I only accepted the role because I was asked by Ple (Siwaporn Pongsuwan, the director), who is a very good friend of mine. So basically, I was just trying to help out a friend. Getting to work with both Saray and Dy was exciting, though. They’re big deals in Cambodia, and it’s been interesting working with such prominent figures.

 

I believe in ghosts, though probably not the way most people do. Most people seem to think meeting a ghost is always a bad thing, that it means the ghost is there to harm you. I’ve never believed that ghosts appear before humans with malicious intent. For a ghost to be seen in the real world, it would have to travel through heaven or hell to get back to Earth. That’s a lot of effort; too much for something as trivial as scaring living humans.

 

I’ve always viewed faith and superstition as a beautiful thing. I find it admirable to cling to old beliefs and values even when there is so much evidence to the contrary. I like to think of myself as a believer as well, I just don’t really have a specific religion. I believe in all religions.

 

Growing up, my parents both worshipped different religions, and that’s part of why I’ve always had this casual attitude towards religion. I also studied in a Catholic school as a child, and was required to attend church and choir service every morning. The funny thing is, at my school, there were tons of people with different religions as well. The dude standing next to me in line every morning was a Sikh, and a lot of my good friends were Muslim. Faced with so many faiths, I didn’t know what to believe.

 

Traveling burned me out a few years ago. I wanted to spend more time at home with myself. As it turns out, I can’t stay home for more than a couple days without growing bored and cranky. I realized that I just can’t not travel.

 

I’ve always wanted to be a pilot, though the appeal has waned a little recently what with all the accidents on the news.

 

When Thai people talk about travel, they think of shopping for brand name products in Europe or eating expensive food in Japan. They’re not as interested in more adventurous destinations like South America or Africa.

 

The top five travel destinations I’d recommend for everyone are Mongolia, Peru, Nepal, Ecuador and India. I feel Thais are missing out on a lot of really awesome places just because they don’t have a shopping street or a Starbucks.

 

I’ve always been sympathetic to taxi drivers. A lot of people I know and respect are taxi drivers—my uncle being one of them. I’m not defending taxi drivers who only wait to rip off tourists or who protest for higher fares while refusing passengers left and right. I’m just saying the drivers are people with families they need to feed too.

 

Moderation has always been a problem for me. I used to be an obscenely heavy drinker; I’d go out and get myself blind drunk every single night. It just hit me one day that I wasn’t happy at all. I felt like I was losing years of my life. I can hardly remember the times I spent drinking at all, which was most of the time back then. I decided I had to stop, and I’ve been sober ever since.

 

Aside from traveling, my other true love is racing cars. I love the feeling of sitting behind the wheel going so fast everything becomes a blur. On the race track, you simply don’t have time to think about anything else. No matter what is troubling me, I can always forget about it while I’m on the track. It’s a strangely peaceful yet exhilarating experience.

 

Currently, I have a travel show called 72 Hours, which gives people tips on how to see as much of a destination as they possibly can within a tight time restraint. It currently only airs on Channel 5 on national holidays at 9am, as well as on my own Youtube channel (youtube.com/user/RayMacTV). I will also be hosting a new show which will probably be premiering by Q3 2015. I can’t tell you what it is yet, though.