The Clan

May I introduce the Gordon Clan: From left: Hans Gordon, Freija Peterson Gordon (16 months), Lotten Sylwan-Gordon, Garry Peterson, Line Gordon, Tove Gordon, Herman Gordon Breitholtz (almost two years of age), Lennart Breitholtz.
Place of photo: Koh Samed, Thailand. Photo taken in November 2009 by Liza Grape.

Remembering November 14, 2009

Stockholm, Sweden, November: dull, grey, chilly but still mild, now and then rainy. But this place is my platform. Here are my roots. And from here – my dreams and my visions. A few of them become realities.
Remembering November 14. Our youngest daughter, Tove, married Lennart. At Koh Samed, Thailand, my second home country. The ceremony was a complete Thai-Buddhist ceremony.
Happiness. Warmth. Nine monks blessing.
And, as I was being told, this was the first marriage ever in Thailand between two farangs in a real Thai way.
I am deeply grateful to all friends of mine, who arranged, backed up and supported this. I want to specially mention Captain (retired) Hans Fugl-Svendsen, Kuhn Tuenchit Chewakul, their friends Mr. Bob Larsson and his wife Kuhn Venus Larsson, and, not to forget, the lovely Kuhn Mam, Ms. Phinthiya Wongsarot.

Capt. Sa-ad

May I introduce one of my friends in Thailand – Capt. Sa-ad Sobsatrasorn. I learned to know him some thirty years ago, when he was making his career within THAI Airways International, later on ending up as the Executive Vice President, Flight Operations. He is now retired from that position and is not any longer active as a pilot. But he is still engaged in several missions, including the start up of a new airline, named Sabai Airlines. In this company he acts as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is a generous and a smart man, very good in providing constructive connections in between people.

Bangkok Aviation Center, part 2

After the meeting at BAC on November 23 a lunch was held. Several members of the BAC staff were present, among them the CEO, Capt. Piya. There were also members from the Board of BAC, such as Capt. Sa-ad and Kuhn Supap. Kuhn Phinthiya from THAI Airways International was also joining both the visit and the lunch.

Bangkok Aviation Center

There are two certified, well reputed Flying Training Schools in or close to Bangkok: Bangkok Aviation Center (BAC) and Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) at Hua Hin. Yesterday we, my colleague/wife and I, made a study visit to BAC. We were really very warmly accepted and treated. The main aim for our visit was to initiate a follow-up study as a research project. There are always a lot of questions to be raised regarding recruitment and selection programs. What about the selection tests and their reliability and validity? How “safe” are they? And what about using teamwork exercises as screening instruments during the recruitment program? And interviews: are they really detecting what they ought to detect?
There are no possibilities to reach answers on questions like that without systematic follow-up studies.
We are on track to find out things of importance concerning the selection of young airline pilot trainees and I really want to direct my thanks to Capt. Piya, head of BAC, and Kuhn Kamonkarn, Marketing Director and Flight Instructor at BAC, for their very good support.

Goods, goods, goods…but goodies?

Chatuchak. Weekend market. I am tired already after fifteen minutes. Everything is too much. Clothes, cloths, souvenirs, bracelets, rings, T-shirts, flowers, garments, furniture, more clothes, shoes, more shoes, buddhist symbols, heaps of everything. Too much.
I found the small shop selling copies of jazz records. I have been there before. I picked out two records and I did not care to negotiate about the price. Cheap anyway.
Back to the cool Underground station. Saved.
Back to my hiding place. Time for a short swim. In the pool.

Back to the civilization…?

As a matter of fact I feel more at home in this buzzling, overcrowded, traffic jammed Capital of the Far East Kingdom than on the island, invaded by tourists and salesmen/women of different kind. But even such an island has some genuine, basic, sustainable Thai values. Such as Kuhn Maew, the very nice Thai lady that offered Thai massage right on the beach, just a sarong between me and the sand. Gently she gave me a thorough massage, which took an hour. She then asked me if I wanted some pedicure, fixing my not so very nice toe nails. I said yes and another 30 minutes went by with my feet in her lap. Total price 300 Bath (= around 65 SEK or just below 10 USD). Yes, she received also some tip…
But I am now back in this giant city. Is this the nuclear part of the growing, fast developing civilization of Thailand? Is it?
Almost everything is built upon the fascinating dream of making fast and big money. We are forced into consumer actions. Well, we could resist if we really want to resist, but why resist? Everything is for sale here. You want to buy a new suit? There are thousands of dress makers promising you to have one or two or even three suits after 24 hours. Together with some shirts and ties. Whatever you want to buy you can find it in Bangkok. But do not try drugs of any sort. There are policemen out there appearing as drug dealers and if they get you on the hook you may probably not get off living… And do not try to buy children for any sexual pleasure of yours. That kind of crime stinks and it stinks hard, something that the judges in this country agree upon; severe punishments await… But otherwise, feel free to do whatever pleases you – as long as you buy, consume, drink and eat, acting as a real farang.
This is the present outburst of civilization.
Isn´t it?

Hopes for the new generations

Are we going forward or backward, up or down?
I have always, as long as I can remember been suspicious over most of our, the humans, actions. I am, perhaps by nature (?), more pessimistic than optimistic.
But then, suddenly, a glimpse of hope.
No, I am not thinking of Mr. Barack Obama.
I am thinking of our grandson, Herman, and our granddaughter, Freija.
This (see the picture above) is how they looked like when they suddenly met on the Koh Samed beach during an evening.

Three men from Russia

Well, I certainly do not want to act as a prejudiced man with negative attitudes to people from other nations. But what the heck: here are we sitting at a nice restaurant at the seashore eating fried rice with seafood, drinking Cafe Latte Yen (Iced Coffee Latte), looking out at the sea. Just behind the fence of the restaurant three grown up men, around the 40’s, are playing with the football. Their language is unmistakable: they speak Russian. And they kick the ball, sometimes hard, so it flies over the fence in between the tables, bumping around, pushing down some salt- and pepper containers to the floor. One of the guests threw politely the ball back to them and they start kicking again and – pow! – here is the ball again….and again….and the three men from Russia do not apologize, do not care, do not bother. One wears a large golden bracelet; he is fat and laughing all the time and I think that he is the worst of them.
No, I do not want to bring forward my prejudices, but…
On the other hand, our close neighbours in Sweden are Russian people. They are very nice, polite and sweet.
But on the third hand, this fat Russian man with his bracelet and red cap on his skull….help! I cannot get rid of my aggressive feelings… I think I have to take a swim, a hard one..or something…

Sunshine is radiation

There is a woman from some Western country lying on the beach every day – without any visible protection. Her skin looks like leather. I pity her. She does not understand that sunshine is radiation and that this kind of radiation destroys more than it heals. The medical specialists in Sweden report an increase of 50% of malign melanom, a severe form of cancer, which is most probably due to being too much in direct sunshine.
Swedes long to these kind of sunbathing beaches as we are living in a country of grey darkness during the late autumn and winter season. But those of us that quickly undress, just putting on some small bath suite and place themselves for hours in the sun take a very big risk, even more dangerous than smoking a couple of packets of cigarettes a day.
But still – the salty, blue water holding a temperature of around 27-28 degrees Centigrades is of course lovely. But after the bath – shadowed place is the best one.