Smiles
April 30th, 2009, 05:49
This year, looking around the gogo bars, the host bars, the discos, the malls, the restaurants, the parks, the beaches, the street stalls, the streets themselves, the night markets of Thailand from Hua Hin to Phuket, to Bangkok, to Surin, to Bang Saphan and Raynong . . . that is to say, the entire world of Thai social get-togetheringness, I had the niggling feeling that I was missing something.
Not something earth shattering, or frankly, not even something all that important, but there was a frothy, gauzy point of nostalgia off there in the distance which was going unrecognized within. There was something "in Thailand" (in those days) which I apparently missed (these days).
Well, talk about the froth: I was looking around TingTong this afternoon and stumbled upon 'Doug's' blog. Browsing around, I tripped once more and arrived at a photograph of a Thai boy. It was a photo from many years ago ... according to the blog's author, taken sometime between 1990 and 1999.
I have a feeling it was closer to the latter than the former, because of one stark attribute of this photo which hit me between the eyes . . . in fact, it threw me back immediately into the bright light of instant enlightenment: I had finally stumbled across that which had been vaguely "missing" these last few years, even as I have trundled quite happily over the landscape of Thailand, yet holding on to that niggling, unrequited secret quest.
It was all about the hair!
The last 5 ot 6 years have seen the advancement (and victory) of the spiky hair-do on Thai guys . . . or the ubiquity of the Japanese BoyBand look . . . the somewhat lesser seen Shaved Monk Head (often on 'Kings' or aging tops in gogo bars) . . . the backcombed/blowdried/over-gell (sort of a combination of spiky-with-Japanese-overtones) . . . the blue and green streaked locks.
I missed the haircut below! I missed it's sweet lighthearted sexiness, it's proletarian sensibility (wear it in the paddy, wear it in the gogo bar), it's toss-me-in-the-wind confident ease, it's owner's luck in knowing he'd always look good in that do, no matter the hazards of every day living of the Thai Life (be it work or sanuk), it's ability to withstand the ravages of the motorcycle (and sometimes, the helmet), it's shiny smoothness under all circumstances . . . . it's uncomfortable ability to show me how I'd REALLY like to wear my hair ~ if I had he good fortune to have ownership of a head of hair that thick and black and 'workable'.
I don't know what the Thai's call this look . . . and they do have specific names for styles of hair cuts (my guy's 'cut' is called 'rong song' ... a style ubiquitous in Isaan). Perhaps they have forgotten it as well, it having been long lost ... to my/our detriment. All I know is, I can traipse the length and breadth of Thailand and not come across it once in any given journey these days. And that is what I miss.
The guy pictured below is not particularly handsome, but his (old fashioned) hair style/cut makes him more so in a way which ~ for me ~ is quite sweet as well as nostalgic. There was a day, let's say 'around' 1999 to 2001 or so, when the streets and bars were full of Thai guys sporting the easy-going flow of this oh-so-Thailand hair style.
Too bad the photo has the very top of they guy's head cut off but I'm sure you can tell what I mean.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Personal/SutasOtt.jpg
(If interested, you can read Doug's blog at: << http://freeblognetwork.com/doug >>)
Just for interest purposes, here is a pretty defining photo of a Thai man with the above-mentiond 'rong song' style of haircut. This photo was taken a few years ago while we were riding a motorised rickshaw in Sukhothai. Unlike the hair cut in the photo above, 'rong song' has never gone out of style and can be seen all over up country Thailand, especially in Isaan.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Personal/1_Sukothai.jpg
Not something earth shattering, or frankly, not even something all that important, but there was a frothy, gauzy point of nostalgia off there in the distance which was going unrecognized within. There was something "in Thailand" (in those days) which I apparently missed (these days).
Well, talk about the froth: I was looking around TingTong this afternoon and stumbled upon 'Doug's' blog. Browsing around, I tripped once more and arrived at a photograph of a Thai boy. It was a photo from many years ago ... according to the blog's author, taken sometime between 1990 and 1999.
I have a feeling it was closer to the latter than the former, because of one stark attribute of this photo which hit me between the eyes . . . in fact, it threw me back immediately into the bright light of instant enlightenment: I had finally stumbled across that which had been vaguely "missing" these last few years, even as I have trundled quite happily over the landscape of Thailand, yet holding on to that niggling, unrequited secret quest.
It was all about the hair!
The last 5 ot 6 years have seen the advancement (and victory) of the spiky hair-do on Thai guys . . . or the ubiquity of the Japanese BoyBand look . . . the somewhat lesser seen Shaved Monk Head (often on 'Kings' or aging tops in gogo bars) . . . the backcombed/blowdried/over-gell (sort of a combination of spiky-with-Japanese-overtones) . . . the blue and green streaked locks.
I missed the haircut below! I missed it's sweet lighthearted sexiness, it's proletarian sensibility (wear it in the paddy, wear it in the gogo bar), it's toss-me-in-the-wind confident ease, it's owner's luck in knowing he'd always look good in that do, no matter the hazards of every day living of the Thai Life (be it work or sanuk), it's ability to withstand the ravages of the motorcycle (and sometimes, the helmet), it's shiny smoothness under all circumstances . . . . it's uncomfortable ability to show me how I'd REALLY like to wear my hair ~ if I had he good fortune to have ownership of a head of hair that thick and black and 'workable'.
I don't know what the Thai's call this look . . . and they do have specific names for styles of hair cuts (my guy's 'cut' is called 'rong song' ... a style ubiquitous in Isaan). Perhaps they have forgotten it as well, it having been long lost ... to my/our detriment. All I know is, I can traipse the length and breadth of Thailand and not come across it once in any given journey these days. And that is what I miss.
The guy pictured below is not particularly handsome, but his (old fashioned) hair style/cut makes him more so in a way which ~ for me ~ is quite sweet as well as nostalgic. There was a day, let's say 'around' 1999 to 2001 or so, when the streets and bars were full of Thai guys sporting the easy-going flow of this oh-so-Thailand hair style.
Too bad the photo has the very top of they guy's head cut off but I'm sure you can tell what I mean.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Personal/SutasOtt.jpg
(If interested, you can read Doug's blog at: << http://freeblognetwork.com/doug >>)
Just for interest purposes, here is a pretty defining photo of a Thai man with the above-mentiond 'rong song' style of haircut. This photo was taken a few years ago while we were riding a motorised rickshaw in Sukhothai. Unlike the hair cut in the photo above, 'rong song' has never gone out of style and can be seen all over up country Thailand, especially in Isaan.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Personal/1_Sukothai.jpg