First Time in Phuket and Four More Thailand Stories

It was about my 10th trip to Thailand and my friend Mike and I had decided to go to the famous Bangla Road in Patong Phuket as neither of us had been to Phuket before.

The taxi ride in was a ridiculous 800 baht which I soon found out was pretty normal for Phuket because of the taxi mafia. The driver said he needed to stop and talk to a friend on the way to which I agreed but that was a big mistake. He stopped about halfway and went inside a travel agency. He then came out with an older Thai woman who asked us if we needed a hotel she could get us a good deal. She told us we said that we had already booked a place right down the road from Bangla Road to which she responded “Not true all booked out already. Only I can find you a hotel now.” She was very insistent and pushy.

I then showed her the booking on my phone and she just smiled and walked away. We continued on for about 10 minutes. Then the driver started to pull off to the side of the road again and says “One more stop please.” To which I replied “No no no more stops. We’re getting out and we’re not paying you if you stop again.” He said “Okay okay I take you to hotel.

It was our first time to Phuket and we were getting stung as soon as we hit the ground not a good start. I should have known what was coming.

We had arrived in the late afternoon so I had a quick shower once we had checked into the hotel we had booked which was about 5 minutes’ walking distance from Bangla Road. Mike said he was gasping for a beer so he took off to Bangla Road and said he’d meet me there which was only a 5 minute walk away from our hotel. A few minutes later he texted me to say “I’m in the bar with the big tigers out the front.

I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be able to find him but when I found the bar I realized I could never miss this place. It was a huge bar complex with about 20 little bars inside and over 100 pretty girls spread out among those bars. Only one bar had a pool table at that time and Mike said he was in that one which was at the front of the complex.

Bar Drinks and Decisions

We only went there for a game of pool but talk about good luck that bar had the hottest girls in the whole complex. So we played pool for a couple of hours with the girls and they played me like a violin. The hottest of the two was about 24 and she was all over me constantly flirting. I asked if she would let me bar fine her but she wouldn’t give me a straight answer and kept looking over my shoulder while still flirting with me.

I said to Mike “These girls are just trying to get drinks out of us. I don’t think we’re getting lucky tonight.” Mike told me that the girl I was with and an old guy at the bar kept looking at each other and smiling. So I said to her “If you don’t want me to bar fine you then we’re going bar hopping without you.” She said “I need to go and talk with my friend at the bar but you come back at 1100 p.m. and I will go with you.” I said “Okay we’ll come back later.

I realized that the old guy must have been a well paying regular and she was super hot so he must pay big money to spend time with her. He probably did me a favor actually looking back on it. I got away with a 1000 baht drinks bill.

Me and Mike explored quite a few more bars on Bangla Road. A couple of hours later we ended up at a bar near Suzy Wong’s. It was a bit of a dingy bar but as we walked towards the bar I saw the most beautiful girl sitting at the front waving at me and smiling. She took us inside and got us drinks and played Connect 4 with me. She knew very little English and was very shy so I knew she hadn’t worked in the bar too long and I couldn’t believe my good luck.

We played Connect 4 and drank for a while. She even convinced me to buy a couple of drinks for the mamasan. I kept checking the bill to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off it wasn’t my first rodeo. When it got to 1000 baht I asked her if I could bar fine her. She said “Sorry but I have a girl problem today.” I laughed and thought “Oh well I’m definitely not getting lucky tonight.” So me and Mike agreed to make a new plan of attack the next evening.

The next night we started at Suzy Wong’s. As soon as we walked inside we were greeted by little hotties whacking us on the backside with foam bats. Mike was in front of me so he copped it first. It was so loud that it shocked me but when I got my turn it didn’t hurt in the slightest. It was just really loud. Me and Mike could not stop laughing. We couldn’t believe that every one of the 10 girls there was pretty much a 10 out of 10.

A Second Night on Bangla Road

I knew this was going to be expensive so I asked straight away how much it was going to cost me. I asked the guy at the bar what the prices were and he said lady drinks are 300 baht the bar fine is 2000 baht and the girls get paid 8000 baht for long time. In Australia it would cost me around 60000 baht so it was a fair price. But I was still thinking about how much money I’d spent the previous night. I did not want to get ripped off here.

We had a few drinks with the girls it was a great atmosphere. Then we went bar hopping for a while. We had both been to all the bar districts around Thailand but we were both still surprised at how big Bangla Road was and the quality of the girls. This was back in 2018 when there were hotties everywhere.

We ended up in another dingy little place a few bars down. By then I was starting to feel drunk and was thinking about calling it a night when in walked a beautiful girl. She grabbed me by the arm stared into my eyes and said “You take me to hotel.” I laughed and said “We don’t even know each other’s names yet.” So we got a table drank flirted for a while. She said that the bar fine was 600 baht and her fee was 4000 baht for long time. I was very happy and said “Yep sounds good. Let’s go.

That was some of the best aerobics I’ve had in Thailand. It definitely changed my view of the girls in Phuket. I think I was acting a bit too keen the first night and the girls could tell. Talk about acting like a rookie.

Story 2 The Bar Girl The Scottish Boyfriend and The Broken Heart

I am 39 and have been holidaying and playing professional golf in Thailand for about 20 years very much a veteran and seasoned campaigner.

My first trip started out in Pattaya as many others do. Straight off the aircraft throw the bags in the room and head out for the evening. After a couple of beers in a random bar on Soi 13 I was on the way to the toilet and a nice young lady stopped me and said “Hello handsome man.” At first I kind of shrugged her off and said hello in passing. On closer inspection I thought maybe in my best interest to play pool with her.

We each won games back and forth and thought it might be time to have the grand final and ask her to head out to eat and then back to the room. We had a bet on the last game. I did the gentlemanly thing and lost the game. I took her out and enjoyed some local Thai food and some easy sightseeing along the beach. We were both looking into each other’s eyes and I was hoping we had the same connection I was feeling.

I asked her if she had a boyfriend of any sort and she said she didn’t. She previously had a long term Scottish boyfriend but was having some time to herself right now. I asked if she would consider an Australian guy as a new long term boyfriend. She was absolutely delighted and accepted.

We had the most amazing aerobics and I remember laying back thinking “Thailand has got me now.” The moonlight shining through the window was with a perfect Thai body silhouette in front of me. We spent about 10 days together and had a really nice time. We said our goodbyes and made plans to see each other again in the coming months.

I had a golf tournament in Indonesia and asked her to join me there for a holiday and walk around the course with me and my team. Again we spent another 10 days together and I enjoyed every moment. I noticed that she never asked for any money shopping or anything. I made sure she was well looked after and never went without. I was lucky enough to win both tournaments so made sure some of the winnings made it back to her and her family.

The Scottish Boyfriend Revealed

We became very close over the next three trips. I met her family stayed at their house and had some really special bonding time for them all. For various logistical reasons playing in Germany Australia and the UK I found it difficult to get to Thailand for about 6 months. Understandably we drifted apart a little and only every now and then had a token “hello how are you” over messages.

I thought I would make a surprise unannounced appearance and see this beautiful girl. I walked into her bar and she was pretty happy to see me although a little distant. Over the next few days she asked for extravagant amounts of money and was very sassy towards me.

I asked her best friend if she was seeing anybody and if there was any reason she wasn’t being herself towards me. With a little persuasion she said she never broke up with the Scottish man and she had been untruthful with me. I was shown photos of New Year celebrations Christmas nights out all on separate Facebook accounts I did not know existed.

I thought I would see it for myself. It was only a matter of hours and I saw them together holding hands in the bar. I walked past her gave her a nod and moved on. I truly wish her all the best and hope she is happy.

Story 3 The Stalking Managers A Bizarre Professional Experience in Bangkok

My Thailand story is one that is not about the usual escapades of Thailand such as girls and wild parties but a story of a bizarre professional experience I had working in Bangkok from 2015 to 2018.

I first visited Thailand in 1995. I’ve lived there for a few years about three times over the next 20 year period. I have visited the country almost every other year since. I lived in Bangkok every time and know the city very well and have a good network of established expat friends and a few Thai friends also.

I happened to end up back there in 2015 after my divorce. I started looking for a job as my close friend suggested I should stay away from my home country and the bad memories of the recent divorce and try something different in life. So after looking through the ads on Jobs DB I landed a sales job at an education institution. The job involved recruiting new students from other neighboring countries.

The department I worked in was a mix of foreigners mostly in their late 20s to mid 30s. I was 39 at the time but as foreigners don’t pay so much attention to age and seniority and as it was a new industry for me I just got down to the work. The department was run by two guys a director who was Dutch 28 and an assistant manager that was Swedish 29. They were bright young guys that had been in Thailand about 3 years and each had a real go get attitude about them not uncommon for men of that age one could say.

On my first week of work they gave me a mobile phone to make calls. I found it all a bit cumbersome to have two phones to carry around but just sort of went along with it for a bit. The phone was kind of performing strangely as well and would get hot often and just suddenly shut down.

I worked at a different sub branch so I wasn’t with the managers very often about once a month or so I guess. A work phone made sense. I sort of built up a bit of a rapport with the two work managers and joined them on a few nights out here and there and they came out to a property that I renovated. They acted like brothers and were still sort of finding their way in life doing all the things young men do in Thailand partying and drinking and all of that. They would play “The Boss” by spending the entertainment budget on staff drinks and both also did a lot of chatting up of the women in the work environment. They were real chauvinistic guys with inflated egos.

Suspicious Phones and Office Politics

I didn’t take much notice of it and just figured they will mature eventually so just engaged with them when I needed to.

As in any work environment office politics prevailed and I noticed some unusual behavior from the two of them that started to feel like it was coordinated and referenced my movements and schedule on any given day. For example I would go out to lunch and if I came back 10 minutes late one of them would message me and say “Are you back at your desk now?” I thought maybe it’s just connected to my work computer activity but decided to start doing a few little experiments with it as I was starting to notice maybe my phone was being tapped.

I’d been in the job for about 6 months now and recalled I had taken my personal computer into the head office a few times and used the work software on it. I also started to think about how one of them would say “Hey let’s go for a catch up in the work lunchroom” and when we did they just didn’t really say anything during the catch up as if it was to get me away from my personal computer.

As I started to think about it I wondered if they were coordinating tapping all of my electronic devices and started to go over past events and simply think something isn’t right here. Noting that on a few occasions they had messaged saying “Close by your place pop over with some beer.” I started to get quite suspicious and wondered if they were placing some small devices near my house.

I really couldn’t make sense of it as this was only a little job in an education institute and not some kind of high stakes business deal scenario and I was just a normal guy. It was getting very Hollywood thriller like. So I upped the ante on the test by saying things about the management noting I was going to reveal their behavior to our CEO but I would write it in a message in a dating app to a random person to see if they could read it.

Somehow they started responding by messaging me through Line whenever I was out saying things like “What’s going down in Soi 2?” when I was actually in Soi 2. They would also often message me on weekends when I’d been out on dates or had a sick day saying “Did you get lucky last night?” or “Did you go to get medicine at the pharmacy the one I’d been to?” It became so consistent either one of them would comment on my movements and phone messages daily with intense stalking remarks.

Testing the Managers at Home

Well it didn’t really bother me as I had a full social life in Bangkok and I didn’t have anything to hide but just questioned why they really cared. Were they that entertained with what life offered? I figured it was just a power move from them as they had some fairly sophisticated technology in their hands it seemed. One of the guy’s dads was a diplomat he would talk about how the government would come and scan his home as a kid for technology breaches. I just started putting two and two together.

The final test was I invited them and a few other colleagues to my house for a dinner party and they were sitting on the couch messaging each other laughing with their phones. So I wrote in the dating app again to say that tonight was a setup and that my tough Russian friend was coming to sort them out. I then had a friend turn up to dinner who knew all about the details. As soon as he arrived their faces just changed. And well of course he wasn’t there to do anything to them but he started by saying “Have you guys got anything on your phone you need to share?” The guy actually looked like a pitbull.

They soon worked out that the game was up. They were both fairly wimpy guys by the way. So as they say when the going gets tough the tough get going and they didn’t even stay for dinner. They backed off for a few weeks and then started up again with the stalking. So I just kept saying crude things about them in other messages and kind of started having fun with it. One guy was married so I spoke a bit about his wife oh boy that really set him off. I said I was going to tell her he was dating one of the girls in the office.

After a while it got boring so I changed my phone and Line accounts and to my amazement one of them commented saying “Ah new phone” and a few days later they knew where I was and what I was doing by sending messages to me on the internal work chat as I’d blocked all other communications with them. I was just so astonished with what they were doing.

And that’s basically it.

Story 4 The Friend Who Became an ATM 400000 Baht Gone

I enjoy listening to your stories and thought I would share one of my own. My name is John and I live in Hong Kong. I have been to Thailand many times since the first time in 2004. I usually travel with one of my colleagues Steve who is from Texas.

Prior to a trip in January 2010 I started chatting with a Thai lady whose name is G. She lives in Krabi and works in a good job. Her English is very good and she had been to graduate school. She was and still remains single. We got along well and I went to Krabi and met her and her sisters and nephews and nieces. We went to visit nearby sites with G acting as tour guide. G and I both enjoyed temples and the conversation flowed easily. While talking about temples we exchanged stories about our past and generally had a good time just hanging out.

No aerobics or even holding hands diminished the joy of spending time with G. I expected this since I had read that Thai girls in regular jobs do not get affectionate quickly. She was 25 years old at the time and I was 45 the age gap did not seem a problem and we really hit it off.

The next time I met G was for Songkran of 2010. Her family had a big truck and she and her siblings and their kids were all piled up in the back of the truck. It was a fun trip and again it was totally platonic. I met G at least once a year or once every 18 months since 2010. She didn’t ask me for any money for many years though she did ask for a gift every time I went to visit her.

We stayed friends and continued to communicate and meet regularly. She said she wanted a friend to confide in and she was comfortable to slot me in that role. I learned that in her family only she and her brother had steady jobs. The other three siblings did some business or other these businesses were forever making losses and G or her brother would help out. I had met her immediate family and a few aunts and uncles many times and it was all fun and above board. We stayed friends with the occasional hug or holding hands when no one was around.

One thing I noticed was every time we met her extended family she would organize a big lunch or dinner which I hosted. The family was friendly and so I did not pay much attention to the expenses.

The Hospital Bills and Family Debt

In 2020 she told me that her brother had suffered a stroke and needed help with his hospital bills. The arrangement was that he would pay for the hospital bills first and then ask for reimbursement from the insurance company. She asked me for 100000 baht because she had already maxed out her credit cards. Since I knew her for almost a decade and because she said the money would be refunded by the insurance company and I would get my money back I lent her the money since I have a good job and what she asked for was not a huge amount.

After the stay in the hospital her brother came back home. Unfortunately he suffered another stroke and had to go back into the hospital. This time a small swelling in a blood vessel burst and there was blood accumulation around the brain which required surgery and an extensive stay in hospital. She again asked me for help and I sent her another 300000 baht.

She had a regular job and earned more than the average Thai person did. She used her savings to pay for the surgery and hospital stay for her brother and I saw her credit card statement which showed that she had paid the hospital bills. Her brother was on no pay from his workplace for a year or so because his sick leave had expired. He’s recovering and is slowly getting back to work now.

He eventually got his reimbursement and I thought I would get my money back. However this didn’t happen. G claims that her brother paid her back 60% of what she had spent and did not give her the rest. She didn’t mention a word about the money I lent her or what happened to the reimbursement related to the loan.

Since the operation G has been saying often that she misses me and loves me and wants us to live together in Thailand. Since I am no spring chicken I did not want to get into a serious relationship and so played it cool. The requests for money have been continuous but I’m not forking out any more cash.

I don’t know what happened to the reimbursement that her brother received from the insurance company which he did not give her. I guess he spent on living expenses during the year he was on no pay leave. This topic does not get much airtime when G and I speak or meet. Our conversations are not as relaxed and easy as before.

The Cost of Helping Her Family

I know that in Thailand family comes first and can understand why many foreigners are reluctant to marry a Thai lady however beautiful and kind she may be the future liability is uncertain in its timing and amount. If I had moved to Thailand and stayed with G as she wanted me to do then my savings would have already been used to sustain her family.

I think I have to write off the 400000 baht plus that I have sent G so far. Sometimes I think I’ve been too calculating and cold hearted since the money is going to save her brother. Other times I feel I’ve done enough and that I am not my brother’s keeper.

I still keep in touch with G though it has fallen off to once every few days. She still says she misses me and loves me and wants us to stay together. Sometimes she will ask me if I need money and she would try to get it somehow. One time she wanted to sell some land she owned outside Korat to me. When I told her that foreigners cannot own land in Thailand especially agricultural land she said that I can trust her and though the land stays in her name it is only on paper and everyone knows the land belongs to me. So I asked her why she didn’t sell it in the open market. She said something about access roads to the piece of land because it was behind her father’s plot of land etc.

I don’t have a conclusion because this is going on. I hope it doesn’t get worse from here on in. Every time she asks for money or hints about me buying her or family expensive items I just shrug it off. Recently she wanted 400000 baht for her aunt’s wedding and 25000 baht to buy her mother an iPad. I turned a deaf ear to these requests.

Story 5 The Drunk Scooter Rider A Lesson from 30 Years Ago

Just a quick story of my first trip to Thailand in the early ’90s. Last year I returned to Thailand after a 30 plus year break and couldn’t believe how it had changed and developed. Anyway it brought back hazy memories of my first visit.

After a 4 year stint in London myself and a friend were on a 3 month trip back to New Zealand. We had a few weeks in Thailand and visited some of the islands including Phuket. We were staying at Karon Beach and hired scooters so we could hit the bars at Patong. We had a great night at one of the go go bars and I ended up planning to take a gorgeous young lady back to my hotel at Karon.

I was very drunk and was driving my scooter erratically with her on the back. Halfway home I had to stop for a pee. While that was happening the girl waved down a scooter coming the other way hopped on and they drove off. I was fuming as I had prepaid the bar fine and thought I was being ripped off.

I did a U turn and headed back to the bar at breakneck speed. It was closed. Being a bit angry I did a few 360s on the smooth concrete at the front entrance. I then returned home alone.

The next day I returned to the bar and asked the mamasan why they ran off and that I wanted a refund. She told me the girl was scared as I was too drunk and that she didn’t feel safe. I apologized. She gave me a refund but I ended up spending it at another bar for another girl. I drank less that night and had a very memorable time.

Looking back it was a dumb thing to do but it was I was in my 20s and we all make bad choices when we’re young and silly. Anyway I loved my visit last year and as I’m about to retire I think I’ll be a regular visitor in the coming years and my next 3 month visit is already booked.

The Lesson from a Drunk Scooter Ride