Tag Archives: chiang mai

A TASTE FOR THE EAST 1990

My first trip to the Orient was in 1990. A round-the-world ticket. One destination was Singapore. The Straits city was already undergoing its metamorphosis from a colonial port to a gleaming metropolis of skyscrapers. Raffles had been closed for renovations. I stayed at a cheap Chinese hotel in a decrepit godown. The walls climbed toward […]

LOVE YOU LONG TIME – CHAPTER 2 by Peter Nolan Smith

The Garuda 747 landed in Biak. I exit the 747 with a single missionary. A taxi brought me to the old Dutch hotel opposite the airport. The large island dominated the north of Irian Jaya. The slate blue bay of Cendrawasih mirrored the equatorial sky. Males went naked except for a gourd on their penis. […]

LOVE YOU LONG TIME – CHAPTER 7 by Peter Nolan Smith

Despite the success of Italian Plan I obsessed on Ae all the time. I drank beer with her father and brother. They said she was crazy. They also had new clothes and watches. The Italian had bought their loyalty with more than beer. I had to get out of town before I did something monumentally […]

Lawang Jesus

I’m thousands of miles away from Thailand. I wished I could click my heels and find myself in Sri Racha with my family, but instead I shut my eyes and visualize Easter morning on Pattaya’s Beach Road. Most Christian farangs are sleeping off celebratory drunks, hoping to rise from the dead for a recuperative beer […]

A DUSTY ROAD by Peter Nolan Smith

Thailand was a different world in 1990. The klongs of Bangkok led to the Chao Phyra River. Barges brought rice from up-country. After a short stay at the Malaysia Hotel I was ready to head north to Chiang Mai. The train from Hualamphong Station left at 6pm. I booked a 2nd Class AC sleeper. The […]