steam coming out of your. Well, listen.

Ed (00:01:42) - Listeners out there, the problem, if you haven't experienced it, is that you can tell a Thai server that you, you want something not spicy at all. And then when it comes, it will clearly have spice in it, you know, or you can say, you know, pet meat diao like just a little spicy. And then you get it and it's, it's not a little, it's a lot spicy. So it blows your face off.

Greg (00:02:07) - Yeah.

Ed (00:02:07) - It's quite difficult to figure out. You know, you almost have to say, you know, I want something, a little spicy for frogs.

Ed (00:02:18) - You know, you almost have to. You have to have, like, a frog scale, you know, so you have to add.

Greg (00:02:23) - Some context in there.

Ed (00:02:24) - That's right. and it's funny, on the bonus show, I talked about my trip up to Matt Kampong, this small, small town that that you've, you've actually been to before. But I had this experience where I ordered, like, you know, a pomelo salad, and I said, pet, pet. I love that pet. Neato. And it was blazing. And I'm just like, you know, I'm trying to figure out, like, what? What is the really hot, you know.

Greg (00:02:49) - That's. Yeah, it.

Ed (00:02:50) - Was just it.

Greg (00:02:51) - Was like, I don't want it spicy at all. And you know, the chef is like, well, only an idiot would want no spice. Yeah. He must clearly.

Ed (00:02:57) - Mean. Yeah. So three have you say no spice at all to them that means. Oh so three chilies.

Ed (00:03:03) - Yeah. Right. That's that's.

Greg (00:03:04) - Our, our our friend John. He likes his coffee with no sweet sweeteners at all. Like none. And he for, for the longest time he would say not sweet. And they'd be like well he must mean just a little sweet. That's right. So he finally had to, like, make a special effort to learn the Thai for like, I don't want anything extra at all, period. It's the same.

Ed (00:03:23) - Thing. But when it comes to spiciness, you really have to. You have to be very clear. And my problem is I like spicy food, but not the crazy hot, like, you know, Thai Thai level of spiciness. So it's very hard for me to, to moderate it and get what I want. But it is what it is. Ongoing. Yep. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world.

Ed (00:03:58) - But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, uncensored bonus episode every week where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics. On this week's bonus show, we chatted about the insane heat that everyone in Southeast Asia is dealing with right now. My experience in a tiny village up north shooting stills for a movie, and Greg's weekend on summit, which he calls the McDonald's of Thai Islands, a Facebook post that recounts a bizarre request from a Thai policeman to a woman who was trying to apply for citizenship, and a story about a Brit in Thailand who was reprimanded by the police for posting videos that were critical of Thailand, serving as a reminder that Big Brother in Brown is always watching to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff, plus full access to over 700 bonus and regular back episodes. Click the support button at the top of our website.

Greg (00:04:53) - Yeah, and we also have to start the show with a bit of bad news. one of Bangkok's most well-known residents, Colin Hastings, passed away in a car accident last week.

Greg (00:05:02) - Colin was the editor of the ubiquitous Big Chili magazine. And if you've lived in Bangkok for any length of time, you almost certainly knew him, or at the very least knew of him. And did you ever meet Colin?

Ed (00:05:13) - I don't think I met him, of course, I could have met him in passing, but I definitely knew who he was. I mean, he's he's just he's on the list of, expats everyone knows.

Greg (00:05:23) - Yeah, totally. And I actually worked quite closely with him years ago, back when I was just a young punk kid. I wrote for Big Chili. God for for over, over like 6 or 8 years on and off. And, he was always very, very nice to me and very, very cool and offered a lot of guidance and, and help in my early days. So he was a great guy. And it's really, really sad to hear of his accident. Agreed. So, condolences to his family from us. And let's take this as a reminder to reach out to friends you haven't talked to in a.

Ed (00:05:51) - For sure. For sure.

Greg (00:05:53) - All right. On this episode, we take a cue from this brutal heat wave right now for a show that may very well turn into a series that we're calling Ty superlatives. And as a reminder, a superlative is a word or phrase expressing the highest degree of comparison, which is something that I totally knew and didn't have to look up. Anyway, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this past week has been the hottest or near the hottest we've ever experienced in our decades in Thailand, which got us to wondering what other superlatives we could use as we look back on our lives here. The biggest, the worst, the most, whatever. As we all know, Bangkok is a city that somehow manages to bring out the superlative in most any situation. So we've each picked a memory for which a superlative if it's definitely warranted. And what do you think of this show?

Ed (00:06:36) - You know, at first I was thinking, oh, I'm not sure I got anything, you know, superlatives.

Ed (00:06:41) - That's a little bit vague. But then the more I brainstormed, you know, and I think about, you know, my biggest surprise of experience in Thailand or my worst day or, you know, I think I agree, like over the years, you and I have a lot of experiences. So I've come around. I like this challenge. So I think each of us have I think I have three or you might have four. so I like this kind of challenge to come up with a 3 or 4 extreme experiences in Thailand and then talking about them.

Greg (00:07:13) - Yeah, I think so too. And I also think to like a little bit of introspection here, some of the feedback we give from our listeners is interesting. And they say that, a lot of times we hear that they want to hear more stories from us about our time here. Okay. You know, without without yanking our respective chains or you yanking mine or me yanking yours. After 23 years, I think we've earned a little bit of of street cred.

Greg (00:07:34) - And it's it's nice to be able to share that and pass that on. You know, we've earned our, our, our, our stars in Bangkok. And I think it's fun to talk about the old days and the lessons we've learned over those times. For sure.

Ed (00:07:45) - Let's do it. Yeah.

Greg (00:07:46) - So what we're going to do is we're just going to go through each, I'm going to do one that is going to do one. I don't know what he's chosen. He doesn't know what I've chosen. But we've each chosen for superlatives the most. Whatever. and, do you want me to go first?

Ed (00:07:57) - Sure. Why not?

Greg (00:07:58) - All right. Well, I was thinking back, about something that, is definitely a very intense memory for me. And this is the most scared I've ever been in Thailand. Okay. And I was here. I've got one.

Ed (00:08:08) - Like that, too.

Greg (00:08:09) - So this is, something that, happened for years and years and years and years ago. And I was not on a work permit, and I was just sort of going month by month, you know, doing the tourist visa thing.

Greg (00:08:20) - And, word got out that there was this place in Bangkok that was down the end of a Soi, which was down at the end of another soi. that would give you a one year non B visa for X number of botched. Gotcha. And, I was like, all right. And I knew a bunch of people who had done it. And I said, okay good. So I went down and I met this random dude at this random place, and I gave him my passport. And a week later, I had my passport back with a non-US B visa. Oh, nice. that that means that I could stay in Bangkok, stay in Thailand without having to do these annoying, border runs all every month. Right. But, as I used up my passport pages, as I was just traveling around, I used up all the space in my passport, and I had to go to the Canadian Embassy to get a new passport. Gotcha. And the you have to go into this little room and, like, swear in front of an affidavit in front of an official that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Greg (00:09:12) - And the first thing she said to me was, she looked at my passport and she flipped through a few pages and she said, this visa is counterfeit, isn't it?

Ed (00:09:19) - Oh, no. Okay. Now, okay. Now I remember you, you telling this story before, but I wonder, how did she know it was counterfeit? You do you know?

Greg (00:09:27) - I don't know, man. Some some some some bureaucratic mojo that you and I don't have. Maybe there's a secret, like invisible ink stamp or something, but.

Ed (00:09:34) - I'm sure you probably suspected that it wasn't totally on the up and up, but. But this kind of thing where you you pay someone, you never know exactly what they're doing. So I wouldn't say that. You know for sure the stamp is invalid. You might just wonder how they got the stamp. You know what I mean?

Greg (00:09:52) - Okay. Fair enough. That's a very lawyer thing to say. and that's that's basically what I said. And I think how she knew was, the stamp was done.

Greg (00:10:01) - It was it was done in the UK. Oh, okay. Probably probably someone's cousin worked at some or somewhere. Had to stamp something like that. Oh I see, but there was no, there was no entry and exit stamp for the UK or or Europe.

Ed (00:10:13) - Oh I see okay okay.

Greg (00:10:15) - So she's like The passports. Been to the to the UK but you haven't been to the UK. Oh shit. And I was all and I was all like, what? I don't understand, you know, just plain stupid. I thought, I thought like, lots of people do this. I thought this was totally cool.

Ed (00:10:29) - And oh, that is kind of scary. So, so, so at that moment, you weren't sure exactly what you might be. You might not be able to stay in Thailand, or you didn't know what the consequences were going to be.

Greg (00:10:40) - Do you? I was freaking out. I was new at the time. I'd only been here for, got a year, maybe a year and a half.

Greg (00:10:46) - At the time, I didn't know if the police were going to come in. I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to leave the embassy, like, go. Right? In the detention cells, right? Right. I didn't know if I was going to be blacklisted or deported. so I was freaking out. I was really, really nervous. That is, right now, but happily, basically, I just had to pay a ton of money. I got dinged on my passport. They gave me, like, a baby passport that was only good for like three years instead of ten or whatever it was.

Ed (00:11:08) - You mean a baby passport? It was, like, smaller than a normal passport?

Greg (00:11:11) - No, I mean, it was like. It was like a junior idiot passport for morons that tried to skirt the system and to break the rules.

Ed (00:11:18) - Oh, so it's kind of like you kind of like probation. You're kind of put on a probation or something like that.

Greg (00:11:22) - Yes. It's a much better way to put it.

Greg (00:11:24) - but anyway, I it all worked out in the end. And, that was a very good lesson for me. I definitely learned since then, I have done everything I can above board in Thailand. Sure, because I was really, really scared at that.

Ed (00:11:36) - Okay. No, I like that. That is definitely a superlative. so I might as well follow with my so our our superlatives don't match this listeners. This is kind of random, but since you did your scariest, I'll do my scares. But my scares is different. My, my my scariest experience is scary in a different way than yours. My scariest experience was, when I was I can't I think I was already engaged to my then future wife. We were either engaged or engaged to be engaged, and I was I was working at my university and, while I was teaching, the kind of one of the secretaries kind of broken in my class and said, you've got a really important phone call in the office or there's some emergency kind of thing, you know, which is never good.

Ed (00:12:26) - And I like I was immediately thinking, worried about my parents, but that probably didn't make too much sense because I'm here in Thailand. I don't think, you know, but for some reason, it's kind of what I would think in the States, you know, if I was.

Greg (00:12:40) - Well, yeah. And also as an expat, we all have to deal with that reality that we are all going to get that call one day. Right?

Ed (00:12:46) - So you know, but but in this case, I don't think it probably would have gone to my office here at the university. But then I get on the phone in the office and it's my, my, it was my future sister in law, my, my, my girlfriend's fiancee's sister, and she didn't speak English that well back then. She's actually fine now. But back then she didn't have very good English, and she basically just said, the Eng my, my, my ex, my fiancee, she said in Eng motorbike accident. Oh no.

Ed (00:13:22) - And there's like those are like the that's like the three words you don't want to hear. Like you're, you're a person you care about and motorbike accident. That's what you don't. Oh yeah. You don't want to hear. And so of course I was totally shocked. And so I said what happened? And she said, it's bad.

Greg (00:13:42) - Oh, God.

Ed (00:13:44) - And it's just the. It was a nightmare. It was a complete nightmare. And then she tried to explain where the hospital was. I didn't understand, so I had to give it to the a Thai person in the office. And they're doing the translation and they explain. They explain where it is. And, it was a little bit far away from where I teach. So I, it probably took me about 45 minutes to get there. And man, it was a brutal 45 minutes because I bet.

Greg (00:14:09) - Man, that just.

Ed (00:14:10) - That's all I knew. That is all I knew. Motorbike accident. It's bad. And, listeners out there, I'm sure you can probably figure this out, but.

Ed (00:14:19) - But motorcycle and motorbike accidents, they're just inherently worse than car accidents because you don't have obviously you don't have the protection of like, a steel frame around you. Totally. And so the the injuries from motorbike accidents are horrendous. You know, I mean, people can slide on pavement. It's just like the it's it's horrific. And so all all these images and all these things were going through my head. And I don't know if she's crippled, if she's going to die, you know, it was just brutal. And I'll tell you this, I honestly, I don't want to talk about this too much because it's upsetting. But I'll just tell you the weirdness of when I walked in the room and saw her injury, which was quite severe. It was one of the weirdest feelings in my life because she looked horrible. She looked like someone hit her in the face with a baseball bat. I don't want to talk. I don't even want to talk about it. Like massive hematoma on, like the side of her cheekbone, like huge.

Ed (00:15:18) - Oh, jeez. And and then. But when I saw that, like, all the skin wasn't scraped off her face or that she wasn't crippled, you know, it's like it was one of the weirdest experience of my life because her face is triple its size. And I had the weirdest reaction where I was like. Oh thank God.

Greg (00:15:41) - Yeah, but like her, she's gone. She's got both her arms. Both her legs.

Ed (00:15:45) - That's right. It was one of the weirdest reactions. Like, my reaction was like, oh dear God, my, my sweetheart. Like, she's so cute and, like, just to see her injured that way. It's so painful. But then part of me was like, Jesus, thank God.

Greg (00:16:00) - Like that's all it is. Okay, good. Yeah.

Ed (00:16:02) - So it's probably my definitely my scariest experience. Wow. Like it just kind of the worst thing that that's happened.

Greg (00:16:10) - Now that would be terrifying anywhere. But what what about living in Bangkok as an expat who doesn't speak Thai like that must have been like another layer of, like, brutal.

Ed (00:16:21) - And it was. I mean, she wasn't it was about a year long. I want to tell the whole story, but it was like a year long recovery. you know, it was rough. And you were around back then, like, you know, what was going on. But definitely my, like, as a whole experience. Like my worst in Thailand for sure.

Greg (00:16:38) - Yeah, that that is terrifying. And being outside of this fear of the information that's flowing freely is, is like another layer of fear and terror. It was brutal because you're just like, everyone, keep me updated and there has to be someone here can explain it properly and clearly, so I understand it. Yeah, right. Yikes, man. Yikes.

Ed (00:16:56) - All right, what else you got? What else she got?

Greg (00:16:58) - All right, I'll I'll go. And, I promise they're not all negative ones here. We've got some positive ones, but this is another negative one for me. but, you know, I mean, living in in a new culture and a new country is not easy all the time.

Greg (00:17:11) - And there are moments when we find ourselves down in the dumps or blue or low as summer. Want to say? So this one is the the lowest I've ever been in in Thailand. And I think generally you and I are pretty positive. And we've had fairly, fairly aboveboard, good experiences here throughout our time. But this I remember this being the singularly lowest moment of my life in Thailand. Okay. And it was, a one particular day a week before this, my grandfather had died, and, he and I were very close, and, I got a call from my mom, and she was crying, and she said, dad passed away, and we knew it was coming, but still, I was back at the time. This time, I was broke. I didn't have any money. I couldn't just jump on a plane and go back. So I wasn't able to go back for his funeral or anything like that. this was in probably 2000, 2004, 2005. So there's no Facebook, there was no FaceTime.

Greg (00:18:07) - There was no, you know, easy video calls from your mobile phone. So it was very at a distance. So I was already bummed out and upset. And then I got fired from my job.

Ed (00:18:16) - Oh shit.

Greg (00:18:17) - Which I, which I won't go into, but I remember walking up the soi, I left the job and like when I, when I was told I wasn't there employed anymore and I was walking up the soi. Just going. Well, what? What the hell do I do now? I have no money. I have no job.

Ed (00:18:36) - Well, I'm still young, you know, you're just like, I’m healthy.

Greg (00:18:42) - I'm healthy as far as I know. But it was just I remember just like it was a really, really big one two punch. Brutal. I had no prospects. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I'm like, should this is this a sign from the universe? Should I just pull the plug and head back to Canada and just, oh, that's right, say, to hell with it, you know? And I was just really, really, really bummed out.

Greg (00:19:04) - that's that's about all I have to say about that. I just, I remember that walking up the Soi thinking like, should I just.

Ed (00:19:10) - Well, again, that's also experience. You know, that's also compounded when your next pet. Because if that happened back in Calgary, you would call one of your buddies up and go hang out and everything would seem okay, even though you just lost your job, you'd be hanging out with your friend who's known you for 20 years, and he'd be like, dude, come on, you know, whatever. You know, you'll get over it. But yeah, you're right over here. It is different when, when, when the bad luck comes. It's just the support network. You know, you and I have done okay support network wise, but it's still not the same as it would be back home.

Greg (00:19:45) - Does that level of comfort, that level of like being cradled by your your homies, your support network, like I said, is is is different.

Greg (00:19:52) - It's just not the same.

Ed (00:19:53) - No doubt, no doubt.

Greg (00:19:54) - So thankfully I recovered and here we are.

Ed (00:19:58) - All right. I'm somewhat lighter. Note I will I'll talk about my. I think this is my strangest experience. And by strange I mean that when I remember this, I still kind of can't believe it happened. And I still. It's just weird. like, oddly, it dovetails to something we, we talked about on the, on the bonus show about some weird, government requirements for women who want to be citizens. But in my case, it was, when I was applying for permanent residency. And I got a reduced rate because I was married, legally married in Thailand. but then the government has to verify that you were married because, you know, you get a reduced rate. And, of course, worldwide, there is kind of a general problem of fake marriages, you know, people people have fake marriages to try to get in the US, etc.. But I didn't know I heard that the Thai government was going to verify that I was married, but I didn't know anything about how they were going to do that.

Ed (00:20:56) - and, it was a random Saturday. It was it was at home with my wife at 10 a.m. on a Saturday. There was just a knock on the door, which is a little bit odd these days when someone just comes to your house randomly, right? Right. That doesn't happen. It doesn't happen anymore. And it was two guys from the Thai government who were there to verify that we were married. And so, okay, just initially I'm thinking, okay, this is a little bit weird, but we sat down at the kitchen table, me and my wife and these two guys, and they ask those questions and they're filling up paperwork and then it just got weirder from there. Dude. They were like, you know, can we see your bedroom? And I'm like, what? Like, you know, you know, my wife, my wife is chatting with him in Thai and she's like, they want to see the bedroom. I'm like, really? She's like, yeah. I'm like, okay, you know? So we go upstairs in the bedroom and then the guys have a shitty early digital camera and they start taking pictures of the bedroom, and, they're asking her questions and, and, you know, we have separate closets.

Ed (00:21:59) - Like, I had my closet. So they're taking pictures of my guy clothes and my guy shoes. And then the guy's, like, carefully taking pictures of her closet in her girly shoes, like her 50 pairs of shoes, you know, and and I'm standing there going, wow, this is really odd, but but then it just got even odder because, you know, I have told this show before, I had told the story before on the show, but, they told my wife that they wanted her and I to get in bed so they could take a picture of us.

Ed (00:22:32) - So, so, so we laid down in the bed, fully clothed. And I'm just. I'm telling her, sweetie, like, is this for real? Like, do they really want to know? She's like, yeah, just let him do it. And then they took they they took the camera out and we're just lying next to each other fully clothed and, and and then they, they say something to her in Thai and she goes, they want us to hold hands.

Ed (00:22:57) - So it's it's so it's so unbelievably odd. So we're lying there.

Greg (00:23:01) - Your mind must have been like, what are they going to, like, just unbutton the top two buttons?

Ed (00:23:05) - No, I'm thinking the whole time. This must be Candid Camera. They're trolling us, you know, like, can you imagine if these guys had a sense of humor? And then they were just like, hey, we're just fucking with you. Like, it's not like you don't have to. You don't have to do any. You don't have to do any of this. This is not required.

Greg (00:23:22) - Just kidding. But thanks for the photos. Yeah. See you.

Ed (00:23:26) - yeah. So I still consider it. My weirdest experience is in Thailand in that I think back and I'm like, did that really happen? So it's so odd.

Greg (00:23:37) - Do you think those photos are sitting on some hard drive and some I would love to.

Ed (00:23:40) - I never got a copy of the photo. I would, I would, I would pay to get a copy of the photos.

Greg (00:23:46) - That that is weird, man. I mean, it happened. Yeah.

Ed (00:23:49) - Like I'm not making that up.

Greg (00:23:51) - I guess, you know, the closet thing seems silly and looking at the shoes and stuff like that, but you actually, that is actually a pretty good test to see if it's a legit relationship, because if you're just trying to scam something and doing it for appearances, you're not going to have an entire wardrobes worth of clothes in someone's closet.

Ed (00:24:07) - Yeah, I get it. I mean, I guess the government has to do it in some way. I mean, there are a lot of scammers out there, but it was just it was a very odd experience.

Greg (00:24:16) - I think you would have been like a total expert merit badge if you had gotten the guys to lay in the bed. Okay, now you guys do it and hold hands. Just just for fun.

Greg (00:24:28) - Police laid on your bed.

Ed (00:24:29) - I wonder what kind of experiences those guys have had. I mean, it's like, I wonder if, my God, do some people just refuse? I mean, I was just taken.

Ed (00:24:36) - I was taken by surprise by the whole thing. And so I just didn't even know how to react. You know, I was just thinking like, is this is this for real? Are they are they joking? Yeah.

Greg (00:24:49) - That's great. All right, well, let me go next with mine. this was my the best. Let's do it moment,

Ed (00:24:58) - Okay.

Greg (00:24:59) - But I think we've all been in those situations where you're like, you know what? Let's do it. Sure. And, a lot of times it doesn't turn out too well, but sometimes it does. And this is the best. The best experience I've had where I've said, let's do it. And it worked out really well. And this was when I was getting married. and I was I didn't have a lot of money in my life. I didn't have a lot of money. And, I was really, really, really trying to keep expenses down. And there are certain things and expectations that are built into Thai weddings. And I was sort of pushing back on it a little bit, and I was sort of like, well, can we can we cut this part out and do we need these things and can we, you know, and just one day I had an epiphany where I was like, you know what? I can only say this so many times where until my wife's family is going to sort of be like, hey, what's up with this guy here? He's kind of a cheap bastard, you know?

Ed (00:25:52) - Right, right, right.

Greg (00:25:53) - What's going on here? Right. So I just decided to say, you know what? Fuck it. Let's do it. Yes to everything. Let's go full steam ahead. And, And it turned out really, really well. You were at my wedding. You were? I was wanting ceremony and good time. I. I loved our wedding. I thought it was a really, really great experience, a very good ceremony or a very memorable night. I'm glad you were there. I'm glad everyone was there. And, it was. It was just where I just decided to say, okay, let's do it. Let's spend all the money we need to spend and not worry about it. And it was totally worth it. And I think there are limitations to this. Of course, I still don't know how people drop $5 million on a on a big fancy wedding. I think that's a bit too much, but. Right. But in this case, there was a lot of cultural elements that I just sort of accepted.

Greg (00:26:38) - And I said, okay, let's just bring them on whatever they are. and sometimes it's.

Ed (00:26:43) - Good to just say yes, just say yes and go.

Greg (00:26:46) - Exactly. And, and there was just there's a lot of like, oh, I don't know, my cultures doesn't really need to do this. And I know my friends are not going to be no one's going to care that they get a souvenir if they come to the wedding. I've been to a lot of weddings. I've never once kept one of the souvenirs. Right? But I was like, you know what? It's just part of the game. Okay, let's do it. Sure. it was great.

Ed (00:27:05) - No, I have a good memories from your wedding. No doubt. So I think I think it worked.

Greg (00:27:10) - Just just over 12 years ago. So we did it in some way.

Ed (00:27:13) - Heck yeah. Heck yeah. All right, so my next superlative is my biggest surprise. My biggest shock. and it has to do with when I got my cancer diagnosis.

Ed (00:27:25) - And I'm not going to retell the whole story, but, it's just such a weird, odd thing to have a doctor tell you you have cancer. It's like you can, you know, once you're an adult and you're reasonably educated, you know, it can happen to anyone, you know. So it's kind of in the realm of possibilities. But I just remember sitting there in the doctor's office, I was in Bomber Grad Hospital, and, the doctor in, in the, in the classic, you know, tie fashion. You know, they're super Thai doctors are super direct. And he just said, you have a tumor. We have to cut it out. and I said, tumor. You know, I'm like, what do you mean by tumor? You know, and he said, cancer. And you're just. I just remember this.

Ed (00:28:16) - Well, I just remember. Really like you, I just. You're just kind of in. At least for me. I was just in disbelief because basically I just had pain, like.

Ed (00:28:28) - So I went in because I had, like, pain in my abdomen. So it was just, you know, it could be a lot of different things. And then. And then it's like you have a tumor. We have to cut it out. And I'm like, well, what? What do you mean tumor? And he's like cancer and so tumor.

Ed (00:28:41) - So you just I just remember this feeling of just. A complete dislike. You got to be. You got to be kidding me.

Greg (00:28:49) - You're looking around for cameras again. Like yesterday, these guys came over to my house and asked me to lay down with my wife. Now you're telling me this.

Ed (00:28:54) - What's going on? And you're like, what's going on here is. And it's just. I just remember, just. This can't be true. Like, that was, you know, I remember just processing it like. No, I'm just, you know, maybe this is a thing of, you know, I guess I'm thinking of, like, stages of grief or something.

Ed (00:29:13) - Where where I think the first stage is supposed to be denial. And that's exactly how I reacted. I was just like, no, I'm just like, no. You know, he's the you know, he's the doctor. He's you know, he's got test results. He's got all these tests. And I'm like, yeah.

Greg (00:29:28) - No, let me let me see those scans.

Ed (00:29:30) - I'm like, no, that can't, that can't be. yeah. So it's definitely it just it just sort of raw, unexpected because it just wasn't on the range of things when I went in, you know, I had a certain range of possible diagnoses and cancer was not one of them. So that's it's my biggest surprise. My biggest shock.

Greg (00:29:52) - Wow. Yeah. And then you so once you do accept it, you're just like, well, I guess this is now I'm one of those people that has to deal with this massive, life changing moment. Yeah. So the next X weeks or months are going to be.

Ed (00:30:02) - That's that right. But but but that's rough man.

Ed (00:30:05) - But that gives us stories to tell man. We got scars.

Greg (00:30:09) - Literally. Yeah. That's why I'm glad it all worked out. So here we are again.

Greg (00:30:15) - All right. My last one, and this is, this is probably a superlative. It's probably not the superlative, but this one is my most Bangkok moment. And there have been a lot of Bangkok moments. I think we've all had them where the night goes fabulously off the rails.

Ed (00:30:32) - But no doubt, no doubt.

Greg (00:30:34) - For some reason, this one just sticks out to me. And I was out, around, Chinatown with with my buddy John. This was a long time ago. not the John that you and I know. Different, John. And, and he said, hey, let's go to this this billiard hall that I know is really weird. And I said, okay. Sure. So we we were sort of half, half drunk at this time, and we got a tuk tuk and we pounded our way, and all he knew was that it was one of the sois leading off one way.

Greg (00:31:00) - And Yip song, which is sort of a just west of the train station there. And for anyone that knows that neighborhood after dark is really weird, it's a really hard to pin down neighborhood, because in the daytime it's got hip coffee shops and restaurants and industrial shop houses and factories and stuff. But at nighttime it's it's full of sort of like people sleeping on the sidewalks. It's got sort of famous for its, low priced prostitutes. Right, right.

Ed (00:31:31) - It's a sketchy area.

Greg (00:31:32) - Sketchy neighbors, not dangerous, but it's weird. And, anyway, so so we were like, it's on one of these stories, and I'm following John and we're like, okay. And we go up one and we're going into all these weird dark soils and alleys and like little sub soils, and we're like, this, isn't it? It's a dead end and there's someone's living room. And then we go to the next one and there's a little shophouse. It's half opening, and we finally find it.

Greg (00:31:53) - And he leads me into this elevator. And man, this elevator was like the original installation from the 50s. I'm sort of. So it had, like, the old school buttons that were like white circles. And you pushed him in and it sort of pressed, you know, and the the little button panel was half rusted away. Like, if we press the button too hard, I'm sure it would have broke off.

Ed (00:32:16) - Yeah. Those old elevators, they really make you feel safe.

Greg (00:32:19) - And this elevator sort of ground to actual actions or like.

Greg (00:32:24) - And we went up three storeys and we came out into this giant room of this random building, and it was totally silent. There was no one there. And I thought, I'm like, I'm like, oh, John led me to a place where he's going to kill me and rob.

Ed (00:32:39) - Me, right, right, right, right.

Greg (00:32:41) - and there was one light on, and then we said, sweaty Cop, and we noticed there was a girl sleeping on this giant billiard table.

Ed (00:32:48) - Oh, funny.

Greg (00:32:49) - And she sort of was like, oh. And we woke her up and she sort of rolled, half rolled off and fell onto the floor. And she was like, welcome, welcome. And she turned on the lights. And it was this huge billiard hall with all these, like, pro-level billiard tables.

Ed (00:33:04) - So you're the only people.

Greg (00:33:05) - They're the only people there. And she woke up and she called her friend, and she came out of a side room and they turned on the lights. And, you know, about half an hour later, some other random people rolled in, but, they had to run down to the 7-Eleven to get some, some beers, I think because they were out of beers or something.

Greg (00:33:22) - Would be right back.

Ed (00:33:23) - That's a that is a Thai thing. When you, you order something and then they run out and buy it.

Greg (00:33:28) - Yeah. They don't even say like we're out of stock. They're like, yeah, no problem.

Greg (00:33:31) - And then we were right back.

Ed (00:33:32) - Now how about many many times.

Greg (00:33:34) - Yeah. And then within, within an hour there, there was some motorcycle guys come in and they were playing billiards and we were chatting with them and sort of like really bad Thai and they're really bad English. And, it was just a very. Very, very odd night where I wasn't sure how it was going to end up, but I ended up playing billiards in this totally anonymous, random great hall.

Ed (00:33:52) - That's a very good that's very good Bangkok story, because there's so many weird places like that. It's funny, it wasn't billiards, but two weeks ago I ended up in a similar thing where a buddy was like, hey, I heard about this place. And again, it was back stories and it was this tiny little, I don't even know what to call it. It was kind of like a Japanese hippy place with all this graffiti on the wall. And it was 3 a.m. and I'm just like, I never knew this existed.

Ed (00:34:24) - Like, Bangkok is great for these nooks and crannies.

Greg (00:34:27) - Yeah, exactly. And I've I've tried to find this place in the years since. I've never found it again. I'm not. I might have been hallucinating for all I know. Like.

Ed (00:34:35) - Right, right.

Greg (00:34:35) - I've never been able to.

Ed (00:34:36) - Find it again.

Ed (00:34:36) - Well, it sounds like my strange experience. If we wake up the next day and you're like, did that happen? Was I there?

Greg (00:34:43) - Yeah. It was very weird, but a good memory and a fun night.

Ed (00:34:47) - All right. Well, very quickly, I'll tell my I think what was my craziest night in Thailand. And this is a tough call because I've had plenty of the classic wild Bangkok nights, you know, drinking. And this happened and that happened. And this buddy does something crazy. I, I've had my share of those Bangkok nights, but this story just tops all in just the just the weirdness and oddness and fun, but also danger. okay. And this is my this is my ghost story, which it's funny because I think this is one of the very first stories I ever told as the co-host of the podcast.

Ed (00:35:23) - So I can't remember, I can't I can't remember why, but I think I think even with Ivo, I think we did a kind of a preview show with Ivo where where you were like, Ed's going to be the new co-host. It was the three of us, I believe. Okay. Does that ring a bell.

Greg (00:35:41) - Yeah I remember we, we did a show and we recorded it down to jacks right down on the. That's right, that's right. That little hole in the wall place. I'm not I'm not sure when you told the story.

Ed (00:35:50) - It was one of my earliest stories I told because it was just, it was such a, such a weird night. So I'll compress it down, but it basically involves them going to Golf Summit with a friend of mine who had a girlfriend. So it was a couple, but then his girlfriend's friend was going to come. And so it ended up, you know, like there's a pair of us, even though I didn't know her and I remember I remember, telling him like, hey, don't hook us up.

Ed (00:36:17) - Like I haven't even met her. I don't know who she is. Like, I want to I want to be, like, free agent. You know, when I'm down on the island, right? Right, right. You know, and then, you know, when I met her, I thought she was nice, but didn't feel any vibes or anything like that. but then it was just one of those nights that just. It it just gets a life of its own. Where we went to dinner and it was fun, and we started drinking, and then we started dancing. And then pretty soon it's like you're kind of having a blast and. And, you know, it's like the night has taken off and we met other people down on summit, and, you know, we're having fun. And then, and then, my, my buddy who I was with, he, he wanted to go back to the room or something like that, and it ended up. And then he was gone for kind of a long time.

Ed (00:37:03) - So I went to go find him. And it turns out in his drunken stupor, he had he had, the front desk was closed and he, he had given the room key to the front desk and he couldn't get it back. So he he he broke open the, the drawer in the front desk because he is really smart, like, sane person. Brilliant. And and then, some guys who worked at the resort, confronted him and basically correctly because, you know, it's like 3 a.m. and this big drunk Swedish guy has, like, broken into the front desk. And I kind of walked in on this scene, and it ended up being, like, not quite a little bit of like a semi brawl and then, and then the and then the guys left and we called the police, you know, so this is on summit, we call, you know, we call the police and, and this kid rides up on a bicycle who, who looks like he's about 17, but it turns out he was one of two Thai cops on the island.

Greg (00:38:10) - Wow.

Ed (00:38:11) - And he, And, you know, with through translation, he basically said that we have to leave that resort because these guys are going to come back and he cannot protect us.

Greg (00:38:21) - Oh, jeez. Yeah. Oh, wow.

Ed (00:38:24) - It was a it was a the craziest night. And so we basically had to gather all our stuff. We basically had to gather all of our stuff together and flee in a song tore away from this. And so we're driving down to the met at probably like 330 in the morning. We're we're still drunk from the night, and we're trying to find a place where we can sleep. Oh, man. And we like. We're down. We're way down the island and everything is closed. And so we just found a place that was clearly closed, and we just banged on the door, and. And, like, you know, the owner has to wake up and come out, and then he, he, he basically he was pissed. And so he charged us twice the price for like the rooms because basically we're trying.

Greg (00:39:09) - To. Right. Yeah.

Ed (00:39:10) - We're trying to check in at, you know, 330 in the morning. And it was just it was just an insane night.

Greg (00:39:15) - And that's got to fill you with confidence, right? When you call the cops and you're like, hey, these guys are going to come and get us. And the cop is like, well, good luck with that.

Ed (00:39:21) - Yeah. No, no, I learned a lesson about the islands and I'm not exaggerating. I think the kid probably was 20, but you know, you know, he was just a skinny kid. He looked like he was 17, riding a bicycle. Right. And I ended up I ended up kind of liking him because he was very straightforward. He was like, look, you can't stay here because those guys are going to come back. And like, I he's like, he's basically saying, like, I can't look at me like, I can't, I cannot protect you.

Greg (00:39:49) - Is an interesting insight though, though. I mean, Thai islands, they're sort of like their own little microcosm. He's got their own personalities and their own people and their own.

Ed (00:39:58) - no. I mean, hopefully this was quite a long time ago, so hopefully things have gotten better. But, yeah, the islands are are their own thing. And I think they're. Yeah, I guess I'll be direct about it. I think the islands are on average more, more corrupt than other places. I think they're, they're more likely under the influence of local mafia than than, you know, on the mainland.

Greg (00:40:22) - Each one is like its own little fife, you know.

Ed (00:40:24) - That's right. Exactly. That's right. Anyway, it was it was part of the craziest night I could. You know, I've had other nights that were more fun, like with just more drunken partying thing. Right. But this was in terms of just in terms of weirdness and craziness.

Ed (00:40:38) - I think that that night tops it, for sure.

Greg (00:40:41) - Good one. That's a good one. Well, if you and I ever met together, I'm going to walk ten paces behind you just in case. One of those guys.

Ed (00:40:47) - You never know. They might. They might remember me.

Greg (00:40:49) - There he is. Get him! All right, let's do some love, loathe or live with. Or one of us picks a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discussed to decide if it's something we'd love about living here, loathe about living here, or have come to accept as something that we just have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it. And this week, Ed, what do you got for me?

Ed (00:41:07) - All right. This is kind of specific, but it just this popped in my head due to a recent experience I had. So I'm just going to run with it. You know, I'm a live music. I love live music.

Greg (00:41:16) - You're a live music guy and a rule of law guy.

Ed (00:41:19) - I am no doubt, no doubt about that. so what's your take on this? You're going to listen to live music? It's a tie band time musicians, but they're playing Western music. You're into it. Good band vocalists start singing and they just have a strong Thai accent. So they're singing. It could be. It could actually could be anything. Whether it's country roads to a rock song, to whatever. Band is good. Music is good. And then the singer. It's so you get you know, so in your in your head you know the original and then there it has the noticeable Thai accent. What's your take. And I have a, I have a very clear stance on this. So I'm not going to give away what my thing is like. Are you like, oh Jesus, you're ruining it. Or are you like, well, you know, what's your take? Does it bug you? Yeah.

Greg (00:42:14) - I'm I'm I'm not going to have to say I will live with on this one because it's like, yeah, all right.

Greg (00:42:18) - If you if you can't sing really strongly, maybe you shouldn't be a singer, but also, you know, you're up on stage hitting a rock band and I'm not. So that's still pretty cool. It's something I can't do. So it's it's sort of like when someone you pick up a, like an automated menu and you call a Thai company or something and then like, and it's like, oh, write for somebody, blah, blah, please play to. And you're like, I can barely understand what you're saying. Like, if you don't get someone who can speak English properly.

Ed (00:42:46) - It's funny in that case, in your example, I'm a loathe because I always think like, this is some big company and they clearly could get someone who had better English than that or just get a native speaker.

Greg (00:42:58) - So for bands like I mean they're trying they're, they're hustling the trends for a new maybe the guy's a new singer I don't know.

Ed (00:43:07) - It's funny.

Ed (00:43:08) - You know, my take is almost exactly like yours. I might even be a borderline love because, yeah, it's just. Okay. I remember when I first, very, very first experience this, I had a negative reaction, you know, because it just doesn't sound right. You're so used to a certain song. And even though when you hear a cover, let's say in the States, they're not singing it as well as the original, but because it's the first language, it it fits or it's closer and they can emulate it better. So the I admit that initially it's offputting to hear a classic song or something you know really well in in a foreign accent. It's off putting, right? Right. So because it obviously doesn't sound.

Greg (00:43:54) - Agree. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it takes you out of it, right?

Ed (00:43:57) - That's right. But you know, over time I just kind of like it now. Like it's just it's just it's kind of like you said. You said it's just kind of cool that they're trying.

Ed (00:44:06) - I mean, they're playing your music. I mean, in our case, this is Western music and they're. And they like it. So I'm not even talking about, you know, I, I'm not talking about some tourist cover band. You know, these are local time musicians, right? Who who love Western music. And over the years, I've just come to appreciate the fact that they like it. And so when I hear a Thai person with attacks and I almost kind of like it, it's just it's it's almost like kind of cute to hear, you know what I'm saying? To like to hear that Thai accent on on a Western song.

Greg (00:44:41) - You've got to respect it because they're like, okay, well, why don't you get up here and sing a song in Thai? Oh, what's that? You can't. Oh. All right, well, then how about you shut your mouth?

Ed (00:44:48) - That's exactly right. Yeah. So I'm, I'm. I live with, but, I, I totally doesn't bother me anymore, and I, I have a much better idea.