Bangkok of the mind

Tea for two, ice-cream maker rocks, home-baked bread feeler, Kong/Phiwit drama

2009-12-07T10:23:00.008+07:00

Maiyuu has bought a new tea set – two cups, saucers, a strainer, and a teapot. Needless to say, we also have the tea – chrysanthemum, and lavender.

‘Unlike other teas, these will help give you a good sleep if you drink them before bed,’ he said.

At night, Mauyuu makes a pot. He adds honey, and serves.

I had hoped to bring you pictures of his piping-hot tea, but they will have to wait, as I keep forgetting to take the pictures at night when he has made a brew.

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We also have a new ice-cream maker. As I write, Maiyuu is whipping up a batch of strawberry sherbet ice-cream. I tried his plain strawberry ice-cream this morning, which he makes with milk and cream. It tastes just like the street-bought stuff, only not as oily or greasy. Pictures coming soon.

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Overseas, my parents have bought a bread-maker on e-Bay. I asked Maiyuu if he would be interested in buying one for us. He has baked his own bread in the past, though we don’t have a machine made for the task.

So far, he is unenthusiastic.

I asked if he had heard of e-Bay; No. I have seen a Thai version of e-Bay on the net, but don’t know anyone who shops on it.

By the looks of it, e-Bay has yet to take off here as it has in the West.

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Kong and Phiwit, your time is running out!

The Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You airs again tonight.

Writing at the Pantip webboard, one fan says the series has less than two weeks to go. Gay lovers Kong and Phiwit, who play supporting roles, get a few minutes of airtime in each episode, perhaps half an hour in total.

However, the two are involved in the thick of the drama – Kong’s sister sees the pair holding hands, which is their tender coming-out statement to the world.

One lad gets hits by a car, and I'm told they even share a kiss. Stay tuned.

Lady Penelope's teacup beckons; singer Kai Phannipa tries gay anthem

2009-12-05T09:47:00.019+07:00

Boyfriend Maiyuu and I are joining the ranks of the British upper class: we are becoming posh tea drinkers! More on that tomorrow, with pictures of raised pinky fingers poised elegantly over delicate china for tea-sipping.

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Singer Kai Phannipa has put out an unusual music video of two Thai guys falling for each other. The song is called Loving You With My Life (ไก่พรรณนิภา รักด้วยชีวิต), from the upcoming Remember Five album.

Kai appears to be a pop artist, or maybe 'peua chiwit' (music for life) singer, but in this video is dabbling in the gay thing.

I was reminded of this video when I re-read yesterday’s post about the Channel 5 series, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You. In coming episodes, Phiwit rushes his boyfriend Kong across the road to avoid getting hit by a car.

Kai’s video is similar. Our gay hero almost gets hit by a bus, but is saved by a stranger who becomes his lover.

Gay hero is about to cross the road but has a cellphone stuck to his ear so is unaware of what is going on.

The man who will be his lover, but is still a stranger to him at this point, springs out from somewhere, and pulls him back from danger.

In the drama of the moment they end up flat on their backs by the side of the road, reflecting on the beauty of the sky, nature, and the universe.

They turn to look at each other, and Bing! They are in love.

The video comprises two parts.

It has yet to be released in full, so these are only teasers. But it shows more of the gay thing than most mainstream MVs would ever allow.

Gay hero and his lover are cute, even if they can’t act. In the second clip, we see three bare-chested guys sharing a couch together (presumably, one partner is unfaithful).

Mr and Mrs Footpath also share a bed scene.

The song sounds like a gay anthem, it's so dramatic. It's here.

Watch the clips are here (part 1), and here (part 2). It's like an MV done up as a mini-drama, split into two parts.

The full video clip comes out on 12/12. I’ll let you know how it looks.

PS: Pictures illustrating this post are unrelated.

Lonely ham and cheese, Phiwit's dash for safety

2009-12-04T08:37:00.009+07:00

Maiyuu went out last night, and is still not back this morning, which is forcing me to fend for myself.

He left a love note - ‘Dearest BF, I’m going out with so-and-so. I love you so much’ – and a dish of pork fried rice.

This morning the fried rice is gone; hunger and restlessness are setting in.

I have made myself a ham and cheese sandwich, with mayonnaise. I can find little else in the fridge worth eating.

Never mind. Today I start work early, so can look forward to the company of my colleagues at work, if not that of my boyfriend at home.

As for food, the change will do me good. Normally Maiyuu keeps me fed all day before I start work, which means I seldom have to rely on myself.

I have often wondered how the other half live. Now is my chance to find out.

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A teaser trailer from coming episodes of Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You, shows dramatic promise.

Exact Entertainment, the producers, aired the trailer at a function in Bangkok last night.

The screaming you can hear in the background comes from fans in the audience.

Exact brought together the company’s 200-odd stars for a night of celebrating achievements in the year past, and a preview of its attractions in the year to come.

The cast of Tomorrow, I'll Still Love You including Fluke Pachara Thammon, who plays Kong, and his sidekick, Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong, who plays Phiwit (see pictures), was there.

In the trailer shown to the audience, Phiwit gets beaten up by his ratbag brother Phipat; and the male lead, Por, attacks his former girlfriend, Kaew.

In another action moment, Phipat tries to run down Phiwit in his car. Phiwit grabs his gay lover Kong’s hand as he tries to get him across the road to safety, but appears to get hit by the motor.

At his Hi-5 site, Oh has welcome news for anxious fans, as they contemplate this unwelcome turn of events.

Despite recent signs that the drama is heading for a nasty climax of blood, emotional torment and hi-so family bickering, the ending, he says, is almost too sweet for words.

The show airs again on Monday. Watch the trailer here.

Maiyuu's door-breaker, Jumbo sports new fashion, Sarah falls flat (again), Fluke shines

2009-12-03T09:08:00.014+07:00

Boyfriend Maiyuu locked himself out of his bedroom yesterday, and spent three hours hammering away at the door, trying to break the lock.

His door has a push-button lock which stuck itself in lock mode a few months ago.

He took precautions to make sure the door could not slam shut while he was outside the room, but yesterday they came awry when the scarf he tied around the door to stop it closing properly came free.

A gust of wind came, and Bang! He was locked out.

When I left for work, Maiyuu had been trying to prise open the door with all the household tools he could find. They still weren’t enough, so finally he called someone from the office, who brought a large car-jack type thing for forcing open the door. It worked.

Now the door has a nasty hole in it where the door handle used to be. Being an elegant creature, I want that hole filled again as soon as possible. It is upsetting my sense of room harmony.

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Jumbo the Chihuahua paid a visit the other day. This is his latest fashion attire: a one-piece jeans and T-shirt suit. A picture of a fox illustrates the back of his T-shirt.

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At the top of this post is Maiyuu’s beef lasagne, which he made during Jumbo’s visit the other day. Jumbo came with his owner, Golf. We humans ate the lasagne; Jumbo tucked into KFC.

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A bacon and egg hamburger, which Maiyuu has made for breakfast over the last couple of days.

Also pictured is an apricot sponge which I am calling the Sarah Brightman cake.

Maiyuu watched Sarah make this cake on Martha Stewart’s cooking show, and knocked it out himself the next day.

While it looks good on the outside, it was too moist on the inside, almost under-done. What have you done to us, Sarah?

Years ago, in my old life, I reviewed two of Sarah’s CDs for a local newspaper. We arranged a phone interview. She called in to the newspaper, and we spoke for about 10minutes until I ran out of things to say.

'So, Sarah, how long did you say you'd been a classically trained singer?'

I did not give her a flattering review, as the CDs bored me. Since then I have grown older, and no longer mind listening to her style of bland pop, masquerading as opera. It soothing to my ageing ear.

On that occasion, however, I felt Sarah let me down.

On this occasion, she did too, although the cake is still edible, if too mushy inside.

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Stars of the Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You, were interviewed on variety show Sam Noom Sam Moom last night.

Fluke Pachara Thammon, who plays gay Kong, is a touchy-feely young man. In real life, he is not afraid to touch, hug, handle his co-star Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong, who plays Phiwit. He is charming to watch. See this clip here.

Kong wraps up the show with his song, ความรู้สึกดีๆ – ที่ไม่อาจบอกใคร, which loosely translates as ‘Those good feelings which we can't tell anyone about.’ I left a link to the song the other day. Watch his latest version, sung for the variety show, here.

He’s a spirited, passionate singer, who appears to lose himself when he performs, almost as if his audience isn’t there. Terrific!

Sarah dear, please take note.

Kong, Phiwit: Pseudo-intimo shoulder snuggle

2009-12-02T10:13:00.018+07:00

Just kiss him and get it over with, for goodness sake!

Phiwit and his partner Kong share an intimate moment on the beach in the latest episode of the channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

Kong declares that his life has never been the same since his sister died six years before.

Phiwit reminds him that this is the here and now, and that he will never leave Kong, so he can stop worrying.

‘Now that I have you, I’m even more scared,’ says Kong.

‘Why be scared? I haven’t done anything to you.’

‘I’m scared of losing you,’ says Kong.

Phiwit jumps back into reliable big-brother role, as he has done so many times in the past.

‘I’m like the sand on that beach, which never leaves the shore.

‘If you never leave me, I will never abandon you.’

They look at each other’s lips, gaze into each other’s faces for what seems an age – but the kiss never gets hatched. It’s still at the brooding stage.

Kong leans into Phiwit, who is taken by surprise.

Emotional victim Kong rests his head against Phiwit’s shoulder, and closes his eyes for a moment, as he lets the waves wash his cares away.

And?

Nothing.

We’re still waiting for the kiss which may, or may never arrive.

And it’s all getting a bit much. Fans praise director 'Boy' Takonkiat Weerawan for portraying these two as just another couple, little different from a man and a woman in the first bloom of love.

Yet last night’s episode felt like a blast back to the past. The family drama which propels this story is rocketing along, but has left this pair in its wake.

They appear as mere observers to the main action playing out between an ever-growing number of cast members: Mum, her daughter, her boyfriend, Phiwit’s scheming brother...

When Phiwit and Kong wander off the beach and rejoin everyone else at the holiday home in Rayong, no one cares. Increasingly, neither do we.

If director Boy really is intent on portraying this soap opera couple as like an ordinary pair of gay lovers, then a little more enthusiasm and commitment is required.

In short, get into it! Start nuzzling, kissing, or whatever you hi-so types do!

‘These two understand each other, and are ready to face down obstacles they meet together...that’s already love writ large,’ writes one fan at the Pantip webboard.

เพียงแค่คนสองคนเข้าใจกัน และ พร้อมที่จะฝ่าฟันอุปสรรค์ไปพร้อมๆกัน
นั่นก็คือความรักที่ยิ่งใหญ่มากๆแล้ว

Maybe for you dear, but the rest of us are starting to ask questions.

Is Phiwit there as a potential boyfriend, or really just a caring elder brother?

Does Kong want someone to love him, or just an emotional crutch?

Two figures of fun, a fat ladyboy with a deep voice and a young dark-skinned whipper-snapper whose relation to the family eludes me, spot Kong and Phiwit on the beach.

‘You’ve been with Kong since childhood, how come you never spotted he was gay?’ asks Whipper-Snapper.

'Sometimes it takes a big event such as this one to occur before you really see it,' replies Deep Voice.

Another supporting character, human relations manager to leading man Por, spots them on the beach, and is shocked.

At first he contemplates telling Kaew, elder sister to Kong, that her brother is gay, but fat ladyboy and whippersnapper talk him out of it.

‘Our family has suffered enough. Mum could take another turn for the worse, and Kong could take his own life!' says Deep Voice.

Yes, yes. Blah, blah.

The series airs again tonight. The clip of Phiwit and Kong sharing their intimate moment on the beach together is here.

Kong, Phiwit: Just another ordinary couple/conservative reaction

2009-12-01T11:44:00.012+07:00

Phiwit has slipped into the role of dutiful partner to his boyfriend Kong in the latest episode of the channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

Kong and his sister have dropped in to visit Kong’s mother in hospital (see pictures). Phiwit folds up a sweater belonging to boyfriend Kong, just as a good partner should.

How sweet is that?

He asks Kong’s Mum if he can get her anything good to eat on his way home – just as a good son-in-law should.

Again, how sweet is that?

Later, Phiwit accompanies Kong’s family on a weekend visit to their old home in Rayong, which they have decided to sell to meet living expenses.

Phiwit lugs both his bag and Kong’s backpack out of the car, which spares his boyfriend Kong from the need to carry anything.

This young lad shows promise as a potential husband – yet the moment is also remarkable for being nothing, in itself, out of the ordinary.

Kong and Phiwit are like any other couple, only they are guys.

Other fan reaction:

'Two people in love often start to imitate each other's mannerisms,' says another fan, pointing to the fact that both Kong and Phiwit like to wear a frown (see picture).

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Kong-Phiwit fever has taken the town by storm, as even a cursory glance at webboards will tell you.

One fan attributes popular support for this couple to a desire among Thais to unite behind a common ideal.

‘Politics is driving us apart. How nice to find something we can all feel good about,’ she wrote at the Pantip webboard.

Not everyone, however, is happy...

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The relationship between Kong and Phiwit sets a bad example to Thais, because this couple looks too normal, says one newspaper columnist.

Writing in the Daily News newspaper, ‘Freestyle’ entertainment columnist Wipawadee argues that for most Thais, the relationship between Kong and Phiwit has gone too far.

The author acknowledges that Kong and Phiwit have become the ‘talk of the town’, and that in the eyes of some readers, his own views will seem outmoded and old-fashioned.

The influence of western values on Thai culture is such that gay relationships are almost commonplace these days, he says, even if ‘nature’ determines that a man should love a woman, not another man.

The gay relationship portrayed in Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You is bolder than any presented on Thai public TV before.

The author asks if it will not end up influencing teens into thinking they should copy such behaviour.

‘I admit that in today’s society it is nothing unusual to find this kind of love [everyday love]....but those are usually relationships between ordinary people,’ he says.

Subtext? In portraying Kong and Phiwit as an ordinary couple - little different from a man and woman together - the producers risk upsetting the popular stereotype of gays, that they are crazy over men, can’t hold down a relationship, and should be regarded as figures of fun, or freaks in general.

‘Love is a beautiful thing in all its stripes, and I am not in favour of closing the eyes and ears of our young to love in all its possibilities. By all means, throw in a bit of gay love – but they shouldn’t make it such a dominant part of the show to the point where it drowns out all else,’ says columnist Wipawadee.

In the interests of balance, I’m posting the column here. Below, I’ll bring you a response from a gay Thai man who has been watching the show.

ผมได้ติดตามชมละครเรื่อง "พรุ่งนี้ก็รักเธอ ที่ออกอากาศทุกวันจันทร์-พฤหัสบดี เวลา 20.20น. ทางช่อง 5และกำกับการแสดงโดย "คุณบอย- ถกลเกียรติ วีรวรรณ" มาพักใหญ่แล้วครับ แต่ที่แปลกใจกับละครเรื่องนี้ คือเขากล้าที่จะนำเสนอความรักของชาวสีม่วงอย่างเปิดเผย.......

....กระแสแรงเกินคาดจนกลายเป็นทอล์คออฟเดอะทาวน์ไปแล้วสำหรับความน่ารักกุ๊กกิ๊กของคู่ พี-ก้อง ที่รับบทโดยโอ-อนุชิต และฟลุ๊ค เดอะสตาร์ ถ้าเราจะมองกันตามกระแสนิยมที่คนพูดถึงกันมากที่สุดเราก็ต้องยอมรับว่าละครเรื่องนี้กล้าที่จะนำเสนอในสิ่งที่หลายๆค่ายไม่กล้านำเสนอกับความรักของตัวละครที่เป็นเพศเดียวกัน ทำให้กระแสของละครเรื่องนี้แรงขึ้นมาจริงๆ

แต่ถ้าเราจะมองกันตามวัฒนธรรมประเพณีซึ่งในสมัยนี้บางคนอาจจะบอกว่าผมเชยหรือหัวโบราณก็ได้นะครับ ผมมองว่าการนำเสนอในเรื่องราวแบบนี้มันดูมากเกินไป ซึ่งผมเชื่อว่าหลายๆคนอาจจะรับไม่ได้ด้วยซ้ำ เพราะด้วยธรรมชาติของมนุษย์แล้วคนที่เกิดมาคู่กันคือผู้หญิงและผู้ชายครับ ไม่ใช่คนเพศเดียวกัน

แต่สมัยนี้เราได้รับอิทธิพลจากตะวันตกเข้ามาเยอะทำให้เรื่องราวความรักในเพศเดียวกันเป็นที่ยอมรับมากขึ้นในวงสังคมไทย แต่ผมเชื่อว่ายังมีคนที่ไม่ยอมรับความรักแบบนั้นได้อย่างเปิดเผยร้อยเปอร์เซ็นต์

และผมยอมรับครับว่าในชีวิตจริงของเรานั้นเราได้เห็นความรักแบบนี้กันอยู่มาก แต่นั่นคือการใช้ชีวิตของคนธรรมดาทั่วไป แต่ในการนำเสนอผ่านจอทีวีกับเรื่องราวแบบนี้ถ้าเราจะมองกันอีกมุมหนึ่งมันเท่ากับส่งเสริมหรือเปล่า เยาวชนเข้าใจผิดหรือเปล่า! มองว่ามันเป็นค่านิยมที่ดีหรือเปล่าครับ

ผมเชื่อในความรักนะครับ ว่าความรักเป็นสิ่งที่ดีและสวยงาม ไม่ใช่เราจะปิดหูปิดตาเด็กในเรื่องนี้ แต่เราเลือกที่จะนำเสนอได้นะครับ เอาไปสอดแทรกในละคร แต่ไม่ควรจะทำให้ประเด็นของความรักคู่นี้เด่นออกมาจนกลบเรื่องราวที่น่าสนใจของตัวละครอื่นๆในเรื่อง

อยากจะฝากตรงนี้ไปถึงคุณบอยครับว่าถ้าลดตรงนี้ลงสักนิดผมว่าน่าจะดีกว่านะครับ อย่าลืมนะครับ เยาวชนของชาติกำลังติดตามละครของคุณอยู่ อย่าสักแต่ว่าเอากระแส เอาเรตติ้ง ผมว่าห่วงใยลูกหลานเด็กๆทางบ้านบ้างก็ดีนะครับ."

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One gay reader has left a moving and eloquent response. Yes, the relationship between Kong and Phiwit challenges the usual gay stereotypes, he says – but then why shouldn’t a gay couple look like anyone else?

I’m posting it in full below, both as an excellent rejoinder to the rubbish spouted by that Daily News columnist, but also as my contribution to World Aids Today today.

ที่ว่า "เพราะด้วยธรรมชาติของมนุษย์แล้วคนที่เกิดมาคู่กันคือผู้หญิงและผู้ชาย"

ผมขอถามว่า แล้วคนที่รักเพศเดียวกันอย่างผมนี้ เกิดมาจากไหนกันครับ

ผมไม่ได้เกิดมาจากธรรมชาติ ตามวิธีการและกฎเกณฑ์ของธรรมชาติหรอกหรือครับ

คนรักเพศเดียวกันอย่างผม ไม่ได้เกิดมาจากการตัดต่อรหัสพันธุกรรมโดยฝีมือมนุษย์หน้าไหนนะครับ

ผมเกิดมาตามกฎเกณฑ์ของธรรมชาติ เติบโตขึ้นมาตามธรรมชาติ

และวันหนึ่ง ผมก็พบว่า ผมรักคนที่เป็นเพศเดียวกันกับผม

ไม่ได้มีใครมาบอกกล่าว ไม่ได้มีใครเป็นตัวอย่างให้ทำตามทั้งนั้น

ผมเชื่อว่า คนที่รักเพศเดียวกันอย่างผมไม่ได้ผิดธรรมชาติครับ ผมเป็นธรรมชาติตามอย่างของผม

เพียงแต่ธรรมชาติของผมมันไม่ได้เหมือนกับคนอื่น ๆ ซึ่งมีจำนวนมากกว่า ก็เท่านั้นเอง

เพราะฉะนั้น เลิกเอาคำว่า ผิดธรรมชาติ ผิดปกติ มาพอกพูนอคติเถอะนะครับ

..........

ที่ว่า "การนำเสนอผ่านจอทีวีกับเรื่องราวแบบนี้ถ้าเราจะมองกันอีกมุมหนึ่งมันเท่ากับส่งเสริมหรือเปล่า"

ใครจะส่งเสริมอะไรให้ใครครับ

การรักเพศเดียวกันเป็นสิ่งที่ส่งเสริมกันได้ด้วยเหรอครับ

ขอถามย้อนกลับบ้าง ผมดูละครและภาพยนต์ที่เป็นเรื่องราวของคู่รักชาย - หญิงมาตั้งมากมาย

ไม่เห็นว่ามันจะส่งเสริมให้ผมอยากมีแฟนเป็นผู้หญิงเหมือนในละครที่ผมดูบ้างเลยครับ

ผมเชื่อว่า การรักเพศเดียวกัน ไม่ได้ "เกิด" จากการเลียนแบบครับ

เพียงแต่อาจถูก "กระตุ้น" ได้ จากพฤติกรรมของบุคคลอื่นที่ได้รู้ได้เห็นมา

นั่นคือ มัน "มี" อยู่ในตัวคนคนนั้นอยู่แล้ว และได้ถูกบางสิ่งบางอย่างหรือหลายอย่างร่วมกัน "กระตุ้น" ให้แสดงความเป็นตัวตนออกมาก

ถ้าจะกล่าวว่า ละครเรื่องนี้ได้ส่งเสริมอะไรเกี่ยวกับประเด็นคนรักเพศเดียวกัน

ก็คงจะเป็นการส่งเสริมให้ คนที่ยังปกปิดตัวเองอยู่ กล้าที่จะเปิดตัวตนของตนเองเพิ่มขึ้น

จุดประกายให้คนที่รักเพศเดียวกันว่า สักวันหนึ่งอาจจะได้เจอคนดี ๆ รักดี ๆ อย่างในละครเรื่องนี้บ้าง

แต่คงไม่ได้เป็นการส่งเสริมให้มีคนที่รักเพศเดียวกันเพิ่มมากขึ้นหรอก

เพราะมันไม่ใช่สิ่งที่จะส่งเสริมกันได้ครับ

..........

ที่ว่า "เยาวชนเข้าใจผิดหรือเปล่า! มองว่ามันเป็นค่านิยมที่ดีหรือเปล่า"

ค่านิยมที่ว่านี่คืออะไรเหรอครับ

ค่านิยมการรักเพศเดียวกันเหรอครับ

ผมขอถามว่า การรักเพศเดียวกัน มันไม่ดีอย่างไรเหรอครับ

ยิ่งเรื่องราวความรักของ ก้อง - พี ในละครเรื่องนี้ยิ่งแล้วใหญ่

มันเป็นค่านิยมความรักที่ควรจะส่งเสริมเสียด้วยซ้ำไป

เพียงแต่เราถอดวางอคติเรื่องเพศออกไป มองข้ามประเด็นที่ว่า ทั้งสองคนเป็นเพศชายเหมือนกัน

เราจะเห็นสิ่งดี ๆ มากมายที่ควรจะเอาเป็นแบบอย่าง

ความรักที่ไม่มีเรื่องเพศสัมพันธ์ เงินตรา ชื่อเสียง ฐานะ มาเป็นประเด็น

ความรักที่ทั้งความจริงจังและจริงใจ แม้มีอุปสรรคก็พยายามฟันฝ่า

ความรักที่มีเข้าอกเข้าใจกัน เป็นกำลังใจให้กัน ห่วงหาอาทร ร่วมทุกข์ร่วมสุขด้วยกัน

นี่ไม่ใช่ค่านิยมความรักที่ควรส่งเสริมให้เยาวชนเอาเป็นแบบอย่างหรอกเหรอครับ

หรือเราควรจะส่งเสริมค่านิยมแบบพฤติกรรมของพระเอกเรื่องนี้กัน

ทั้งใช้กำลัง กลั่นแกล้งนางเอก เอาแต่ใจตัวเอง บางครั้งก็พูดจาไม่คิดถึงใจคนฟัง

พฤติกรรมของตัวละครคู่ไหนจะส่งเสริมค่านิยมที่ดีของเยาวชนได้ดีกว่ากันครับ

..........

ผมคิดว่า ประเด็นคนรักเพศเดียวกันของละครเรื่องนี้ควรจะได้รับการสนับสนุนให้มีแพร่หลายมากขึ้นเสียด้วยซ้ำ

เพื่อจะได้ลดเลือนมายาคติที่คนบางกลุ่มพยายามสร้างขึ้นให้กับกลุ่มคนที่มีความหลากหลายทางเพศ

สังคมจะได้รู้ว่า เราไม่ใช่ตัวตลก ไม่ใช่ตัวประหลาด

ไม่ใช่พวกที่กรี๊ดกร๊าดบ้าผู้ชายไปวัน ๆ เหมือนที่ละครและภาพยนต์หลายเรื่องนำเสนอ

เราก็เป็นคนปกติธรรมดานี่แหล่ะ

คนที่รักเพศเดียวกันหลายคนก็มีบุคลิคไม่ต่างกับผู้ชายคนอื่น ๆ ซึ่งก็เห็นได้จากทั้งบุคลิคของก้องและพี

มีอะไรในเรื่องราวของก้องและพี ที่ไม่ควรได้รับการเผยแพร่หรือส่งเสริมให้คนรับรู้กันในวงกว้างเหรอครับ

..........

ขอทิ้งท้ายไว้สักนิด (นอกประเด็นละคร)

คนรักเพศเดียวกัน อย่างพวกผม ไม่ได้ต้องการความสงสาร หรือความเห็นใจในชะตาชีวิตหรอกนะครับ

มีมากมายหลายคนที่มีความสุขกับชีวิตอย่างที่ตนเองเป็น และหลายคนก็มีคุณภาพชีวิตที่ดีกว่าคนอื่นอีกมากมาย

แต่สิ่งที่ต้องการ จากทุกคน ไม่ว่าจะใครก็ตาม

คือ "ความเข้าใจ" ครับ

ความเข้าใจว่านี่คือธรรมชาติ นี่คือความปกติตามอย่างของเรา

เพียงแค่ "เข้าใจ" และ "ให้เกียรติ" ตามสมควร ก็ชุ่มชื่นใจแล้วครับ

‘...I am now in a world where I have to hide my heart
And what I believe in.
But somehow I will show the world what's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am...’

-

One response comes from a woman reader whose younger brother declared before the family recently that he was gay.

While his father had not talked about the matter with his son directly, he likes to mention at home that the gays on his staff do an excellent job – as if he is really trying to compliment his son.

Mum takes a different approach. ‘She teases him about whether he will run off with her grandsons, whenever she gets some.’

เย้ๆๆ มาให้กำลังใจค่ะ
ดิฉันมีน้องชายเป็นเกย์
ตอนเด็กๆเราเองก็สงสัย ทำไมน้องเรามันนุ่มนิ่มจังวะ
แต่เวลาเดินไปปากซอย น้องเราจะให้เราเดินด้านใน ตัวเขาเดินด้านนอก
แล้วพอเห็นพวกจิ๊กโก๋มันแซวเรา เขาก็เดินมากอดคอเรา
แล้วก็ด่าผู้ชายกักขฬะพวกนั้นซะจนเราต้องห้ามไว้
กลัวพวกนั้นแอบมาดักทำร้ายน้องเราภายหลัง

น้องชายดิฉันน่าจะเป็นตั้งแต่เด็กแล้ว แต่พยายามปกปิดไว้
เพิ่งจะเปิดเผยกับที่บ้านเมื่อตอนเรียนมหาวิทยาลัย
พ่อกับแม่ก็อึ้งค่ะ แต่หลังจากนั้นก็ดำเนินชีวิตปกติ
สองสามปีผ่านมา แม่ทำใจได้ ท่านก็แซวๆว่าอยากอุ้มหลาน ทำไงดีเนี่ย
ลูกชายก็ไม่แต่งงาน ลูกสาวก็มีแววขึ้นคาน (แม่รู้ได้ไงอ่ะ)

แต่พ่อจะไม่พูดถึงเรื่องประมาณนี้ต่อหน้าน้องชายเลย
หลายครั้งท่านต้องติดต่อธุรกิจกับกระเทย/เกย์ที่มีหน้าที่การงานที่ดี
ท่านก็จะออกปากชื่นชมอย่างไม่มีอคติเลยล่ะ
น่าจะสดงให้เห็นว่า จริงๆท่านก็อยากชื่นชมลูกชายของท่านเหมือนกัน
แต่อาจจะไม่ค่อยชิน แต่ท่านก็เคยพูดกับดิฉันว่า
ไม่ว่าน้องจะเป็นแบบไหน ก็เป็นลูกพ่อเหมือนเดิม ท่านก็พูดติดตลกว่า
ไม่มีหลานก็ดี ไม่ต้องมีใครเรียกปู่ พ่อจะได้เป็นหนุ่มตลอดไง

Beef/vegetable soup blues, pining for Kong

2009-11-29T08:58:00.007+07:00

It’s the day before pay day, and for the last 24 hours we have been living off Maiyuu’s beef and vegetable soup. ‘It’s filling, and I won’t have to spend any more before the money comes out,’ he said yesterday morning.

Cash ran out early this pay cycle, thanks to the birthday party he put on for me early last week, which already seems like a small age ago.

I bought a meal of fried rice/Chinese sausage at work last night, and Maiyuu has been nibbling on snacks, but other than that, we have lived solidly on his soup.

And yet another full-on soupy day lies ahead.

Roll on pay day!

-

More fan clips of the unfolding gay romance between Kong and Phiwit in the Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

One is set to Mai Mi Prasopkan, by Sinto Singrat Janpakdee, winner of The Star 5 talent quest. ‘As soon as our eyes met, we fell in love.’

True...starting from the day Kong ran into Phiwit at hospital, knocking him off his feet. See that video here.

Or try this one, set to Ice Saranyu Winaipanit’s Kon Man Rak...

Or Nop Ponchamni's Kam Phuut Ngai Ngai, here...

The series airs again tomorrow. I’ll bring you an update on Tues morning.

Fluke tugs at our heart strings - but can Boy rise to the challenge?

2009-11-28T10:24:00.010+07:00

So, our new gay idol, Fluke Pachara Thammon, can act. Did you also know he could sing?

Fluke plays cutie Kong in the Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

In the most recent episode, he shares a hug with his aspiring gay lover, Phiwit, played by Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong.

Phiwit is consoling Fluke about his mother’s illness.

However, as we all know, the scene goes well beyond that. It’s also an expression of love between Phiwit and Kong.

Phiwit loves Kong, but Kong is reluctant to let him get close. Complicated family business lies at the heart of this drama. Phiwit is brother to an evil snake of a man who killed Kong’s sister.

Can their love overcome these obstacles? Or will it end up as just another predictable Thai soapie, with real gay love kept apart by dutiful Thai loyalty to Mum and Dad? (or, as one fan put it: หลังากเหตุการณ์สารภาพรักกันแล้วเมื่อคืน...ต่อไปก้อง-พีจะมีฉากกุ๊กกิ๊ก น่ารักอีกมั๊ยอะ กลัวว่าจะกลายเป็นละครชีวิตที่ต้องคอยหลบซ่อน ไม่ให้ใครรู้)

Kong gets upset about his Mum. Phiwit consoles him, and promises he’s there for him no matter what.

Their man hug brings them closer together, and is probably the clearest expression so far about how Kong and Phiwit feel about each other.

In the closing of the scene, we can hear the strains of a young man singing on the soundtrack.

Did you know - that’s our same Fluke!

Fluke, third place-getter in the Star 5 talent quest, is also a singer.

The lyrics of his song are apt...he loves someone, but has to keep his feelings a secret.

He wants to tell the world, but knows other people will never understand.

...If that’s not gay love, what is?

‘Even though I am real, and you are sincere...

‘There are some things which we can’t let other people hear.

‘It’s a good thing, which only we need to understand.

‘Even if we might want to tell others, we have to keep it in.

‘...Yet why does it have to be like this?

‘Both of us know how we feel about the other, but we must keep it hidden away, every
day.

‘What have we done that’s so wrong, that we have to hide it away?

‘Will there ever be a day – just once – when we can tell others how we feel?

-

Here are the lyrics of the song (ความรู้สึกดีๆ - ที่ไม่อาจบอกใคร) in Thai:

ทั้งที่ฉันจริงใจ และเธอก็จริงจัง

แต่เรานั้นไม่อาจ.. พูดให้ใครฟัง.. ได้เพียงเงียบไว้

มันเป็นเรื่องดีๆ ที่มีเราเท่านั้นเข้าใจ

ทำได้แค่มองตา.. ไม่กล้าให้ใคร.. รับรู้เรื่องเราสองคน

อยากเปิดเผยใจตัวเองเท่าไร ต้องกลั้นใจ ทำเฉยๆ เท่านั้น

บ่อยครั้งก็ถามตัวเอง.. แต่แล้วก็ไม่พบคำตอบ.. เหมือนกัน...

ทำไมต้องเก็บซ่อนใจไว้อย่างนี้ ที่เราทำไม่ดียังไง

ต่างก็รู้ว่าเราห่วงใย และคิดถึงกันมากแค่ไหน แต่ต้องซ่อนไว้ทุกวัน

เราทำสิ่งไหน ที่ผิด ถึงต้องปิดไว้ลึกๆ แค่นั้น

จะมีไหมซักวัน ได้เผยมันไป.. ทุกความรู้สึกดีๆ

หวังซักเสี้ยวนาที จะมีคนเห็นด้วยกับเรา

ไม่คอยว่าอะไร.. ถ้ารู้ว่าเรา.. มีใจให้กันมากมาย

อยากเปิดเผยใจตัวเองเท่าไร ต้องกลั้นใจ ทำเฉยๆ เท่านั้น

บ่อยครั้งก็ถามตัวเอง.. แต่แล้วก็ไม่พบคำตอบ.. เหมือนกัน...

ทำไมต้องเก็บซ่อนใจไว้อย่างนี้ ที่เราทำไม่ดียังไง

ต่างก็รู้ว่าเราห่วงใย และคิดถึงกันมากแค่ไหน แต่ต้องซ่อนไว้ทุกวัน

เราทำสิ่งไหน ที่ผิด ถึงต้องปิดไว้ลึกๆ แค่นั้น

จะมีไหมซักวัน ได้เผยมันไป.. ทุกความรู้สึกดีๆ

ใจเราตรงกันแท้ๆ แต่กลับต้องทนเหนื่อยล้า

ช่างน่าเจ็บปวดจริงๆ ho..

ทำไมต้องเก็บซ่อนใจไว้อย่างนี้ ที่เราทำไม่ดียังไง

ต่างก็รู้ว่าเราห่วงใย และคิดถึงกันมากแค่ไหน แต่ต้องซ่อนไว้ทุกวัน

เราทำสิ่งไหน ที่ผิด ถึงต้องปิดไว้ลึกๆ แค่นั้น

จะมีไหมซักวัน ได้เผยมันไป.. ทุกความรู้สึกดีๆ

Watch Fluke’s MV here.

One fan of the series has compiled a fanclip on YouTube of the best moments together between Kong and Phiwit, accompanied by a popular song by the band Instinct.

‘Can’t you send someone to love me, just once....I’m tired of being alone!’

The song describes the loneliness of single life:

‘I listen to music alone...but one-sided love is no fun.

‘I look around, and wonder why it has to be me.

‘I console myself that one of these days I will find genuine love...but I don’t know when.

‘Can’t you send someone to love me? Like this, it’s just too lonely.

I’d like to know what true love is really like...there is such a thing, right?

‘Please send someone who can love me...who won’t leave me sad.

'Please help me understand, and help me love someone... just once....’

จะต้องเหงากันอีกนานไหม ต้องนั่งถอนใจอีกกี่ครั้ง

จะต้องพบเจอกับรักที่ผิดหวัง กี่ครั้งถึงพอใจ

เปิดเพลงรักฟังอยู่คนเดียว มีรักข้างเดียวมันเปลี่ยวหัวใจ

มองไปรอบตัวก็ยังไม่เห็นใคร ทำไมต้องเป็นเรา

* คอยปลอบตัวเองว่ามีสักวัน ที่เจอคนที่เขาจริงใจ

ยังคอยบอกตัวเอง ว่าต้องมีสักวัน แต่ว่ามันก็ไม่รู้เมื่อไหร่

** โปรดส่งใครมารักฉันที อยู่อย่างนี้มันหนาวเกินไป

อยากจะรู้รักแท้มันเป็นเช่นไร มีจริงใช่ไหม

โปรดส่งใครมาเป็นคู่กัน ที่ไม่ทำให้ฉันเดียวดาย

ช่วยมาทำให้ฉันเข้าใจ และได้รักใครกับเขาสักครั้ง

มันอ้างว้างจนทนไม่ไหว พยายามห้ามใจ ไม่ได้สักวัน

อยากจะรู้จริงก่อนคนเขารักกันมันเป็นเช่นไร

ซ้ำ * , **

กับเขาสักครั้ง..

ช่วยมาทำให้ฉันเข้าใจ และได้รักใครกับเขาสักครั้ง

Watch the fanclip, a compilation of scenes between Kong and Phiwit, accompanied by Instinct’s song โปรดส่งใครมารักฉันที, here.

-

So where is the relationship between Kong and Phiwit headed?

Loyal reader Ian is waiting for a kiss. While I have great faith in Exact head 'Boy' Takonkiat Weerawan, who directs the pair in this gripping drama, I wonder if he can raise to the gay challenge.

‘Boy knows that Thai society is more open these days, and can accept a gay romance,’ one hopeful fan writes at the Pantip webboard.

Yes...but can advertisers? This is a mainstream family drama after all.

The series continues next week...stay tuned.

Kong, Phiwit: Setting daring new standards

2009-11-27T09:07:00.023+07:00

Two gay men hugging for what seems an age on Thai TV?

No, never!

And yet in this prime-time drama it has happened.

Last night the aspiring gay romance between Kong and Phiwit in the Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You, took another big leap forward.

Kong and Phiwit are played by Fluke Pachara Thammon and Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong.

The two have met at the local hospital, where Kong’s mother has been admitted for care.

Mum is out for the count. Kong, sitting alone by her bedside, is finding life hard to take without her.

In tears, he implores his mother to come back to him.

Phiwit turns up by his side to comfort him.

Kong rushes into Phiwit’s arms – and lucky Phiwit holds Kong for what must be the longest man hug in Thai television history.

He rubs his back furiously to show that he is merely consoling the young man, not making a pass at him (sorry if I have spoiled the moment).

Kong is upset about his Mum, of course. Emotions are taking over.

But Phiwit is nonetheless taken aback when Kong declares that he and Phiwit can never meet again.

'I am scared...scared...scared that Mum will find out who you are, and something else will happen to her.'

Phiwit is unfazed.

'Can you really expect me to abandon you at a time like this?'

'You can't worry about something which hasn't happened yet,' he says.

'Even if people find out, they won't think ill of us...they will understand.

Don’t worry...I will never let anyone hurt you or your family. I am here for you,’ vows Phiwit, giving his back another furious rub. 'I promise!'

Kong's Mum doesn't yet know that Phiwit is brother to the poisonous snake of a man who killed her daughter (Kong's sister).

Kong is afraid that his Mum will take another turn for the worse if she finds out, so is eager that their secret not be revealed.

They have struck up a friendship in spite of themselves. Initially, Kong was keen that Phiwit keep his distance, for the sake of his family.

Now, he's worried about how others will react if they find out who Phiwit really is.

Family ties have brought these two young men together, but at any moment also threaten to drive them apart.

In fanciful gay moments, I like to imagine, however, that Kong is also referring to the fledgling gay relationship which has developed between them, though this being a straightlaced Thai drama, he probably isn't.

At the Pantip webboard, Thais are impressed by Fluke’s performance as Kong. They also like the sound of his voice: that's him singing at the tail end of the hospital scene.

‘He displays a maturity well beyond his years,’ says one.

Agreed! Actor Fluke slips into his role effortlessly. It is an impressive, even stunning performance for this young actor.

In behind-the-scenes clips on set, 'Boy' Takonkiat Weerawan, head of Exact Entertainment, directs the young men with painstaking care to detail.

If Kong does this, Phiwit will react in this fashion...then he shows them how to do it.

Yet I bet even he can't believe his luck. In Fluke, he has found an actor who does all the work for him. He can turn mere words on a page into feelings on screen which seem so real they almost jump out at you.

He is neither self-conscious, nor awkward, even when the script fails to rise to the occasion, as it does at times (this is a soap opera, after all).

Illustrating this post are pictures of Fluke and Oh, posted by their fans at Pantip.

Watch the pair’s hospital scene here.

See more pictures of the pair at sister blog TBG, here.

Kong, Phiwit: Seize the moment while you can

2009-11-26T10:02:00.015+07:00

Time for a catch-up with the aspiring gay romance between Kong and Phiwit, played by actors Fluke Pachara Thammon and Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong, in the Channel 5 soap opera, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

The two young men are drawing closer as the weeks go past, though in the most recent episode Phiwit tells Kong that while he’d like to love him more whole-heartedly, he’s unable to do so.

Phiwit and Kong are the same age, but Phiwit knows his own heart better than Kong.

He has been chasing Kong from the start, but knows he can only go so far.

Kong loves Phiwit in spite of himself, but is a long way from finding the courage to express those feelings openly.

He palms off Phiwit’s playful advances. Phiwit takes the rejections with a good heart.

So why can’t Phiwit, despite his greater self-knowledge, push things a little further?

The answer might lie in himself – despite his surface bravado, he cares for Kong’s feelings too much to risk scaring him.

Or it could also lie in a complicated web of family ties which propel this TV drama.

Both are related to the main characters.

Kong is younger brother to Keaw, who has a stormy relationship with her former boyfriend, Por, now her boss.

Since their breakup, Por has been overseas and back, and found a new girlfriend.

He still loves Kaew, but can’t bring himself to admit it.

As her boss, he treats her harshly, as if he is punishing her for his own past mistakes.

Kaew puts up with his brutal treatment, because she remembers what they had together.

Phiwit, meanwhile, is younger brother to Phipat, a poisonous snake of a man whose wife, years before, topped Kaew’s sister.

At first, Kong resents Phiwit because of his brother’s actions.

Phiwit says he and his brother may be related but are they still different people, so he should put his bitterness to one side.

From last night's episode:

Phiwit is a speed car driver, but takes ill before a big race. Kong hears from a third party that Phiwit is unwell.

Fearing bad news, Kong hurries to the track, where he finds a smouldering wreck of a car, and rescue workers at the scene.

He tries to get past the rescue workers to inspect the damage, as he fears Kong has crashed his car.

They hold him back. He implores with them to let him through.

To his relief, Phiwit appears in the crowd.

Fortunately, he had asked someone else to drive for him. It’s his stand-in driver who was involved in the accident, not him.

‘Did you think it was me in the car?’ asks Phiwit.

Kong won't say.

'It could have been me in that car. I pulled out of the race at the last moment, as I realised up to racing today.

‘You never know what might happen to any of us. If you want to do something, you should do it while you still have the chance,’ Phiwit tells Kong animatedly.

Meaning? If you love someone, seize the moment while you can.

He counsels Kong about his sister Kaew, and her troubled relationship with her boss Kong.

‘Por and your sister Kaew still love each other, but ''love'' and those two can't go together.

'Their story is not much different from ours.

'I am not that different from Por,’ he says.

Meaning?

We feel for each other...

But while I want to love you, I can’t.

Rescue workers race past, knocking Kong into Phiwit’s arms for a lengthy man hug.

The scene is here.

Earlier:

-An ageing ladyboy/cook who lives with Kong’s family knows that Kong has formed an attachment with Phiwit.

Kong, however, can’t admit it to himself. ‘You can run away from many things in this life, but you can’t run away from your heart,’ she says.

Watch that scene here.

-Phiwit visits Kong at his home, but Kong, hearing him approach, hides in the garden. The ladyboy cook meets him at the gate instead.

Phiwit suspects Kong is hiding in the shrubbery, so speaks loudly enough for him to hear.

‘I am not one who gives in easily. I am determined to win, no matter what.’

Ostensibly, he is talking about his next car race, but really he is talking about his relationship with Kong. He will win over Kong’s heart, no matter what.

Hiding in the bushes, Kong smiles. He knows how Phiwit feels towards him, and admires his courage. He might even hope that Phiwit’s wishes come true.

Watch it here.

Preview scene from tonight's episode:

Kong’s mother is admitted to hospital (a recurring event in this soap opera). Kong is crying. Phiwit, who turns up at the hospital, takes him in his arms.

-

At the popular Pantip webboard, diehard fans of the budding relationship between Kong and Phiwit have assembled videoclips of their key scenes together. Watch them here.

Another fan has assembled this videoclip of their best moments, accompanied by Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

Soppy?

Of course; but as Phiwit says, time is short.

Nothing like this couple’s gay love affair, tame as it may seem to some, has aired on Thai TV before.

Good things can’t last forever. We should make the most of it while we can.

PS: Google's Adsense bot has seen fit to withhold advertising from this page. Message to Google: It's just make-believe, and meant in fun. Get a life!

Back to the past

2009-11-25T08:41:00.015+07:00

I bumped into this story in the archives.

For some reason, I put it in drafts mode, where it has sat unread for months.

I am republishing it here, because it reminds me of the simple life we left behind at a run-down market in Thon Buri, before our move to central Bangkok.
-

When Maiyuu is not making food at our place, he visits a shophouse in the market to cook it there.

Normally Maiyuu likes to cook at home.

We do not have a kitchen as such, but Maiyuu makes do.

He sets himself up on the floor of our condo, where he keeps a small gas cooker.

If he has run out of ingredients, he will venture into the market below.

He buys his meat and vegetables at the fresh market, and returns to the condo to make lunch.

Some days, however, he drops in to an eatery below us, and asks to borrow the wok.

He chooses the ingredients he needs from the owner's food cart, fires up the wok, and off he goes.

Maiyuu has brought home many tasty dishes from this eatery, which he devised and cooked on the spot.

The owner is a single woman in her 30s, who lives on the upper level of a two-storey shophouse with her sister, and their mother.

We call her Chueay (the Thai word for lethargic), because she's a slow worker.

Cooking an order can take her 20 minutes, but there’s plenty to watch while we wait.

Nearby, a family raises cats. An old man opposite keeps scrawny chooks in a cage.

The cats gather around the cage, eyeing their prey.

Chueay’s wok sits outside her shophouse, next to her foodcart.

'Where did you learn to cook?' Chueay asked Maiyuu one day.

'My mother taught me,' said Maiyuu. ‘In my mind, I can still see the dishes we cooked together.’

'Do you still cook with her?'

'No, she's dead,' he said, matter-of-factly.

My boyfriend, raised in the provinces, is a stoic type.

Maiyuu lost his Mum when he was just 15.

His Dad has died a few months before. After his parents died, Maiyuu moved in with his grandmother, who lived in the same housing compound.

He left home a few years later. Accompanied by two or three school friends, he travelled around central Thailand, taking up casual work.

Maiyuu washed dishes at an eatery here, made burgers at a fast food joint there.

He enjoyed himself most selling watches at a department store in the central province of Chachoengsao.

‘I made good money there. The owner could see I sold watches well, and entrusted me with more and more responsibility, until eventually I ran his watch counter for him,’ Maiyuu told me.

Two or three staff worked under him.

Years later, in his early 20s, Maiyuu fetched up in Bangkok.

Most of his friends had gone their own ways. In the capital, he worked a stint at McDonalds. Later, he served at a lunchtime cafe owned by a friend.

That’s where we met.

Maiyuu moved in to my single room at an inner-city hostel. A few months later, we moved to our present place in a market village on the Thon Buri side of Bangkok.

We moved to this ageing condo so Maiyuu could reunite with his friends. A handful of young men he knew from school days had rented rooms at the same place.

Thais from the provinces may be hardy, resilient, types, but they like to stick together.

Some days, these old school friends gather at Chueay’s place for a meal.

None can cook as well as Maiyuu, so sometimes he borrows Chueay’s wok to cook for them.

On this day, however, Maiyuu was at Chueay’s place, cooking for us alone.

As Maiyuu finished cooking each dish, Chueay put it in a plastic bag for him so he could take the food home. He paid her for the ingredients alone.

Whether cooking while seated uncomfortably on the floor of our condo, or whipping up a quick dish in the market below, my boyfriend is the resourceful type.

He gets on with the job at hand, without complaint.

PS: The market where we lived has a train station, which you can see above. One hundred years ago or more, it was also a bustling fresh market, with traders arriving on the local canal by boat (see black-and-white image, taken from the travel page of a Thai-language newspaper).

The last image shows the market town as it is today.

See more here.

Nathan Oman: Young man with his hand out

2009-11-24T10:25:00.006+07:00

Another chapter in the ongoing saga of former singer Nathan Oman, who has gone to ground somewhere on the outskirts of Bangkok, rather than face mounting allegations in the media that he is a fraud.
-

The real-life story of Nathan Oman, the former singer accused of fraud, is starting to look as spectacular as the Hollywood blockbuster which he claims he is making in the Arabian desert.

In the last few days, a southern singing star who once offered to pay Nathan’s debts has publicly disowned him, and his manager dumped him. Fraud allegations have popped up in places as diverse as Bangkok, Oman, and Sydney.

In the media, Nathan is now known as the young man who deceived the world. Back in July, however, journalists hailed him uncritically as the next big Hollywood star.

Nathan told reporters he had spent the past six months in the Arabian desert making The Prince of Red Shoe, a fantasy adventure starring Bruce Willis and Christina Ricci, directed by Wolfgang Peterson for 20th Century Fox.

He claimed he was getting 100 million baht for the three-part epic, based on his own life as an abandoned half-Thai, half-Nepalese child, growing up amid hardship in the desert.

Sceptics at Thai webboards could find no trace of the movie. A spokesman for the studio, quoted in the media, said the film did not exist.

Amid growing public skepticism about the film, former friends of Nathan’s came forward to claim that he owed them money.

The owners of a coffee shop in Bangkok, a group of four men promised a tour to Nepal, an accountant promised a job in tourism, and Nathan’s former live-in housekeeper, laid complaints with police.

Media attention, once taken up by Nathan’s financial disputes, is now swinging back to the film.

Nathan told his friends that the Hollywood movie would revive his flagging fame and make him rich.

When he returned from filming, he would repay his debts and look after them, he is said to have told creditors.

Pictures were released to the media to back Nathan’s claims that he had been filming in the desert. They showed Nathan wearing flowing Arabian garb and wandering about on a camel (see above).

A photographer/make-up artist told state television this week that he took the pictures of Nathan himself, and was shocked to find Nathan promoting them as part of his Hollywood epic.

Piak Weerapong Srithong says he was duped by Nathan into travelling with him to Oman.

Piak says he wanted to set the record straight, as media reports had linked him to Nathan’s exploits.

‘Nathan told us he was acting in a Hollywood movie, and that the crew was willing to employ two more Thais, including me.

‘I went with Nathan and his foster mum. I was excited about meeting his crew, but when we arrived, no one from Hollywood was there. I didn’t get to see Bruce Willis, Christina, or anyone else.

‘Nathan asked me to do up his face, and take pictures of him wearing Arabian gear. I was confused...Why was I being asked to do this?

‘We hired the camel from the hotel. The man guiding Nathan’s camel was a hotel employee,’ said Piak.

In late September, media reports said country music singer Ekachai Sririchai had opened his home to Nathan, as he felt upset about the way the media was hounding the young man. He also offered to pay back Nathan’s debts.

He has now changed his mind, after fans took umbrage at reports that Ekachai had taken Nathan on a recent trip to Norway to escape the fuss.

‘I did go to Norway, but I went alone,’ Ekachai insisted on Thursday after his return. Contrary to reports that they were close, he rarely spoke to Nathan.

His fans were unhappy to hear that he was helping Nathan.

‘We now live in separate worlds. If I see any more reports linking me to Nathan, I’ll see you in court,’ Ekachai told reporters.

He was no longer prepared to pay Nathan’s debts, as the number of complaints against him had grown.

‘All my problems I put down to the fact that I share the same manager as Nathan,’ he said. ’In fact, if my manager wants to stay with me, I insist that he makes a choice.’

Manager Cee Anucha Langprasert promptly told reporters that he would work for Ekachai alone.

Days before, Cee talked to the media about Nathan’s latest troubles.

Nathan, he said, was holing up with relatives in Bangkok’s outer seaside suburbs.

‘I have told Nathan that if he has started repaying money he owes to people, it shows that he did in fact borrow from them, and should own up,’ Cee said.

With his foster mother’s help, Nathan had started paying back debtors who laid complaints with police. He had also paid back the family of disease victim Aom Saowanee Rittichot.

The girl’s grandmother claimed Nathan borrowed 100,000 baht and refused to pay it back. Aom died of lung cancer in March, aged 26.

Cee said Nathan was in a fragile state and might do himself harm.

Nathan called in from his seaside retreat, and talked to reporters on Cee’s cellphone.

After finishing his ’phone in’, Nathan sent his manager a text message, which Cee showed reporters.

It said: ‘Am Die Forever’.

The family of former singer Bookie Prissana Praisaeng say they, too, were duped by Nathan.

Bookie’s mum, Jaruwan Praisaeng, says Nathan persuaded her younger sister, who lives in Sydney, to help him buy a car, and meet rental payments on a condo.

Five years ago, her sister was putting on a function in Sydney and hired Nathan, then a singer with RS Promotions, to appear.

Nathan turned up with nothing, but quickly ingratiated himself with his hosts. He persuaded Bookie’s aunt and her Sydney friends to help him buy a car, and a condo.

‘A friend of mine put up the deposit on the car, and my sister acted as guarantor.

'When Nathan failed to keep up the payments, creditors came knocking,’ said Jaruwan.

’He told my sister that with his Hollywood movie earnings, he would build her a big house and look after her. She believed him, because she has no family and lives alone,’ she said.

Bookie, who also spoke to the media, says her aunt and her Thai friends in Sydney bought Nathan a camera and a computer, and paid him 3000 baht a day in living expenses.

The requests for loans kept coming even after Nathan returned to Thailand. Nathan asked for money to pay his utility bills, and outgoings on his condo.

‘I am coming forward because my aunt is still enamoured with Nathan, and eager to help.’

One report says the family puts the value of money given to Nathan at 1 million baht.

Alleged victims continue to emerge.

Miss Alcazar 2005 runner-up Lookpad Amataya Chaiyadam says Nathan duped her family into paying 300,000 baht for a package tour to Kenya which never eventuated.

Nathan pulled out of two meetings with the press, but did agree to one interview on state television.

‘Everyone around me ends up in strife. For that reason, I don’t ask Thais to believe every word I say...I just ask to be left alone to lead an ordinary life,’ he said.

Police inquiries into the fraud complaints are continuing.

Kong, Phiwit share a hug

2009-11-23T10:19:00.010+07:00

Actors Fluke Pachara Thammon and Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong, who share a hug in an upcoming scene from the Channel 5 soap opera, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

It’s the closest Fluke's character Kong, and Oh's character Phiwit, have come to acknowledging the feelings they have for each other.

For weeks, they have baited each other, teased at each other’s loyalties, dared each other to say how the other really feels.

Finally, we have it, though their embrace comes about by accident rather than design. This is a Thai soap, after all - anything else would look too gay.

Phiwit is a racing car driver. An accident occurs on track. Rescue men race past, knocking Kong into his arms, the first time they have come into such close contact, after weeks of pushing each other away.

Feisty Kong resists the embrace of Phiwit, but Phiwit refuses to let him go. Kong starts to enjoy the moment despite himself, and rubs Phiwit's shoulder.

They hold the embrace for what seems an age, before finally drawing back. They give each other a searching gaze.

I enjoyed that...did you?

I need you. Do you feel the same way?

Watch the scene here, from the 2.24 mark.

The clip also contains background scenes of producer Boy Takonkiat Weerawan directing the pair, before their big embrace.

Earlier, Oh and Fluke are interviewed about their roles. ‘Boy told me to imagine that Oh is a girl, so the scenes where we have to draw close feel natural,’ said soft-spoken Fluke.

Boyfriend Maiyuu, who watched the clip, stormed out of the room when he heard those words.

Dear Fluke, why not just say: 'Boy told me to use my imagination.' That's what actors are supposed to do, after all.

Fluke is young. The media taunts him about his supposed gay tendencies, which must hurt. Allow the young man some face-saving fake moments.

Maiyuu has a romantic streak. Despite those fake words by Fluke, I am sure he is as excited as I am about the upcoming gay scene.

The soap airs again tonight.

The Kong/Phiwit hug is moving, and takes their relationship forward another step.

Oh, in his interview comments, is encouraging about gay love.

‘Love is the source of life, no matter what form it takes,’ he says.

Lyn’s Lakorns blog has episode summaries at her blog. Any questions, you are welcome to leave them here.

Steam rising

2009-11-23T10:13:00.009+07:00

Three recent creations from Chef Maiyuu’s busy kitchen: Green curry; chicken stew with crispy noodles; and pineapple pork.

Blog lock-out

2009-11-23T09:04:00.000+07:00

My apologies to readers who were locked out of the blog over the last 24 hours.

Service is now back to normal.

Marathon birthday effort

2009-11-18T09:38:00.007+07:00

Meet Jumbo the Chihuahua, special guest at last night’s birthday party held in my honour.

Boyfriend Maiyuu spent the day cooking, while I relaxed, fitting in two visits to the pool, and an hour-long sleep.

‘Thank you for making it such a special day,’ I told Maiyuu as he served up dessert.

‘That’s okay...it’s not a duty,’ he said, meaning he did it out of love.

First, Maiyuu served up spaghetti with a meat sauce. Then he presided manfully over a Thai-style bar-b-que.

He cooked the beef on a hotplate, placed on top of a gas cooker. Juice gathered around the sides, which we spooned on to our plates.

The cooker sat on the dining room table. We sat around the table, helping ourselves to the beef, and the accompanying side dishes, including crab sticks, roast pork nibbles, and tuna.

Maiyuu invited two friends, sisters Golf and Som.

They brought with them the family pet, Jumbo the Chihuahua.

As the name suggests, he is huge, just like me. Okay, I jest.

‘Is he mixed breed?’ I asked.

‘He is pure Chihuahua, but has only one testicle, which has made him fat,’ said Golf, without explaining.

Jumbo is expert at fitting humans around his needs.

‘Jumbo knows Mum wakes at 6am, to make breakfast for the family. He migrates from my bed to hers about 5am, as he knows I get up later.

‘An hour later, he gets up when Mum does, and they go downstairs together. This ensures he gets fed as soon as Mum is up; otherwise he would have to wait.

‘Mum likes to sleep in the middle of the day. About midday, Jumbo will park himself at the bottom of the stairs and howl until Mum joins him. They go upstairs together to take an hour’s rest.

‘I spoil him, giving him food whenever he wants it. Som scolds him when he gets demanding, so they are not that close.

‘When he sleeps, he likes to nestle into armpits, especially if they belong to men,’ said Golf.

Never have I met such a lucky dog.

‘In my next life, I want to come back as a small, cute dog,’ I said.

That's me sitting behind Jumbo, who when seated at the table likes to perch himself on the arm rest, so he can keep an eye on what's going on.

Do I look fat? No, I didn't think so.

After the bar-b-que, Maiyuu brought out chocolate toffee mousse and served it in glasses.

By special request, he also made an instant pudding.

Golf, who hires Maiyuu to make desserts occasionally, brought along a packet of instant pudding powder. Maiyuu whipped it up, and put it in the fridge.

After that, he brought out a chocolate and strawberry birthday cake, which he made in my honour that afternoon as I slept. That's the cake above. He wrote a message in icing on top: Happy birthday to my love. Joop, Joop!'

Joop is the Thai word for kiss.

I was banished to my bedroom while Maiyuu and the girls inserted candles in the cake and lit them.

‘Okay...you can come out now!’ said Som.

I’m running out of puff; it took three blows before I could put all the candles out.

‘We’ll be eating your saliva instead,’ said Maiyuu.

Our guests were worried they would not be able to find a taxi home.

Maiyuu took them downstairs, and asked them to wait while he pedalled off on his bike to the main road. He flagged down a taxi, and asked it to come back to the condo to pick up our guests.

While he was away, I swept the floor, and put on the air con in the living room, where Maiyuu sleeps, to cool it down before we went to bed.

‘Thank you again for a great day,’ I said.

‘You’re now a year older,’ said Maiyuu.

‘Happy birthday!’

Booted out of the BF's kitchen

2009-11-17T09:51:00.006+07:00

Khao tom with squid, which Maiyuu made for lunch yesterday; and preparations underway for tonight's birthday dinner.

As the birthday boy, I am guest of honour. Maiyuu has also invited three Thai friends, and Jumbo, a pet Chihuahua.

‘I want to take pictures for my blog,’ I announced.

I will ask our guests' permission when they arrive.

Last night, as part of initial preparations for the birthday meal, he made a chocolate mousse.

This morning, he went to the market to buy more supplies.

As I write, a dish of meat is sitting on the bench waiting to be cooked.

He has also cut up pineapple, and made walnut toffee (see picture).

-

‘Are you up to making one meal by yourself?’ asked Maiyuu caustically.

I happened to mention I was hungry.

For me, hunger is a permanent physical state, or so it must seem to the Master of the Kitchen, who complains that no sooner has he finished making me one meal that I am mooching around with a hungry look, wanting him to make another.

Maiyuu makes breakfast for us every morning. I fool around on the computer, go for a swim and a run. When I come back after lunch, he makes another meal. Sometimes it is sitting on the table waiting when I walk in the door.

At lunch yesterday I decided to give him a break, and bought food from the slum area across the way.

The surroundings may be slummy, but the food is fine. Maiyuu took advantage of his free-time 'window' to buy me a birthday present. He cycled into town and back. Two hours later he turne up with a pair of work trousers.

‘They are B700,’ he said. Birthday gifts for this farang do not come cheap.

I tried them on, but they were too small. In early evening, patient Maiyuu went back to town and changed them for another pair, which look big enough to fit an elephant.

Late yesterday he also managed to rustle up a beef and vegetable soup. How does he do it? We made smart work of that, so that at the time of writing, the pot is now empty. We are both hungry again.

Well, I am...but as I say, my stomach is always crying out for food.

‘You just think you are hungry...but really, it’s all in your mind,’ said Maiyuu, as he sent me to bed last night, food bowl empty. I had complained yet again of being hungry.

This morning, as he headed into the market to buy food for my dinner, Maiyuu asked if I could possibly look after my own needs for a few hours.

‘I will be busy in the kitchen today, making the birthday meal. Can you possibly heat up something for yourself?’

In the fridge, I found the left-overs of a beef curry which Maiyuu had made a couple of days before.

‘Can I have this?’

‘That’s all there is,’ he said. ‘Dish it out on rice, and put it in the microwave,’ he said, like a mother talking to her child.

Am I really so hopeless?

Lift the lid, and see what's there

2009-11-16T09:05:00.006+07:00

From Chef Maiyuu's kitchen: Tomato soup in a bread crockpot; angel cake with pineapple sauce; pork noodles.

Maiyuu is over his flu.

Meanwhile, I am falling in love with a dog I do not own, a Chihuahua called Jumbo.

The dog belongs to Golf, a friend of boyfriend Maiyuu's. She has visited our place twice in the last fortnight. Jumbo, who has his own porta-home, comes too.

Maiyuu has invited Golf, her sister and a guy friend to our place early this week, to celebrate my birthday.

'I'll cook,' said Maiyuu, announcing my birthday surprise.

Of course they are bringing three-year-old Jumbo, who is the centre of attention at all times, and loves it.

Kong, Phiwit: Hottest gay couple on TV

2009-11-15T09:52:00.009+07:00

Kong and Phiwit, from the television drama Tomorrow, I'll Still Love You, are falling in love!

Played by Fluke Pachara Thammon and Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong (pictured above in a TV interview), Kong and Phiwit take secondary roles in the Channel 5 soapie, but in the eyes of many viewers, they steal the show.

At the Pantip webboard, fans have left dozens of posts enthusing about the pair. One fan calls them ‘scene stealers’.

Readers are also polled on whether they would like to see more of them in the show. More than 460 readers voted yes, against 140 who said they were getting enough scenes, or too many.

Oh is Phiwit, who starts the series with a sore leg. Fluke is Kong, a therapist, given the unenviable task of caring for him.

Phiwit takes every chance he can to pursue the younger Kong, who is not amused. In the latest episodes, Phiwit grabs Kong’s hand, and holds it...and holds it...

They gaze into each other's eyes, and know they are meant to be an item.

Later, Kong comes home to find Phiwit is there, getting friendly with his mother. Phiwit and Kong have shared family history.

Kong reckons dark deeds committed by Phiwit's elder brother against Kong's sister are reason enough why the two should not see each other.

Phiwit says that's all in the past, and he doesn’t care.

Watch the hand-holding scene here. The scene where Kong comes home to find Phiwit has befriended his mother is here. See Lyn’s Lakorns blog for plot details here.

Nathan Oman: Partial confession

2009-11-15T09:41:00.004+07:00

Nathan Oman, the former singer accused of fraud, sent his personal manager to meet the media yesterday, to make a partial confession on his behalf.

Nathan declined to show himself, but spoke to reporters via a ‘phone in’. He denied claims he had fled to Norway to escape a backlash surrounding the latest fraud claims against him.

It is perhaps Nathan’s smartest move to date, as his most recent appearance before the media on Tuesday (see picture above, of Nathan in white) did little to allay public hostility.

‘I have told him to confess anything from his past. I will bring him to meet you on Monday. He’s in a bad way at the moment, so wasn’t up to coming,’ his manager Cee Anucha Langprasert told reporters.

Cee (in the black jacket, looking cute) said he was worried Nathan might do harm to himself rather than face his troubles. At the close of the press conference, after Nathan had spoken to reporters via his ‘phone-in’, Nathan sent a text message to Cee’s phone, saying: ‘Am Die Forever’.

Police in Amnat Charoen province have called Nathan in for questioning after Nathan’s former live-in housekeeper and her son accused him of defrauding them of B300,000.

Saman Sukserm and her son Jack Athit Koonfai laid a string of complaints against Nathan in Bangkok, and another in Amnat Charoen, their home province.

Nathan’s manager Cee yesterday admitted that Nathan did take their money, despite his client’s earlier denials.

‘He did borrow from them, but it was in the manner of friends who borrow from each other. They all helped each other at times. He has started repaying the money he owes them.’

He is also paying back debts to the Jamaree Yak Cafe Gallery in the Rama IV area, after owners told police that Nathan had made off with B130,000 in shop takings. They say Nathan was a co-shareholder in the place, and they entrusted him with the money.

Cee admits Nathan also borrowed from the family of a young disease victim who was close to the hearts of Thais.

On Friday the girl’s grandmother came forward to claim Nathan had borrowed B100,000 and not paid it back.

Nathan allegedly borrowed 100,000 baht from Nong Aom (Saowanee Rittichot), dubbed affectionately as the Human Pupa, whose plight was aired on television as she battled the genetic skin disease ichthyosis.

Aom, who was confined to a wheelchair, died of lung cancer in March, aged 26. She fought the disease for more than 10 years. Her brave tale of suffering inspired Thais, who took the young woman to their hearts.

Nathan borrowed from the family four years ago, but since Aom’s death had neither returned the money nor paid a visit, her grandmother Chalhong Jannark told the Manager newspaper.

Nathan’s manager C admits Nathan borrowed money from the girl, but urged reporters to ask to Aom’s younger sister, Aam, for the details.

‘Some accounts in the media are inaccurate,’ he told reporters.

‘I have told Nathan that if he has started repaying money he owes to people, it shows that he did in fact borrow from them, and should come clean.’

Nathan is still battling scepticism over the most spectacular claim he makes about himself, that Hollywood is paying him B100 million to appear in a blockbuster.

In July, he told journalists he had spent the past six months in the Arabian desert making The Prince of Red Shoe, a fantasy adventure starring Bruce Willis and Christina Ricci, directed by Wolfgang Peterson for 20th Century Fox.

Webboard sleuths can find no trace of the movie, and a spokesman for the studio, quoted in the media, says it doesn’t exist.

Cee confirmed Nathan was acting in an overseas movie.

'I have seen the contract, though I’d rather not give details at this stage. I will go overseas to talk to the company in the next month or so to find out how much of Nathan’s story is true,’ he said. He would relay his findings to the media.

Obdurate patients

2009-11-12T08:49:00.013+07:00

A mercy errand for the sick patient might be in order. Maiyuu is still coughing and looking miserable, but won’t do anything to help himself.

Take medicine? Don’t be silly. He eats as much as ever, which is good, but won’t take anything to relieve the symptoms of his cold.

I will buy him some aspirin to relieve joint pain, and perhaps some fruit and chocolate to cheer his spirits.

I barely slept myself last night. ‘You are not getting a good sleep,’ I kept telling myself in my mind...so I didn’t.

In my last fitful dreams before dawn, a silver-haired librarian was chatting me up. She was about 60. Even worse, in the closing scenes of my dream I was chasing her through the library trying to get her attention.

-

Actor Fluke Pachara Thammon, as he appears in his first soap opera role, playing a young gay.

In Phrungnee, Kor Rak Ter (Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You), Fluke is paired with actor 'Oh' Anuchyd Sapanphong. Fluke is in green, Oh in grey.

Oh is Phiwit, a patient with a sore leg, while Fluke is Kong, a therapist, given the unenviable task of caring for him.

Their relationship starts on a bad note, when young Kong accuses Phiwit of pinching his Mum’s purse.

Mum notices her purse is missing, and Kong, who has just seen Phiwit hobbling past with a walking aid, chases after him. He is sure he is the thief.

This being a soap opera, Kong does not merely catch up with Phiwit, but manages to knock him over. Bowled over by love, you might say.

Mum finds her purse in the toilets. She left it there herself. The drama is over, but Phiwit won't let Kong forget it. Phiwit likes to tease and torment Fluke, especially after the theft allegation, but both seem aware that they have sparked.

Boyfriend Maiyuu, who watched the show with me, is sure Phiwit and Kong know they are attracted to each other. The gay word never passes their lips, but the knowledge is there.

In real life, both actors are dogged by persistent rumours that they are gay.
But never mind that.

In the soap opera, which I saw over two nights this week, they click as a couple. Oh is always enjoyable to watch no matter what role he takes on. Fluke – third place-getter in this year’s The Star talent quest - performs naturally, as if the cameras aren’t there.

It’s a great watch, and I’m sorry I can get to see it on television only on my nights off.

I might have to buy one of those TV magazine write-ups of the show to find out what happens.

In Bangkok, we can buy pulp fiction-like versions of lakorns (soap operas) on TV. They are like lengthier versions of the script, illustrated by pictures of the stars.

They are fiendishly complicated, with as many twists and turns as the soaps themselves, which puts me off. On the plus side, as befits trash fiction (the kind you find in cheap women’s magazines, for example), they are cheap.

Read more about Fluke in this earlier post here, or in this Bangkok Post profile here. Or watch him and Fluke in their first episode together, via YouTube here. Go to the 4.31 mark.

-

Here is a second notice, for those who missed the news...I have revived sister blog Thai Boy Gay.

If BOTM is the wholesome Soul part of a Bhuddist-like Body and Soul combo, TBG is its more excitable Body companion.

Over there, you’ll get short, light posts, illustrated by guys from loyal reader Ian’s never-ending private collection.

I am moving the private collection series over to the little blog, so in future readers can find it all in one place.

And a promise: any silver-haired librarians I catch running around there, I shall bag with a net.

Strawberry desires

2009-11-10T10:25:00.005+07:00

Maiyuu is unwell with a cold. He has been coughing since early yesterday, when he declared the kitchen would be closed for the next 24 hours. ‘I need a break from cooking...I am tired, and feel ill,’ he said.

‘You get sick, but you refuse to take any medicine to relieve the symptoms,’ I told him.

I feel sorry for him.

Maiyuu likes to eat fruit when he is sick, especially strawberries. Yesterday I visited a Tesco Lotus supermarket on Rama 4 in search of them. Nothing.

Today I will visit a Tops supermarket closer to home to see if they stock them. It is larger and more modern, so I should have more luck.

I will walk there, as I don't fancy my chances getting to the supermarket on his bike...too many potholes, cracks and crevices lie in wait on that route, ready to trip up unsuspecting farang.

Maiyuu is sure to appreciate the gesture, even if I end up picking strawberries which taste terrible.

For such is my lot: when I stray into the shopping or cooking realm, which normally belongs to Maiyuu, I never do as good a job, at least according to him.

But that’s okay. When he is sick, I don’t mind wearing criticism for presuming to care for my boyfriend, who is so fiercely independent that he believes colds should just cure themselves, without any help from him or anyone else.

Prem goes girly, Dad gets headache

2009-11-10T10:15:00.000+07:00

Boxing promoter Banjong Busarakamwong has a headache, after his socialite son dressed as a girl for the Superstar reality show.

Prem Busarakamwong donned a white wig, stockings, mini-skirt, tunic and high-heel hoes for a ‘cabaret’ challenge last week.

Banjong, who was present in the audience as contestants - including his son - paraded about as women, said he was unhappy to see his son wearing female garb. ‘I am thinking of cutting off his inheritance,’ he joked.

Prem, an occasional actor and model, helps run his father’s boxing school in Pattaya and Bangkok.

Banjong said he asked his son when he entered the entertainment industry to avoid dressing as a ladyboy, or in any other silly garb.

‘As soon as I saw him, my headache paid a visit. I have no idea what to do, because I realise it is a competition. They were given the cabaret challenge, so had no choice [but to dress as girls]. This week is probably the hardest for men on the show, and I send them my best.’

Gay rumours have surrounded Prem since the end of his engagement to singer Tata Young, in August last year.

They were engaged in a lavish ceremony in Bangkok the previous November, sealed with a dowry from Prem's side worth B100 million.

When she announced they had 'drifted apart', Tata denied that any third-hand helped break them up, or that Prem was gay.

'There's no way he could be gay...just no way. He has never let the girl out, in all the time I have known him,' she said with a laugh.

His father Banjong, who was sad to see them part, reckoned the pair were too immature to live together.

Asked after the show if the sight of his son wearing women’s garb would only enhance scuttlebutt that his son actually prefers men to women, Banjong said he would like to get hold of the people spreading such rumours.

‘If folk, gay or not, have any doubts, they should send their daughters to Prem and see what happens. I reckon gays are leaving such comments. They can’t find friends of their own so spread nasty rumours accusing people at home of being gay,’ he said.

Prem’s fanclub may have heard his dad is on the warpath. ‘The usual crowd of Prem’s supporters – big guys with muscly bodies – were absent from last week’s concert,’ observed Siam Dara gossip magazine.

Nathan Oman: The rubber stamp man

2009-11-09T09:50:00.008+07:00

Former singer Nathan Oman is in trouble again, after his long-term housekeeper and her son laid a complaint with police.

Nathan, they say, has cheated them of B300,000. He borrowed the money, but refused to pay it back.

Nathan’s live-in housekeeper Saman Sukserm and her son Jack Athit Koonfai laid a complaint with Hua Mark police late last week.

Nathan borrowed the money, supposedly to organise tours to Nepal, where he claims he was born. He made his first request for a loan in the middle of last year.

He told Saman he would repay her, but never did.

Saman paid out of her savings, but when Nathan kept coming back with requests for more loans, she mortgaged a 15 rai section of farmland in Amnat Charoen province, where she was raised.

Saman obtained the money from a loan shark, who charged high interest.

When he wanted still more money, she borrowed from a bank. Then she asked relatives to lend money to her on his behalf.

Now, she says, she has no money. Nathan is also in debt to the landlord by B10,000, so soon she may have no place to live either.

Meanwhile, unpaid phone and internet bills run up by Nathan have turned up at her home in the provinces.

Last week, Saman said, Nathan started moving out his belongings from his condo in Bangkok. He plans to go overseas on Nov 11.

Concerned that Nathan may never come back to repay his debts, she decided to lay a complaint with police.

Since then, Nathan’s stepmum, teacher (ajarn) Maem Pitsamai Srikrabuth has called, allegedly threatening to do them harm.

‘I will send someone to get you,’ she said.

’I am scared, because Ajarn Pitsamai knows many bad people,’ said Saman.

She never asked Nathan to sign a loan agreement, as she trusted him. Saman has been his housekeeper for 10 years. His condo, in Soi Udomsuk 54, was rented in the name of his stepmother.

However, Saman and her son have managed to find some intriguing evidence against him, which they presented to Klong Tan police in their latest complaint yesterday.

Jack, her son, presented 10 rubber stamps, which Nathan had made in the name of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, its equivalent in Nepal, a Bangkok hotel, and Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox.

Jack says he suspects Nathan has used the stamps to perpetuate various frauds.

‘Nathan was having a clean-out and told Mum to throw them out, but Mum kept them instead,’ he said.

Saman said she had seen Nathan applying the stamps to letters he was writing.

In late September, a group of four men, former friends of Nathan, complained to police saying Nathan had promised them a guided tour to Nepal which never eventuated. After they complained, Nathan found the money to repay their B77,000 deposit.

He has also promised friends to find them work with the TAT, for which he charged a finder’s fee.

He claims to have known an executive secretary for the TAT boss. The jobs, however, failed to eventuate.

One victim, an accountant who gave up her job in the expectation Nathan would get her better-paying work with the TAT, paid Nathan a finder's fee of B69,000. She, too, has laid a complaint with police.

But perhaps most intriguing is the rubber stamp which Nathan has had made, resembling the letterhead of 20th Century Fox.

In July, Nathan told the media he had spent the past six months in the Arabian desert, acting in The Prince of Red Shoe, a blockbuster directed by Wolfgang Peterson for 20th Century Fox.

He claims he is getting B100 million for the three-part adventure fantasy which is based on his own life.

On webboards, Thais questioned his claims, saying they could find no trace of the film, which supposedly stars Bruce Willis and Christina Ricci.

Journalists tracked down members of Nathan’s family, who insist he was raised in the South, and is not part-Nepalese as he claims.

Jack also brought in a copy of Nathan’s citizen ID card, which shows he is all-Thai, despite his claim to be part-Nepalese; and that his parents are also all-Thai, despite his claim that they are mixed race. Nathan claims his father is part-Nepalese, and that his Mum is from Oman.

Police haven’t said what they intend to do about the complaints. Hopefully, they will make a decision before Nathan goes overseas.

The Manager newspaper, which says unabashedly that Nathan is a fraud, found a contact number for Nathan’s birth mother Uttaiwan, and called her. Her first question to the reporter: ’Where did you get this number?’

When the reporter asked how she felt about the growing list of complaints alleging fraud against her son, his mother hung up the phone. Listen to a tape of the interview here (Thai only).

Saman’s son Jack says he knows whenever Nathan goes overseas, as he mixed with him often.

‘He has been overseas, but to Oman, never to the US as he claims.

‘He went with Piak, a make-up artist whom we both know. Piak took pictures of Nathan in the Oman desert, which Nathan claims come from the set of The Prince of Red Shoe.

’I know things the journalists don’t,’ Piak boasted one day as they watched TV.

‘I know where he took the pictures, because I was there...I made up his face for him!’

PS: Police complaints recap: An earlier post on Nathan's troubles with the tour group, and the accountant promised a job at the TAT is here.

Au Hareutai (อุ๊ หฤทัย): Missing You

2009-11-07T10:11:00.009+07:00

Yes, I’m a romantic, I admit it. It can cloud my judgement, and annoy readers.

Lately I haven’t let my girly side out much, as I have been busy going through old posts, tidying some of the appalling English I found.

Now that I am getting over the shock, and am managing to beat the blog back into some kind of shape, I am almost ready to indulge my emotional side again.

No surprise, then, if I should succumb to tears so easily when I heard Grammy artist Au Hareutai Puangboonsri‘s new song Missing You.

Au, who has branched out from singing to become a local body councillor and boxing-ring manager as well, peels it all away, at least for this fan.

Missing You is from Feminine Night, her new joint album with Grammy singer Amp Saowaluck Leelabutr. The the pair held a concert to promote the album in late September. Au is the one on the right.

The lyrics (quick translation below) are right on the button of what we feel when we are no longer with someone who used to make our lives complete.

It's like an emotional precision bomb. Lyrics this knowing can only have come from the heart of a woman – long-term Grammy song-writer Nim Si Fa. Read more about her here.

I found the song on the internet, and recited the lyrics for Maiyuu as he made us breakfast this morning.

Like me, he is a fan of Au and Amp. He promised to buy the album.

‘I haven’t gone anywhere,’ he said, referring to the lyrics. ‘I’m still here, caring for you.’

Read Au’s story here. She has one of the best voices for contemporary Thai music around...what a shame we rarely get to hear from her. Her involvement in boxing and local politics keeps her too busy.

Missing You

I have gone back to the place where we first met.

The trees, the flowers, the stream look the same.

Everything looks familiar

Nothing has changed...it's only missing you.

The sun shines through the window, and the past floods back.

On the outside, my life looks the same

At home, nothing has changed.

But really, my life is not complete.

Since you left, it’s not the same.

How can it be the same without you?

Where are you? I miss you...

Whenever I close my eyes, I think of you...

We’ve been apart many years

Life appears to go on

But it’s never been the same

How can it be, without you?

ขาดเธอ – อุ๊ หฤทัย

กลับมายืนอยู่ตรงที่เดิม ที่เราเจอกัน
มองต้นไม้ ดอกไม้ สายธาร มันยังสวยงามอยู่เหมือนเดิม
ได้แต่มองอย่างคนคุ้นเคย ที่ตรงนี้เหมือนเดิมทุกอย่าง
ไม่เปลี่ยนแปลง ขาดแต่เธอเท่านั้น
ดวงอาทิตย์ยังส่องแสงมา ที่ตรงหน้าต่าง
ภาพความหลังกระจ่างขึ้นมา ได้แต่ยิ้มทั้งมีน้ำตา
รูปเธอวางอยู่ตรงที่เดิม บ้านหลังนี้เหมือนเดิมทุกอย่าง
ไม่เปลี่ยนแปลง ขาดแต่เธอเท่านั้น
* อยู่ไหน คิดถึงเธอ
หลับตา ฝันถึงเธอ ทุกที
จากกัน นานหลายปี
ดูชีวิตเหมือนจะเดินไปด้วยดี
แต่มันไม่เคยสมบูรณ์เลย
ไม่เคยจะดีเหมือนเดิมเลย
จะดีอย่างไรเมื่อไม่มีเธอ
ซ้ำ *

The song is here.