“Buy my fruit!!!” screamed the robot.

After the initial fairy tale week of getting married in northern Thailand and enjoying the first moments of married life, Cheryl and I were thrust into the world of living and working in Bangkok. Our Air Asia plane landed in BKK airport at about 2 a.m. where we met with the other members of Cheryl's University of Winnipeg program. Then we were shuttled deep in the suburbs of Nan Khem to our new home in KornKarn Apartments. Our apartment seemed nice and we were happy to see it. Mostly we were just happy to drop our stuff and go to sleep hoping that we could forget the fact that our truncated honeymoon was over and we were about to engage once more in the responsibilities that traditionally come attached to life; work, money, etc.


We slept comfortably enough considering that we still hadn't mastered the art of sleep in a tropical climate, aka either lying in a cold sweat with no blankets or choking from a dry throat due to air conditioning. But, we were robbed of the peaceful moments between waking up from a blissful sleep and remembering the existence of the waking world. We were unmercifully thrust into consciousness by the crackling sound of a loudspeaker seemingly hovering outside of our bedroom window. The voice erupting outside sounded like a cross between a robot in agony and the menacing tone I imagined big brother to have in Orwell’s famous novel, 1984. I awoke quickly wondering what nightmarish world it was I had woken up to where robots scream at a person so early in the morning. Upon looking outside I found there was indeed no robot hovering outside. In fact, I could see nothing that would at all explain the source of the sound.

Eventually the cacophony faded as if it were getting further away. It appeared the sound had been a mere echo that must have originated on the bustling streets below and was amplified by the walls of the apartment buildings around us. I was so confused as to the origin of the terrible noise and hoped that it would not be a noise repeated on consecutive mornings. Later, as Cheryl and I were walking along the street I spied the source of the terrible noise. A truck was driving slowly down the road. In the back of the truck was a huge pile of strange-looking fruit, which I later found out was called “rambutan”.
Attached to the top of the truck was a steel loudspeaker through which the driver was loudly proclaiming (I assume) in Thai “Buy my fruit!!! Buy my fruit!!! Buy my fruit!!!” Why someone would attempt using such an awful noise to sell something still seems rather ridiculous to me.




As life went on for Cheryl and I here in Bangkok we started noticing that many people use metal loudspeakers, megaphones and various other irritating forms of voice amplification for getting people attention and selling their wares. There is one gentleman close to our home who sells pig heads and will sit for hours on end talking into his microphone announcing about his wonderful pig heads for sale. In Canada I’m sure not only would this kind of selling not work but it would absolutely repel people. But, then again, if one took out everything repellent and not understandable in Thailand it just wouldn’t be as interesting as it is.

Every now and then either Cheryl or I will say “Buy my fruit!!!” and we burst out laughing. It has become almost a satirical humour to us as it represents so many things that mean so much more than “Buy my fruit!!!”

Editors note: The picture of the strange fruit that looks like the stool of a Jim Henson creation is a rambutan fruit. They are quite good. You tug them open and eat the insides similar to a lychee nut.