You can listen to the podcast of this episode by pressing play below.

I was recently interviewed by a journalist from the Chiang Mai City Life magazine about my experiences of addiction in Thailand. I’m always grateful for the opportunity to talk about myself so thanks Grace. I do recommend that people read this article Staying Sober in Thailand.

The Expert View of Thamkrabok

The one thing that really caught my attention in this article was the views of Simon Mott – an addiction expert. In particular his claim;

“This practice may be more beneficial for Thai people who are spiritually linked to Buddhism, also especially if they continue to live as a monk after treatment. However, it is vital to find and deal with the root of the problem causing addiction, which is better sought through psychology, counselling, and cognitive behavioural therapy. It is important to examine the way people think about things, and try to adapt thinking patterns to heal addictions.”

I must admit that his comments have irked me. Mott does not appear to know much about the temple yet he feels qualified to make blanket statements. I do not pretend to act as a spokesperson for Thamkrabok but most of the ex-patients I’ve met have already tried the therapies he has suggested. I entered my first treatment facility and nineteen and had twenty years of psychology, counseling, and CBT – these methods did not work for me, but I found success at Thamkrabok.

I would love to know on what basis Mott is making his claim “This practice may be more beneficial for Thai people who are spiritually linked to Buddhism, also especially if they continue to live as a monk after treatment”. Buddhism was hardly mentioned during my stay and most of the people who establish a solid sobriety afterwards do not live the life of a monk. I certainly don’t live this life anyway.

More Than One Solution

I’m sure that the therapies Mott endorses do help many addicts. I’m not going to say here it will be better for people to go to Thamkrabok. It seems reasonable to assume that there is no one solution that suits everyone. It is obvious though, that the western approach is failing too many people so to insist that ‘more of the same’ is the way to go sounds stupid to me. This point was made clear by a report provided by the National Health Executive in the UK last year called Addicted to the Status Quo. It concluded that ‘Current treatments options are limited and substantially rest within a symptom management model’.

There is not yet enough scientific research into the efficacy of Thamkrabok. Groups such as East-West Detox are working to get some studies completed, but it is a hugely problematic thing to judge. This means that any claims that recovery is “better sought through psychology, counselling, and cognitive behavioural therapy” is based on zero evidence. It bugs me when experts dismiss those therapies that they do not understand and that could be of benefit to many people. To keep on insisting that these individuals return to those therapies that have already failed them sounds ridiculous to me. To be honest, it bugs the shit out of me.

Dublin (Picture from Wikimedia Commons)

I left my home in Dublin 24 years ago – I had just turned eighteen. This means that I’ve spent the majority of my life living abroad. I stayed in England for over a decade, spent a year in Scotland, and this was followed by a brief sojourn in Saudi Arabia. I have been living in Thailand for the last 11 years. I love my current life and wouldn’t change a thing. I made the right decision to leave Ireland all those years ago. Despite this I still get periods of homesickness.

The Homesickness Bug

I’ve become used to these periods of homesickness. I know that each year there will be a few days when I’ll pine for the old country. I treat these emotions in much the same way as a common cold. I just sit them out, and I know that they will pass. These days there is wonderful technology that allows me to feel like I’m back in Ireland without leaving Bangkok. I can listen to Irish Radio, and watch Irish TV. I can even go for a walk around my old neighborhood with the help of Google maps street level views – on of the most fantastic tools available on the internet. This might sound like I’m wallowing in my homesickness, but it does help. It is not like this is something I do every day.

The Ireland I Left No Longer Exists

One uncomfortable truth that many of us long-term expats have to face is that the place we left no longer exists. Ireland has changed so much since the eighties that I can feel like a bit of a stranger there when I do visit. I will always consider it to be my home, but in so many important ways it is not my home any longer. I have a new life and Ireland has moved on without me.

I remember about twenty years ago talking to this old guy in a London pub. He had been living outside Ireland for decades. This old fella urged me to return to Dublin right away before it was too late. He warned that I was about to embark on a life where I’d always be a stranger. I would never completely feel like I fit in my adopted home, and I’d feel like a stranger when I went back to Ireland on holidays. His prophecy turned out to be correct, but there are some advantages to being an outsider. It has forced me to grow and challenge so many of my cultural assumptions. It made me who I am.

All writers make these typos, but they are usually caught in the editing process. The problem for me is that I usually add my posts on here at the end of a long work day. Sometimes I only manage a quick edit before hitting the publish button. I don’t see the mistakes because mentally I’ve already started tucking into my evening meal. It probably sounds like I’m making excuses here, but that’s just the way it is. This blog is hugely important to me, but it would probably be fair to say that at times I’ve been sloppy. I would love to go back over all my posts and check for mistakes, but I just don’t have the time.

If any reader does spot a mistake please feel free to tell me. It is not going to crush my self-esteem because I already make my living as a writer – I can’t be that bad. It is my job and I want to at least look professional. I just hate the idea of these typos being left as evidence of my sloppiness. I will try to be more careful in the future

I’m a bit ashamed to say but I’ve only been to the dentist three times in adulthood. My last visit was 12 years ago to the dentistry school at St Barts in London. I broke a tooth on a particularly hard piece of wholegrain bread (this was during the midst of my alcohol addiction so the fact that I was eating such healthy food meant I was having a particularly good day; unfortunately the broken tooth was used as evidence to support my view that trying to live a healthy life was just a waste of time). A student gave me a temporary cap and told me to see a qualified dentist within six months to get the job done properly. I never went back.

Worrying About Rotten Teeth

In the 12 years since my last visit to the dentist I’ve wasted a lot of time worrying about my teeth. I brush them at least a couple of times a day, but I know that at least some input from a dentist is required. I had a bad experience with one of these professionals in my childhood and so I now fear them. Oa (my wife) finds it strange that I am a qualified nurse yet have this fear, but to me they are not the same thing. So I avoid going to the dentist and just live with the worry that my teeth may be rotten and about to fall out of my head at any second. I also keep remembering that sick joke about the guy who went to the dentist after many years. He is told that his teeth are fine but that he will need to have his gums removed.

Trip to the Dentist in Minburi

Yesterday in a fit of bravery I decided to go to the dentist in Minburi. I felt really nervous during the trip in the car and my wife thought this highly amusing. I almost lost my courage at the last minute. In a show of solidarity Oa decided to have her teeth checked as well; even though she didn’t really feel that they needed checking. They called her in first. I had to sit there with the noise of drilling and whatever else it is they do in there. I brought along my iPad for distraction, but I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. It felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack.

My turn came, and I was expecting the worst. They dentist had a good look and told me that I needed one filling and a good clean. I remember the last time I’d gone to a dentist they had said that my teeth were in remarkably good shape despite my aversion to dentistry. I didn’t expect for a similar outcome this time so it was a real result. The filling and cleaning involved minimal discomfort so I was an extremely happy customer. I also found it amusing that despite the fact that Oa has no aversion to dentists, and takes good care of her teeth, she needed four fillings.

I felt so pleased with myself that I decided to go right back into the dentist’s chair. They had a special offer on teeth whitening – only 2,900 THB (about 70 euro). The next forty five minutes were a bit uncomfortable. I had not done any research because it was a spur of the moment decision. I did not know that the procedure would increase the sensitivity of my teeth – at times it felt like the dentist was sticking something right in the nerve. To be honest the discomfort wasn’t that bad, and I’m really pleased with the results. My teeth look whiter than I ever remember them being. They are not quite celebrity white, but they will do for me.

Drinking Coffee through a Straw

The other thing that I didn’t realize with the teeth whitening procedure was that I would be expected to avoid coffee and tea for 2 weeks. I have been meaning to cut down my caffeine intake again, but sudden withdrawals do not suit me. Last time I went cold turkey on coffee the headaches were terrible. I did some research online and found that it would be possible for me to continue with my caffeine so long as I didn’t allow it to touch my teeth. So now I’m drinking these beverages via a straw.

I wasted so much time over the last 12 years worrying about my teeth. I should have just gone to the dentist ages ago. It really is such a relief to take care of these things rather than ignoring them.

So What Went Wrong with Mindful Eating

I never expected to keep my weight below 70kg indefinitely, but I certainly never wanted it to go about 75kg again. When I abandoned my fight plans my weight did start to creep up, but this was to be expected and it was starting to level out at 72kg. The killer blow to my plan to maintain a healthy weight began with the Bangkok floods back in October. This meant I could no longer go running or visit Sitsongpeenong for Muay Thai training. Things got so bad during the floods that we had to stay in a hotel for over a month. I coped the wrong way with the stress and ended up doing a lot of comfort eating. I felt physically ill because of the amount of junk I was eating, but I felt unwilling to stop.

The real blame for this weight gain was my failure to maintain mindful eating when things started to go wrong. I’m not going to beat myself up too much over it because unfortunately this is my learning style. It was the exact same with my alcohol addiction; I would get periods of sobriety followed by relapse. Eventually I got the message, and I am convinced that the same is going to happen with my weight. The truth is that it is just too painful for me to live an unhealthy life now. They say that ignorance is bliss but by experiencing how great it is to be physically in shape I know what I’m missing.

Failure is Giving Up

I truly do believe that people only ever fail when they give up. I’m not giving up. I’ve been back exercising for the last two weeks and my weight has already come down by a couple of kg. I’m determined to be back in my safety zone of below 75kg by April at the latest. My previous efforts have not been wasted because I know what can be achieved, and it does not take too much effort. I still have not managed to get back to my Muay Thai class, but I am working on my fitness at home. I’m also doing a bit of yoga in the evenings to see if that helps.

I’ll keep you posted about my progress

One of the drawbacks of living in Thailand is that I miss out on some entertainment options that would be available back in Europe. One of the internet services that I’ve really been itching to get my hands on has been Spotify – a legal way to listen to millions of songs online with my computer or iPad. Unfortunately it has not been possible for me to subscribe to Spotify because I don’t have a UK bank account.

Deezer Music Streaming

Deezer offers a similar service to Spotify and charges roughly the same membership fee – for premium plus I get access to about 13 million songs. There really is no need for me to ever purchase more music. It is even possible to create playlists that can be listened to offline. I was able to sign up using my Irish credit card details and have begun their 15 day free trial – after that it is 9.99 GBP per month.

I had a good look around today at the Deezer music selection and I am impressed. I noticed that some important bands are missing such as the Beatles, and Oasis. I was also disappointed to find that they only had a small collection of songs by the Pixies. Still it is hard to complain about what is there. I love the radio stations and the ability to share music via social media. The biggest attraction for me is that it makes it so easy to discover new music – I can sort of feel out of the loop by living in Thailand.

I’ve always felt that if there were reasonable options available online it would eliminate music piracy. Options like Deezer and Spotify definitely seem to be the right way to go.

I will see how it goes over the next 15 days, but so far I am happy to give Deezer a huge thumbs up – thanks for the music.

On New Year’s Day we went on a family outing to Khao Yai. I don’t know what it is about this first day of the year, but I always like to visit somewhere outdoors. This is our second New Year in a row visiting Khao Yai, but last year we stayed overnight. I did look around for hotels this time, but everywhere was already booked out. The Thais love this mountainous area and this is their favourite time of year to go there. Many of the Bangkokonians view it as an opportunity to wear their winter clothing even though it isn’t much cooler than Bangkok – even first thing in the morning the temperature was still 25 degrees Celsius.

Life Park Khao Yai

I came across Life Park during an internet search for hotels in Khao Yai. It is right next to the Greenery Hotel not far from the Thanarat Road entrance to Khao Yai National Park. The website for Life Park made the place sound wonderful. I’ve been fooled by false advertisements on the web too many times before so I wasn’t really expecting much. I just hoped that it would be interesting enough to keep a four year old boy happy for a couple of hours.

It was just after 9am when we arrived at Khao Yai and there was already quite a crowd there. I would imagine that around New Year is their busiest time. There was no admission fee but instead you need to buy tickets for whatever rides you wish to go on. We bought a 450 THB ticket that allowed Timmy to go on 5 rides; there are other more expensive tickets that allow for more rides.

brum brum min cars Life Park Khao Yai

The scenery around Life Park is quite pleasant and the area is large enough so that it does not feel crowded. Timmy tried out the ‘brum brum’ mini cars first of all, and he enjoyed that. He got to drive around a little town complete with small houses and roundabouts. He was only allowed ten minutes in the car and this felt an unreasonably short amount of time.

After the cars Timmy tried out the ‘pony pony’. These are a type of rocking horse that can actually move around. They looked quite fun but they weren’t exciting enough for my son – perhaps we should have taken him here before the cars.

Probably the best ride of all was the kiddie bumper boats. Timmy felt a bit nervous at first but he started to really enjoy himself near the end of the ride. The boats move around a pool that is fairly small so I’d imagine that it can be chaotic when it gets busy.

Our final destination at Life Park was Inflatable Land. This is an area full of slides and inflatable structures that kids can crawl up and down on. The nicest thing about this place is that you can stay here as long as you want. The woman behind the counter even said that we could leave and come back again later if we wanted. There are a couple of places for adults to sit and still be able to supervise their kids.

There were many other rides in the park but I didn’t get a chance to try them out. From a look on the faces of other people they were all having fun. Timmy enjoyed his visit to Life Park so we will almost certainly visit again. It is a good place to visit as a day trip from Bangkok.

You can listen to the audio podcast of this episode by clicking play below –