Finding Love in a Bangkok Bar

I first actually got to Thailand 1 day before they closed the borders, I ended up staying for about 4 months as they were allowing people to stay in the Kingdom without a visa during that time.

It was fun to start with, I worked online so I wasn’t affected but as the government added alcohol bans and then finally a night time curfew.

I thought it was pretty much pointless to stay in Thailand when I couldn’t exactly do anything, paying for rent was extremely cheap at this time though.

Leaving Thailand When Lockdowns Closed the Borders

I decided it was time to head back to the UK until this whole thing blew over.

Little did I know that it would be over a year until we would be allowed to travel back to Thailand.

While I was back in the UK I pretty much just worked from home every day and became a virtual tourist by watching YouTubers in Thailand, reading stories and listening to travel advice.

It became a daily routine watching this stuff, and I was itching to get back and dive into it myself.

I started watching and reading stories about older men that fall in love with Thai bar girls, and I remember thinking “How can they be so stupid?” “I would never fall for the tricks of a bar girl or fall in love with one” Remember this part because it will be important later.

Anyway, after a year stuck at home, Thailand finally introduced something called the Phuket sandbox.

Returning to Thailand Through Phuket’s Sandbox Scheme

Essentially what this was is that people could come to Thailand, but only Phuket, they had to have a negative covid test and then another test on arrival where they would wait in their hotel until the test results were back. Only then could you leave your hotel, but even then, you could only go to certain areas in Phuket, Bangla Road being one of them. This sounded like a nightmare and to be honest, sounded like it would be too much work, but as I had been bored and stuck at home for over a year I decided to give it a go. I booked everything, got all the documents sorted and then 1 week before flying, a new variant was announced and the whole world went crazy again, including Thailand.

I can’t remember if they decided to stop the program or if I cancelled my own trip by choice, but I thought it was best not to waste money and head there.

A couple of months later and they introduced that after 7 days in Phuket and a negative test, you are then free to travel all over Thailand.

I can’t remember the exact rules so I may have something mixed up, but that was the basic gist of the sandbox program. Fly to Phuket, wait for negative test, travel Thailand if you please.

Again, I book another ticket for Phuket, hoping this time I make it into the kingdom.

It’s now time for me to fly, I have all my documents in order, got the Thailand pass, no new variants, I have never been so happy to get on a plane in my life.

Arriving in Phuket and Waiting Out the Covid Tests

Upon arriving at Phuket airport, I had to have another test and then the hotel taxi would take me from the airport, straight to my hotel where I would have to sit and wait for my tests to come.

It took 3 days for the test to come back, and it was horrible. My hotel was close to Bangla Road and every night I could hear the music, the girls cheering, the atmosphere was killing me.

It was tempting to sneak out a few times, but if you watched the news in Thailand around that time, tourists who were going out before they got their results back was getting arrested, deported and even blacklisted from the country.

My test came back negative and I was ready to let loose, my plan was to spend 1 week in Phuket before heading to Bangkok for 1 week and then spend the rest of my holiday in Pattaya.

My whole week in Phuket I was just spending time on Bangla Road, most of my time in that popular Australian bar, I forgot the name of it now but during this time as there wasn’t that many tourists, the Australian bar was the only bar that seemed to be busy.

A lot of people online were saying that they don’t want to waste money on going to Thailand because it was not busy, but for me it was the perfect time, the girls had no customers so all their attention was focused on you.

Getting to Know a Bar Girl on Bangla Road

In that bar on Bangla Road I got friendly with one of the bar girls, she would come and sit with me every night and play this dice game where the loser would buy the other one a drink.

She came back to my hotel once or twice, but I was saving myself for Pattaya really before I dived into having some hotel room companions.

Phuket was ok I guess, but in my eyes it gets boring fast and my week was up so it was time to head to Bangkok and see what was on store there.

Moving from Phuket to Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Nightlife

My hotel was on Sukhumvit Soi 11, my plan was to just explore the nightlife around Sukhumvit road.

I had already been to Khao San Road before covid and it’s not really for me, too busy, too many young tourists and basically I am just too old for that place.

So anyway, remember when I said I would never fall for a bar girl, I consider myself street wise and all the horror stories I read I thought to myself I was never stupid enough to fall for that? Well that was about to change.

Meeting June While Walking Between Sukhumvit Sois

I was walking on Sukhumvit Soi 8 I believe, heading towards Soi 4 because I was going to have a night in Nana, and as I walked past this bar I saw a girl playing pool.

Our eyes met and she singled for me to come into the bar, I pointed at my watch like I was late for something and carried on walking.

This girl had a perfect smile, beautiful body and was just awesome to look at. I was actually debating going back to the bar but instead I pressed on to Nana Plaza. Though I did keep a mental note to go back to that girl’s bar the following night.

Anyway, I get to Nana Plaza and have a beer in the centre bar at the bottom, just browsing around seeing which go-go bar interested me. I saw one where the women outside was hitting customers on the backside with those plastic things, of course I chose that one to go in.

Discovering Nana Plaza During Quiet Covid-Era Nights

While in there, there was a lot of girls dancing but there was literally me and like 3 other customers that appeared to be Korean.

The show was pretty decent but I wouldn’t say that the girls were very high class, well anyway, that’s nana plaza checked off the list.

The following night, I had been playing with Tinder for a bit while I was there, and was chatting to a girl that wanted to meet me, she told me straight she was a bar girl and by sheer coincidence she worked in the same bar that the girl I saw last night works in.

Now I was in a bit of a sticky situation, I wanted to go and see the girl that I saw while passing last night, but if I went there then the girl from Tinder would think that I am going there to meet her.

So I told the girl on Tinder that I am not interested in paying for any services and not looking for anything but if she wanted, I would come and drink with her, at least then she gets a little something from lady drinks.

She agreed and that night I went to the bar to see her, but in reality I was only going to the bar to see the girl that was playing pool the previous night.

Choosing June After Comparing Her with a Tinder Match

Once I got to the bar, the Tinder girl introduced herself to me and we sat and had a couple of beers, I did notice the other girl but she was playing on a pool table at the other side of the bar and I couldn’t get her attention. Later in the night she finally saw me and began playing pool on the table near me, but she saw that I was sat with her friend that I had met on Tinder. Every now and again we would make eye contact and smile at each other, I could see she was interested as was I. Finally she came over to the bar and sat next to me, started chatting with me and as the night went on, Tinder girl could see I wasn’t interested in her and she found herself a different customer.

The night was going as planned. I asked the girl if she remembers me from walking by yesterday, she said “yes of course I do” I replied “I just had to come back and see you again” she gave me a big smile.

She eventually told me her name was June, she was 38, which is 3 years older than me, and she had 3 kids that lived in Isan. Pretty much the basic bar girl story.

I must mention at this time, the bars in Thailand had to stop selling alcohol at 11pm or 10pm I can’t remember which, and we were getting close to shutting time.

June told me that there was a store on Sukhumvit that sold beers in plastic cups where we could sit on the street and drink.

It sounded like a hidden secret place, but when she took me there it was full of people with tables and chairs, surely the police new what was going on but in that country, if you have the money, I guess you can get away with a lot of things.

Spending the First Night Together After Meeting at the Bar

That first night was perfect, I got along with her really well, she introduced me to some of her friends that was at the bar and we drank until about 1am. I told her that I wanted her to come back to my hotel and spend the night, but that im not really into the paying for fun scene, and I knew she was working.

I told her I have no issues with her work and fully understand, but I just wasn’t that type of tourist, she seemed to understand.

June said that she would come back to my hotel and stay the night without being compensated for her time, Jackpot.

Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning, we exchanged LINE contacts, and she asked me to come and see her in her bar tonight if I had no plans.

I wanted to play it cool so I said “I will see once I finish work” she gave me a kiss and went on her way.

I was pretty star struck by this girl and I remember thinking to myself “What the hell am I doing” I knew it was a bad idea to get feelings for a bar girl, I was contemplating cutting my Bangkok trip short and heading to Pattaya early.

Spending Each Night Together and Growing Attached to June

Regardless of what I should and shouldn’t have done, I ended up spending the rest of the week in her bar or in my hotel with her, there wasn’t a night that we weren’t together.

The night before I was heading to Pattaya, she told me that she had feelings for me and didn’t want me to leave, I also told her that I had feelings for her which was true.

I didn’t know if this was just a game that bar girls play or not, but I felt she was being genuine about her feelings.

I explained to her that I would be going to Pattaya and then ill return to Bangkok for her, even though in reality I wasn’t sure if I would be back.

That last night together we didn’t have any bedroom fun, we just talked all night and laid in each others arms, that was it, Bangkok had me now.

Travelling to Pattaya and Continuing the New Relationship

The next day, we said our goodbyes and I got a taxi to Pattaya, not knowing where my holiday was heading. My plan all along was to have fun while away, but since meeting June, all my plans had changed.

I got to Pattaya where I had booked an Airbnb for the week, the place was called CCR, it was so cheap due to not many tourists around, I think it cost me like 1000 baht for the whole week, without bills included.

Anyway, the first couple of nights I went out, headed to some bars and had a drink with a few ladies, but every time I would talk to a girl I was comparing her with June and they never even came close.

You know that feeling you get when you just want to be with that 1 person, and no matter what you do, you can’t stop thinking about her? Well that’s how I felt.

I text June and asked her how she would feel if I cut my Pattaya trip early and came back to Bangkok so I could be with her? She replied that she would love that. So that’s what I did.

After 3 days in Pattaya I was once again in a taxi and heading back to Bangkok.

Returning to Bangkok and Extending the Covid Visa

I only had a couple of days before my flight, but at the time, Thailand had something called a covid visa, which was essentially a free pass to stay in Thailand no matter what visa you had or if you was on a visa waiver.

After speaking it over with June we decided that we would rent a place on Airbnb and extend for an extra month, prices were so cheap then and I work remotely so it was no problem for me.

We got a place in On Nut and soon after June pretty much moved in with me.

Yes things was going fast between us but I wouldn’t have changed a thing, I loved being around her and she made everything better for me, something I did not expect or plan to happen on my Thailand trip.

Negotiating June’s Bar Work and the Daily Bar Fine

I am only human, I don’t want a girlfriend that works in a bar and entertains customers, she was happy to stay with me but I would have to keep paying the bar fine of 500 baht a day, and obviously give her some money for her missing out at work.

I wanted this to be a real relationship and not a paid one, so after a couple of weeks, to justify me giving her money I slowly started teaching her what I do for work so she could help me and I pay her a salary.

It turns out she was actually pretty good at the work, she was making me money and in turn I was paying her a salary.

I asked her if I could buy her out of the bar for good and we just do my work from now on, she didn’t even take time to think she said yes instantly.

After a bit of haggling with the bar, I paid June out the bar and now the only time she ever goes there is if we both go to see her friends.

Staying in Thailand with June for Eighteen Months

I ended up staying in Thailand for just over a year on the visa waiver thing, then I did 2 border runs to Cambodia, so all together I was in Thailand with June for about 18 months.

During that time, we took a trip to Isan so I could meet her family and her kids. Although they don’t speak any English it was nice to see how they live and how lucky I am to actually live the way I do.

We have discussed our future quite a lot and have both shown no interest in leaving Thailand for the UK or any western country, we both want to stay in Thailand. Maybe not stay in Bangkok, but for now that’s where we live.

Discussing Marriage, Visas, and Their Future Together

The only issue right now is visas, Thailand is such a headache when it comes to visas compared to some other Asian countries like the Philippines.

I think the next step for me and June is to tie the knot, we have had a few conversations about it but never a serious chat so who knows.

Like every other couple in the world, we have our ups and downs, and if any of you are in a relationship with a Thai girl, you know that they can become extremely jealous.

I put a stop to her jealousy early on in the relationship and explained to her that being too jealous could lead to a breakup so please trust me as you have no reason not to.