The Toronto Star investigates Bangkok
I generally try to follow stuff that’s happening in Bangkok, even when I’m not there. Every so often, there’s an article in a western newspaper or website that seems interesting. For example, there was one that I linked to in a recent entry about a very well written piece in the New York Times.
This week there was a less well written piece entitled ‘Bangkok: A city of extremes’ in The Toronto Star. It was written by a staff writer who took a tour provided by a Canadian travel service called Smiling Albino, which is a unique name for a business, for sure.
The article recounts a day tour he took in Bangkok with one of the guides that works for Smiling Albino. It’s not particularly well written and certainly not as well written as the one in the New York Times. But it was all about Bangkok, written by a Canadian about a Canadian company, so I thought I would at least read it and link to it.
One of the things in the article that I found amusing was the constant reference to the guide, Kob Kachonsittinoppakun, by her last name. Thai last names are generally unpronounceable and Thais never refer to people by their last names anyway. They always use first names or nick names, even in business situations. So Ms. Kachonsittinoppakun, would normally be called Khun Kob by friends or Ms. Kob by westerners. But never Ms. Kachonsittinoppakun. No way. (The Star guy could have done a bit of research, but never mind.) To test your pronounciation skills, check out some of the Thai names in the ‘Who We Are/People’ section of the Smiling Albino site and you’ll see why first names are the ones you’ll want to use. How about Nitchakun (Dream) Leesawadthavornkun? Khun Dream works for me.
I think this Toronto Star writer might want to up his writing skills a bit, but whatever. The story is short. It’s about Bangkok and a Canadian company, so I felt obliged to include it in The Bangkok Blog, written by a Canadian – Khun Skip. (Let’s not worry about the last name.)