Forget You Had a Daughter - Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton by Sandra Gregory
Book: Forget You Had a Daughter - Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton by Sandra Gregory
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Authors: Sandra Gregory
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that might be. I packed my bag and set my watch for six the following morning, in order to catch the only boat off the island. Some time later, I told my parents of my plan. As long as I was careful they would be happy.After all, what could go wrong?
The desire in Thailand, like many other developing countries, to acquire foreign language skills, particularly English, had led to a major teaching industry in Bangkok with schools appearing overnight. However, when I arrived back in the city I had very little money and my clothes were unsuitable for teaching. Most days were spent walking the streets, looking for work. I would go into office buildings pretending to look for someone that I knew did not exist, knowing the local custom is always to offer a guest a glass of water.As someone went to enquire about the person I was looking for, I would drink the water and then disappear.
Yet despite the initial difficulties, and having no formal teaching qualifications, I soon got work without any real problem.
From February 1991 until October 1992 I worked in a number of places including a university, various language schools, the United Nations-related international school, and many business establishments. I also taught students privately in their homes several times a week, and I got to see a side of the people and their country that was truly Thai. I loved teaching and I learned far more than I taught my pupils.
Before long I found a nice place to live close to the Chao Prya River, and quickly developed an intriguing circle of friends.The days passed and, almost surreptitiously, Bangkok was better than I had anticipated.The chaos, pollution, traffic jams, noise, heat and constant hustle and bustle were now adorable instead of reprehen- sible.
Wearing a silk-lined miniskirt, I often found myself riding around the city sitting side-saddle on the back of a motorbike taxi, listening to Sting,Tracy Chapman, Lou Reed and INXS through a Walkman personal stereo strapped to my head. It was way too much fun to be real.
Incredibly, I got parts as a movie extra in Thai films, music videos and later I would take part in the making of several televi- sion commercials.This was my life, and it was perfect. I was young and frivolous and curious about things.The streets were alive, the people were alive; the city, with its magical allure, was too.
I felt a new excitement in my life. I sensed a watershed in my relationship with Thailand and, in the weeks that followed, I grad- ually developed a sense of antipathy for my old life at home.
Around the middle of 1991 I began a relationship with an
American guy by the name of Hurley Scroggins, the third. It took him ages to convince me that he was worthy of any attention, but after a few months his Jack Nicholson looks took my fancy. Hurley was fun, well-travelled, rather eccentric and very sociable. For a while he had lived in Spain, and spoke the language fluently; he could also speak Dutch.What impressed me most was that he was extremely knowledgeable and spoke, in such an eloquent
fashion, of things I had never heard of. More importantly, he was much wilder at heart than myself. Much to my surprise we fell in love.
Hurley worked as a journalist for an English language maga- zine, and our life together was exciting and full of surprises. No longer did I consider myself a tourist in Thailand. I was now a bona-fide ex-pat.
The ex-pat community in Bangkok is a small group, an island amid an ocean, where everyone knows each other, but is not always necessarily dependent on, or close to, each other. British, American, Australian and European – the ex-pat community in Bangkok is spread over different geographical areas, simply because it is a huge city. Like anywhere, different people migrate to different sorts of areas.
Sukkumvit tends to be the place loosely regarded as the middle-class area, where the rich foreigners go. Older travellers, many of who have been on the road for years, and old
The desire in Thailand, like many other developing countries, to acquire foreign language skills, particularly English, had led to a major teaching industry in Bangkok with schools appearing overnight. However, when I arrived back in the city I had very little money and my clothes were unsuitable for teaching. Most days were spent walking the streets, looking for work. I would go into office buildings pretending to look for someone that I knew did not exist, knowing the local custom is always to offer a guest a glass of water.As someone went to enquire about the person I was looking for, I would drink the water and then disappear.
Yet despite the initial difficulties, and having no formal teaching qualifications, I soon got work without any real problem.
From February 1991 until October 1992 I worked in a number of places including a university, various language schools, the United Nations-related international school, and many business establishments. I also taught students privately in their homes several times a week, and I got to see a side of the people and their country that was truly Thai. I loved teaching and I learned far more than I taught my pupils.
Before long I found a nice place to live close to the Chao Prya River, and quickly developed an intriguing circle of friends.The days passed and, almost surreptitiously, Bangkok was better than I had anticipated.The chaos, pollution, traffic jams, noise, heat and constant hustle and bustle were now adorable instead of reprehen- sible.
Wearing a silk-lined miniskirt, I often found myself riding around the city sitting side-saddle on the back of a motorbike taxi, listening to Sting,Tracy Chapman, Lou Reed and INXS through a Walkman personal stereo strapped to my head. It was way too much fun to be real.
Incredibly, I got parts as a movie extra in Thai films, music videos and later I would take part in the making of several televi- sion commercials.This was my life, and it was perfect. I was young and frivolous and curious about things.The streets were alive, the people were alive; the city, with its magical allure, was too.
I felt a new excitement in my life. I sensed a watershed in my relationship with Thailand and, in the weeks that followed, I grad- ually developed a sense of antipathy for my old life at home.
Around the middle of 1991 I began a relationship with an
American guy by the name of Hurley Scroggins, the third. It took him ages to convince me that he was worthy of any attention, but after a few months his Jack Nicholson looks took my fancy. Hurley was fun, well-travelled, rather eccentric and very sociable. For a while he had lived in Spain, and spoke the language fluently; he could also speak Dutch.What impressed me most was that he was extremely knowledgeable and spoke, in such an eloquent
fashion, of things I had never heard of. More importantly, he was much wilder at heart than myself. Much to my surprise we fell in love.
Hurley worked as a journalist for an English language maga- zine, and our life together was exciting and full of surprises. No longer did I consider myself a tourist in Thailand. I was now a bona-fide ex-pat.
The ex-pat community in Bangkok is a small group, an island amid an ocean, where everyone knows each other, but is not always necessarily dependent on, or close to, each other. British, American, Australian and European – the ex-pat community in Bangkok is spread over different geographical areas, simply because it is a huge city. Like anywhere, different people migrate to different sorts of areas.
Sukkumvit tends to be the place loosely regarded as the middle-class area, where the rich foreigners go. Older travellers, many of who have been on the road for years, and old
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