If you ever see a Thai girl of any age without a cell phone walk away fast because there is definitely something wrong with her. Well, that or she is my Thai girl and has imploded, exploded, depth charged or otherwise decimated yet another phone.
When we first met she had an old hand me down phone that had seen better days. The numbers were worn of the key pads and the screen had a large crack in it making it hard to see anything. Knowing her birthday was coming up I bought her a brand spankin new Nokia N97, she was overwhelmed with joy to say the least and decided her first purchase would be a protective plastic case for the phone so she wouldn’t as much as get a scratch on it. It only lasted 2 months.
One day I get a phone call from her but I could barely hear her and it sounded like she was under water…She was! “Teelac” I asked, ” why does the phone sound so bad?” and her answer? “Teelac I call you from shower…no pompem have plastic cover good for water”. Needless to say the phone call died out just after that sentence. She called me later to say that plastic case not good to protect phone from water.
So, being the nice guy I am I packed up my Thai cell phone in a a small care package I was getting ready to send. Phone #2 lasted about 4 months. My cell phone had some Thai music downloaded to it and she would let her Daughter, all of 2 years old, run around the house holding the phone while listening to the music. Phone #2 met it’s demise against a cinder block wall. Apparently not able to contain her happiness of hearing the same song for the 100th time she decided to see if the phone would bounce…it didn’t.
Phone #3 met it’s fate when the family rooster broke out of it’s pen and wandered into the house at 5am and started crowing. My girl threw the T.V. remote at it to shut it up. She realized when she woke up that her aim was true as there were some rooster feathers scattered around what was left of her phone not the T.V. remote.
So far phone #4 has out lasted the first 3, but it’s only a matter of time…
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Talen tiled floors and cell phones don’t mix too well.
Add to that the ability of Thai women to constantly call each other all the time means I am forever lending MTF my cell phone because she has no credit.
To date it has bounced twice when she just borrowed it for a minute-but fortunately still works OK.
Mikes last blog post..Thailands Endangered Elephants.
I get that now anad again….”Teelac I borrow your phone mine not work” when I ask whats wrong it’s just out of baht.
The chicken probably died wishing he was out of range instead of free range, I take it you ate stir fry chicken and cell..ery that night.
I bought myself a nice new phone a few years back and took it to Thailand, Wilai saw it and wanted it, end of phone. Being stupid I bought myself an even better one and yes, she saw it and well end of story. I solved the problem by buying myself the cheapest crappiest phone going and managed to keep hold of it for about three years. I’ve got a decent one now but she seems content with one I bought for her about 18 months back, fingers crossed.
Martyns last blog post..Thailand – A Sting in the Tail
Funny how robust your cel phones are, I looked after my like a baby and cared for it tenderly, now it doesn’t work. Perhaps I should have treated it rough, it might still be working. I’m not too bothered as I don’t use it anyway.
Bulgarian women are like the Thsi women, never off the cell phone, even on the toilet!(it is called a GSM here.)
Even in the remote villages you will see a donkey and cart travelling along or a horse and manual plough being worked with one hand an a mobile phone in the other quite serreal.
Not too many are thrown at chickens though.
Martin in reply to your comment I just want to say how much Bulgaria is like Thailand, your words sum that up in a nutshell.
Martyns last blog post..Thailand – A Sting in the Tail
That is funny to see someone who doesn’t appear to have much but they have a cell phone. I saw children in Mukdahan with cell phones.
Wow! That is a lot of phones! Good luck with #4.
Karens last blog post..Bubbles of Fun
Talen Just had to throw my 2 cents in as it were . The In thing now is the little clip for the ear, so you don’t have to even hold it, and you can talk all day as Ciejay spends a lot of times doing , I am greatful that she limits it mostly to the evening times, hands, free . I hate them because I never know if shes talking to me or not .cooking ,cleaning ,slowing down only to catch her breath .
My cell phone story ,true , I have a Samsung 7 years old , I bought in America and brought to Thailand for 500 baht a man did something and put in a sim card for Thailand and walii it worked and has for five years now heres the good part same battery , same charger , same case and , while rowing a boat in the river near my sister-in-laws and sinking the boat and having to tread water and swim for 30 minutes to shore , my cell under water in my belt loop the whole time, when I got out water poured out and everyone said throw it away , well I took the back off and put on the roof in the sun for 4 hours , time to go home. Ciejay said throw it away , she did’nt of course want me to lose face in front of her friens ,you know Thais, well I laid it, water socked in the screen still on the dash and drove off , 10 min later (no lie) the thing rings and it was my friend in America , calling me ,we talk ,clear as always , the next day after laying on my desk all night , it was completely dry and that was 3 years ago and I still use it today and never turn it off and charge every nite . thats my story and I’m sticking to it Malcolm
Malcolms last blog post..Lunch Time In Whang Pho
The ear clip is a great invention…unfortunately my girl has extremely sensitive ears that tickle too mut.
Hopefully one day I’ll keep a phone for that long…but I have a feeling like Mike it will be borrowed and exploded in due time.
IS-THIS-REALLY-A-TRUE-STORY? *gasps in shock*
Well, it’s not my business but may I ask why you keep buying her new phone? Make her by it herself if she doesn’t even know how to take care of it! She might treat it in a totally different way if it was bought by her money.
I have to praise you though, cuz I don’t have such high degree of tolerance
I have been using mine for almost 3 years now. It’s still working fine, so there’s no plan to change it anytime soon.
Nattas last blog post..It’s…only…words?
Hi Natta,
Well, I bought one phone and technically a second phone because I sent her my older used phone….third one was all hers.
Auntie tells me she is a very clumsy girl!
I just checked out your blog…love the header
The men in my life have similar phone problems. They don’t wash them or throw them at chickens. Oh no. They get in taxis and don’t notice that the phone has slide out of their pockets and into the back seat until they are at home. Bye, bye phone.
Catherines last blog post..Rod Stewart Does Bangkok
Hi Talen,
I am here everyday at your Blog. Was here earlier this afternoon and returned at night now. I notice that the EC Drop Widget is no longer displayed at your Blog.
Have you stopped with EC or it’s just my Browser acting up?
Windmills last blog post..What are Hackers after?
Yeah, I stopped using EC…I’ll still be going around to all the great blogs I found through EC like yours but the system really doesn’t work that well anymore and with all the changes it’s just getting worse.
I never used it for the traffic but to hook up with other bloggers and now that I’ve done that and saved all my favorites to my reader there isn’t much need for EC anymore.
Oh! ok, I understand. You’re still on my Bookmark list so same-same, I shall be visiting your Blog daily too.
Cheers!
LoL! It’s bad enough phones nowadays aren’t made to last anyways, but couple that with how your girl treats them… yikes!! Contrast that with me… I’ve had my clunky SOny Ericsson P800 since 2003!
p/s: I’ve dropped by on and off via EC – finally adding you to my blogroll.
cheers,
*lynne*
*lynne*s last blog post..Public Holidays, Festivals and Events in April
Your’re only on your forth phone ?
My wife has destroyed three Nokia’s, a Samsung, and a Motorola Razor. (So far.)
Four of them died from water intrusion (Two fell into the toilet and two made their way into Pattaya bay.) and the last lept to it’s death from our pick-up truck.
Now she has a “Noka” which looks like an iPhone.
It will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.
Just wanted to update the phone body count.
My wifes “Noka” died a mysterious death during SongKran 2010.
She doesn’t say how it met its demise but I suspect a healthy dose of Blend 285 had something to do with it.
Oh well, on to number seven.