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Where is Bernard Trink...?


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Hi,

 

I a regular visitor to Thailand as I was born there but have been living in England for most of my life. I normally spend 3-4 days in Bangkok but always go upcountry to visit family.

 

Anyway, does anyone know what has happend to the ex-columnist with Bangkok Post, Bernard Trink. I used to logon to idontgiveahoot.com (I think) to get his weekly rantings but it seemed to have stopped a few months ago?

 

Is he at another webs-site?

 

Anyway, thanks

Stanley

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Good to know Bernie is looking better. I haven't seen him for maybe two years, and the last time I did he seemed like he was on his last legs.

 

Years ago I urged Trink to write a history of the nightlife here. He'd been covering it since the mid 1960s and knows more about it than anyone alive. Lots of folks have practically begged him to write it down. But Trink just absolutely seems to have no interest in doing so. He has boxes of pics of the bars, BGs, Patpong scenes etc. He also has a collection of dirty pics his photographer took in the bars too. Think of the book he could put together. (Of course, he'd have to write it with a crayon...)

 

Say what you want about Trink, the Bangkok Post's editor really treated him like crap. No "thanks for your years of service" or any such thing. Just one day his column disappeared. When asked, the editor replied that Trink wasn't in touch with the times. And the guess what ... the editor himself got booted for slightly criticising the PM. Maybe there is some justice in life.

 

::

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  • 2 weeks later...

If he was sort of anonymous like many authors of pamphlets on the nightlife (few with a consequent gallery of pix), maybe, but I think he knows there is a chance a book like this, could get him in trouble, if someone high up acts up on it. remember what happened to D. Barrett and his "beautiful women of T." book when it came out. And the book was simply about thai women, hardly a red light monography. Plus, I don't know him, but from everything I heard, the guy seems quite a recalcitrant personality.

IMO.

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Trink is a hard one to categorise. Personally, he can be as nice as can be. Almost everyone who has met him likes him.

 

Unfortunately, he is convinced that he is a great writer. About 15 years ago, I co-authored some books on Thai and SE Asian nightlife. Trink started off by saying the fact that he knew me would not influence his judgement. And then he proceeded to rip me apart. Now I could have taken that .. IF his comments had been valid. But he slammed me for things like not mentioning the Landmark Hotel, which had not even been built when I wrote the text. (It takes over a year for a book to get into print, but never having written one Trink wouldn't know that!) He also slammed me for not mentioning his favourite noodle shop. (Huh? Where did it say I was listing noodle shops.) Some of his comments were downright insulting. My friends were horrified when they saw his review of my book in The Bangkok Post and asked me what the hell was wrong with Trink. There is a difference between criticising and crucifying.

 

I was quite angry myself when I read it. Then I remembered that it was just Trink, and quite obviously any book about Bangkok nightlife could be seen as trespassing on his turf. Trink also apparently thinks a reviewer is supposed to tear things apart, even though he is quite thin skinned himself. An expat who writes as S. Tsow did a mild spoof on Trink in his "Thai Lite" book. Trink did not find it amusing and described it in his column as a "hatchet job" on him. (Tsow named him "Barney Bonk".) Stow also had another spoof of Trink he planned to use in his fortnightly column in The Nation. But The Nation would not run it. They said they were afraid Trink might actually sue over it!

 

Trink is a one of a kind. But it is hard to stay angry at him for long. I've seen him since he tore me up in print and I just didn't say a thing about it. It's not worth it. He probably thought he was doing his job.

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He probably thought he was doing his job.

---------------------------------

would have been nice he recognized you did yours too.

 

 

Then I remembered that it was just Trink

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I am afraid it all comes down to that. Sure he had a few balloon chasers infos in his column, but I think what we kind of enjoyed, and less towards the end, was visiting him on a friday, like some "crazy aunt in the attic" ranting and rambling. Your indulgence towards him would point to that being the feeling out there. Does this sell books? If the pictures are good, probably! :)

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Bernard Trink is a genuine original, but not a literary giant. He was a cultural phenomenon, who, for a long time, was the biggest fish in a rather small pond. In some ways, Trink's columns are like the films of Andy Warhol. It was always much more interesting to think about and discuss Warhol's films than watch them.

 

Like many other pioneers, Trink couldn't adapt to the changing times and his age began to catch up with him, as it does us all. In his best days, he was a formidable chronicler of BKK nightlife and he certainly deserved better treatment than he got from the Bangkok Post.

 

I agree that he probably knows more about BKK nightlife than any other living person, especially the early years. It would be a shame if all those memories are lost. But I doubt Trink's personality lends itself to the writing - or publishing - of a book that would be commercially viable.

 

Over the years, I met him fleetingly a few times and he was always pleasant to me. But some of those who know him better and worked regularly with him say he tended to take himself too seriously and exaggerated his own importance in the grand scheme of things.

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