One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is : Why the books are only available in digital form on this site?

While there are several reasons for that, the main one is the unreliability of postage in and out of Thailand.

Unless you are willing to pay for registered post, there is the very real possibility that your posted item will become “lost in the Mail”.

Now I’m not suggesting for one moment that there could be the further possibility of there being dishonesty or corruption within the ranks of the Thai Postal Service or anywhere else in Thai authority, but in my personal experience I’ve found that posting anything into or out of Thailand is at best risky if the item has little or no use to Thai postal workers however, if there is the hint of a little extra pocket money involved then the risk becomes far greater.

I remember when I first started visiting Thailand quite a few years ago, sending a birthday card from Australia to my then Thai girlfriend, in which I had enclosed 5 thousand baht.

I’d neatly folded the 5 notes and put them inside the card as a little gift for her to give to her dear old mother to have the buffalo’s leg stitched back on.

It seemed that the poor creature was idly meandering across the main street of her village somewhere north of Pakdatbong, when it was run over by a ten year old monk on a bicycle with no tyres, severing it’s rear leg completely.  (Well that’s what she told me anyway)

At the time I thought it was a little strange as I wasn’t aware that Thai vets had any training facilities available for the teaching of micro surgery but…I was also absolutely sure that my little “teerak” would not dream of being dishonest with me.

So I sent the money in good faith with the instruction that since the buffalo’s “leg job” would cost 2 thousand, she could buy herself a little something to comfort her aching heart (because of my absence) with the other 3 thousand.

During the following 4 weeks or so when I would dutifully call her 2-3 times per week each time my phone would ring twice and then stop, (which was her “secret way” of communicating to me that she was missing me so much) she would always ask me several times if I was one hundred percent sure I’d send the money…..er birthday card.

Finally after nearly 5 weeks when my phone rang the statutory 2 times one Friday evening, it seemed to do so with a definite note of acclaimed urgency and alarm tinged with strains of disapproval.

On calling her, intermingled with the sobs of bitter disappointment and accusation, I was able to determine that the fabled envelope had turned up about 5 minutes ago complete with card but alas no money.

The envelope had been neatly slit along one end just wide enough to be able to remove and replace the contents by folding it slightly, leaving a slit about half the width of the card.

My poor teerak was so distraught (what with the buffalo’s leg being kept on ice all that time….and ice costing money) she actually accused me of manufacturing the whole thing all the way from Australia.

Of course realising the devastating effect the incident had had on her, I naturally forgave and consoled her with the promise that I would transfer another 5 thousand directly into her bank account.

What I was unable to fathom on my next trip to her village some months later, was why I couldn’t see any signs of stitches or surgery on a very healthy looking buffalo she showed me grazing in her neighbor’s veggie patch across the street from the local wat.

I’ve heard similar stories concerning posted items in and out of Thailand as recently as a couple of weeks ago, so it seems nothing much has changed.

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