“Cabbages and Condoms” is an unlikely name for a restaurant anywhere, that is, except Bangkok. Here it seems to be accepted like “Chez Gérard”, “Olympia kebab house” or “Pizza Express” would be elsewhere in the world.  I had been told to come here, first by Jean, one of our customers, then by my “Rough Guide to Bangkok”, and finally by Tracey in accounts. Not that I needed much persuading – I was quite keen to try it. I don’t know why, something slightly intriguing about the name maybe.

Anyway, now I’m here and I’m pleased I made it. It’s a delightful place, set in a beer garden with a natural canopy of trees, each with a thousand tiny star-lights draped from branch to branch. After a hard day leading an interfacing workshop, I can’t think of a better place to relax in the beautiful balmy Bangkok evening. (‘Balmy’ is a precious word in the UK, saved for those very special summer evenings of which we get only a handful. But here in Bangkok, I guess you could class every evening as ‘balmy’.)

So what’s behind the name?

In 1974, a certain Mr Mechai Viravaidya recognized that Thailand was not going to achieve its prosperity objectives if the population continued to grow at a staggering rate. So the ‘PDA’ (Population and Community Development Association) was born, with the objective of creating awareness of the need for birth control. Simply put, the idea was to make condoms as conveniently available in the country towns and villages as cabbages were in the local markets. Indeed, when the name was first used, it referred to a vegetable stall in Bangkok which sold condoms, T-shirts, and the pill along with its cabbages. In the plot where it once stood, on Soi 12 off Sukhumvit Road, now stands the restaurant, a favourite amongst locals and visitors alike. And the profits from the restaurant go to the PDA, now Thailand’s largest non-governmental organisation.

The restaurant is part of a new breed of charity that realise that they cannot rely forever on the kindness of strangers. There are now several Cabbages and Condoms restaurants around the country, as well as three Cabbages and Condoms beach-resorts.

Thai people are famous for their sense of ‘sanook’ – the playfulness they attempt to inject into any activity in which they participate. It is just this sense of fun to which the whole idea of Cabbages and Condoms appeals. Next to the dining area is the visitors centre that sells anything from doormats with a birth control message, to a new rendition of the Mona Lisa complete with a month’s supply of contraceptive pills clutched into her left hand. In fact you can now buy almost anything here except the cabbages.

At the far end of the beer garden is the ‘Vasectomy Bar’ where a free drink can be claimed by anyone undergoing the procedure at the clinic next door.

Mechai can claim a good success rate. Twenty-eight years ago there were an average of seven children per family and a population growth rate of the 3.2%. This is now down to two children per family and a growth rate of 0.9%.He seems to have had no religious or political opposition, and even claims to have had Buddhist monks blessing and sprinkling holy water on the condoms his recruits hand out!

I am seated at a table next to the wishing well and fountain, which adds a welcome cooling moisture to the air. A sign above the well reads “Drop in and make a wish” and assures the punters “Most reasonable wishes should come true”. The restaurant offers to match all contributions to the well, and proceeds are going to the Village Schools Lunch Fund.

I eat fish satay with spicy cucumber followed by roasted pork with red jasmine rice, helped down with Singha beer. I can just glimpse the moon through the dense ceiling of tree branches, the eastern moon that ‘holds water’ as we say in England, adding to the perfect mood of the evening.

Then it’s more meetings and workshops, and finally back through the heavy Bangkok traffic towards the airport. Bangkok city centre has a certain notoriety for its heavy traffic, which I don’t think can be solved as conveniently as London’s problem with the introduction of its Congestion Charge zone. You can wait for traffic lights to change in Bangkok for twenty minutes, but everyone sits patiently in the queue. No tempers, no honks, no road rage.

We Westerners have a lot to re-learn about patience and serenity. We want everything to move quickly – fast food, instant access, we want it all, and we want it now. I was reading Paul Theroux’s ‘Dark Star Safari’ on the aeroplane. At one point he tells the story of Nebiy Makonnen, a political prisoner in Africa. There were no books in the prison, nothing to write with, nothing to write on. But one day a prisoner was brought in and the guards had missed the book he was carrying – ‘Gone with the Wind’. Nebiy decided to translate it. A pen was smuggled in and for paper he used the back of the foil from cigarette packs. It took two years and 3000 sheets of foil. One by one he folded them, put them back into the cigarette packs, and as prisoners were released, they took them with them.

Nebiy was in prison for seven years. On his release he searched for the 3000 sheets containing his translation. This took him another two years. Finally the translation was published and this is the version that Ethiopians read today.

What an achievement! It’s hard to imagine a Westerner doing this. The project would never have got beyond the steering group, buy-in workshops, milestones, and business process planning stage!