Why Did You Come To Thailand The First Time?

[ray23]

It seems we see many many threads about bar girls all the problems ect. All the advice about staying away from them and hooking up with the more educated women. They all seem to run the same bar girls bad, not thier fault though money for thier poor Issan famalies. Let me say this one thing and I will get off my soap box, there are many many poor girls in Issan that never end up in bars. The poor people in Thailand as far as I can tell are by no means poorest people in the world. Must be a reason why people from Laos want to get here. Ok thats over.

So now what brought you to Thailand, not job or military related in the first place?

I'll kick things off I came for a party with beautiful women, nothing noble about it and very self serving. I had that party for three weeks and paid through the nose for it, it was worth every penny spent, no complaints.

The lifestyle I have now is what brought me back, which has nothing to do with the original party I had. But the reality if I had not been enticed here by that party I would have never had what I have now.

There were prices to pay to have what I now have and just like the party worth every penny.

So no matter how your life is now what really brought you here in the first place or made you return after the military or job you had here?

[mickmac]

I had just got back to U.K. afterspending Christmas and New Year, 1988, in the Norwegian sector of the North sea, it was early January. I phoned up the girl I travelled with in India the year before, just to wish her a happy New Year.

"Where are you?" she said

" In the U.K." said I.

" I'm going to Thailand next week do you want to come?" she asked.

"I don't know" I replied.

"I can get you a cheap flight"

"How Much?"

"235 quid return, LHR to Utapoa"

"My card number is............."

The next week I was in Bkk., then we went down to Kho Samui on the train, and had a fabulous time.

And the rest is history as they say, though I like to think of it as the old Wayne Fontana record....Something keeps calling me back!!!

[LoveDaBlues]

I was looking for a local Issan legend named '3-day Ray'.

Actually came here for a number of reasons. Cheap living is one of course. Also wanted to do something 'different' as I was getting real bored in the states. It's been a learning experience so far and a good one. Coming to Thailand is like starting a second life. Also....after working my tail off and saving for so many years I didn't want to get married in the states and perhaps later have the wife get half/most of what I worked for. Here I can only lose what I choose to bring in or buy in country. I keep the bulk of my money in U.S. banks would not do it any other way.

I agree with you 100% about the bargirls.

[markuk]

I got sent here by my company - no choice in it really - could be worse!!

[Rinrada]

Merchant Navy (Bank Line) circa 1970.....cant remember much......

Cape Town,Chittagong,Bangkok,Manila,Cebu,Illigan,Singapore,HongKong,Hanoi, Yokohama,Keelung,Port Morseby,Lae,Madang,Honiara,Rabaul,Weewack,

Bourganville,Yandina,Darwin,Whyalla,Port Kembla,Sydney...and a hundred others..

12 years later a mate of mine was on the rebound in the smoke so suggested a cheap flight ..Binman...bit of sunshine.. and ended up in a place called the Honey (got 20% discount ..cant remember why?)and then down to a wee seaside resort called...Patta...something......24 hour gins joints and Palais des Danses..

[gburns57au]

Always had a yen for asian women but spent too many nights pistled at the local....a friend showed me his holiday snaps and I was hooked....stopped going to the local every night....told him that I would go with him on his next trip 3 months away....saved like crazy, got my passport, citizenship and a credit card....I made that trip and that was the start of a love affair with the country, its people and its culture that endures to this day.

[Guest endure]

It was one of the few places I'd wanted to visit but hadn't got to when I was in the Merchant Navy so I bought myself a trip as a birthday present. Best present I ever got

[Glauka]

4 years living together with my boyfriend...he decided to go to mexico for 6 months...but before he left he said" well i am going to mexico i don´t know what will happen with us because i can only think about my trip nor our relationship"(no further talking or explanation about such sentence, and it was said 24h before his trip!!!)

So after 4 years he left me with the hope that he MIGHT return again and want to carried on with our relationship...

then I decided to stop waiting for the phone to ring, stop wating for a call from mexico. my best friend decided to go to thailand for 3 months...she said "why don´t you come?"...

"Yes"- I said..."I am coming..."

A week before my trip to thailand my boyfriend returned...."well I have been having sex with a 21 year old girl and I have realized that she is not very mature and also I have realized that you are great and that i would like to stay with you"...I didn´t love him anymore...actually I stopped to love him from the very moment he said the setence above mentioned and denied to give further explanation.

thailand- confusion ... thinking should I go back to him...

1 week in thailand meeting thai people, a little bit of their culture...

NO WAY!!!! I am not going back with him...life is too short to be wasted with someone so selfish, dishonest and cheeky...

by the end of the trip I was in love with the country, its people, its culture...

so next year I returned....

[sonthaya]

I was send by my company, it was a transit stop on the way to NZ to pick up one of our company aircrafts after a major maintenance check, and fly it back to Oman.

Listening to the crews who had done the first ferry flights, we decided to take 3 weeks in Bangkok on the way, we stayed at the Tawana Ramada hotel just across from Patpong, do I have to say more, this was in 1993 and I have been back many times since then.

[skylar]

I got sent here by my company - no choice in it really - could be worse!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Mark, I had no choice at all, but I made the best of it and don't regret it one bit. At least you can leave if you really want to!

[udon]

Lived in the UK for 28 years, went to Aus for a hol, on the way back, stopped off in bkk for 6 days which turned into 6 weeks, went back to Blighty, tidyed up and moved to bkk.

[ratcatcher]

THE WOMEN

Edited January 4, 2006 by ratcatcher

[suegha]

My intrduction to Thailand was a 'detox' holiday on Samui. Fasting for 7 days and afterwards enjoying the Thai food was an experience. We (my wife and I) made some friends and kept coming, it is our eventual aim to move there permanently. We just love Thailand.

[gisele]

When I lived in China, the vacation destination of choice was Thailand, close and cheap. I loved it so much that I stopped going to other destinations, always starting with Samui then wherever the wind blew. I was addicted, coming here a few months a year.

After 5 years in China, I was moving on.

Where oh where to go?

I had had a relation with a Thai guy and he had taken me to his hometown of Nakhon Si thammarat, didn't work out with him but I loved the place so I applied for a post at the university, and then met my husband who is a local.

Now, I live in Paradise.

[tutsiwarrior]

I was working in the Gulf, going thru a divorce and had some annual leave left so decided to look up an old flame in Jakarta. It was 1999 and they were about to have elections there and there was lots of violence so decided to nix the idea.

Other guys working on the same job suggested Thailand...I said I can dig it, plenty of women and still good ol' SE Asia. They suggested Phuket over BKK.

I got off the plane and met my wife to be about 5 hours later...

Edited January 4, 2006 by tutsiwarrior

[chownah]

I came here the first time because it was cheaper to fly to bangkok and then to saigon than it was to fly direct to saigon.

[richard10365]

After 20 years in the army I didn't want to work for anyone ever again. I looked for a country where my retirement paycheck would be enough to retire on.

There were a few countries I could have chose and to narrow it down I added some more requirements. Women, government, and religion helped me to decide.

Since I was 38 when I retired, I needed to go somewhere where older, middle aged caucasian males was not considered too old to find a younger woman.

I also wanted to find a stable enough government so I wouldnt have to worry about terrorist or crime.

And finally, I wanted to get as far away from the Christian world as possible.

Thailand seemed like the perfect fit. So far,...it is.

I'm still new here. Before I got here, I had never been here.

I suppose it was risky leaving everything behind but it was better than the other option I was considering.....which was going postal and killing everyone at work.

I think I made the right decision.

[Boon Mee]

After 20 years in the army...

...going postal and killing everyone at work.

[Savage]

I came here first because I love spicy food and wanted to learn about a different culture. Bangkok was also a convenient base to explore the region.

Sav

[Ulysses G.]

Came to SEA on vacation.

Fell in love with Thailand as we were landing in Phuket and decided to live here some day.

About a year later, my boss got tired of me coming to Thailand every few months and informed me with a fax when I was in Bangkok that I could only go once a year. I resigned on the spot and never went back home.

Glad I did!

[otherstuff1957]

It was pure chance that brought me here. A customer gave me a round trip ticket to BKK so I came here for a holiday. Then I came again... and again... and then I stayed!

[Joey Boy]

2 week stop off on the way to Aus

[sadman]

Came over with some friends for a 40th birthday trip about 5 years ago. Enjoyed BKK but when I got to Phuket, fell in love with the place and the people. Got back and immediately booked another one.

Can't get enough of the place, and go 4-5 times a year. Just got back to the UK after Christmas and New Year in Phuket, and have just booked my next lot of flights.

Will be moving here permanently as soon as practicable.

[bino]

I was living / working in Singapore, and came to Thailand for visa runs. Those were the days! Loved my monthly holiday in Bangkok!

When the company offered to move me here permanently to establish an office, I jumped all over it. But soon enough, after settling in here, I started missing my monthly holidays!

[markt]

Lads down the pub told me about the beautiful temples and exotic, spicy food..........

[LaoPo]

More than 25 years ago I came to Thailand for the first time. Just holidays. 2 days BKK and after that Phuket, when Patong Beach was like a virgin.........

Now....

After that countless trips, business as well, to BKK, Samui, Koh Samet, Koh Chang and many more places.

Just love the country, its people, its atmosphere, the food....

Felt uncomfortable on last trip to Samui though because of many reasons.

LaoPo

[samran]

I suppose I must have been about 15 months old when my mother decided to bring me back to LOS to show me off to the relos. The rest they say, is history...

[mogoso]

I first arrived in 68 on R&R and then let almost thirty years and a Colombian wife pass, before returning while on a whim on one of the "back to Vietnam" visits that was popular at the time. I was in Hong Kong talking with some folks who mentioned Koh Samui as a place to kick back. Ended up going and staying at Munchies for a month. That started a return for a couple of months yearly vacation to explore Thailand and Southeast Asia.

I ran into a younger lady than I that grabbed my heart and just would not let go. ok ok I was a tough sell to her at first. She was willing to sell me treks or elephant rides but not even go to lunch with me. But persistence and my inate charm won out over the course of a few years.

Now after 4 years of marriage and stuck in INS limbo we can't even visit Thailand (or anywhere else outside of the US) till her green card arrives. (she came on a fiance visa) Well she did like California last year, and this year its off to my home state of Florida to go visit family and mickeys land, its still not Thailand. But we've some faith in immigration and actually got a letter from the place our file was sent to speed things up as our local office has been years behind. Letter told us that the file was being transferred to another site to speed things up

[ThaiPauly]

I was going through a bad divorce and decided I needed a break so I came over to see my son who lives in Bangkok.

Loved it so much that I came back again a few months later.

Met my Wife to Be, did a year to-ing and fro-ing to the UK.Sold my business, and moved up to Chaingmai.

Best thing I ever did

[meom]

I was on leave in Europe somewhere about 12 yrs ago. Not really in the mood for chatting up to the girls in the pub I gave the local karaoke a shot.

Met a TG there and we became close so to speak. She was fed up earning her living horizontal so she returned to LOS and asked me if I would like to come over and have a look. So next leave I went to LOS where she showed me around for a couple of weeks. We became good friends and since then we live together.

I'm still working so we see eachother every 6-8 weeks for a couple a weeks.