Lek begins to wonder whether everything that she had hoped for for fifteen years was all worth it now that she had achieved her goals. Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family. She did not expect to do anything any different from the other girls in her class in the northern rice belt of Thailand. Typically that would be: work in the fields for a few years; have a few babies; give them to mum to take care of and get back to work until her kids had their own children and it would be her turn to stop working to take care of them. One day a catastrophe occurred out of the blue – her father died young and with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and she was the only one who could prevent foreclosure. However, the only way she knew was to go to work in her cousin's bar in Pattaya. She drifted into the tourist sex industry. The second book, ‘An Exciting Future’, tells of Lek’s attempts to settle down and this, the third book, picks up the story of Lek's life six or seven years after that. At forty-ish, it is time to take stock of her life. She looks back on her past and wonders whether it was all worth it. Should she feel bitter about what has happened to her or should she move on and try to forget her past? Should she just try to erase it, whitewash it out, like so many women did or should she feel proud of what she has accomplished? Lek is plagued by mixed emotions and tries to seek an explanation that she can live with for the rest of her life.
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Owen Jones. Maya - Illusion
Contents
MAYA - ILLUSION
Contact Me
DEDICATION
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1 A BOLT FROM THE BLUE
2 THE VISA RUN TO LAOS
3 The Death of a Neighbour
4 THE FRUIT GARDEN
5 ONE HUNDRED DAYS
6 THE FAMILY BUSINESSES
7 SCHOOL SUMMER HOLIDAYS
8 SONGKHRAN
9 AYR'S BUSINESS PLANS
10 TOPPING OUT
11 RISING PROSPERITY FOR BAAN SUAY?
12 HIGH SOCIETY
13 LOCAL FALANG COMMUNITY
14 ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
15 IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
16 A TREE FALLS..
17 THE BUSINESS TRIP
18 CRAIG'S BOOK
19 WOOLLEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
20 THE PARTY SEASON BEGINS
21 A CHANGE IN FORTUNE
22 THE SANUK EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
23 OPERATION SALVAGE
24 CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
25 MAYA - ILLUSION
GLOSSARY
THE LADY IN THE TREE
1 TROUBLE AT T’ MILL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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This book is dedicated to my wife and her family, who have always taken care of me in the most wonderful manner, affording me the time and space to take up this career of writing. No-one could have made me feel more welcome and part of the family than they have. I have loved every minute of my life in Thailand and the reason for that lies largely with them.
2 The Visa Run to Laos
.....
After the dreams she had had for and the nightmares she had had about Soom’s future over the last eighteen years, Lek was not about to leave anything to something as intangible as Fate. Her daughter might not be clever enough to pass the examinations, that was something else, but she would sit them, shortage of money notwithstanding.
She sat with her mother, but her mother could see that she was troubled, so she cut and peeled some fruit for them both and pretended to be busy until her daughter made the first move.
