There are more transgenders per capita in Thailand than anywhere else in the world. Or so it would seem. They are a defining feature of the sexual landscape: one of the first sights to be pointed out to gawping tourists. Less in evidence are ‘toms” – women who dress and behave in a masculine way. … Continue reading
When I was a boy I had to endure long waits on sooty railway stations – yes, it was the age of steam – whose walls were plastered with gaudy and incongruous posters of seaside resorts with azure seas, golden sands, bronzed maidens and – yes – palm trees. Of course, no beach in … Continue reading
This is the time of year when the prolonged dry weather stimulates certain flowering trees to bloom as if their very lives depended on it. In a sense this is true, since an exceptional drought will probably mean that fruits may not form, even that mature trees may shed so many leaves that they … Continue reading
We all know how denuded of mammals Thailand is. Most have long since been hunted down for food. And while the same is not true of most insects or reptiles, it is still the case that anything remotely edible will probably end up fried or barbequed on someone’s dinner plate. Insects such as water … Continue reading
A friend discovered a snake on his balcony the other day and asked me what it was. With alternate broad bands of yellow and black, and with a triangular shaped body, it could only have been a banded krait. Fortunately he stood well back and allowed the creature to slither away into the garden. … Continue reading
Readers can be immensely helpful, especially when they know more than you do. Come in, Victor Alvarez, who emailed me after I had sounded off about “Roundup”. The world’s most popular herbicide, I had recommended it in these columns for removing grass and weeds from the cracks in a local mountain road. In fairness, … Continue reading
The epithet “sexy” is much overused, not to say abused, appearing in contexts that have nothing to do with people’s erotic appetites at all. Inanimate objects can apparently fit the bill – cars or dishes or even flowers. “No Orchids For Miss Blandish”, a raunchy 1939 novel, invoked orchids in its title because author … Continue reading
A good friend Graham, an airline captain, asks : “Can you recommend an all-round weed-killer, not for the garden but for the grass and weeds out in the road by my house ?“ He adds: For the last two months, we have fed the pretty caterpillar population (green with blue eyes) and love the butterflies … Continue reading
While horticulture is not an exact science, neither is it an unchanging one. Hence research sometimes arrives at new ways of tackling old problems. Take tree planting. Conventional wisdom decrees that you dig a round hole a bit bigger than the root ball and immerse it in a combination of compost and loam/ top soil. … Continue reading
I recently drove along Rawai Beach Road , and counted the number of speedboats hoovering up passengers for island day-trips to Ko Phi Phi and Racha. There were 27, mostly belonging to one company. Later that same day, I took the ravishingly beautiful route round Prompthep Cape, down the twisting road to Nai Harn beach … Continue reading
green galoshes 