I met a Thai guy in Bahrain and this is his story. He was a dancer in a show in Thailand and his friend in Bahrain told him he could make more money as a Masseur here. He sold his car to get trained as a Masseur and pay for a flight ticket to make a fortune in the Middle East as a Masseur. He arrived just before COV 19 hit and was out of work for 13 months with no income or food. I invited him to come and cook for me and he told me his story with the use of Google Translate. He was in the famous Tiffany show in Pattaya , Thailand , where I have many friends and saved money from his work there to buy a car. When he was cooking I saw the cut marks on his wrist and I know from a mutual friend that one of the boys came home to find his room mate had committed suicide, after COV 19 took hold in April or May this year. Many expatriate suicides get reported in the press but this was not.
Oak is not alone, there are many others like him here in Bahrain- Thai's like Kingpromptu and the two Masseurs who used to live in Juffair. I also know several Filipino masseurs in the same situation. The other thing you have to remember is they all have family back home in Asia who they support. They may earn their living by giving massage but all the ones I have met have been very talented guys, that's just the only way they knew to make good money.
The happy ending is that I took Oak for dinner, in a Thai restaurant , in Juffair and we sat and chatted , he ordered the food ( his Thai is much better than mine) and then we went back to Awali where he gave me a massage as I drifted off to sleep after a busy week at work.
The next day i have him my Thai cookery books and he selected a dish called "Money bags" that he wanted to make , and I selected Thai fish cakes . I also found a recipe another Thai Masseur, who used to live in Bahrain, Kiti Ki taught me last year. It's now a favourite with my friends, Chicken and Galangal soup.
Oak made a shopping list in Thai and I took him to Alosra at Rifa Palms and with the help of Gwapo Mark and Google translate he got everything he needed and we headed home where we spent several hours cooking.
He was very professional, getting all the ingredients ready and then cooking the Pork and vegetables. Next he wrapped them in the filo pastry, and made the ties with boiled spring onion blanched in ice ( I always wondered how they did that !) . He worked hard and fast, using both hands , and soon had a plateful of money bags. While he did that I made my soup and fish cakes ( with some salmon I had in the fridge) and then he put oil in a pan and deep fried his money bags and my fish cakes. There was some money bag filling left over so he made some spring rolls and finally around Noon we ate. I had laid the table with my Thai table cover and he was so happy to see all the food we had prepared laid out and he smiled and gave me the Traditional Thai Wei of appreciation. Then we ate!
After he washed up and I had a final massage before I took him back to the reality of his shared room in Hora. He showed pictures and videos of his day to his friends and told me how much he had enjoyed his day.
The happy ending was that I now have a freezer full of Thai food, and he took a bag full of his food home to share with his friends.
The total cost to me of 3 massages , lots of food, a meal out , was a small part of my wages here, and yet it gave pleasure to so many people.
My apologies to those of you who were hoping for a different happy ending to a Thai massage!
If anyone wants a good Thai Chef for the weekend , or Thai meals delivered , Just let me know. I have also uploaded the recipes and pictures for you.
Until the next time- Kita Kits
Ingat Palagi
Mahal Kita
My new Thai Chef Blog Footer, thanks to Corleen for the Chefs uniforms, James for the photos and Chester for the Graphic design, oh, and Kuya Vin for washing up back in 2017!
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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