Montri and Noi: Friends in Thailand

My family’s sojourn in the Kingdom of Siam - Thailand, is coming to an end. A decade and a year to be exact in “The Land of Smiles” - Thailand, and specifically in “The City of Angels” - Bangkok.

It was a time in our lives that saw us all: father, mother, son and daughter, employed by one hospital, on different floors: first, seventh, tenth and twelfth.

This chapter in our lives had such a large impact on our attitude and world view and I praise God Almighty for bringing us all through this wonderful experience. I do not have any intention at this point to narrate each activity that made our stay delightful since my previous posts already did justice to those memorable happenings. What I want to highlight is the neighborhood store that supported our stay and in a way made life easier for us.

 That is our alley and the gate at the right (#64) is the

apartment that we occupied in the quarter of our stay.

the street sign reads: soi 92 yaek 2. this is

the other end of our alley. The building nearest to the sign is 

the community store that serves this portion of the street. there

are about 3 other stores on soi 92 with practically the 

same merchandise. 

That is the front entrance to the store with the proprietors:

Montri and Noi. A lovely couple with a friendly and courteous 

disposition who would go the second mile for anyone. On thing

that was funny about our relationship was their ability to guess

what I was about to buy, be it a bottle of oil, some eggs, a can of

beer, etc. I guess it was the time of the day when I came to the 

store that helped them determine what I wanted.

 

One advantage that they over the other stores was their very good and understandable english. I never had the chance to ask about how they came to be good english speakers nor did I have the chance to know more about them.

Montri and Noi, I want you to know that you hold a very special place in my heart. The memories of living near you and the years of our friendship will always be treasured.

Driver sweet lover

Drivers of public utility jeepneys (PUJ) always got me intrigued since I was a kid. On trips with my parents I would somehow manage to find a seat beside the driver and would imitate his moves and imagine that I was the one behind the wheel. I finally got my chance to drive a passenger jeepney when I was teaching in Cebu and this would be my occupation during weekends and during the Christmas break. 

This was a time when the Bee Gees, The Bread, The Stylistics, Donna Summer and the rest had their heyday, and passengers were very choosy and would rather ride the jeepneys with booming speakers blaring their favorites. There were two routes that I did: Carbon-Lahug via Ramos and Talisay-Colon. Another plus for this type of job was good-looks of which I apparently fell short of, but I still managed to attract some pretty co-ed passengers.

The day would start with my commute to the house of the owner of the jeepney where after a quick check of the engine and the wheels I would drive off to my route and start waving at potential passengers by the road and at the same time barking out my route - "ay Baling, Basak, Tabunok, Talisay derecho" or "ay Lahug Lahug Lahug!" It was not long before I knew which street corner had the most commuters and what strategy was best to get there before the other jeepneys. When it was hot I had a small towel around my neck to wipe off the sweat forming on my brow. I also discovered the restaurants by the road at Tangke where the jeepney drivers could get a cheap meal of corn grits rice, inun-unan and tinunu-an monggos. I also adapted the cebuano slang which is typical of Cebu and I could have easily stayed there as a driver with nice profits if it were not for my insistent mother who convinced me to take the medical college aptitude test in Davao.

When my acceptance to medical school in a different island arrived, I had to say goodbye to the jeepney, the sweet smelling co-eds and the sweat and smoke that I learned to love and enjoy, not knowing yet that when I got to Davao I would still have the exciting chance to get behind the wheel of a Sarao jeepney. The last 2 years of medical school are not very demanding and this was when I found time to drive the Davao-Lasang route. This time I would be barking "ay Bajada Sasa Panacan Tibungco Bunawan Lasang!" There was one instance when a good friend and classmate - Hargoon in his spic and span white uniform was waiting for a taxi for duty at Brokenshire and I happened by. I stopped the jeepney and called out - "ay Bangkerohan Bangkerohan! but he shook his head without looking up expecting that as usual the jeepney would just proceed. I then shouted... "are you going to hop in or not?" This was unusual so he looked at the driver only to discover that it was me. We had a good laugh with the rest of the passengers as we rode to Bangkerohan and I made it a point to take him up Madapo hills right at the front steps of the hospital.

A common sticker on PUJs goes this way: "Basta driver, sweet lover" and I swear to the truth of this slogan.

Finding a wife

She was 14 years of age when her cousin came home for the summer break from a school in a different province and they had a nice chat about school life and how she missed home. Before the cousin left she got a photo of somebody - a boy, from her bag and slipped it into the frame holding the mirror of the dresser. The younger lass protested and ask what that was for, and the cousin said to just keep the photo there because someday she would meet that boy.

That was about 2 years before I moved to Davao City to take up the medical course, and without my knowledge, my picture, all the while was in a 14-yearold girl's bedroom, at a strategic location where she could see it every time she looked at her face in the mirror.

I knew Jo Ann since she was about 5 years old while I was in high school. Her older brother was in my batch and so I knew his family well. Coming back to Davao City after being away throughout my college years was exciting for me and when I met this 16-year old senior high school lass it was a jaw-dropping moment. The tender bud I knew was now a flower in the early stages of blooming.

It was in a movie house with the James Bond movie - "The Moonraker," where I got the chance to woo her since she conveniently happened to sit next to me. The details of the movie were not what mattered then since I was intent in my mission and luckily I succeeded. From then it would be 3 years of romance before we tied the knot in a simple home wedding at her dad's sister Judge Milagrosa Nartatez's house who also officiated it. 

Those who stood as witnesses for the occasion where Mrs. Estrella Adao - Jo Ann's aunt, Mrs. Emmeline Maglalang - Jo Ann's cousin, Mrs. Norma Sumicad and Mrs. Letty Cerna both my aunts. Chito and Cindy Prat were also present. Ethel, my only sibling was the only one from my immediate family was the only one present, because my parents who lived in Iligan City chose not to come for the occasion.

Finding a wife wasn't actually a problem for me, it was getting married that took a lot of guts and sheer determination to do it without the backing of my own father.