California Wow Pattaya

[welbeck]

About two weeks ago my girlfriend took me to the gym that she’d just joined. California Wow, which is situated in The Avenue, Pattayas newest shopping Mall opposite the Lek Hotel on second road. A quick word in Thai to one of the assistants and we’re getting a tour of this place, now this is where the fun begins. After the tour we’re sat downstairs and the American manager comes out and recognises my girlfriend and comes over and starts a conversation with her in Thai (she’d told me about him earlier but I’ll get to that), I’m very easy going but he almost instantly made my skin crawl, talk about one slimy bastard. Anyway, I got the impression that he didn’t want me there as he tried to weasel his way in with my girlfriend. He made polite conversation with me but was trying to get me to part with more cash, which I eventually did to upgrade her membership and get me a “free” membership. The fact that I’d had major surgery 8 weeks ago seemed to make little difference in his sales push.

That day my girlfriend had been decidedly stand offish with me and I couldn’t quite figure out why but being a drunken falang buffoon most of the time I didn’t think too much of it at that moment. Now, a bit about her. At the risk of sounding arrogant my girlfriend is beautiful and I don’t just mean pretty. She is one of the most beautiful girls in Thailand if not THE most beautiful and she knows it and is acutely embarrassed about it. She’s a University educated, Hiso girl whose father, now retired was the king’s gardener and she’d met him hundreds of times and saw herself as being hugely privileged because of this. What she was doing with me is anybody’s guess but I feel like the luckiest man alive because of this.

That night, later on we had an almighty argument and fell out big style. Once the “red mist” had cleared I just couldn’t figure out where it had come from as neither of us are the argumentative type. I’d not done anything to justify the barney we’d had, or so I thought. I texted her two days later to try and make peace and she eventually opened up to me and asked me “Why you tell your friend at California wow you don’t pay me for sex?”

I answered “I don’t pay you for sex, you’re my girlfriend!”

She replied “yes but why you tell him”, meaning why am I discussing her sex life with my friend.

Now I’m racking my brain trying to figure out which of my mates has had this conversation with her. Trying to figure out how many pieces I’m going to cut him into before he goes into Pattaya bay to feed the fish but for the life of me I just can’t figure out who it would be. My friends are all decent lads who wouldn’t drop me in it like this as they’d all met her several time and were model friends, in front of her, a bunch of tossers the rest of the time. So I’m at a loss over this. Eventually she tells me who it was. It’s the fxxking manager at California Wow that the day before had claimed he knew me and, trying to work out which bar she worked in had told her a load of <deleted> implying he was repeating things I’d told him. The fact that she was a shop manager in Big C had put his nose out of joint.

The day after we’d fell out I realised I’d been talked into paying or a “gym package” that I couldn’t use so I went back to the gym to cancel it. I went to the front desk and explained what I wanted and the same manager was phoned and he came out for a chat. Straight away he try’s to talk me out of cancelling and tries to get me to sign up for a bigger package. He calls over his friend, another American employee and says “let’s go get a coffee” so we have a walk to the coffee shop next door and the both of them are adamant that I shouldn’t leave but I’ve decided I am so we buy a coffee and walk back to the gym and sit down, they both make excuses and leave, leaving me sat on my own. I can see one of them in their office that periodically looked through the window in his office door to see I’m still there. After 40 minutes it’s perfectly obvious that they have no intention of talking to me so I walk away and go on the internet to their website and make a complaint about what had happened. I get and automated reply saying they will reply after 2 days. That was 8 days ago and still nothing so I thanked them yesterday for their prompt reply.

Last night I ran into one of Pattaya’s finest in the shape of one of the Pattaya tourist police and local TV channel owner. I explained what had happened and he suggested I come on here and enlighten your members as to what had happened and secondly they had had so many complaints about this same place that it wasn’t funny and had refused to give them free advertising.

I apologise if this is a bit disjointed but I needed to write it down while it was fresh in my mind.

Edited December 21, 2007 by welbeck

[Ricardo]

Hope she eventually accepts that you had said no such thing, to this a**hole, and you can get together again.

[Bananaman]

Probably for less than a year's membership at said gym you could see to it that this guy's kneecaps have a rendezvous with a few mallet-wielding locals

[wombat]

point noted and taken wellbeck... thankyou

[welbeck]

Probably for less than a year's membership at said gym you could see to it that this guy's kneecaps have a rendezvous with a few mallet-wielding locals

Watch this space

This is the lady in question, my na ling

//edit - photo removed at OP's request //

Edited December 22, 2007 by Tywais

[Rudy47]

Probably for less than a year's membership at said gym you could see to it that this guy's kneecaps have a rendezvous with a few mallet-wielding locals

Watch this space

This is the lady in question, my na ling

Um....Na Ling means "Monkey Face."

I assume it's better than "Butt Face."

She's cute BTW.

Phyllis

[DamianMavis]

Why did you not bring her there and confront him and ask him if he did in fact know you? That is the obvious solution...... something wrong with this story....

Damian

[scotwumman]

Nice photo should be plenty people lining up to get into Big C today

[stevemiddie]

There is a LOT wrong with that story. Anyway.............thats by the by.

I don,t know of ANY Hi-So Thai female that would wish to be seen with a farang apart from the VERY good looking and VERY rich ones.

Hi-So is probably an over-used word here.

As for the slimy Yank................that part rings true. I walked in and left 5 minutes after talking to that tos**r.

Edited December 21, 2007 by stevemiddie

[BillyDeno]

About two weeks ago my girlfriend took me to the gym that she'd just joined. California Wow, which is situated in The Avenue, Pattayas newest shopping Mall opposite the Lek Hotel on second road. A quick word in Thai to one of the assistants and we're getting a tour of this place, now this is where the fun begins. After the tour we're sat downstairs and the American manager comes out and recognises my girlfriend and comes over and starts a conversation with her in Thai (she'd told me about him earlier but I'll get to that), I'm very easy going but he almost instantly made my skin crawl, talk about one slimy bastard. Anyway, I got the impression that he didn't want me there as he tried to weasel his way in with my girlfriend. He made polite conversation with me but was trying to get me to part with more cash, which I eventually did to upgrade her membership and get me a "free" membership. The fact that I'd had major surgery 8 weeks ago seemed to make little difference in his sales push.

That day my girlfriend had been decidedly stand offish with me and I couldn't quite figure out why but being a drunken falang buffoon most of the time I didn't think too much of it at that moment. Now, a bit about her. At the risk of sounding arrogant my girlfriend is beautiful and I don't just mean pretty. She is one of the most beautiful girls in Thailand if not THE most beautiful and she knows it and is acutely embarrassed about it. She's a University educated, Hiso girl whose father, now retired was the king's gardener and she'd met him hundreds of times and saw herself as being hugely privileged because of this. What she was doing with me is anybody's guess but I feel like the luckiest man alive because of this.

That night, later on we had an almighty argument and fell out big style. Once the "red mist" had cleared I just couldn't figure out where it had come from as neither of us are the argumentative type. I'd not done anything to justify the barney we'd had, or so I thought. I texted her two days later to try and make peace and she eventually opened up to me and asked me "Why you tell your friend at California wow you don't pay me for sex?"

I answered "I don't pay you for sex, you're my girlfriend!"

She replied "yes but why you tell him", meaning why am I discussing her sex life with my friend.

Now I'm racking my brain trying to figure out which of my mates has had this conversation with her. Trying to figure out how many pieces I'm going to cut him into before he goes into Pattaya bay to feed the fish but for the life of me I just can't figure out who it would be. My friends are all decent lads who wouldn't drop me in it like this as they'd all met her several time and were model friends, in front of her, a bunch of tossers the rest of the time. So I'm at a loss over this. Eventually she tells me who it was. It's the fxxking manager at California Wow that the day before had claimed he knew me and, trying to work out which bar she worked in had told her a load of <deleted> implying he was repeating things I'd told him. The fact that she was a shop manager in Big C had put his nose out of joint.

The day after we'd fell out I realised I'd been talked into paying or a "gym package" that I couldn't use so I went back to the gym to cancel it. I went to the front desk and explained what I wanted and the same manager was phoned and he came out for a chat. Straight away he try's to talk me out of cancelling and tries to get me to sign up for a bigger package. He calls over his friend, another American employee and says "let's go get a coffee" so we have a walk to the coffee shop next door and the both of them are adamant that I shouldn't leave but I've decided I am so we buy a coffee and walk back to the gym and sit down, they both make excuses and leave, leaving me sat on my own. I can see one of them in their office that periodically looked through the window in his office door to see I'm still there. After 40 minutes it's perfectly obvious that they have no intention of talking to me so I walk away and go on the internet to their website and make a complaint about what had happened. I get and automated reply saying they will reply after 2 days. That was 8 days ago and still nothing so I thanked them yesterday for their prompt reply.

Last night I ran into one of Pattaya's finest in the shape of one of the Pattaya tourist police and local TV channel owner. I explained what had happened and he suggested I come on here and enlighten your members as to what had happened and secondly they had had so many complaints about this same place that it wasn't funny and had refused to give them free advertising.

I apologise if this is a bit disjointed but I needed to write it down while it was fresh in my mind.

Hope you get back with your girl mate! you should kick that tw-t in the balls for all the sh-t he has caused you.

[Jareddiving]

Wow never seen a girl that beautiful!!!

[Jareddiving]

So the manager told your girlfriend that you told him that you don't pay for the sex..

I find it hard to believe.

[pumpuiman]

My wife is prettier than your (ex?) girlfriend.

[Jareddiving]

My 4 girlfriends are too!!

Only kidding.

[thainet]

Strange how some peoples perceptions are. The phrase 'perhaps the most beautiful girl in Thailand' had me scrambling to look at the photo, but I'm so disappointed, I mean she's ok, but not your 'Thai beauty'' by a long shot. A hundred girls on Walking str every night much lovelier than her. Still 'love is blind' as they say, so every girl is worth fighting for if she's your's (or in this case, was your's).

[torrenova]

I've been emailing them to get a transparent cost and price list and have finally received an email from their manager. He is back in the USA this weekend. I would lov to push this under his nose but I feel that we do not have all the facts and thus, we may not have the full story.

[pointofview]

Lot of bad reports about this organization - see Tonys adds around town for details.

I cant imagine any girl being called nah ling - its a big insult to any thai

[ZZZ]

Everywhere I have lived where they open a California WOW there has been big write ups in the papers with discussions about their unethical recruitment methods, they make time share salesmen look like angels. Personally I would stay way clear of that lot, many people have walked in there for just a look and have been intimidated to buy a membership they never use.

[Mighty Mouse]

I walked past this gym when it first opened and was surrounded by Thai staff pushing leaflets under my nose. They were trying their best to get me into the premises.

I don't respond well to high pressure sales pitches and kept on walking.

Businesses like these will sign up as many suckers as they can, on contracts that cover as many years as possible and then close down the business, leaving the members out of pocket and without a gym.

[zorro1]

Strange how some peoples perceptions are. The phrase 'perhaps the most beautiful girl in Thailand' had me scrambling to look at the photo, but I'm so disappointed, I mean she's ok, but not your 'Thai beauty'' by a long shot. A hundred girls on Walking str every night much lovelier than her. Still 'love is blind' as they say, so every girl is worth fighting for if she's your's (or in this case, was your's).

she is a real cutie. Thainet would have no chance of pulling a pretty girl like that without paying for it and thats why he thinks they all honeys on walking st, its the best he can do

Edited December 21, 2007 by zorro1

[sharecropper]

Insecurity runs through this thread like viagra-pumped blood in a muscle. As for "California Woe" and its manager - who can blame him for hitting on her? That's what most people do here!

[sweetchariot]

So your father working as a gardner classifies you as Hi-So?

As said before she is cute, but not more so than thousands of girls here. I always thought my ex was 'the prettiest girl in Thailand', but when I look at the photos, and look at my current fiancee, I realise that love really can be blind.

Anyway when this tosspot returns from YankeeDoodleDandyLand, I would arrange a little 'accident' for him, and make sure he knows why.

[ronz28]

Yep, she is a beauty. I'll add your comments to my word document on recommended places in Thailand (and those to avoid). WOW, I don't want to ever walk in to that place much less give them nueng salung.

[OlRedEyes]

Do you have her permission to post her picture on the internet?

[sweetchariot]

Do you have her permission to post her picture on the internet?

Why??? She has clothes on. (Unfortunately)

Edited December 22, 2007 by sweetchariot

[OlRedEyes]

Do you have her permission to post her picture on the internet?

Why??? She has clothes on. (Unfortunately)

Without commenting on the OP's reasons for posting the whole thing, which is rather suspect, I'd hate to get on the wrong side of an irate, well-connected Hiso father for posting his daughters pic on the net, in Thailand. The OP would be easy to find. Nuff said.

Apart from the fact that it is suspect morally and legally to post pics of people without their express permission. In this case I'd get it in writing first...

Edited December 22, 2007 by OlRedEyes

[soundman]

Apart from the fact that it is suspect morally and legally to post pics of people without their express permission. In this case I'd get it in writing first...

Can of worms.

By letting someone else take a photo you are consenting to that person ownership of said "snapshot in time" & therefore up to them what they do with it.

Same applies to the media. If they needed to get express permission from every person captured on video & then aired on the nightly news - where would that leave us?

[pedro01]

As has been discussed on another forum, the OP considers any girl that isn't a bar girl "Hi-So". If this is the case, I have 35 hi-so people working for me in Bangkok, so that must make me hi-so too.

She looks OK, but she's no stunner. She's been to school & works in Big C - apparently that's Hi Society now.

And as for the California fitness tale of woe - whatever. Gyms around the world make their money from members who join & don't go. If every member of a gym actually attended, they'd go out of business.

The OP signed up for a membership and then regretted it. If you don't want to buy something, then don't. The contracts at Califronia are pretty tight, so once you sign up - you will end up paying for the 12 months you signed up for.

[welbeck]

Why did you not bring her there and confront him and ask him if he did in fact know you? That is the obvious solution...... something wrong with this story....

Damian

We are only just on speaking terms. I wrote it down as soon as I could, like I said I apologise if it appeared disjointed but I wanted to commit it to writing while it was still clear in my mind.

I'm not a tourist, I do live here and am a familiar face around Pattaya and a big poster on other Thai forums.

The term Hiso is something she has told me about herself and members of her family nothing to do with my opinion of her financial/social status.

As for Na ling it is something that was said as a joke to her one day which she thought was funny and she refers to me with equally complimentary names, I know it is hugely offensive but was taken in the spirit it was meant.

Maybe it was wrong to post her picture and I ask if it to be removed

[Jareddiving]

Have another beer!