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FAQs about Thiti Teerachin, who authored "MK Without Fear.

This FAQ offers detailed insights into Thiti Teerachin, the author of "Mario Kleff Without Fear" and director of Wandeegroup Asia Co., Ltd, a general contractor based in Pattaya.

Author of the Gripping Biography Unveils Tale of Love and Sacrifice

In the vibrant landscapes of Pattaya, Thiti Teerachin unveils a captivating narrative in 'Mario Kleff's Leopards: A Tale Of Love And Sacrifice.' Delve into the extraordinary bond between Mario Kleff and his leopards, Fasai and Typhoon, as Teerachin intertwines love, commitment, and sacrifice against the backdrop of Pattaya's bustling streets. Discover the profound journey of a man and his leopards, echoing the essence of devotion and resilience. Follow the news about the "legal Wandeegroup leopards.

Question & Answers

Thiti Teerachin Delves into Mario Kleff's Unconventional Rise From Coconut Seller to Millionaire Architect

Biography "Mario Kleff Without Fear"

Reading Sample

Mario Kleff arrived in Thailand early in 2002 with a backpack containing a change of clothes and very little else. He had between 200 and 300 euros in his pocket, and he carried his portfolio in the hope that he would land a job at his final destination, wherever that might be. He still wanted that to be India, but it soon became apparent that his travelling companion, Apple, had no intention of leaving her home city of Bangkok, or Krung Thep, as it is known in Thailand.

Mario had little choice but to remain in Bangkok with her. He had insufficient cash to go on to India alone, and returning to Germany wasn’t an option. He had decided it was time to part company with the country of his birth, despite the fact it had provided him with a comfortable lifestyle and the cultural stimulation he had always craved. But therein was the problem. He didn’t desire comfort. He felt that Germany, like many of its western European neighbours, was no more than a safe option. The path to a typical German lifestyle was firmly entrenched: you graduated, found a job, bought a house, got married, had a couple of kids, and saved up for your retirement. Mario wanted more than that, and to find it he had to leave.

“After the war, Germany became a benign state, a rehabilitation centre, if you like,” he said. “Its drive and its spirit got lost and it was content to occupy the middle ground where everyone simply became too comfortable. Working as an art director I found that innovative and creative ideas were often rejected because they were too forward thinking, too edgy. The creative industry had stagnated. It just wasn’t progressive enough for me anymore.”

Mario’s motivation in leaving was to start his own business, not to continue his career as an art director. The perfect place to do that, he thought, was the USA. But he also felt that the American dream contained only a thin veneer of culture and encompassed an insatiable lust to make money. On the other hand, Mario saw launching his own business as a route to professional satisfaction, not as a way to accumulate wealth.

“South America looked attractive to me,” he said. “Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and maybe even Peru and Bolivia are places I think I would have loved. They are surrounded by tropical rainforests and wildlife, and, unlike Germany, they are unencumbered by the achievements of their ancestors during the previous 500 years.

“I thought I could also have lived in parts of Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan or Pakistan – rough countries with no real organisation within the capitalist system or the schooling system and where you simply survived or didn’t survive, living off your wits and your own endeavours. I hated the idea of life revolving around salaries, insurance policies, pensions and government safety nets as was the case in Germany. I was attracted by uncertainty, not certainty.”

“I loved traveling, and I discovered that India had a very rich culture and I found that the people there were spirited, even at the lowest social levels. They were survivors, they wanted to achieve something, and they were happy and proud. They were not judged by their neighbours and they did not have a state safety net to fall back on. I admired them. India also had a natural environment, full of wildlife, which also appealed to me.”

So India was the target, but Mario was in no position to get there anytime soon from Thailand.

“I didn’t know a lot about Thailand at that particular moment, but I knew it was a kingdom and I knew it had a King who loved art and music. I thought that was okay, so I decided I should give Thailand a chance, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to live there.”

Apple introduced Mario to her father, a government worker who had a small town house in the centre of Bangkok. He gave Mario and Apple the run of his house, but Mario didn’t feel at home in Bangkok. Apple’s father sensed his discomfort and offered him the use of the family’s garden home in Bang Khun Thian, the southernmost of the 50 districts of Bangkok.

The family’s two-storey garden home was built on a large plot of land set in a coconut grove among a series of khlongs – a network of canals used for drainage and transport. The land had been gifted to Apple’s maternal grandmother by the Thai Royal Family, for whom she had worked. Apple’s mother had subsequently inherited the land. It was in an area dominated by palm trees and very few houses, all of which appeared to be occupied by people engaged in the coconut trade. Mario mistook the house’s water storage tank for a large bathtub and decided to plunge in to cool off, much to the amusement of his neighbours.

After a week in the garden house, Mario sensed rumblings of discontent from Apple’s mother, who believed she needed reimbursing for his cohabitation with her daughter. Remuneration was something he couldn’t pay and had no wish to pay, even if he had been able. He did not like the mother’s apparent greed, particularly as he had been instrumental in getting her daughter back from Germany. So Mario Kleff accepted an offer from Apple’s father to move rent free to a much smaller, adjacent plot of land which had been given to the father by the government for his retirement. Mario had a free hand to do whatever he liked with the land.

The small plot consisted only of palm trees and water, no accommodation. Mario slept in the open on rough ground under the palms in the mosquito-infested khlongs. Apple remained in her mother’s house a few hundred metres away.

“Apple’s father came each evening to visit his daughter and was quite worried about me,” said Mario. “So, after a couple of days, he suggested I could cut the palms and bamboo to use as protection. I knew you could make things out of bamboo, even though I didn’t know how, so I borrowed a machete from my neighbours and began cutting some down. It took me all day and as I cut the bamboo, huge ants came out and ran over my body. Then when Apple’s father came in the evening, he told me that the bamboo was completely unsuitable for building anything. It was too brittle.”

The following day, Apple’s father arrived with a pickup truck containing a consignment of bamboo more suited to the task in hand. Mario cleared three or four palm trees to create sufficient space for the hut he planned to build and continued to sleep under the stars, jumping in a khlong in the morning to bathe, despite the lack of a toothbrush, toothpaste or soap. In the evenings he was usually invited to the home of one of his neighbours to share their food, after which the Thais retired to bed around 8pm.

“After that I would sit on my land alone, no electricity, no mosquito spray, nothing,” said Mario. “Apple had begun helping her aunt sell coconut juice in a local market, leaving me alone all day. I decided to spend my time making a basic bamboo hut as I didn’t even have a mattress to lie on at that time.”

Mario Kleff spent his first two weeks in the coconut grove living this primitive lifestyle, sleeping rough, even in the rain, and occasionally being visited in the evening by Apple’s brothers. They usually brought a bottle of whisky with them while they attempted to communicate with the unconventional foreigner in their midst.

After his first month in Bang Khun Thian, Mario sold his watch to raise some much-needed cash, most of which went to Apple to pay for the food she brought him. It was the last watch he ever owned, and he has never worn one since. He led a life of extreme poverty and one in which self-sufficiency was essential. He started fishing in the khlongs, setting up a number of bamboo sticks with string lines on which he caught eels and catfish. They became his staple diet. Apple used the money Mario got for his watch to buy him a gas bottle with a burner on the top and Mario borrowed a pan from his neighbours so he could cook his daily catch.

For more information about the Biography Book go to section Question & Answers .

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