On my way home from Future Park (the nearby humongous shopping mall) where I’d gone to buy a white shirt for cricket (yes, after a long wait I am finally going to have a game this weekend!) I hopped a cab, it was about 7.30pm and pitch black. To from Future Park to my place you simply head straight down the highway and turn left into the gates of the University. Simple.
But not for my taxi driver who took a random left before I could stop him, and this being Thailand there was no way to do a U-Turn until we were way off course. He then promptly got lost until I told him to stop and got out at the bottom of the campus, probably about 2km from my place. At least it was a nice night for a walk.
I wound my way along the pathways in the general direction of home. There was barely a soul about, I startled the two security guards playing cards in the middle of the deserted campus. I tried not to think of mosquitos, and nearly stepped on a toad. I flagged down a student on a motorbike to ask for directions. I walked on and on.
Boom. Ba-Boom. Boom. A bass guitar? A pause. Screech. Plang. An electric guitar? Silence. Sounds so familiar, though absent since I’d come to Thailand. Dum, Dum. Definitely a kick drum. I followed the faithful sounds to their source.
The campus ceased to be silent as I turned the corner to see a concert in full flight under one of the many pavilions on campus. The lights, yellow and red flashed, the student band kicked into a song, the bass loud, guitar distorted, singer shouting. 200 Thai students jumped up and down, screamed, lost control.
I stayed for four songs, the only live, living, vibrant rock songs I’ve heard from the Thai’s in my time here. The band were good, or at least as good as any uni band at home, they were noisy, they weren’t soppy, they weren’t polished till the heart was rubbed out.
With a smile of hope I walked the last yards home.
COUNTDOWN TO CRICKET: 48 Hours.
THAI KIDS GOING NUTS LIKE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO TO MUSIC: 200
BEERS CONSUMED BY SAID STUDENTS: None- it’s a dry campus after all.
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