A most evocative South Korean word which literally means “broadcast eating” and refers to the extraordinary cult of watching people eating – and usually binge eating- on YouTube and the like. And that’s it. Just eating (with a bit of dialogue thrown in between mouthfuls). Nothing else. I’m not aware that this craze has taken off in the west but here in Thailand and other countries in the region, such videos have a massive following.
More than 50,000 Thais watch this gentlemen stuff his face on a daily basis! I really just don’t get it! And he is merely a minnow in the Mukbang world. Boki from Korea from where this fad originated, claims to have close to 4.5 MILLION follows of her YouTube channel and reputably earns around US$180k per month from advertising.
There are even T shirts etc you can buy that celebrate this extraordinary phenomenon.
I just don’t understand the attraction of what seems to me to be not only quite a medically dangerous way of earning money but also, incredibly boring! Watching pigs troughing would be preferable.
Continuing on the subject of eating, a few days ago on our way to Bangkok for Nokky’s 2nd vaccine, I enjoyed a sort of (but tasty nevertheless) ‘English breakfast’. Nothing particularly surprising about that except, that the meal came with a….catapult
which I was urged to use to ward off any monkeys that came to share my meal. Luckily none of them did, especially as the ones lurking in the area were really not only quite big but also quite ‘friendly’!
For some reason, the sale of alcohol in supermarkets and convenience stores is banned here in Thailand between the hours of 2pm and 5pm. A few days ago in a refreshing show of honesty from a politician, anywhere in the world, the Thai Tourism minister
admitted that he had absolutely no idea not only where this strange rule originated from but also why it was in place! Oh, we could have such political openness in the UK!
Cock fighting has been around in Thailand for more than 700 years and is still not illegal. However, gambling on this ‘sport’ is. Despite this, huge amounts of money are wagered on the outcome of these fights. Recently, one stadium in Bangkok raked in close to £500,000 on a single bet. And it is reckoned that a good fighting bird sells for upwards of £60,ooo.
Hua Hin is quite famous for such a ‘sporting’ activity although most of the fighting (and the gambling) these days is done at secret locations away from the prying eyes of the constabulary – or at least those who are not attending!
I am told that, unlike in some areas of the cock fighting world where the birds fight to the death, this rarely happens in Thailand. I’m not sure this makes me any happier about the sport involving such beautiful birds.
Living for the most of the year in a hot, tropical country, it’s difficult to get my head around the fact that it’s nearly Christmas time again. Being a largely Buddhist country, there is very little of the hype (and commercialism) that surrounds this event in the western world. Nevertheless, old habits die hard so, last weekend, up went the Christmas tree.
And I was once again reminded of the strength of super glue when I managed to glue my finger and thumb together when trying to mend a small bauble. Very silly. Very painful!
And talking of ‘silly’, in another moment of total stupidity, I have invited a few (largely UK) mates for Xmas lunch and as the Thais understandably have no real idea about what constitutes a traditional Christmas meal, I have volunteered to do the cooking! This seemed an excellent idea some weeks ago but, having little (aka: zero) experience in such matters, I am now in a complete state of panic!
If I get through this unscathed, I will tell you about my efforts in my next scribblings. In the meantime, to all those who have been following my blog and the many more who have not, we wish you a very, very Happy and Healthy Christmas and hope that 2022 will, at last, bring a degree of sanity into this otherwise crazy world!
Enjoy
R x
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