Georg Peter Mueller is a German, now resident
in Chiang Mai and an international documentary filmmaker and
journalist. He is in Asia to fulfil a long held ‘need’ and
along the way found himself, his career and his philosophy.
Georg was born in Essen in Germany. His
father was a medical doctor, as were most of his relatives. The
remainder were missionaries, and Georg remembers sitting on the
knee of one, listening to marvellous exciting tales of life in
primitive Africa.
He did not perform to his true capabilities
at school. Post war German youth was suspicious of all
authority, be that parents, teachers or government. He regrets
that somewhat, saying, “We were anti-authoritarian and we
wasted our chances to learn.” One obvious aspect of this
revolt was the era of the long hair and the rock bands, and
Georg spent his nights on the skins, sweat flying from the long
hair.
However, his parents did manage to push him
hard enough for him to graduate with high enough grades to make
it into university - but there was one slight hitch - the German
government wanted him first for National Service. He spent the
next 15 months in the navy learning communications. If nothing
else he learned to type!
His choice of subjects for his tertiary
education were out of the ordinary - anthropology and
communications. “When I was 15 years old, I only knew what I
didn’t want to be, and anthropological films and Africa
sounded interesting!” He still felt the same at university
entrance, but continued through in those subjects, graduating
with a Masters degree after six years.
His thesis at university was based on
Indonesian anthropology, a country he had never seen, so he
decided he should see it after graduation, back-packing his way
around for 7 months, till he came to Bali. There he had, what he
described as a “magic moment. I decided that there was where I
wanted to be.” Like so many Europeans, he was succumbing to
the charms of Asia.
By now, a true traveller, he was setting off
to return to Germany by the Trans-Siberian Railway, when the
Chernobyl disaster cancelled the trip, but he did not take that
as the hand of fate and returned anyway.
Germany was not looking for anthropologists
every day, but there were openings for communicators and he
finally ended up in a German private TV company. He began
producing radio and TV documentaries, but found himself getting
depressed with life in the Fatherland. “I wanted to go back to
Asia,” were his thoughts at the time. He took himself back to
Indonesia on a holiday and shot a 45 minute documentary on
anthropology in Sulawesi, and loved the experience.
Returning to Germany, he asked for a posting
to Asia, hoping for Indonesia, but was told he could have
Thailand. He took the opportunity. “I arrived on the 7th of
February 1989 with two bags and no idea what I was supposed to
do as a foreign correspondent.” His company was not much help
either, going bankrupt after he had been here two months! “I
had just started, but I decided to stay.”
He started writing for newspapers, produced a
documentary of deforestation of the Burmese rainforests, and
turned his hand to anything that might return a few baht for his
words and pictures. “I just barely survived, but I wanted to
stay here despite interesting job offers from Germany.”
He became better known and joined a
partnership to produce films and offer all services for TV
production. He got married to the Thai lady he met in Bangkok 6
weeks after he arrived. He began to do more than just survive.
1997 was a turning point for Georg (as it was
for many people in Asia during the economic crash). After 12
months of trying he finally got permission to film the jade
mines in Burma. No-one else had been there and his TV
documentary sold well overseas. As the baht sank, you could make
real money just out of exchange rates, and Georg cashed his
overseas earnings as the baht hit bottom. He bought land and a
house in Chiang Mai with the proceeds. The fall of the tiger
economies helped someone here!
He had come to Chiang Mai with his family as
there was a German school here, and he wanted his daughters to
be able to speak German. He also knew that you needed less money
to live here, compared to Bangkok, and “the quality of life is
better,” he said fervently.
In Chiang Mai he has not looked back. He
formed his own production company and took on the position as
the local ‘man on the ground’ for the German TV station
Deutsche Welle. From there it has been into more corporate work,
more documentaries and more production services. “In order to
survive here you have to do many things. The art is in juggling
the jobs to get everything done!”
His philosophy is interesting too. “Just be
yourself. Just let things happen. I don’t force things. Leave
the things you don’t want alone, and you automatically come to
the things you do want.” This is a repeat of what he was
thinking when he was 15 years old. He didn’t know what he
wanted, but he knew what he didn’t want. A simple philosophy,
but one that works for Georg.
These days he has also adopted the Buddhist
faith, which fits for him. “I’m happy with my life. I can
travel and I’m always learning. There are so many incredible
stories out there.” He is also very happy with his family,
proudly telling me of the achievements of his three girls.
Georg Mueller is now here, and most likely
forever, though he did say, “It’s smart to keep one door
open, but I have a strong family in Germany, and I know we’d
all help each other.” I don’t think you’ll have to call on
that help, Georg!
