MIXED RESULTS FOR THAILAND

摘要

Sporting a perpetual grin, Khun likes to make conversation as he drives his songthaew, a collective taxi that cruises the streets of Chiang Mai, second largest city in the country about 800 kilometres from Bangkok. A cheerful man, unfazed by the suffocating heat that weighs on the city at the start of the rainy season or by the uninterrupted roar of traffic, Khun is telling the story of his life. His life before, when he was a dishwasher in a London hotel, or his life now, with his wife, two daughters...and his mistresses. Khun confides that sometimes he has adventures. What about AIDS? In response he opens the glove compartment and takes out a box of condoms, hidden behind a jumble of music tapes and old papers. "I never go out without them," he says, holding up the box.