Ben Oostdam's Journal
of
Three Years (1954-1957)
in

T H A I L A N D


DATE: April - July , 1955 LOCATION : Bangkok, Thailand


this time there was no doubt..

April 2, 1955.


A driver signalled that he was turning right,
so I veered to the left; he changed his mind
and turned left, so I corrected course, too.
Just when the scooter bumped into his bumper
I thought everything turned out ok, except for a dent...
Then I heard Jan shout: "Now there is no doubt!"
and saw him lying on his back with his legs up
in the air, one of them turned 90 degrees at
his ankle ....Kassian.
When I took this shot, Jan had just been moved
away by an ambulance. After some time in the
hospital, he was still on crutches as late as July.
But my guilt feelings - justified or not - are still
strong 5 decades later....So who suffered most?;o]




At Precha's wedding on May 5
It rained cats and dogs, but that is a very good omen in Thailand!
So I braved the flooded compound to attend, and we all missed Jan!





typing a letter
July, 1955
The Dutch staff of our bank:

standing ltr:
Jan Hempenius, Jaap Koster, Henk Altink, Ben Oostdam;
sitting ltr:
Wim Fleurbaay,
Gab Brand
missing gvd:
Putjetkan van Oenen,
Kees van Dongen
our early hours of training
in horseback riding
in Holland finally paid off:
here I am riding with
our good friend
Jurre Kuipers of
Diethelm

BLO fecit 20001228 LINKS to Thailand next page (temple scenes, Bangkok contents of
autobiography 		index of websites