Sipping coffee in a small music shop near the Prasae intersection in Rayong's Klaeng district, one of the things that becomes noticeable is the visitors' focus on more than just a dark brew and the walls of guitars.
Mr Chamriang plays a few notes on a guitar in his store which doubles up as a coffee shop and a drop-in centre for people to receive advice on problems with their children. PHOTOS BY NAUVARAT SUKSAMRAN
The three-storey house is distinctive enough on its own as a music store, with its vast array of instruments and the tables where visitors can relax in a nice ambience.
But for many of those visitors it is not just the coffee or music that has drawn them. They are there for advice about the problems they have with their children.
Chamriang Mungtokit and his wife Rangsiya say their guitar shop, Klaeng Music, attracts a melting pot of people from different backgrounds and passions, not to mention problems.
They say the visitors are both customers and fathers and mothers of problem children.
Mr Chamriang and Mrs Rangsiya take their work beyond the serving of coffee and selling or giving tips on music or how to fix instruments.
Mr Chamriang says some parents step in to the shop looking as though they are carrying the whole world on their shoulders.
He remembers a visit by a senior forestry official who was looking for a guitar for his son who was addicted to computer games.
The musical instrument was meant to be a diversion for the son. But how to wean the boy off the computer and re-focus his attention on the guitar? It would take tremendous powers of persuasion.
Mr Chamriang told the man that boys hooked on computer games are typically very competitive as they are constantly trying to beat their opponents, set new records or just challenge their own skills.
He told the father that he should use this natural tendency to his advantage.
Mr Chamriang shows some of the guitars he sells at the store.
Mr Chamriang advised him to challenge his son to take up the guitar and learn to do it well so that he could be even better than his father. The official himself was an amateur guitarist in his younger days.
Once the boy agreed to guitar lessons and practised for an hour each day, he quickly got the hang of it.
After guitar class, the boy is allowed to play computer games for a few hours.
"The father told me the whole family now plays guitar and sings together. They really enjoy this new-found pastime," Mr Chamriang said.
The family is now looking to buy more musical instruments and has floated the idea of letting the son form a band to be joined by his friends.
The official said playing guitar regularly is de-stressing and relives the memory and joy of his days as a young teenager.
Mr Chamriang and his wife also have many fond memories of when they had their own band.
For 17 years their band, Phet Banna (rural gem), played to people in Rayong and nearby provinces. Mrs Rangsiya started the band with her sister in 1992 before Mr Chamriang came along. He joined the band as a guitarist while she was the lead singer.
Soon, he was smitten by her and their love eventually blossomed. The relationship kept the band together until it broke up four years ago.
"Our percussionist died in an accident while other members grew old and too tired to travel to perform shows," said Mr Chamriang, 45.
"The members agreed that they wanted to stop and settle down and start their own businesses," he said.
The couple has two daughters. The eldest is keen to follow in her parents' footsteps and is eager to be a professional guitar player like her father and a singer like her mother.
The couple believes music helps their daughters to cope better with the rough patches most teenagers go through, Mrs Rangsiya said.
Their strong bond to music has also forged a tight-knit family.
Mr Chamriang also owns a business making tapioca shreds for flour while his wife has inherited rubber and fruit plantations from her family.
After Phet Banna disbanded, the couple decided to open the musical instrument shop with a coffee corner. Originally, part of the shop was designated as a music practice room for rent.
The room was later shut down as many teenagers, including troublemakers, began using it just to hang out.
The couple said all they really wanted to do was to talk to their visitors and discuss issues concerning music. However, the conversations soon took a different path to cover issues such as advice to help keep their children away from distractions which reduce their time at school and with their families.
Among the undesired preoccupations is computer games which "trap children in an unreal world" for too much time, Mr Chamriang said.
Mrs Rangsiya said music can put one's mind at ease.
"Music is really soothing to our minds," she said. It helps people to keep sane and calm.
Economically, Mr Chamriang said a career in music for most people in rural provinces is not the most rewarding job in the world.
But what comes with it, which in this case is the family's ability to hear parent's problems and to help them, is definitely a plus, Mr Chamriang said.
Mrs Rangsiya in her younger years as lead singer of the Phet Banna band.
Rangsiya Mungtokit makes coffee for a customer at her music store in Rayong which doubles as a coffee shop run by her and her husband, Chamriang.
The couple stand outside their music store, Klaeng Music, which they opened after their band broke up four years ago.
