A great relief for Minggu....

Our correspondent in Bangkok, Minggu Simon Lhasa can now breathe a sigh of relief  after getting  his Press Identification Card and work permit.

“So now I am officially a correspondent in Thailand,” he said.

He had earlier promised that once he gets the work permit and media pass,  he would be able to file at least 50 stories a month  -- with the help of our Bangkok staff, Piyarat, of course!

“I think it should not be a problem …we have enough connection through Piyarat. The only thing is we try not to use stories from newspapers,  instead we either go for press conference or process statements… more than half of stories here are PC stories rather than sourced from newspaper,” he said.

Being a non-Thai speaking  foreigner, Minggu has to seek the help of Piyarat to translate the many press statements in Thai and the occasional interviews with contacts.

“I feel at home here because everybody is so nice … only thing is that most of the info are in Thai from the bills and so on.. I think they are just aware of the importance of English and there are a lot of vacancies for English teachers,” said Minggu who has been there since July.

The 45 year-old bachelor has travelled in all kinds of transportation mode – “from boats on the Chao Phraya river,  taxi, bus, MRT, motorcycle taxi, tuk tuk to tumpang orang” since living in Bangkok.

“Most of the time, guna motosikal teksi … cost 25 baht ke atas dan juga MRT serta BTS, kalau pakai teksi mesti terperangkap .. I learn my lesson from (covering Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin) incident recently,” he said.

The motorcycle taxi is a thrill, he said.

“Ia motosikal biasa yang dijadikan teksi angkut penumpang, tak payah pakai helmet cuma dia yang depan aje pakai helmet …mereka tunggang motosikal pakai vest warna oren.”

“kalau tak biasa mesti rasa takut,  tapi  badan boleh kurang berat sikit … ha ha ha,” kata Minggu yang menganggarkan beratnya juga berkurangan disebabkan makanan kurang bersantan di sana.

He said it was also fun using  boats, which he does occasionally when covering international events held at river-front hotels.

“Kalau you tinggal di one of the hotels on riverbank you can travel for free… each hotels have their own boat to transport people to and from hotel across the river,” he said.

Asked to list five 'exciting' things or experience which he had  come across since his transfer to Bangkok, Minggu said:

1. pengalaman baru dan suasana baru.

2. people are friendly and willing to help

3. naik pelbagai kenderaan awam yang ada .. merasai budaya baru

4. stuck in a jam pukul dua pagi hujan lebat balik dari Shangri-La Hotel ketika cover (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin (Yassin).dan pemandu tuk-tuk pura-pura tak tahu jalan sebab nak minta duit lebih

5. Tengok gadis-gadis yang cantik (Yep there are a lot of girls and many with models look, it is difficult to be tied up to one. I may regret it if get tied up… ha ha ha. after all Bangkok population and size is 10 times bigger than KL), and he added another point.

6. Salah faham oleh pemandu teksi, nak pergi hotel dia bawa ke rumah nakal yang antara terbesar di kota Bangkok, Amsterdam namanya

Minggu was quick to say that he did not spend time at the place, “... tapi very tempting ha ha ha ha now at least, I know where to bring budak-budak KL yang nakal yang lawat sini”.

What about the five things he miss most about KL?

1. the language .. bahasa.. sini kena cakap Inggeris,  bila org cakap Thai dengar sajalah.

 2. Makanan yang menggemukkan sampai tiga empat bulan terpaksa cari seluar lebih besar

 3. trafik jem kurang

 4. Orang-orang Bernama Hq especially di PBE

  5. naik tangga sebab sekarang cuma naik lift walaupun tinggal tingkat 23 dulu tingkat empat ...itulah...oh yang akhir ialah gadis-gadis KL  yang unik ha ha ha.

Born in Sibu, Minggu joined Bernama 18 years ago as a journalist after a brief spell working at a commodity trading firm.

“Tak tahan sebab kena kerja waktu malam sampai pagi,” said Minggu who studied law at University Malaya.  

‘1 Januari 1995 masuk Bernama secara rasmi… tapi training dengan (Datuk) Jaafar Hussin sekitar September atau Oktober 1994.

Ada dua puluh lebih (yang masuk bersama saya)… masa itu ramai interview, tiga hari kalau tak silap,” katanya.

Asked about his aspirations as correspondent in Bangkok, he said: “Do my best. Absorb the experience as much as I can. Life is short so enjoy whatever happens and whatever comes .. tomorrow is still there unless GOD wants us to retire,” he said.