Letter #73

3-Febraury-1963

pp.299-303

Talking about military service

before, when China and Thailand relation were convenient, they were free to pass back and forth between the 2 nations and not even passport were required

TSU is somewhat Chinese first generation on Thailand and he says that the first generation are not desire-able for the Thai army?

Another technique used to excused from military service is poor health

the young men would starve and dehydrate themselves a week b4 the physical examination and then the doctor would exempt them

there also a disorder the “crooked fingers” where they also deemed u useless

TSU thinks WK cant be exempt and he wanna see WK marry Rose by the age of 20 and not marching the countryside eating brown rice

TSU starts to give WK higher salary for him to save for the draft

WK suggest keeping the money in the bank

TSU will put WK in charge of book keeping for the bakery and Mui Eng’s shop

After thaT TSU told WK that he wanted him to marry at 20 to Rose

WK detest the idea, he said rose is not like other girls, she doesnt dress up nor make up like one \

Well TSU is not expecting them to get along quickly anyway, he says in three years they might change

Ever since CK marriage Bak Li help around alot in Mui Eng’shop while MEng Chu is busy with school but still help to work like she promises

Meng Chu suggest him to buy an adding machine

He refuse, he doesnt like machine altho he did bought a type writer so that Meng Chu can it for the Thai correspondence

Also MC is doing very well in school, top of her class and even have spare time to watch TV now and Then

He then talks abt Meng Chu going into the higher school, she has refuse to take her lunch and ask for lunch money

Plus she is meeting alot of kid from various background and all of them can speak more languages plus have tutor, she is worried that she wont be top of the class anymore

TSU is still proud of her regardless

Meng CHu work hard for her examination that is in 2 months, always on her book and never watching TV

she works harder than the other kids