Acknowledgements
This
book has been several years in the writing and I have bored far too many
of my friends with my tribulations as author. They are too numerous to
mention individually and I am sure to leave somebody out... but here goes
anyway. I would like to thank all of you named below who have helped me,
in particular in reading drafts of the book and who gave me the quotes
that appear on the back cover of the book. Also the friends, especially
Thais, who have inspired me and helped me in so many other ways. They
remain anonymous but they will know who they are.
The names are roughly chronological, though my first thanks must go to
Watana Petchsingh, my editor at TYS Books for so thorough a job in producing
the book and who must be the only person in Bangkok who knows how to spell
restaurateur and who knows a zeugma when he sees one. (The book is full
of them!)
My sincere thanks go especially to Inda Bevis, Tony French and Marilyn
Honiton, Anna Evans, John Coombes, Robert Drury, Michael Hicks, Diana
Green, Steph and David Stevens, Anney Hess, Prachoen Mananasom, Bill Ellis,
Ponnie Green, Anna Proctor, Dave Eburne-Day, Juliette Murray, William
Ramseyer, Bill Worner, Douglas Pearce, Michael Green, Patrick Harvey,
Maria Monahov, Iain and Camilla Dryden, Charles Henn, Roger Seal, Nigel
Carr, Todd Lavelle, Mary Bennett, Gavin Mackenzie, Claire Sutcliffe, Steve
Van Beek, Robin Sparks, Sally Peacock, Mia Hansson, Dave Beach, Peter
Tucker, Richard Palumbo, Steven Epstein, James Green, Visnu Kongsiri and
last but definitely not least Trevor Simpson. Without them the book might
not have made it, though please blame me and not them.
Watana Petchsingh
Perhaps my greatest gain from writing "Thai Girl"
has been the privilege and pleasure of knowing and working with Watana
Petchsingh, the proprietor of TYS who edited and produced the book. And
this now has become my greatest loss.
As we worked together on the book, tragically I could see Watana's health
slowly deteriorating. He was always alert and thoroughly efficient and
he was totally committed to the book, clinging to the routine of work
and normality, though I fear our long meetings tired him. As we completed
the production of "Thai Girl" he remained courageous and upbeat,
now jaunty in his Tam O' Shanter, worn to cover his loss of hair. It was
a great moment for me when he presented me with the first copies and asked
me to sign one for him.
When later I left for a four month trip to the UK (May 2004) he asked
me to buy a kaleidoscope for his four year old son, and shaking me firmly
by the hand across his desk said, 'Have a good trip, Andrew. See you when
you get back.' But it was not to be.
He was such a lovely man, warm and gracious and with a sly sense of humour.
In this tough city, I always felt that I was dealing with someone who
was primarily a scholar rather than a business man. And of course there
was our shared love of books and the English language. When I bought him
a copy of my favourite novel, "Letters from Thailand" by 'Botan'
I was delighted by his enjoyment of it, he devouring the lengthy book
in the course of a few days before our next meeting.
There in his office sitting opposite each other across his desk, we developed
a warm friendship, he with his Thai/Chinese reserve and sensitivity and
me with my stiff upper Britishness. And I think and hope he enjoyed our
meetings as much as I did; they were always something for me to look forward
to in my life in Bangkok. He was the rare person who so totally bridged
the gulf between the two cultures which can exclude the expat from much
of what is going on in Thailand. It was very special to share a friendship
with someone who is both totally Thai but at the same time so utterly
English. How many Thais can chat about cream teas in Chagford and then
complain bitterly about the horror of squat loos.
And we found so many coincidences and things in common between the two
of us. I was for ten years a lecturer in law at the University of Exeter
in the West of England before taking early retirement. On first meeting
Watana over a lavish lunch in a Bangkok hotel, listening to his perfectly
modulated English voice, I just had to ask him where he was educated.
His answer extraordinarily was Exeter Cathedral Choir School.
Imagine him as a choral scholar, perhaps, as he suggested, the only non-European
chorister at any cathedral in the country, thrilling to the soaring flight
of unbroken voices and the glow of light streaming in through the tracery
onto golden stone in one of the most beautiful cathedrals in England.
It must have been an extraordinary upbringing.
He told me about his family history, from owning tin mines in Chiang Mai
to his father's diplomatic posting in London. When his father was posted
elsewhere, Watana stayed on in England to complete his education, going
on to Lancing College, just down the road from where Ben and Emma, my
leading characters in "Thai Girl" studied at Sussex University.
(I so nearly sent Ben to Lancing but then thought this cultural reference
would be meaningless to an international readership.)
Watana and I were therefore at the same sort of schools at exactly the
same time and had many shared experiences. Like me he loved the sea and
boats, he indulged in classic cars including a very English Sunbeam Talbot,
and he shared my fogeyish fear of computers and electronic gizmos.
After school in England, Watana went on to university in Australia and
eventually came into publishing in Thailand where his facility in English
must have been very much in demand. He was I think multi-talented, including
of course being a successful businessman. He might for example have developed
his talents as a chorister and perhaps become a musician. He was the backgammon
champion of Thailand and travelled to compete in international competitions.
His story of how at one convention he was the hope of the nation, only
to be knocked out in the first round by an outsider was so typical of
his self-effacing humour.
I only knew Watana for a few months but he touched my life and I shall
never forget him. Coming back into his office after my trip away, seeing
the empty chair and desk and giving Lek the kaleidoscope for their little
boy was the hardest of moments.
I am sure Watana would have been thrilled that "Thai Girl",
perhaps his last project, is now doing so well and is already reprinting.
I am grateful to him for a job well done in producing the book against
all the odds, but most of all I am grateful for his very special friendship,
a friendship that was to be so tragically short.
Andrew Hicks
(Published on www.thaigirl2004.com, November 2004.)
