Ted

'YEt it is the crazy stuff like this.. that make you smile afterwards...and then you recall the sweat you went through...'

A most wise response Rhys. Clearly your a man of experience!

A few years back when I was just 23 years old I met the most beautiful, fun loving, educated and articulate Thai girl. I don’t think I was as necessarily as naive as the age might suggest. Having gained my first job in Hong Kong at 19 by the time I was 23 I was well travelled with many Asian anecdotes under the belt for someone of that age. A (not particularly close) friend of mine introduced me to his girlfriend one evening. She had travelled widely and had studied and lived overseas where they met before returning to Thailand. We got on well as a group - so well, in fact that she suggested we should go out again and she’d bring her single friend along with her.

I was thrilled with the opportunity to meet a Thai girl not from the industry and eagerly awaited the date. We arranged to meet up at a flash Italian restaurant in Bangkok and when I arrived on time the others were already sitting at the table. I was stunned by her beauty, and my friend cast me a ‘thought you’d be pleased’ look. She had recently finished university and seemed to come from a fairly middle class Bangkok family and we hit it off.

I was smitten with the girl and we spent more and more time with each other. One morning, the conversation turned to ex’s. As I was trying to turn the subject to the obligatory, ‘but farangs don’t cheat.’ she let on that her ex was one of Bangkok’s boys in brown. Having heard one or two stories as to the day to day corruption in Thailand I was less than thrilled. However, it got worse. I discovered that she still saw him from time to time, but ‘more as friends.’ But when that changed to, ‘I just need to find a time to break up with him properly.’ that was enough for me to be out of there.

Now a few years older, I look back on that decision from time to time. Sometimes I think it was quite possibly the wisest possible move I could have made as the situation could obviously have got very messy. But sometime I think as I’m yet to find a girl that matches up I was a pussy.

So my question - Would you have done the same?

Dakhar,

Have you thought about moving closer to Thailand? Surely someone with you medical background could find employment in Hong kong or Singapore. You could then either be based in Thailand and commute Monday to Friday to HK / Sing or vice versa? With the increase in budget travel starting to penetrate the airline industry in the region it would make sense. I work as a recruiter (not medical) and see many contractors doing this.

Rainman, I hope you are making a recovery. I've had the pleasure of making a few short trips to hospital in Thailand - don't suppose you made friends with any of the nurses?!

Just interested in your business. I'm presuming you have started it up in Bangkok. And if thats all above aboard you deserve a lot of respect. However its hard going back if you get to Asia young mind. I'm 26 now but I went out to Asia when I was 19 and have spent most of the time since there. I have spent some short spells in England (where I am now) and well, if youve lived the Asian life...

Well, the lead charater in the story is in a somewhat similar situation as yourself. I don't want to spoil the ending but it makes interesting reading how all the characters react to the relationship between a bar girl and a farang. Both a Thai perspective is viewed in stark contrast to the farangs, and a lot of view / stories of bg / farang relationships are portrayed through the book. Might help to see the whole picture or at least a different angle. And its a fun read...

I would strongly advise reading the novel Private Dancer by Stephen Leather.

You can download it for free at http://www.stephenleather.com/author.html

He covers much the same predicament.

wcr - that is disapointing news. Out of curiosity - which industry did you go into after recruitment?

Thanks for those of you who emailed me in a similar position. Are there any expat recruiters reading this site?

Sadly Dr Pat pong I think your right. Either way I'm heading that way in a few months time. I'll look into both options and see what happens...

Many thanks for your response Harrym. I'm also suprised by the current lack of expats in this field. I hope this is a positive thing rather than a negative on the job hunt! Were they expat headhunters at Manpower or locals?

Really? No replies?! I would have thought there would have been lots of you out there who'd have had to deal with recruitment agencies at onetime. Call me a scynic but can this explain all the negative responses to anyone who asks about job oppurtunities in LOS?!

I'm currently working as a recruiter / headhunter in the UK in the IT and Telecoms sector. I'm keen to head over to South East Asia and find a position in the same field. My initial research points to Singapore where there seem to be a lot of expats working in this industry although my personal preference is Bangkok. If anyone has had any dealing with recruiters or recruitment agencies in Bangkok I'd be interested to hear their experiences. Is this a viable option in Bangkok?