A First Timers Adventures in Bangkok

The story starts in 2013. I was 39 years old and I needed a holiday. I had not taken a trip abroad for a good number of years so I booked a trip to Thailand. I hadn’t done any real research but I heard Thailand was a great place to visit good food beautiful beaches friendly people with some beautiful ladies.

I booked my hotels online before I left for the first week. I only intended to stay for three weeks but things happened and I ended up missing my flight. The hotels I booked had swimming pools and were not near the nightlife areas such as Nana Plaza Soi Cowboy or Khao San Road. But still I had a nice time enjoying the weather drinking in the hotel bar and I went for walks nearby discovering the Thai culture along the way.

The third hotel I stayed in was in a much livelier area. I didn’t have to venture very far outside of the hotel. There were some good bars with live bands playing that were pretty good and there was also a good night market nearby to explore. I didn’t see any other foreigners in these bars it was mainly Thai people and they were buying whiskey by the bottle not beers.

I remember getting a little drunk. There were quite a few pretty girls sitting around that looked like they worked in the bar. I wasn’t sure so I asked the manager and he introduced me to a very beautiful girl who was wearing braces on her teeth. But the problem was she didn’t speak any English and I didn’t speak any Thai. Needless to say nothing happened with this girl unless there was no conversation so she took off very quickly.

What I should have done is called an agency so that I could have been introduced to an English speaking girl who could keep me company for the evening.

A Business Venture

One of the main reasons I came to Thailand is because I wanted to look at products to ship back to the UK to sell. I went to several t shirt factories but they were not as cheap as places like Vietnam and Bangladesh. They produced Nike Calvin Klein and a lot of other big names. In Vietnam the quality is very good much better than Thailand. In the end I opted for plain colored t shirts as these were cheaper. I shipped back several boxes to the UK and sold them on eBay. As there were no copyright issues as they were plain they went pretty fast. I didn’t make a fortune but I also never made a loss which was important.

Discovering the Bar Scene

I never discovered the Nana area and Soi Cowboy until my second to third week of my trip. I visited the Grace Hotel and was told this was a hotel that was used back in the day by the Americans in the Vietnam War. I noticed there were many many Arabs in this hotel and they even had a disco downstairs that was full of mostly Arabs and Thai girls.

I visited Hillary 2 bar and this is where I met my first bar girl. She told me she was new to the bar and had just been out with one guy usual script. Anyway she was sitting alone and we made eye contact. She smiled so I wandered over to her table sat down and offered to buy her a drink which she accepted. She went on to tell me that she had just given birth three months ago to a baby daughter which was a little off putting if truth be told.

I didn’t really understand the bar scene on this trip to Thailand and although I enjoyed this lady’s company we didn’t end up leaving the bar together. Instead I ended up going back to my hotel alone.

I stayed for a few nights at the Majestic Grande and the JW Marriott hotel which were both close to Soi 4 and Nana Plaza. Later on these were both marketed hotels a bit expensive but I wanted to treat myself and I met some really nice people while staying there.

I moved to a third hotel nearby which was supposedly the tallest hotel in Bangkok. I met a girl in one of the restaurants in this hotel. She was really cute so I asked her out after work. She said yes and we went to a nightclub. I remember buying a bottle of whiskey and we got quite drunk. We had a great time. Afterwards there was lots of kissing and petting but unfortunately no aerobics.

The Honey Club

I met a really nice American guy who knew Bangkok well and after a drink or two he offered to take me to the Honey Club which I had heard about before I arrived. Arriving at the Honey Club was a real eye opener different to anything else I’d experienced in Bangkok. On one side of the room there were lots of girls with different numbered buttons displayed by each girl. The American guy explained to me how everything worked here. But unfortunately as beautiful as these girls were I didn’t have enough cash to take advantage of my current situation.

I made up my mind right there and then that I would be returning the next night with a pocket full of cash. I checked with the people running the bar and they assured me that there were no ladyboys working here which made me very happy as I didn’t want to be caught out.

My first experience of having aerobics with a Thai girl was with one of the girls from the Honey Club. I was surprised that I didn’t have to pay for a bar fine so I took her out. I just had to tip her well for joining me in my hotel room for drinks if you know what I mean.

At the time I was now staying at the Nasa Vegas hotel and again this was one of the hotels that had been used by the Americans taking R&R from the Vietnam War. The girl from the Honey Club was very professional polite. We had a great aerobic session. She had a warm and nice nature about her. I thought she was lovely. We exchanged numbers with the intention of meeting again although in reality I kind of figured we never would. It was kind of like the old saying ‘ships that pass in the night.’ But what a fantastic ship I thought.

The Visa Overstay

Unfortunately because I was so wrapped up in my own world in the Land of Smiles I overstayed my visa. I went to the British Embassy which in those days was located on Wireless Road and concocted a story about how I’d become ill and missed my flight. The staff at the British Embassy told me there was another route I could go down if I didn’t want to pay the daily overstay rate as my funds were now very low. I could follow the deportation route which involves going to court for a morning with other foreigners getting taken to the airport and being put on an aircraft.

I know this sounds a bit dramatic but honestly my bill for overstay was quite high as a couple of weeks had gone by since I should have left and as I said I didn’t have access to any more funds at the moment. In the end I asked my dad to send over some cash as I didn’t want to be banned from such a nice country like Thailand. But I really didn’t enjoy asking my dad for money.

Freelancers and Friends

Looking back on my visit to Thailand my time at the Nasa Vegas hotel was where I enjoyed myself the most. I met quite a few people in this hotel some staying long term some short term. Some days we used to just go over to the 7 Eleven across the road and buy beers and just sit around and chat for hours. It was so interesting meeting all these different people from around the world. On other nights we would head out to places like Khao San Road that were very busy. I made really good friends with these people and I still keep in touch with some of them today.

After a while I started hanging around the Nana area especially on Soi 4 and I often enjoyed the company of the freelancers that hung around outside of the Nana Hotel. They never got offended when I asked them if they were ladyboys or real ladies I guess they were used to this question. Their prices to enjoy their company for drinks and my hotel was fairly good. Most of them quoted me a thousand Baht as a tip to keep me company.

Some of these girls were really nice human beings. They were just unfortunate being in the situation they were doing what they had to do to feed their families. Quite often afterwards I would take them for a meal and a night out which they seemed to really enjoy. They never asked me for any more money but I always gave them more anyway.

On one occasion I met a wonderful girl in the Hillary 2 bar. She told me her name was Ice. She also was asking for a thousand Baht tip to keep me company. I stayed with her several times as she was so nice to be with. I suppose this is hard to understand for anybody who hasn’t visited Thailand and just looks at it as a business arrangement. You really need to have visited Bangkok to understand how easy it is to become attached to those wonderful ladies.

I had initially popped into one or two go go bars in Nana Plaza but honestly they weren’t for me. I didn’t like the whole atmosphere in the go go bars and they were very very expensive. You couldn’t even sit and have a chat with a girl you might be interested in unless you were prepared to blow an outrageous amount of money on fake lady drinks.

In my eyes freelancers are definitely the way to go. You can chat to them first to see if there’s any chemistry. You don’t have to pay for lady drinks and the cherry on the cake is there is no bar fine. I never had any issues or bad experiences with freelancers in Bangkok.

More Pattaya Lessons

I intend to visit Thailand again soon. I also plan to visit Pattaya because I have heard it’s a fantastic city for fun if you’re a single guy. My overall experience of Thailand was nothing short of excellent. The people are warm and friendly the girls are wonderful the food is great and there is so much to do. Why anybody would visit Thailand and not enjoy themselves is beyond me.

Story Two Growing Up Next Door to a Thai Wife

This story starts in the late 90s while I was still at school. We had a neighbor who was an interesting man in the sense that he liked his cars and he had his own small engineering workshop. Perhaps something of an introvert but quite friendly. And he lived alone.

Then one day we had an invite to a wedding reception held at his house. At the time we didn’t realize he even had a partner. Anyway as it turned out it was a lady he had met while on holiday in Thailand.

So here we all were after the wedding at his house sat across the room from a whole family flown over from Thailand especially for the wedding not able in the slightest to communicate with each other. We just exchanged smiles and nods. As a 14 year old schoolboy I really struggled to understand the appeal and logic to all of this and found it all quite bizarre that someone would marry someone from halfway across the world who didn’t speak a word of English. Nonetheless they seemed happy and that was that.

Moving forward a few years and now in my early twenties I was invited round to discuss a potential job at his company. We were sat in the dining room and his wife Lek appeared at the door holding a small white dog. She asked if we would like a drink and then came back with two Chang beers placing them on little paper napkins. It seemed as if she was a paid member of staff who lived in the house and not a wife. I’d never seen anyone acting this way before.

Then again later on once the drinks had finished she reappeared hovering around the door asking if we’d finished and could she bring us another couple of beers. I suppose it was just her whole mannerisms that caught my attention.

Fast forward a few years and now aged around 30 I was invited to a goodbye barbecue as they had both now reached retirement age and had decided to sell up. They were going to move up North but remain in the UK.

More Thailand Lessons

I suppose this is a day that really got my mind thinking about what the whole fascination was with Thai women. I was probably first to the barbecue that day and sat in the garden. You could see down the driveway as each of the other guests arrived. I quickly saw a pattern emerge as each of the guests had one thing in common their wives were from Thailand.

With everybody there and in good spirits with the beer flowing I was given a hard and fast education as to all things Thailand. They were very honest about their own personal stories and experiences from one man meeting his wife while he was on his honeymoon 20 years ago to another going away on business and reminiscing how he had a girl under each arm watching TV in the sunshine saying he never wanted it to end.

I was told that if I ever went to Thailand don’t do what they did and marry a bar girl. I wrongly assumed they meant the profession was not good enough in their eyes like a barmaid in the UK and so I argued that it didn’t matter what job they had as long as they were good people and we respected each other. They had to somehow explain what the bar girls did for a living not easy when all their wives were looking over.

All in all it was a brilliant day. To see all those absolutely stunning women cooking up fantastic food and special drinks was great. These girls were really entertaining and funny. I suppose the realization then came as to why a trip halfway around the world and the effort was worth it. From what I had seen on that day at least it only took me 15 or so years to work it out.

I’ve never been to Thailand but intended to go this year in October. Unfortunately very recently my partner and I have separated and she feels taking the children on my own would be an unsafe holiday. Perhaps I should go alone. I think I could change the activity program if I did.