The Hungarian Chef and Soi 6 Girl
This is not a story about a naive guy who goes to Pattaya and is conned by a bar girl. I am well aware that this does happen every day. The majority of this story took place between 2016 and 2020. I first met Albert when we both worked as chefs at a well known restaurant in Central London in 2013. During this time, we became fairly good friends. We both left the restaurant after a couple of years. I moved to Spain, and he got a job working as a private chef for a Russian family in London this detail will become important later. We kept in touch, and whenever I was back in London, we would often meet up for a drink and catch up.
Bitten by the Thailand Bug
I remember one time we met up he had just come back from his first trip to Thailand. He had visited Phuket and straight away had been bitten by the Thailand bug. He returned full of stories about his first experience with Thai women, the beaches, islands, food, and was encouraging me to go there at the first chance I got. It seemed as though this experience had changed his life. He started visiting Thailand whenever he could every three or four months when he could get time off work, he would go for two or three weeks at a time, mainly to Pattaya and sometimes to Bangkok. During these holidays, he would usually see more than one girl, but he didn’t like to change too much.
On around the fourth visit, he met Nak in a bar towards the top of Soi 6. The first night they met, he took her out of the bar and they spent the night drinking on Walking Street. He then took her out every day for the rest of his three week holiday. They both went up to Bangkok, took a boat tour along the river, stayed in nice hotels, ate at nice restaurants, and generally enjoyed each other’s company.
Nak was not the typical bar girl from a village. Previously she had been married to a farang (foreigner) and lived in Bangkok for many years working in an office. Unfortunately, the marriage had been an unhappy one, and after divorcing she moved to Pattaya and started working in the bars. She started working the bars relatively late as she was in her early 30s, but by the time these two met, she was already a seasoned pro and was making a lot of money working in the bar. Her English is pretty good, and she has a great sense of humor. I would say that she is a bit more aware of the outside world than most bar girls you tend to meet.
By the end of the holiday, Albert had really fallen for Nak. He had to return to the UK for work, but made his feelings clear to her. On returning to the UK, they spoke every night after he finished work often for hours at a time. They were already making plans of how they would be together long term. Worth pointing out at this stage Albert was certainly aware that she had to make money every day and would still be going out with customers from her bar.
The Arrangement
After a few more months, Albert returned to Thailand to spend another holiday with Nak. He told me that this time he made an arrangement with the bar she worked in that he could pay one large bar fine I believe it was in the region of 12,000 baht (that’s about 300 pounds, maybe 350 US dollars) so that anytime he came back to the bar, she was allowed to leave with him for an unlimited number of times.
Like most men who fall in love, Albert didn’t want Nak to keep seeing other customers, but he couldn’t really afford to cover her living expenses. He was saving up for a deposit to buy a house in the UK. So they came to an agreement: he would send her 15,000 baht a month, and that she would not spend the night with any customers. This was a good compromise as she would still earn a good salary, and they could talk on the phone each night.
So their relationship continued like this for about another year, with him visiting Thailand when he had a chance usually every few months. All the time, Albert was thinking how they could be together. He knew that there are not many work opportunities for foreigners in Thailand, and bringing her to the UK would be very difficult.
Things Fall Apart
After about a year, things changed. Albert had a big disagreement with his Russian employer and left the job. Unfortunately, without a reference, he spent the next six months trying to find another private chef’s job in London but with no success. He did have a few temporary jobs, but none of them worked out. It seemed he was a bit fed up with his line of work and wanted a change.
During this period, I met him once. He was feeling pretty dejected and disheartened. He’d used up a lot of his savings as it’s so expensive to live in Central London. He informed me that he was going to Pattaya for a month to see his girlfriend and that after he would come back and find another job. He booked a one way ticket but had the intention of buying the return ticket later on.
At about the same time, I was offered a couple of months’ work cooking for a politician in Indonesia. I had always wanted to visit Southeast Asia since I was a kid, so after completing the work in Indonesia, I decided to head to Vietnam and travel around for about a month. I also arranged to meet Albert in Pattaya. He had ended up staying there for over two months at that point. During this time, he had been paying a small amount of money each day to compensate her for not working I’m not sure the exact amount, but I believe it was less than 1,000 baht per day.
Meeting in Pattaya
I flew from Saigon to Bangkok, took a taxi down to Pattaya, and stayed at a hotel on Third Road. We met up the first evening on Soi 6. Now, I must say I’d like to think of myself as a pretty streetwise guy, but nothing could have prepared me for my first encounter with Soi 6. I can laugh now looking back, but at the time I was completely shell shocked. What a place.
Anyway, over the next week, he and his girlfriend showed me around Pattaya and explained how the system in the bars worked. We had a wonderful time, lots of laughs, and I had my first experience with Thai women. Albert told me that he was having a great time in Pattaya with Nak and was feeling relaxed. He did say he was going to have to go back to the UK and make some money soon, but that he couldn’t quite face doing that just yet.
Upon leaving, I invited him to join me in Vietnam for some of the trip. A couple of weeks later, he contacted me and we all met up in Hanoi. We did the usual sightseeing Hoa Lo Prison (the “Hanoi Hilton”), Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, then took some trips to Halong Bay and up to Sapa. For the most part, we had a really great time except Nak had never been outside of Thailand and spent a lot of time complaining about the food.
During this trip, he confided in me and told me that his money was running low and he really needed to find a job soon, but he could use his credit card for a while if he needed to.
The Spiral Downward
After this trip, I took a job cooking for a family in the Swiss Alps. I felt absolutely miserable leaving Southeast Asia. I sat on the plane for 14 hours, stopped in Moscow for a few hours, and then arrived in Switzerland where it was 10 some mornings. I spent the next few months being pretty miserable working there, dreaming of returning to Asia. The first chance I got my luck came when the family I had cooked for in Indonesia offered me to come and work for them on their yacht full time. I immediately said yes, packed up my things, and headed back to the warmth of Southeast Asia.
I had a few weeks spare before starting back in Indonesia, so I decided I would have a little holiday in Thailand first. Albert had been there all this time, and I was wondering how could he be surviving this long? It was a fantastic feeling arriving in Bangkok again. I spent a couple of days in Bangkok before heading down to Pattaya. However, this time things were quite different with my friend. He congratulated me on my new job, but I could see he was really depressed. The stress of his situation was really getting to him.
By this time, it was too late for him to go back to the UK as he only had a couple of thousand pounds left which wasn’t enough for him to pay for the flight to the UK, the deposit on an apartment and first month’s rent in Central London, plus survive until he got paid after his first month’s work. He had no family or friends willing to support him either. He also had a huge debt that he owed in the UK.
He explained to me that when he worked for the Russian family, he used to do all the food and alcohol shopping each month. He would pay for it on his credit card and then the employer would reimburse him. This used to be at least 4,000 pounds each month. So after about a year, Amex wrote to him and informed him they were increasing his credit card limit to 50 grand 50 thousand pounds. He also extended his overdraft to 5,000 pounds and took out another credit card with a 3,000 pound limit. So the past year he’d been living off these credit cards. He wasn’t able to withdraw any cash with them, so he and his girlfriend used to buy gold using the card and then sell the gold when they needed cash.
When his girlfriend first stopped working, he had paid her a small salary so she could send money to her mother who looked after her daughter. But now he was not in a position to pay her anything with the bank and the credit card companies contacting him and demanding their money be repaid. From what I could see, Nak was genuinely in love with Albert because even though he wasn’t paying her anything, she continued to stay with him. It was very sad seeing my friend fall on hard times.
Albert and Nak had moved out of the condo they had rented and moved into a small room. Unfortunately, at that time I didn’t particularly have a lot of money myself, but I gave Albert a few hundred pounds and said I’d help him out again once I was settled into my new job.
The Disappearance
Towards the end of my holiday, Albert was acting a bit funny with me. I think perhaps he was a little bit annoyed with himself that I was off to start a new job and he was still there in Pattaya running out of money. We had a bit of a falling out. About a month later, I was meant to pass on his CV for a job, but I had forgotten to pass it on which annoyed him greatly. After that, I didn’t hear from him for about six months. But then one day he messaged me and said, “Hey, I know we haven’t been so close recently, but I really need your help.” I was immediately glad that he reached out to me.
I read on: “I have found a permanent job in France. The family wants me to start on Thursday.” (This was a Monday.) “I just need some help to get to France. I already had to sell my laptop.” I replied that of course I would be more than happy to help him just send me the flight details that he needed, and I will book it that evening. But he then told me that it would be more convenient if I sent him the money for the ticket as in his words, “I have a friend with a voucher for discounted flight tickets which I can use.”
I immediately thought this was very suspicious. I told him, “Okay, well send me a picture of the voucher and I will book it for you.” After this, he never replied. I can only assume he was lying and there was no job. His number went dead shortly after that, and his Facebook account was deleted. Looking back, I deeply regret not just sending him the money as he was obviously in desperate need. But at the same time, I didn’t like him lying to me, and I’ve had bad experiences with lending money in the past. I wish he had just been honest about the situation.
At that time, I was in contact with one bar girl who knew Nak, so I asked her if she knew anything about what had happened to Albert. She told me that Albert was still in Pattaya, living in the girl’s room and that now Nak was working a couple of days a week back at her old bar on Soi 6. She was having to go with customers again to support both of them. This revelation broke my heart as it must have been terrible for the two of them. I don’t know what became of them since. I hope he got himself out of trouble somehow. I’m trying to find out, but I’ve lost contact with the other bar girl.
It does show though you can find the occasional diamond in the rough. Not all bar girls will drop you like a stone when the money runs out although 99.9% probably will. With that being said, I strongly advise anyone against getting emotionally involved with any bar girl, especially in Pattaya.
Story Two A 70 Year Old’s First Trip to Bangkok Thermae Cafe and a Portrait
Southeast Asia in general and Thailand were never high on my list of places I wanted to visit until I was introduced to a Thai lady by a mutual friend at one of the local coffee shops here in Central Texas. She is married to a local attorney and owns and operates a spa in town. Several of the folk in our office group had been to her for massages. Each morning over coffee, she would mention things about her home country that were interesting. Eventually, I scheduled an appointment for a massage with her. During the massage, I had to ask her to take it a bit easier on me as I had never experienced a Thai massage before and my older body wasn’t ready for that level of intensity. During the massage, she mentioned that in Thailand I would be paying about ten dollars for this massage rather than the sixty dollars I was paying here in the USA.
I’ve always been careful with money all of my life. Her statement got me curious what were the costs of things in Thailand? I started to watch YouTube travel videos and then videos on all things about Thailand. For a year, I watched several Thailand videos daily. I easily watched over a thousand videos during the year. I felt that I was as knowledgeable as I could be, having never been to Thailand before.
I had a list of possible hotels that were guest friendly in Bangkok and Chiang Mai in case I wanted some company who am I kidding? I knew I was going to seek out female company. The videos had pretty well schooled me on the scams of the cities (which are about the same as most other foreign countries), and I was aware of the bar girls’ tactics and tricks.
The First Night
On my first trip to Bangkok, I arrived on the 9th of January 2018 just before midnight. After clearing immigration and customs and collecting my luggage, I knew from YouTube videos exactly where to go to get a taxi. It wasn’t crowded, and I walked directly to the little machine that dispenses taxi slips, and the lady directed me to a taxi in bay number 13. The videos prepared me well, as I had a slip of paper with the name and address of my hotel written in both English and Thai to give to the driver. As he loaded my luggage into the boot, I insisted “meter” the videos had warned me. He nodded yes. As we pulled away, the driver had not started the meter, so again I insisted “meter.” He reluctantly started the meter.
I think it took about 25 minutes to get to the hotel, but I wasn’t watching the clock because my face was glued to the window looking at the night lights of the city. I had chosen a hotel on Sukhumvit Road between Nana and Asok BTS stations (BTS are the overhead trains). As we turned onto Sukhumvit Road, I was shocked to see the traffic and thousands of people walking the streets as it was now about 1:30 a.m. The videos showed me that this was to be the case, but until I saw it, I didn’t truly understand.
We stopped in front of my hotel and oh my god, there were about 20 ladies and an equal number of ladyboys standing around the hotel entrance. Several of these ladies were trying to get my attention, and I thought, “This is going to be a wonderful vacation.” I got checked in and went straight to bed as the 20 hour trip had worn me out.
The Thermae Cafe
Up about 9:00 a.m. the next morning and decided to find a more Western type place for my first meal in Thailand. I found a coffee shop on Soi 11 and ordered coffee and a bagel. I then headed to the Jim Thompson House museum. YouTube had prepared me pretty well on how to use the BTS. Rather than use the ticket vending machines, I chose to get a card as I would most likely use the BTS several times each day and besides, the girl in the booth was cute and spoke some English. Using the BTS was relatively easy the first time and got even easier with each use.
After visiting the Jim Thompson museum, I went back to the hotel for a sleep as jet lag and the heat had taken its toll. After about a three hour sleep, I went to Terminal 21 food court to begin to get my stomach accustomed to the spicy food of Thailand before I tried street food.
From YouTube, I knew the bar in the basement of my hotel opened at 8:00 p.m. and closed at 2:00 a.m. I was excited to go there and had a long talk with myself before going, saying, “You are old and you have money, but don’t be foolish.” I had this same talk with myself several times during the next three weeks foolishly, though.
Opening at 8:00 p.m. meant what it said? But I got my first lesson in Thai time. I was near the steps going down to the bar at eight, but the doors were still locked. There were a few girls standing in line talking as they wanted to get in. I stood above them and leaned on the stair rails where I could get a decent view might as well do a bit of window shopping while I waited. The doors finally opened at 8:35. Down the stairs, through the doors, to be greeted by an employee. I’m not a big drinker, so I was glad to see some non alcoholic choices. I did however go for a beer a Chang my first one.
There is an S shaped bar in the center of this place, and as I was one of the first 30 people inside, I found a seat at the bar where I could watch to see how things worked here. What I saw was that the girls lined up along the outside perimeter and the inside or near the S shaped bar in the center they left a pathway between the two banks of beauties for the guys to walk, view, and chat. There were only about 50 ladies inside now, but little by little more were coming in. I sat and nursed my beer for about an hour or so just watching the girls and how things worked. An Aussie guy sat next to me and we chatted. He said that the bar didn’t fill up until about 10:00 or 10:30, and that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights were the best nights for choosing female company.
I decided to make one clockwise circle to look at all the girls over but it turned into two laps as this seemed like an old man’s heaven. I remembered my talk to myself and decided to leave and come back about 10:30. I walked down Soi 11 just to see the bar and nightclub scene that catered to the younger crowd to pass the time. This was great for people watching, but at my age, just not my thing. I sampled a little street food, and at about 10:20 I headed back to the bar below my hotel.
Exploring Bangkok Before Meeting Rutna
As I entered, the same blue shirted employee made sure I went to the bar. This time I got a Coke. The atmosphere inside was much more lively as there were now well over 100 girls in the bar a variety of ages, sizes, fashion style something for every taste. I made my first circle of the place, walking slowly. Many of the girls made eye contact, some smiled, others stared at their phones. I had decided to look for a slender girl who was cute rather than beautiful. There were at least 25 that fitted the bill, so I made another circle of the bar. That is when I saw a stunner and my plans changed.
She was about five foot two inches and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds. She had the face of a movie star and was getting a lot of attention from a lot of guys. I timed my approach to her as the guys she had been talking to moved on. I stopped to chat, but after a minute it was apparent she spoke no English. Just using Google Translate, she told me she only goes with Japanese businessmen. Later I found out from another girl that a few other girls also only went with Japanese businessmen. The girls apparently call these guys “4 4 4 men” meaning four inches, four minutes, four thousand baht. I politely excused myself.
Meeting Rutna
On the second night at the same bar, I met Rutna (spelled R U T N A). She was standing in a corner of the bar to the right of the front door. Because of the clockwise movement around the bar, I didn’t see her until almost finishing my first round. She engaged me with a long smile. I returned the same but decided to make another circle to see my options. On the second round, I received the same smile and I stopped. We chatted for a bit. Her English was limited, so we used Google Translate but she changed it to Burmese rather than Thai. She was from Myanmar. Interesting this was going to be a real multicultural vacation. Her manner was different than the first girl. She held my arm and smiled and laughed.
We dropped her ID off with the lobby staff before going up to my room for drinks. There was another couple in the elevator with us. Rutna stood quietly beside me, but as soon as the second couple exited the elevator and we continued up, she took my arm again and squeezed in close to me. This night was even better than the first. She was amazing, attentive to my wants. Later she saw my portable easel in the room and figured I was an artist. She asked if I could paint her picture what a good ploy to see me again, but I didn’t care because I wanted to see her again. We agreed to meet in two days at the bar at 9:00 p.m.
Our second meeting was just as good. Later I took a good photo of her face for a portrait and convinced her to pose nude on the bed in a pose that did not show her face. I had never painted a nude before and was looking forward to it. I told her that I was leaving for Chiang Mai in a couple of days and that I would work on her painting while I was there. We agreed to meet in ten days when I returned to Bangkok.
Chiang Mai and the Gift
I went to Chiang Mai for a week. The pace was much slower, and I enjoyed daily massages rather than aerobics. I completed Rutna’s portrait and was anxious to see her again to give it to her. My week in Chiang Mai was just enough to get me relaxed and whet my appetite for Bangkok again.
I contacted Rutna via LINE as soon as I got back to Bangkok, and she agreed to come to my new hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 15. I met her in the lobby and told her I’d finished her portrait. She became so excited and insisted we go to my room so she could see it. When she saw it, she broke into tears thank goodness, tears of joy. I told her that the painting was hers. She said she would send it to her parents in Myanmar. We sat on the bed and she said she wanted to stay with me all night without compensation. I agreed but knew I would help out this poor girl financially anyway, as I was sure she needed the money to send back to the parents just mentioned.
That night and the next morning we enjoyed each other’s company, communicating as best as possible. Rutna left about 9:30 a.m. to go to her real job in a small restaurant. She would come back to the hotel about 8:00 p.m. I told her that I was going to Pattaya after our next meeting, so I could not stay up too late. Rutna got to the hotel about 8:20. We went straight to the room. Everything was good, but there wasn’t the level of excitement on either of our parts. I was ready to move on but sad to leave Rutna’s company. About 11:00, she left saying I should get some sleep.
I opened the door for her, and she walked out and down the hallway towards the elevators. I was sure she would look back over her shoulder at me. She didn’t. Was it because business was over, or because she was sad because I was leaving? I chose the latter explanation. If I had been 40 years younger, I could have been one of those guys who got into the hook to send money from the USA to her. Heck, if I were 20 years younger, I might have. But rather than being a total old fool, I’m only an old fellow that had a wonderful time.
I went back to Thailand in 2020 and got out of the country just in time as a pandemic was breaking out in Vietnam. I was scheduled to go back for a third time in 2021, but of course that was cancelled. I’m making plans now for January 2022, hoping that I can return. I don’t have many more years of good health, so I cannot afford to miss another year. I can’t wait to return.
If there is a moral to this story, I guess it is that even a 70 year old can have a great time when he visits Thailand.
The Warning Signs Before the Tragedy
So there you go another experience of somebody visiting Thailand, and no harm done on that one just a good time.
Story Three A Tale of Tragedy Love Loss and Overstaying
My first trip to Thailand was in 2000 with a few friends, and I had a great time. I have since returned many times. One of my friends in Australia had a Thai wife who hooked me up with one of her friends as I was single at the time. This lady had a Thai restaurant in Sydney, and I ended up being with her for 13 years. I decided to retire at 61. She and my friend’s wife suggested we live in Thailand. I flew back, looked at Pattaya, but decided on Hua Hin in the end. In 2011 we made the move, and all was okay until my girlfriend kept going to so many temples. She would be away for weeks sometimes. Then she started to get phone calls day and night. She told me it was her brother. She would never leave her phone lying about, but one day she mistakenly left her phone at home when she went out, and I successfully guessed her password as she uses the same password for everything. I checked the number that had been constantly calling her, and yes, you guessed correctly it was not her brother’s number, which I knew. The phone calls continued, but I had written down the number. I decided to call this strange mobile number. When I did, a Thai guy answered but did not speak English.
That night I confronted her. Of course she denied it and insisted it was her brother as he had changed his number. I packed her bag, booked a flight back to Australia, and told her if she called this guy one more time, that’s it we’re finished. She forgot that the phone was in my name. I checked so many times she had called him from Australia. So good to my word, I ended it all. I remained single in Hua Hin for a year.
Then I met a Thai lady in a phone shop. We hit it off at once. She was a lot younger than me, but she was lovely. We were together for three years and had some great times. Then I got a phone call from her girlfriend telling me that she had collapsed and was in hospital. I rushed to the hospital and upon arriving, I saw all her friends were standing around crying. When I spoke with a doctor to ask him what was wrong with her, he pulled back the screen around the bed. All her lovely hair had been shaved off. I was shattered.
The doctor told me that she had a tumor in her head that had burst, and they must operate immediately or she’ll die. After the operation, she spent a month in intensive care. She could not speak or walk. Her family wanted her back in the family home in Surin. After discharge, I drove her back to Surin as I would have found it very difficult to look after her by myself. She eventually got a bit better, but she hardly knew who I was. I would visit her weekly. It took 10 hours to drive to Surin. I would stay a few days and leave in tears.
A year later, I had to return to Australia for a cancer operation. I won’t go into details, but my retirement visa for Thailand had expired you have to get the visa renewed every year. I kept in touch with her family, and I applied for my pension here in Australia. I got it, but I was banned from visiting Thailand for two years for overstaying the kingdom.
In 2017, I received news that she had days to live. I pleaded with the government here to let me go and see her, but they refused. She passed away a week later. I was a mess, and all I could do was send money for her family and the funeral. After my two year ban was over, I flew back and paid my respects to her and her family. I gave them money to help them out. They shared my loss as I did theirs. I travel back every year and make the effort to see her family as I now consider her family my family.
