Your first day ever in LOS....

[rotary]

I spent my first night at Soi Cowboy(Nana was not open yet) trying to figure out how I could get a job and stay..........ha ha

[charmonman]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is less interesting than the blank page.

And your contribution is the least interesting of the entire thread.

[charmonman]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is less interesting than the blank page.

Edited September 17, 2014 by charmonman

[charmonman]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

This is less interesting than the blank page.

And your contribution is the least interesting of the entire thread.

[Friendly Stranger]

Damn. I can take bits and pieces of most of these posts to come up with my first day here. 2002 in Phuket and 2005 Bkk. Wouldn't trade those memories for the world.

[charmonman]

March 1987. Taxi ride in from Don Muang through mostly rice fields to Khao San Road. Khao San was then just a few guest houses and small restaurants, not what it is now. Walked around Sanam Luang and met these two guys who said they were law students and they invited me to have lunch with them and their friends. We sat on the ground in a group of about six people ordering food from street vendors. After finishing they asked me to pay. I was really pissed off about it but they said they'd take me out drinking that night and it would be all on them. I went to my room to sleep off jet lag. Later I met up with them and they took me to some bar, seemed like kind of a university student bar. One of the guys introduced me to his sister (I think it might really have been his sister and she was really cute). I ended up getting completely wasted and they poured me into a tuk-tuk with instructions to the driver about how to get me back home. As I recall, they did actually pay for everything that evening so I forgave them the earlier incident at lunch. In the morning I woke up, went down to have breakfast in my guesthouse and the young sister was waiting for me, smiling.

I was hooked. Here I am 27 years later.

[GaryB1263]

It was 20AUG2009. I stayed at Nirvana Boutique on Soi 4, Jomtien Beach Road. I just started walking up and down the Soi and decided to go for it the next day. I jumped a Baht Bus headed to Pattaya. I found walking street and had a look around. I started coming to the area off and on for a few years after that. I have lived in Jomtien for 2 years this time. The rest is history.

[kinmaew]

not as exciting as yours but the year was 1994 and I remember vividly the strange smell at Don Muang airport, tropical, moist, stale carpet type I like it and still smell it at older airports. After that it was down to Kao San Road and that was just a blur, cant stand the place now (KSR that is).

[charliebadenhop]

Sorry, but what does "Los" refer to?

[tonytigerbkk]

Sorry, but what does "Los" refer to?

Land of the Smiles

[canman]

Mobbed in Singapore, sailed to the GOT, 6 weeks offshore and a port call in Sattahip. A couple Pattaya regulars onboard, "looks like we will be alongside for a couple days boys I sez, what do you recommend?"

Long story short about a dozen of us checked into the Penthouse hotel for 2 nights. No need to go into the gory details, suffice it to say very little sleep and a sh1t load of fun was had.

[sipi]

In 1985, as Engineering graduates, my dear friend Dr Roy W and I stopped in Thailand for 1 month en-route to the UK via Nepal, Africa etc. We took 11 months to get there. One of us went on to become a much respected medical specialist. The other one stayed with Engineering and eventually married a Thai and lived happily ever after.

I have a complete (basic) diary of our travels if anyone is interested.

We went to the post office to make phone calls and collect mail. We bought travellers cheques from American Express and changed them at the bank (there were no "bureau de change" in Thailand, or ATM). We woke up at 5am, as apposed to going to bed at 5am. For some reason, we seemed to do a hell of a lot of walking/ hitch-hiking. Ladies would ask us quietly if we wanted a "vegemite sandwich", instead of shouting "massage, massage" as we walked by. Taxis on Phuket stopped at 6pm. We fashioned a speargun from bamboo and reinforcing rod from a construction site to hunt crayfish....

Memories.

[laolover88]

Flew in to Don Muang from Singapore, where I was working. We are talking, I suppose November 1988 or thereabouts. Took taxi to BKK. About mid day. BKK looking terrible. Round about Din Daeng I said to the driver: 'Lets go back to the Airport!' Wandered around, poked my nose outside to savour the smell of joss sticks, jampee and sewage. Considered the departure boards. Had not really bothered to do any 'homework'. Took a flight to Phuket. Hired a jeep and drove to Phuket. Completely lost. Eventually stayed in a dump called The Pearl Hotel. Wandered around a bit. Place seemed deadReception guy says: Oh you go to Patong. More lively. Got to Patong about 17.00. Nothing going on. Looked at the sea.Empty bars; place looked as if it had died, too. Getting into the jeep a girl says the ususal: 'where you go? I said: 'Probably Singapore!' No, no you come home with me and make a Kratong it is Loy Kratong. So I did. Got very cold in the sea! No extra curricular stuff!

Bangla looked like mayhem. Not my scene. Next day went back to Singapore. But I came back because I had seen that Phuket had the possibilities of the South of France years and years earlier, bars, bikes and pretty girls. However when I came back I went to work in Hat Yai which was not quite the same!!

[CharlieH]

Posts removed.

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[sipi]

In 1985, as Engineering graduates, my dear friend Dr Roy W and I stopped in Thailand for 1 month en-route to the UK via Nepal, Africa etc. We took 11 months to get there. One of us went on to become a much respected medical specialist. The other one stayed with Engineering and eventually married a Thai and lived happily ever after.

I have a complete (basic) diary of our travels if anyone is interested.

We went to the post office to make phone calls and collect mail. We bought travellers cheques from American Express and changed them at the bank (there were no "bureau de change" in Thailand, or ATM). We woke up at 5am, as apposed to going to bed at 5am. For some reason, we seemed to do a hell of a lot of walking/ hitch-hiking. Ladies would ask us quietly if we wanted a "vegemite sandwich", instead of shouting "massage, massage" as we walked by. Taxis on Phuket stopped at 6pm. We fashioned a speargun from bamboo and reinforcing rod from a construction site to hunt crayfish....

Memories.

We had our "kodachome 64" slides developed at the nearest "photo-express', and picked them up 3 days later. There was no bottled water, we all carried a film canister of chlorine powder to sterilize our water..

The exchange rate was 14 baht to the dollar, variable daily. Before it was linked directly to the dollar....

[CharlieH]

Bickering removed.

[mrtoad]

Deleted response to Angry person

Edited September 17, 2014 by mrtoad

[Crazy chef 1]

It was 1975, I was still a university student and working part-time for Air Siam, so free flights. On my first international vacation, I flew to Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok and the Philippines before returning home.

On the leg from Hong Kong to Bangkok I met a guy who lived in an apartment off Sukhumvit and he suggested I stay in their guest room instead of in a hotel. The first day was uneventful but it got more interesting as the week wore on.

Because of that chance encounter I never felt like a tourist in Thailand. Of the places I visited on that trip, Thailand stuck. A couple of weeks after returning I celebrated my 21st birthday. Four trips and two years later, after graduation, I moved here.

This sounds really gay.

"gay" in the meaning of " happy"?

[Crazy chef 1]

Sorry, but what does "Los" refer to?

it's german and means something like go/ run/ start...

[ATF]

It was 1975, I was still a university student and working part-time for Air Siam, so free flights. On my first international vacation, I flew to Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok and the Philippines before returning home.

On the leg from Hong Kong to Bangkok I met a guy who lived in an apartment off Sukhumvit and he suggested I stay in their guest room instead of in a hotel. The first day was uneventful but it got more interesting as the week wore on.

Because of that chance encounter I never felt like a tourist in Thailand. Of the places I visited on that trip, Thailand stuck. A couple of weeks after returning I celebrated my 21st birthday. Four trips and two years later, after graduation, I moved here.

This sounds really gay.

"gay" in the meaning of " happy"?

No Gay in the meaning of an older Air Steward introducing a younger Air Steward to the Silom Soi 4 Club.

[Crazy chef 1]

It was 1975, I was still a university student and working part-time for Air Siam, so free flights. On my first international vacation, I flew to Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok and the Philippines before returning home.

On the leg from Hong Kong to Bangkok I met a guy who lived in an apartment off Sukhumvit and he suggested I stay in their guest room instead of in a hotel. The first day was uneventful but it got more interesting as the week wore on.

Because of that chance encounter I never felt like a tourist in Thailand. Of the places I visited on that trip, Thailand stuck. A couple of weeks after returning I celebrated my 21st birthday. Four trips and two years later, after graduation, I moved here.

This sounds really gay.

"gay" in the meaning of " happy"?

No Gay in the meaning of an older Air Steward introducing a younger Air Steward to the Silom Soi 4 Club.

hope it doesn't hurt too much....

[sustento]

Soi Twilight

[ggt]

While eating Thai food with friends in a nice restaurant in BKK...I became distracted...even mesmerized...and entertained...by a number of large rat that were chomping down on the food laid out at the large shrine erected for lord Buddha...come to find out...the shrines are everywhere...homes and businesses...and of course...the rats are also...

[thailiketoo]

Welcome to Thailand.

[WhamBam]

First trip to Thailand was to a guest house place near National Stadium in BKK. About 7 years ago.

A fellow Englishman asked if I would share a taxi. We did. That was a mistake. The driver (for whatever reason) could not take us both beyond a certain point. I got a new taxi. I remember the taxi driver getting stopped by the police. Great start to the trip

After that things got better. The lady I arranged to meet (off the internet) arrived that evening and the party began. She had top go back to work after a couple of days and I arranged to meet her in her home town.

I found it odd that she wanted her friend to stay with me for the rest of the week though. As I discovered later it turns out it was temptation laid in my way. It was a cousin and they wanted to see if I would try it on with her. I passed the test

One week later I was in her home town being shown the sights, the nightlife and a good time except for one thing. I was shuffled from hotel to hotel. Seems this lady worked for the police anti-corruption agency of some sort and she did not want anyone to know she was with me (damn, I thought, I must be ugly ).

Her reasoning was she did not want people to think she is/was a prostitute being with a foreigner. Very quaint, some of these Thai towns and people

A great experience and a great learning curve too. After my first 30 days were up I was back home sorting a years worth of visa and never looked back.

[tifino]

after 4 days driving from Penang to Singapore and back, got home, put down my bag, and picked up the next one ready for Phuket. First ever stop in LOS.

737 lands and a couple of bungalows at the Phuket Cabana are awaiting (we were 8 military dudes).

After only ever experiencing a Massage at best, and that was the day before in Singapore, one now considers himself 'experienced', so off down Teewanong Rd we go, and we got only as far as 'Sundowners' I think I recall? Anyhows it was this little circular Bar, one of the most northernly along that road before you get to the good ones.

Spent entire evening there, and became experienced at Thai Chess, so much so that mamasan took a liking to me.

In the meantime there's this a'hole of a clog who was trying desperately for mamasan, but she liked me better as I could outdo her on the chessboard.

He starts screaming that she's a ladyboy, and she takes to him with a pair of scissors.

Lucky she was a bad aim, as he was too pissed to have avoided the blade(s).

It's now getting 2am and the bar is closing early - will this was 1981 after all..

I'm actually here, now counting the Till for her, and it was sometime before I stand to head (stagger) towards the bungalow...

...she runs after me and latches on - woo hoo!!

Get back to the bungalow, sneak in, and find my corner

(oh yeah - there's 3 other guys in there already asleep)

With a lot of stifled giggling between us, I go to heaven and back, and she's sneaking out the door just before it starts to get light.

I was enemy numba one at the breakfast table - when they learnt I was the only one who'd already eaten, all while they slept - and they weren't even woken for their getting their bite of crusty mamasan pizza...

...that turned out to be the only exciting of the 4 days, but what was memorable was that the 737 Flight we returned to Penang on was - the next week same day - the one that crashed into the ocean on takeoff from Phuket

Edited September 17, 2014 by tifino

[Spaniel]

In 1985, as Engineering graduates, my dear friend Dr Roy W and I stopped in Thailand for 1 month en-route to the UK via Nepal, Africa etc. We took 11 months to get there. One of us went on to become a much respected medical specialist. The other one stayed with Engineering and eventually married a Thai and lived happily ever after.

I have a complete (basic) diary of our travels if anyone is interested.

We went to the post office to make phone calls and collect mail. We bought travellers cheques from American Express and changed them at the bank (there were no "bureau de change" in Thailand, or ATM). We woke up at 5am, as apposed to going to bed at 5am. For some reason, we seemed to do a hell of a lot of walking/ hitch-hiking. Ladies would ask us quietly if we wanted a "vegemite sandwich", instead of shouting "massage, massage" as we walked by. Taxis on Phuket stopped at 6pm. We fashioned a speargun from bamboo and reinforcing rod from a construction site to hunt crayfish....

Memories.

We had our "kodachome 64" slides developed at the nearest "photo-express', and picked them up 3 days later. There was no bottled water, we all carried a film canister of chlorine powder to sterilize our water..

The exchange rate was 14 baht to the dollar, variable daily. Before it was linked directly to the dollar....

14 bhat to the dollar? I'm curious. When might this have been?

[Tywais]

14 bhat to the dollar? I'm curious. When might this have been?

Never has been, at least not since 1948 where it was pegged to the dollar at 20Baht/$. It stayed there then pegged to 25Baht/$ in the early 80's then floated in 1997. I first came here in 1968 and flew in from Tan Son Nhut after short duty in Vietnam, directly to Utapao. 6 months there and then flight to Don Muang for TDY assignment there.

http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/USDpages.pdf

[AnotherOneAmerican]

First time trip to CM, booked into a guest house in Moonmuang Soi 1 (nice pool).

It was fairly late and I was lagged, so went for a walk, past Half Moon bar.

Apparently I was so hansum, the girls had to drag me inside.

Bought a couple of girls drinks, one of them suggested I pay her bar fine.

Didn't know what that was, so I said no, just the drinks.

She said OK, I pay my own bar fine, handed some cash to the bartender, then followed me back to my room.

Bit of a shocker, for a first night, hell of a job getting rid of her.

Had to walk her home after, scared of the dark, narrowly avoided being dragged into her room, scared to sleep alone.

Got lost looking for my room, found another bar, found another girl.

And everyone says CM is so quiet and reserved!

(Makes me wonder, what must Pattaya be like?)

[JDGRUEN]

August 1967... Arrived at Don Mueung ... from Travis AFB, Calif. in a AF C141 Starlifter ... with seats facing backwards supposedly for safety... I was totally disoriented... Got off - processed - never had my passport stamped - actually didn't have a Visa... We were taken to buses and rode to Lopburi - the HQ of my Special Forces Outfit... I was about 21 and totally taken with the greatest adventure of my young life... I spent a year in the Phu Phan in Sakon Nakhon province... Long adventurous story ... for then next thirteen months...