Thailand Love Full Moon Party and Go Go Bar Lessons
I first visited Thailand in March 2015 with a friend who had visited Thailand two or three times over the years prior. We decided we would travel the country spending two or three days in every place that we ended up. We started our holiday in Pattaya and ended in Phuket taking in Koh Samui Ko Phangan and Phi Phi Island.
Our first night in Pattaya we spent taking in the bars on Soi Buakhao where I got talking to a lady named Om. My friend had already told me about how the bars in places like Pattaya worked so I knew what to expect. As I was talking to Om she told me how she’d worked in a coffee shop through the day and only started working in the bar a couple of weeks beforehand due to her younger sister working in the bar. I just assumed this was the usual story as my friend had told me of the stories the girls come out with.
As the night went on me and Om decided on a few more drinks back at my hotel once she had finished her shift as she had a day off from the coffee shop the next day. I don’t think I need to explain what happened next. The following morning Om left. She asked if we could exchange numbers so we did and on she went on her way. I joined my friend once again for the rest of our holiday thinking that would be the last I would see of Om during our holiday.
I well and truly caught the Thailand bug booking flights as soon as we got back that November. During our second holiday we decided to spend five nights in Pattaya where the first morning we decided to stop for a drink whilst out exploring. We stopped in this little coffee shop on the Beach Road where to my surprise Om was serving the coffee. She asked me why I had not stayed in contact with her and went on to tell me she no longer worked at the bar as she and her sister had gone back to live with the family in their second village near Chonburi.
Me and Om decided to go out that night and catch up. This time I did stay in contact with Om as I believe she was being genuine not telling me the usual bar girl stories. I then spent the next couple of weeks visiting Om and keeping in regular contact. When back in England Om never asked me for a penny during these two years.
Towards the end of 2017 Om decided she wanted to come to visit me in England but she told me she didn’t have the money for the flight. So I decided I would pay for Om’s flight. We spent every minute of the day and night together.
Married Life With Om
Fast forward to 2022 me and Om have a lovely little two year old boy and are happily married. I have a fantastic set of in laws in Thailand and me and Om run a pub in my hometown where we have a very good reputation for food especially our Thai nights where Om absolutely smashes it with her cooking.
Story Two Joe from Thailand A Friendship in Bahrain
In 1998 when the dollar used to be around 47 Baht and you could get more by using traveler’s checks I was in Thailand on holiday. On one particular day I was sitting in Soi Arab (at the back of Soi 3) when a Thai guy in a suit came and sat down next to me and started a random conversation. It turned out that this guy was actually a travel agent and was based in Soi Arab. He asked where I was staying and at that time I was staying in the Hotel Miami on Sukhumvit Road where you could get a double room for 350 Baht a night.
He asked me if I would like to join him on a tour and told me that I wouldn’t have to pay a penny as he wanted to be friends. So I agreed to be picked up the following morning. As it happens the tour was great and there were no scams involved but unfortunately we had to head back to Bahrain the following day.
Several weeks later the tour guide contacted me and said he would love to come and visit us in Bahrain. At the time we were thrilled to bits to invite him to our country. We arranged a sponsorship visa for him as our country was not very tourist friendly at that time. We told him that we could offer him accommodation and find him work if he was interested. Eventually he turned up and told us he was only staying for a week’s holiday to see what it was like which was fine by us.
We are professional fishermen and we had to go out to sea for two days to collect our catch. The laws are very strict here in Bahrain and it’s not permitted to take somebody out to sea if they don’t have a license. When we arrived we showed him to the accommodation we had arranged for him and made sure the kitchen was fully stocked with food and we also gave him a brief tour of the surrounding area as we wouldn’t be back for a couple of days.
Once out at sea we became overcome with guilt that we had invited a guest to our country and left him alone. So we decided to cut our trip short and come back to shore after just one day. When we arrived at the accommodation we had arranged for him we were shocked to see that everything was exactly the same as when we had left it it was totally undisturbed. And our guest whose name was actually Joe from Thailand was nowhere to be found. Joe’s belongings were in the room his clothes his bags his passport but as said he was nowhere to be found.
On the second day Joe appeared out of nowhere but we were totally shocked to see him dressed in Arab clothes. We thought to ourselves ‘Thank God he’d come back’ as we were very close to alerting the authorities of his disappearance. As it turned out it all became clearer and made sense when we heard his story.
Joe Explores Bahrain
We had told him that we wouldn’t be back for two days so he decided to explore the area by himself. Some of our neighbors took it on themselves to befriend him and look after him in our absence. They had also lent him the clothes and invited him to eat authentic Arabic food in their homes. Joe being a tour guide and having the Lonely Planet book with him took it upon himself to discover parts of the island that the locals weren’t really interested in or had forgotten. He also took lots of photographs and had them developed in a one hour development shop. When he showed them to us it was quite amusing it reminded me of field trips we had taken as school children.
Joe was a natural extrovert and people in our village took to him immediately. They invited him for dinner and showed him around. In fact Joe was quite a celebrity at the time. Like all Thai people he always had a smile on his face.
Sadly we lost contact with Joe who became a great friend. We would love to know what happened to him. The last time we heard from him was around 2000. He used to go by the email address joe38@hotmail.com. Anyway that’s my short story about Joe from Thailand.
Story Three The Full Moon Party and the Italian Girl
This story took place in the New Year between 2015 and 2016. I was 26 and had been living in Thailand for two years. My best friend from back home in the UK Pete was visiting. Pete had already been to Thailand once and loved it. He arrived early in the morning on Christmas Eve and we met up at the Nana Hotel. We got room stitched the bags and jumped straight into the pool where we chilled and caught up.
At one point a freelancer approached us at the poolside showing some very x rated videos with men including one video where she had golf balls popping out of a place where golf balls shouldn’t be popping out of. She asked if either of us wanted to go with her and while it was an interesting offer ultimately we declined. We still laugh about this story today.
We got burgers then we hit the bars. We started at Hanarans at the Irish Pub on Soi 4 before going into Hillary’s opposite the Nana Hotel. Later we ended up in Nana Plaza in a go go bar called London Calling with lots of girls walking around wearing not very much. One takes my fancy she’s a gorgeous little lady with a pretty face red bikini and blonde highlights. She approaches me introducing herself as Dang from Udon Thani. Pete is soon joined by another of the dancers. I ended up bar fining her giving her a head nod to Pete and his girl as we go.
I get Dang back to my room where we enjoyed each other’s company. Woke up Christmas Day and Dang leaves. We exchanged Line IDs with the vague intention of seeing each other again before saying goodbye.
Me and Pete just spent the day lazing by the pool and ended up in Hillary Bar again that night. There we saw two attractive girls across the room who smile at us. One is in a black dress with jet black hair while the other girl is petite in a red dress with bleached blonde hair. We went over to chat to them. They were teachers from the Philippines no wonder their English was so good. Pete hits it off with the girl in the black dress named Veronica while I get close with the red dress girl named Cindy. Later we end up back in my room where the drinks continue. Veronica then takes Pete and they go back to his room next door and I’m left alone with Cindy and I’m sure you don’t need me to explain the rest. Merry Christmas from Bangkok I love Filipino girls.
The next morning at breakfast Pete looks tense and when outside of earshot of the girls he tells me that Veronica is annoying him and has already become very clingy. The girls tell us they want to hang out with us but we pretend we are leaving town that day. I like Cindy so become friends with her on Facebook but Pete can’t get away from Veronica. I vaguely plan to see Cindy sometime and we say our goodbyes.
Train to Ko Phangan
We were soon to travel to the New Year’s Eve beach party on Ko Phangan. There were no flights at the time so we ended up taking the slow train which turned out to be a great choice as you’ll learn later. On the day it was time to travel we met my two friends from Pattaya Rob and Phil at the main train station in Bangkok. Rob was an Aussie guy a year younger than me and probably my best friend in Thailand. The other guy Phil was an American in his 30s he loved the ladies and was your typical Pattaya farang. I was glad to see that Pete and the two guys hit it off immediately and we became quite the squad.
It was a local train with wooden seats no air conditioning and a funky smell. We departed Bangkok and seemed to travel very slowly. Soon after leaving Bangkok we hear the chatter of several Europeans coming into our carriage. With plenty of space nearby we invite them to join us and they do. There are four guys and two girls looking to be in their mid 20s. They are Italian and German and have just been studying in Bangkok and are heading to the full moon party then Phuket before they go back to their countries.
My attention was immediately caught by one of the girls. Being in Asia for so long I hadn’t dated a Western girl for a long time but this girl was stunning. She had dark hair striking blue eyes and a gorgeous tan that only comes from several months in Southeast Asia. We start talking and she introduces herself as Isabelle a 23 year old from Northern Italy. She speaks fluent English with a British accent as she studied in Brighton a couple of years prior. She was very likable and I quickly developed a crush on her. We talked for the entire 13 hours through the night as everyone else slept right till our arrival in Surat Thani early the next morning. We then traveled together by boat to Koh Samui.
Upon arrival we separated as me and the guys had a night in Koh Samui while the Europeans were heading directly to Ko Phangan. After we parted ways it immediately hit me that I had forgotten to get Isabelle’s contact number no phone number or social media. Gutted. I really liked this girl.
We stayed in a grubby cheap guesthouse in Chaweng Beach and chilled on the beach that day. I wasn’t in the mood to go out that night the tiredness from the train journey caught up to me so I stayed in as the guys went out. The next morning we caught the boat across to Ko Phangan. Though poor travel planning every single motorbike on the island had already been rented. We walked the streets in frustration till we found someone who rented out a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. We drove the truck through jungle tracks to our beach bungalows got there ditched our bags and dived headfirst into the idyllic blue sea. If there was a paradise it must be here. We bought a plastic Frisbee and a kids’ football and just chilled out on the beach for that day.
That night we headed over to Haad Rin where the full moon party was. I’ve never seen anything like it before it was massive stretching from one corner of the beach to the other with huge crowds and lights as far as the eye could see. The noise was tremendous and hundreds of speakers blasted every kind of music on top of each other. We bought mysterious concoctions of alcohol Coke and Red Bull sold in little children’s plastic buckets. Times were good and a couple of hours passed in a blur.
Finding Isabelle at the Full Moon Party
Suddenly I was tapped on the shoulder from behind and heard a familiar voice say my name. I turned around and was very surprised there was Isabelle the Italian girl from the train along with the German girl she was with before. Her other friends were nowhere to be seen. We hugged and exclaimed shock and surprise at seeing each other again on this huge beach with literally thousands of revelers. What were the odds of that? We exchanged details laughing at the sheer randomness of the situation.
The next couple of hours passed in a flash and before long it was countdown to midnight five four three two one zero. Fireworks and music blasted as the clock struck 12. We admired the view and I looked at Isabelle. She was stunning in her neon party attire and glowing face paint. She smiled at me then kissed me passionately. We partied the night away and Rob got very close with Isabelle’s German friend. Pete and Phil had wandered off into the chaos and were nowhere to be seen.
3 AM came and tiredness set in. I text Pete and Phil telling them that we want to leave. Pete tells me him and Phil had found a couple of Thai girls and would stay with them for the night. Me Rob Isabelle and her German friend get into the truck ears ringing from the noise. I’m not a big drinker and felt fine enough to drive. Isabelle sat up front with me while Rob and the German girl made out in the back. Back to the bungalows Rob and the German in one and me and Isabelle in the other. And you can guess the rest.
I wake as the sun peeks through the curtains with Isabelle still asleep. Happy New Year. Outside we find Rob and the German girl talking as we join them. We spent that night chilling by the sea. I felt like I was living in Alex Garland’s ‘The Beach.’ At some point later on Pete and Phil came back looking worse for wear but grinning like Cheshire cats after their night with the two Thai girls.
That night we went to a pool party that the girls had invited us to. There we caught up with the guys who they had traveled with and partied until I went back to Isabelle’s room nearby (so that Pete and Phil could sleep in my bungalow undisturbed while Rob and the German girl stayed in the other bungalow). Me and Isabelle talked and enjoyed our time together that night as we would be parting ways in the morning they went to Phuket while we were going back to Bangkok. In the morning we made some vague promises to see each other again even though we both knew it wouldn’t happen such as it is with the innocence of young romance.
Rob picked me up in the truck as he brought the German girl back. As sad as I was to leave the party I felt happy that I still had another week of holiday with Pete ahead. We returned to the pickup truck and went by boat to Trang on the mainland before catching a bus back to Bangkok. We arrived at night and checked into a cheap hotel near Victory Monument. We’re not in the mood for parties so just get some food before sleeping.
Back to Pattaya After the Party
The next morning we took a crazy minivan ride for two hours down to Pattaya. I had an apartment there but Pete offered to get me a room in the same hotel he was staying at which I couldn’t refuse. The next few days were a blur of chilling by day and typical Pattaya antics by night. Eventually Pete’s last day came before he needed to head back to Bangkok to catch his flight back to the UK. That night we just stayed in the hotel sitting on his balcony with a few cans of beer and talked. It was really sad to see Pete leave but he felt worse I was lucky enough to be living in Pattaya while he had to head back to dreary old England.
Morning came and we said goodbye to Pete as we go back to our normal lives. I get a message a day later from Pete telling me he’s in England and he wishes he was back. A few days later Isabelle sends me a selfie in the snowy Alpine mountains of Northern Italy. Cindy messaged me asking if Pete will call Veronica as she needs money it isn’t really likely. So there you go.
Story Four From Factory Worker to Go Go Bar Manager
It was the time of the financial crisis and as I’m a self employed plasterer there wasn’t a lot of work around due to the housing market slowing down with the banks not borrowing much money for mortgages. At this time I was working in Mansfield in a fire door production factory. I’d recently broken up from a long term relationship in 2007. Feeling a little insecure and very bored with this factory job I had a few of my newfound work friends at the factory who were also wanting a little bit more from life other than making fire doors for a living in boring Mansfield. We all regularly chatted about getting a work visa for another country and leaving this dull factory life behind. All four of us decided we wanted to go to Australia and work so we applied for a working holiday visa and we all got accepted.
I was very excited about the whole new experience I was going to have.
I started doing some research about having a holiday stop on the way. One of the guys had already been to Thailand before but not for long periods and had told me a few stories about the kingdom. Our departure day of November the 9th 2009 had finally arrived. We flew Thai Airways. Three of us had never flown long haul before so we made the most of it with the free drinks and the food on board. We met a guy on the aircraft also going to Thailand but with a lot more experience than us. He told us lots of stories about Thailand the bars the girls and how to treat the Thai people respectfully. To be honest I did not find out until being in Thailand for several days that a lot of the guy’s advice was fantasy rather than fact.
We arrived in Bangkok and made our way to the hotel which was located near Khao San Road. I don’t think anybody will ever forget that first feeling of walking out of the heavily air conditioned airport in Bangkok and into an almost furnace of heat humidity and pollution. Still we had arrived in Bangkok. Like any other newbies we made some mistakes firstly being talked into booking an expensive airport limo. Live and learn.
After reaching the hotel we got showered changed and headed off to the famous Khao San Road. The feeling was like no other the sounds and smells of the street food. Even though one of the group had never been to Thailand before (as I mentioned earlier in the story) we fell for the old tuk tuk scam to the ping pong shows that was mistake number two. I’ve heard many nightmare stories about those venues about people getting ripped off for thousands of Baht but we actually had a great time and never got bothered once while we were out there.
Our first three days in Bangkok were really good both the daytime and of course the nights when we went out partying. In the day we went out visiting the temples and doing all the touristy things you do in a new city. On our last night in Bangkok we decided to go out for a nice meal in a local restaurant. We sat down for dinner where we were met by a beautiful Thai serving girl who looked no older than 18 but who was actually 27. We continued to enjoy our evening with lots of food and lots of Chang beer. All four of us were flirting with the Thai girl that worked there and asked her to join us for the night when she had finished work. She accepted and we hit Khao San Road for the third and final night in Bangkok.
A Night That Became a Blur
It was a usual crazy night with lots of Chang beer and lots of Thai food. The night finally came to an end and I found myself with a beautiful Thai girl in some random hotel lobby drinking beer while she was eating Thai food. We ended up getting a room in this hotel as I was sharing a room back at my hotel and I wanted some privacy for the upcoming gymnastics. We had a great evening. She never asked me for anything which I thought was great. ‘If this is Thailand I can live with it.’ Not spending too much money was not to last however many thousands of Baht have exchanged hands since then. I guess I got lucky. Being much younger than today I’ve probably looked a bit more appealing to the girls than I do currently.
We left for Koh Samui the following afternoon but before I left I popped into the restaurant and exchanged contact details with my new girlfriend from last night. We visited Koh Samui Phuket and Phi Phi Island. We joined in all of the full moon and half moon parties it was great fun back then. I wouldn’t dream of doing that stuff now but being 11 years ago it was all fun to me.
After four weeks of what had been the absolute best time of my life meeting and making friends with lots of people some who I still keep in contact with today it was time to fly on to Australia. We landed in Sydney and I was feeling very sad at leaving Thailand. There I was in an amazing city like Sydney and all I wanted to do was get back on a flight straight back to Bangkok. Nonetheless I went with the flow of the group and continued to enjoy my time in Australia. We spent three weeks in Sydney enjoying Christmas and New Year on Darling Harbour. We then rented a camper van and drove to Melbourne driving along the coast stopping off at a number of places to spend the night. We all enjoyed the beautiful southeast coastline of Australia.
My funds were getting very low at this point and as I arrived in Melbourne and after paying for a week’s rent in a hostel my funds had finally run out. I went to an internet cafe across the road (as smartphones weren’t really around that much back then) searched online for a job and luckily started work the next morning. The job scene was much better back then. I was enjoying my time in Australia but I could not get Thailand out of my mind. I just wanted to be back there. The Australian girls are stunning but I’m not the most handsome man on the planet so I never really stood a chance of getting together with a beautiful Australian girl.
Around this time most of our group of guys from Nottingham had agreed to split up and go their separate ways. After a few months of installing loft insulation in Melbourne and earning a very good salary I had managed to save a little money and was planning another camping trip to Darwin. It was a huge shock to the system coming from Thailand where 20 pounds can go a long way if you’re careful compared to Australia where it is very expensive for everything. Me and another guy headed up to Darwin again stopping off and camping along the way. We had another amazing time experiencing the Australian Outback with all its wildlife totally different to England and all the time never forgetting about Thailand and constantly talking about Bangkok at every opportunity that I could.
Again I was getting very low on funds so I started looking for another job. Someone mentioned a couple of pearl boat companies in Darwin but had said you don’t stand much chance of getting a job with them as every backpacker in town is after the same job. Nonetheless me and one of the other guys tried our luck and headed off to the office of the pearl boat company. We walked in and the guy at the desk asked ‘What do you want?’ ‘A job’ we replied. It was then that the phone rang and the guy at the desk answered. He continued to have a conversation with a man on the other end of the phone and just before he hung up asked if they were going to replace the two backpackers that had recently been sacked for stealing pearls.
Getting the Go Go Bar Job
He put the phone down and said ‘This is your lucky day boys. When can you start?’
This job was just what I was looking for six weeks on three weeks off. And on my three weeks off I was going to fly back to Thailand. This job wasn’t just ideal for me to get back to Thailand it was one of the best experiences of my life working again in the Northern Territory on a boat in shark infested waters. The wildlife was unbelievable. So the first break I sailed back to Darwin and booked a flight to Phuket via Singapore. I had to spend the night in Singapore which I didn’t mind at all as it’s quite a beautiful city with lots of fun things to do. While working on the boat I made friends with a really cool German guy named Marcel. I introduced him to Thailand for the first time and we returned on every break we had.
After a year of being away I returned to the UK. I started back work in the UK and saved up to go back and travel some more. I was always interested in going back to tour Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. So after a few months saving up I flew back to Bangkok and had some more trips planned in Southeast Asia. Vietnam and Laos were great fun but I couldn’t wait to get back to Thailand.
The Thai girl I told you about earlier in the story who we had met in the restaurant had now moved to Phuket and opened her own little travel shop (you know the type that you see all over Thailand for booking your trips to the islands bus boat and train tickets and so on). We had kept in touch all this time on messenger and she offered me a job working in her travel agent. I was interested in staying in Thailand for a longer period of time and thought this could be a good opportunity to do that. I made my way to Phuket by bus as I was again a little bit low on funds. After finding an apartment and paying a month’s rent near the travel shop I was literally broke.
I wasn’t really worried this time as I was making a little bit of money at the travel shop just enough to eat and drink. It wasn’t about partying at this point it was just about staying in Thailand and living the Thai lifestyle. I was probably the poorest farang in Thailand at this point but I didn’t care. It was just great to be here and wake up every morning in the country I love so much. I was also waiting for a tax return that was being processed from my time working in Australia so I knew eventually I would receive about 1500 pounds that would be transferred to my UK bank account.
I was living on around 200 to 300 Baht per day but having the best time of my life. I didn’t really enjoy working in the travel shop as the Thai girl I was working for didn’t really have the same happy go lucky attitude she had had when we first met in Bangkok. In fact she had turned into a real misery and wasn’t pleasant to work for at all.
Lessons Working in the Go Go Bar
I worked there for around three months all in all and it was an awesome experience. I was still very new to Thailand at this point but this job taught me a lot about what goes on with the girls and how they have numerous farangs sending them cash. I literally witnessed every scenario with these girls in the time I spent there. But I had lots of fun and all the girls made me feel very welcome. I actually still keep in touch with a couple of them to this day. My salary was laughable if I’m honest just 9000 Baht a month but I wasn’t there for the money. It was all about the experience.
As soon as the tax rebate I spoke of earlier in the story was debited into my account I finished the job and enjoyed around three weeks’ holiday and of course I went on to spend time with my favorite girl I had been watching for the last three months but had been off limits to me as I worked in the go go bar.
Since 2009 and my first time leaving Europe I have been all around the world and would say travel is by far my biggest passion. I have plans to go to many more countries and want to experience many more adventures but Thailand will always be my go to place. After all the countries I have visited Thailand is by far my favorite country. No disrespect to any other country but Thailand is just something else. I also introduced Thailand to my father at 60 years old and let’s just say after endless amounts of advice before his first trip he made every rookie mistake in the book. But that’s another story.
