Page 9 - Nomads Magazine Issue 7

“I lived in New York for 17, 18 years and then nally I couldn’t take it anymore. You get to a point where you’ve been there so long that you see your own death with the tunnel, the escalator, leading to some miser- able demise. In 2011, my mother died and IhadtogobacktotheUKtodealwithher estate. As soon as I got on the plane in New York and I left, I just thought I’m not com- ing back.”The waitress came to our table with a tray of goodies. She said, “This here is compli- mentary from the chef. We have steamed Thai peanut, sweet pepper cracker, and the last one is puff rice inside sh sauce and chilly”. She explained the two set menu op- tions and Osborne ordered speaking in per- fect Thai. Your Thai is very good. “I have to. I live in an old Thai building so when my sewage goes down, the pipes, I have to know all those stupid words. For example; Could you please tighten my screw-in nut on the faucet to the left?“I might get a cocktail. The waitress has taken my cocktail menu away. I prob- ably have that really bad look about me.” I smirked because Osborne did have a bit of “that look” about him. When the waitress re- turned he took a passion fruit caipirinha, and I ordered the Bo.Lan Mao Mao.Osborne’s rst days in Bangkok, back in the 90’s, were spent with a cast of expat characters who also lived in the riverside Primrose Apartments. These included an Englishman who may or may not really be named McGinnis, a Spanish painter who did the frescoes behind Bangkok bars, and a Scot who ran a holiday lodge in Cambo- dia. By now, many of those men are prob- ably dead or gone, but Osborne did recently get the chance to visit the Scot’s eco-lodge. With lamps made of shell cases and artil- lery shells in the ground, Osborne called the place, “completely bonkers.”“The whole lodge is made out of military munitions that he’s dug up out of the ground. He’s there with his Cambodian wife and the eight children he spawned. There are yellow ticker tapes all over the grounds to show you where you can walk without being blown up by mines. It’s just extraordinary. We were sitting there having dinner and there’s just this huge explosion KABOOM and this red cloud appeared above the trees and then subsided. One of the deer had stepped on a mine,” Osborne laughed and took a sip of his passion fruit caipirinha, “He turned into a cloud of blood.”In fact, Osborne’s new novel, Hunters in the Dark, takes place in Cambodia as well. He wrote the story of a young English teacher in Thailand who sought thrills next door in Cambodia, only to nd himself wrapped up in a world of drugs and danger. The book is loosely based on the true story of an 18-year- old boy who went to Cambodia and disap- peared, never to be found. The boy’s father still goes back yearly trying to nd his son. The only information they have on the case is that the boy bought a gun and met a girl, then he vanished. “That’s Cambodia, too. You don’t know why people disappear.”8