A depression is stalled over the Gulf of Thailand, bringing us weather that from the indoors seems identical to Seattle’s.  Once you step outside you realize that it is considerably warmer than Seattle, around 31 C, but that is still six to nine degrees cooler than it was two weeks ago.  The Thais are in agreement: this is strange weather for this time of year.

All of the rain, which has been of the drizzly variety instead of the more “tropical monsoon downpour” style we’re used to, has resulted in some waterlogged properties.  Down in the south of Thailand and along the western Gulf, there has been significant flooding.

Shown here is what was, until three weeks ago, the Ford dealership on Sukhumvit Road just west of Asoke Place, in the block between the Westin Hotel (Sukhumvit 19) and Soi Asoke (Sukhumvit 21).  They tore everything down a few weeks ago in preparation for some type of large construction project.  What you see in the picture is only about half the entire property. 

Now they have a nice little lake at the back of the property.  Hopefully when they do the construction they re-grade the property so it slopes towards the street instead of back into the corner.  The red arrow in the building indicates our current condo building, just so you get a sense of where we are in relation to the BTS Skytrain station, where I was standing for the picture.

As I’ve mentioned before, I write a lot of letters: old fashioned ones written on paper, sent in envelopes, and posted with real stamps.  I write to many different people, but most frequently to my nieces, ages one and four.  These letters are actually meant to be saved, unopened, until they are eighteen, sort of a time capsule for them to open when they are young adults and read about the experiences and reflections of their uncle, especially a recounting of stories and anecdotes about their childhood. 

I try to send letters that have a variety of interesting and colorful stamps so that as an added side benefit, they’ll have a de facto stamp collection going by age eighteen.  The challenge is that the most common Thai stamps are the ones that, regardless of denomination, feature the same portrait of His Majesty the King.  Different colors for different denomination, yes, but the same portrait.  He’s a wonderful King, but the style is a bit repetitive.  I suppose if I used the one-baht stamps and pasted a block of twenty-eight of them onto an envelope, it would give a certain Andy Warhol effect.

To visually spice up my stamp selection, I visit my local post office from time to time and see what new and interesting stamps they have.  These are usually the three-baht variety, as that’s the price to send a local letter.  But the branch on Sukhumvit 23 has had an increasingly limited selection of stamps, so it became necessary to go down to the large General Post Office, located on the edge of the older part of the city along Charoen Khrung Road.  It is a gorgeous 30’s era building with grand fascist architecture.

The interior is very stark, looking more like a nearly-abandoned train station than a post office.  Out front is a statue of King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, who led much of the modernization (or, more accurately, Westernization) efforts in the 1930’s.  He is seated next to a small table that has an elaborate telephone seated on it, indicative of the days when post, telephone and telegraph inter-related agencies.

The GPO has a philatelic counter with a very lonely agent working it.  There are glass display cases showing the many different stamps supposedly available, so I scribbled a list in Thai and then approached the counter to work through what was in stock and what wasn’t.  “Mai mii,” he said, indicating that they didn’t have one-baht stamps.  Mai mii nine-baht stamps.  Mai mii twenty-baht stamps.  Mai mii several styles of three- and five-baht stamps.  Thankfully, mii two-, three-, five-, eight-, ten- and fifteen-baht stamps.  Above left are some examples of the interesting new stamps that were available.

Tuesday evening we met with Bill, who is visiting from Florida, and his partner Kom.  I thought it would be fun to invite a few additional people so I set about sending text messages and at the end of the afternoon thought we would be joined by, at most, one or two additional people.  The party ended up being a dozen and, ironically, I was the last to arrive as I made the decision to drive to the restaurant and got stuck in the worst traffic on Sukhumvit I’ve ever seen.  From the light at Asoke and Sukhumvit (in front of Soi Cowboy) to the Nana BTS Station – a distance of about 400 meters, if that – was 50 minutes.

Right: Tawn and Chris at dinner.

Dinner was at Whole Earth, a very good Thai-Indian restaurant that specializes in vegetarian food, although their meat dishes are very enjoyable, too.  This was the restaurant that I went to with my visiting family up in Chiang Mai, located near the Night Bazaar in a antique Thai house nestled in a lovely garden.  To my pleasant surprise they also have (or, I should say now, “had”) a location on Lang Suan here in Khrungthep.  The interior was a little shabby but the quality of food and service were every bit as high as up north. 

Above from left: Kom, Bill, Todd, Tawn, Chris, Sean, Brian, Justin, Ken, and Vic.  Bill is visiting from Florida and Justin from San Francisco.  And Todd?  Well, he’s kind of living here, kind of visiting from SF.

Sadly, we discovered while eating dinner Tuesday, that Tuesday was that location’s final day.  The lease had expired and they were pulling up stakes.  Hopefully, said the manager, they will find another location here in Khrungthep as they have a loyal local clientele.  I hope they do, too, because it is a gem of a restaurant.

Now to get to the story that relates to this entry’s title – But he’s only a child!  This describes Khun Chai, the branch manager of UOB’s (United Overseas Bank, a Singapore bank) Sukhumvit 25 branch.  Tawn has met with him a few times over the last few weeks to learn more about the home loan process.  Tawn has checked elsewhere, too, but UOB seems to have good rates and Khun Chai is particularly attentive.  This, I learned last night, is because Tawn’s father is a big customer at that UOB branch.  Usually we would just be dealing with a regular loan officer, not the branch manager.

We needed to complete the loan application (I’ll be listed as guarantor; the bank won’t give the loan to me and Tawn jointly) and Khun Chai offered to meet us after work at the coffee shop in the building next to ours, to do the paperwork.  I thought we were just meeting a loan officer and I was expecting some man in his forties or fifties, but when Khun Chai arrived, I was shocked: he looks like a baby!  It turns out he is older than me, but no more than a year or two.  But he’s got a baby face and is a very sleight guy.  On top of it, when he gave me his card I was further shocked to discover that he’s the branch manager.  Very impressive service for the branch manager to go out of his way to meet us after hours at a place of our choosing, to get a loan that in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that much money for them.

Of course, he’s probably smartly looking ahead to the day when Tawn – an only child – inherits his father’s investments!

The application and paperwork is completed and Khun Chai assures us that it is just a formality; the loan should be no problem.  It should take about three weeks to process, following a physical inspection of the property next week.

One more step completed.