From Fantasy to Paradise A First Timers Thailand Journey

Story 1: From a Factory Job to a First Thailand Adventure

The place I was working at hired a new guy named John. John was a little older than me but he began telling me stories about Thailand. I’ve always wanted to travel but never enough to actually start saving up. After talking to John everything changed. He told me all about the girls how cheap things were and I would see and smell things I couldn’t even imagine. He told me he had a wife in Thailand and always tried to get me to go with him. John was fired pretty soon after he started working but I still always thought about Thailand.

I would watch videos all day during my shift and listen to the stories on the Thailand Bound YouTube channel as well as others. I watched everyone’s videos and learned all the do’s and don’ts of Thailand. Everything was still just a fantasy until I actually installed Thai Friendly on my phone.

I met a beautiful Thai lady named C. She was a dental assistant divorced but had no children. I told her I was coming to Thailand but I had already been before so she wouldn’t look at me like a mark. I wasn’t sure I could trust her. After talking to C everything changed for me yet again. I stopped spending money on everything that I didn’t actually need. I saved every penny possible until I finally had enough for the trip.

I didn’t just want to go to Thailand and spend all my time with one lady I wanted to explore Pattaya as well. So I told C I would be arriving one week later than the actual date. I had no experience with Pattaya and all its glory alone. I really did not want to bring sand to the beach because I already knew what to expect based on all the YouTube stories.

I had everything ready to go now passport flights $2000 US dollars cash and my first night booked at Page 10 Hotel in Pattaya. I tried to pack lightly I could always get what I needed in Thailand.

The day finally came for me to leave the US and fly to Thailand. It was one of the most grueling trips if I’m being honest. The total time traveling was around 40 hours. I paid $1300 which was one of the cheapest flights available at the time. I flew from Orlando Florida to New York City to Hong Kong to Bangkok Thailand. It was such a long and exhausting trip. As soon as I landed it was already dark and I was so exhausted and a little confused. I just hired one of the first and few taxi guys I found. I talked him down from 1500 baht to 1300 baht for a ride to Pattaya from Bangkok Airport.

Arriving in Pattaya and Finding His First Hotel

It took some time to get to Pattaya but I felt like a little kid looking out of the window seeing all the new scenery. I had just never seen anything like this before. We finally arrived at Page 10 Hotel which for me was absolutely perfect. As soon as I checked in I went up to my room and just shrieked out of excitement. I couldn’t believe I actually made it to paradise.

I quickly took a shower got changed and went downstairs. Everything felt so unreal: beautiful women everywhere and cheap food. It was just so crazy. My nerves were almost in shock. So the first thing I did was have a few beers from a little place. I sat down drank had a conversation with the owners and workers and was on my way. I started walking around all of the bars and checking out all of the beautiful ladies. Sometimes I get a little shy and I just didn’t even know where to begin. So I literally walked in circles for an hour. The whole time my mind was just exploding over and over it just didn’t seem real.

At one point a pretty Thai lady stopped me and told me if I kept walking in the direction I was heading I would run into a dead end. Sure enough it was. I turned around and she was waiting for me in the middle of the street blocking my path. She grabbed onto me and asked me if I wanted to hang out at her bar. I said no at first but she asked again and I said yes. I didn’t need much convincing.

After I sat down I asked her if she wanted a drink and I ordered us both a drink vodka and juice for me and something similar for her. She was very beautiful and had a great personality. I really liked her company. She asked all the basic questions at first and told me her name was P. She was acting very flirty so I asked her if she wanted me to bar fine her. She said yes. So I paid my bill and we left. We went to my room and had aerobics. I was so tired and tipsy I fell asleep immediately.

When I woke up, reality hit me and I realized I needed to be more careful about what I’m doing. My money was locked up in the safe and none of my stuff was missing. I didn’t know this girl and anything could have happened. Luckily for me she wasn’t a thief and the whole time we were together she never tried anything fishy with me. She actually saved me a lot of money haggling for me. She also made me feel safe and would make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.

I totally broke the three day rule with her. My initial plan coming to Pattaya was to hook up with lots of girls and party but things changed pretty quickly. I really liked this girl and her personality was just as beautiful as her looks. I took her to the Pattaya Aquarium and bought her daughter a shirt. She didn’t ask I have two kids and a soft spot for kids so I did it for that reason regardless. Everything was crazy cheap. The more time I spent with her, the more I was falling in love. I know she’s a bar girl and it’s her job but it genuinely felt like real love and I know she at least liked to be with me. Plus 1500 baht for long-term felt like a killer deal so I kept her for the entire week.

Planning a Show and Buying a Dress for a Night Out

I asked her to pick something out to do one night and she said she’s never been to one of the big shows. One of my go-to moves for impressing ladies is to take them out and buy them a dress for a nice date so that’s what I did. She found a vendor that walks around all the beer bars and sells dresses. It was very cheap and I was surprised she didn’t want to find one at the mall. But whatever less money I have to spend the better. We took showers got dressed and went to the show which was pretty fun. Then we found dinner somewhere. Every time we ate somewhere I told her to help me pick several options to try. After dinner she could pack everything up and give it to her friends.

I just wanted to try as many things as I could because food is so cheap in Pattaya.

My first week was coming to an end. The night before I was supposed to leave P started to cry and told me she didn’t want me to leave. I told her I didn’t have a choice which made me tear up as well. It was pretty depressing and I honestly didn’t want to leave. I also promised the other girl C I was coming.

On my last morning we had some breakfast. I threw her a couple of extra thousand baht and headed back to Bangkok. That cab ride sucked because I really wanted to stay with her but I knew it would be a mistake if I did. I still have her Line ID and we talk on and off still to this day.

When I got to Bangkok I checked into the Amber Hotel another nice cheap hotel. C didn’t get off work until a little bit later that night so I got myself cleaned up and hung around the hotel until we met up later. When she arrived I was floored again another beautiful Thai lady. She was dressed very nice and we decided to go to a bar to let our nerves calm down. We were both pretty nervous but that faded away soon after the alcohol was flowing. She was beautiful and also had a beautiful personality to match. We talked and drank for a while then decided to go to my hotel room. She was planning on staying with me for the entire week.

Before we met she teased me about sleeping in separate beds but that didn’t happen. As soon as we laid down in bed I started rubbing her back and that immediately turned into aerobics. A good night was had indeed.

Flying to Chiang Mai for a Mountain Resort

We woke up the next morning and as planned we took a flight to Chiang Mai. She pre-booked a tent/storage-container-style resort in the mountains that looked pretty cool in the pictures. When we got there it wasn’t as nice but it was decent enough. Everything was so far away though and all the attractions just felt like tourist traps. The mountains and culture were beautiful but I still prefer the city of Bangkok and Pattaya. We didn’t explore much of Chiang Mai but the parts we did see were infested with tourists so I wasn’t that big of a fan.

While staying at the storage unit resort we got stuck in a huge hail storm which was kind of scary because we thought the room we were in was going to blow away. Another notable night in Chiang Mai was when I told C I was going out to meet a guy I knew. Earlier that day I went on Facebook and found Jay who was willing to take me out for a couple of drinks. I forgot to mention C didn’t speak any English so we were using Google Translate the entire time. It was actually pretty easy to use. A good tip for anyone in a similar situation: put Google Translate on both phones buy two sets of wireless earbuds and put one of each in both of your ears.

Then you can press play and hear what you guys are saying to each other without stopping and looking at each other’s phones to communicate.

Anyway it was refreshing to sit with another foreigner and speak English. It does get a little stressful typing in everything you want to say. We bought each other a couple of drinks and talked to a girl at one of the bars. C kept checking in on me and I kept talking to her to let her know I was being a good boy. I literally just wanted to hang out with another English speaker. Jay did give me some good tips before we parted ways. I still talk to Jay sometimes as well.

I was only gone for a couple of hours at most but that was enough time for C, who drank too much and got emotional, understandably. But I let her know it wasn’t a big deal and I wasn’t doing anything. We went back to the hotel for the night and we both passed out after C went to the bathroom and threw up. I was ready to leave Chiang Mai at this point anyway. It felt like there were too many tourists in Chiang Mai for my taste. I really love being the only farang when we went places it felt kind of cool being the only one in the village.

Originally we were going to take the 12 hour night train back to Bangkok but we couldn’t find any private rooms so I bought us both a plane ticket back to Bangkok. When we got back to Bangkok we explored and went to a bunch of malls and I also took her to an aquarium which was much nicer than the Pattaya Aquarium. The malls in Bangkok are huge eight to ten stories and every shop was open. In America malls are dying so it was nice to see a mall alive and bustling.

A Bangkok Dinner Cruise Under the Temple Lights

I also took her to find a revealing black dress for a date night as you know this is one of my number one moves. We found a dress went back to our hotel and got dressed. She booked and paid for a dinner boat cruise that went around the river in the middle of Bangkok. Seeing Bangkok lit up at night was absolutely fantastic they also light up the temples. I highly recommend going. There is also a huge buffet with lots of amazing food. We had our own table for two on the top deck. It was one of the most beautiful and romantic nights of my entire life. Everything was perfect.

C and I did many things together. We visited a couple of temples ate at lots of places and went to bars shopping and lots of other things I can’t remember as I typed this out. At one point she took me to her house. I met some of her family which was really cool too. Everyone was so nice and welcoming.

Another quick tip is don’t let your Thai lady pick the hotels. C would pick the worst places compared to what I would pick. Also I remember at one point I got a haircut for 100 baht big mistake. But she didn’t mind.

I already know I’m probably forgetting some details I wanted to add to the story but at this point my mind is blanking on me. On our last day together we had pizza in the hotel lobby another sad and depressing time which became very stressful when we got stuck in Bangkok traffic. If it’s your last night in Bangkok don’t stay downtown. I left super early and still almost missed my flight.

Overall Thailand was probably the best trip of my life. I hated leaving and going back home. All I could think about was getting back. If you’ve never been it will completely change your life. You’ll start thinking “How can I get back to paradise?” every day. If I could drop everything and sell everything I would. I plan on returning once per year at the very least.

Well that’s my story. I probably left some details out totally forgot but this is the main gist of it. I love Thailand.

Story 2: Searching for Lisa in a Bangkok Massage Shop

I was a naive 28-year-old traveling around Asia with my then fiancée Lisa who was 21. It was our first trip ever to the Land of Smiles. I know you have mentioned this in many other stories previously but there are really no words to describe that feeling you get as soon as you step off the aircraft in Bangkok the smells that intense heat the humidity and the brightness of the sun after an 11-hour flight stuck in an air-conditioned, cramped-up economy seat. Your senses are simply overloaded.

After a long slow process through customs passport control luggage collection and a rush hour taxi to your Bangkok hotel that rush of cold blood soon becomes a distant memory. The jet lag kicks in and you want nothing more than to fall into a deep sleep in your hotel room but you know you can’t. It’s only 6:00 p.m. and if you sleep now you will wake up around 200 a.m. everything will be closed and that’s no way to start a holiday.

Lisa suggested we go for a walk and I agreed. This was probably the best way to deal with the tiredness. Maybe we could get some food and have a drink on the river not far from our hotel where we were approached by a lady in her 50s. “Massage for you?” she inquired. I was shy and politely declined but Lisa thought it would be a great way to relax without actually going to sleep and at 300 baht it sounded like a bargain. So she said yes.

I really didn’t fancy being rubbed with oil by a lady in her 50s for two hours so I told Lisa that I would have a drink and wait for her. I went to a bar opposite near the location and Lisa agreed to meet me there after her massage. I don’t remember the name of the bar but this is what I would later learn to be a typical Thai beer bar full of beautiful girls looking for men to buy them lady drinks and everything else they provided for a fee.

Being inexperienced and generally not interested in additional female company I must say that the girls in the bar were incredibly warm and very friendly. I told them about Lisa and explained that she was having a massage across the street and would meet me here when she was done. Over the next hour I had a few beers and was joking with the girls. I even bought several lady drinks for two of the ladies who decided to join me at my table perhaps out of boredom. The jet lag had passed and I was in high spirits and now in a great holiday mood.

After a while one of the girls joked “Your girlfriend not come you take me home instead.” I laughed but then looked at my watch it had been well past two hours maybe close to two hours and thirty minutes. I thought “What’s this? Strange. Where’s Lisa?” I paid my bill waved goodbye and left the bar. It was dark now but the lights of Bangkok made the streets look brighter than ever.

Lisa Disappears Inside the Massage Parlor

I looked through the window of the massage shop and I couldn’t see Lisa inside. I decided to go inside and take a look for her. “Take off shoe take off shoe” said an old lady pointing to my feet. “No I don’t want a massage I’m looking for my girlfriend.” “Take off shoe” she replied “then you come in.” “I’m looking for my girlfriend.” “Yes you have to take off shoe before you come in.” I took off my shoes and socks and placed them by a pile of sandals at the door.

“You need girlfriend?” the lady asked. “Yes” came my reply. “You wait here I bring for you.” Finally I thought as a lady disappeared. Maybe Lisa fell asleep after the massage and they didn’t want to wake her. Five minutes later the lady comes back with five of the ladies from upstairs. “We have nice girlfriends for you” as she introduces me to the girls. “No no you don’t understand I’m looking for my girlfriend. She was here earlier she is much younger than these ladies” I jolted. The lady dismissed the five women who went back upstairs and started shouting in Thai. Then about a minute later a younger girl came downstairs maybe 24 years old. “You can take this lady with you look in Bangkok and up to you everything.

I felt my face being red with embarrassment and I genuinely started worrying about what had happened to Lisa. I looked over the shoes and picked up Lisa’s trainers. “These girlfriend shoes she came here for a massage over two hours ago. Where has she gone?” “Oh she upstairs. You say girlfriend I think you wanted new ladies” she laughed. “You go up you will see her end of corridor.

I walked up the staircase. A nice clean interior of the welcoming downstairs reception didn’t extend past this point. The walls were damp and sodden the staircase was rotten and I was too nervous to use a handrail for fear of it falling off in my hand and getting the bill to repair it. This place wasn’t nice. The first room I walked past had just a dirty mattress on the floor and a shower. The girls that visited me downstairs were all in the adjacent room eating food from bags with plastic cutlery. Where was Lisa?

Then I saw Lisa face down on the mattress half naked and not moving. A second rush of cold blood for my first day in Thailand but this time it wasn’t excitement I was fearful. I tapped Lisa lightly. Still nothing. I sat her up and said her name again. “Lisa wake up.” She woke up. “Wow, that was amazing,” she said. “What time is it?” “Late” I replied.

Lisa being jet lagged had fallen asleep during the massage and they decided to let her rest. She had no idea so much time had passed. We paid 300 baht and we left.

Story 3: From a Factory Job to Managing a Go-Go Bar

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 at a fire door production factory. I had 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 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 working holiday visas 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 a long period and had told me a few stories about the kingdom.

Our departure day, November 9, 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 all the free drinks and stuff. 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 and I did not find out until being in Thailand for several days but a lot of the guy’s advice was pure fantasy rather than fact.

We arrived in Bangkok and made our way to our 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 into 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 the smells of the street food. Even though one of the group had 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 people getting ripped off for thousands of baht but we actually had a great time and never got bothered once while we were 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.

A Chaotic Night of Chang Beer and Thai Food

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 this 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 wanted some privacy for the upcoming gymnastics. We had a great evening and 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 and being much younger than today I probably looked a bit more appealing to the girls than I do today.

The following afternoon before we left I popped into the restaurant and exchanged Facebook contact details with my new girlfriend from last night. We visited Koh Samui Phuket and Phi Phi Islands. We joined in all the full moon and half moon parties it was great fun. Back then I wouldn’t dream of doing that stuff now being 11 years ago it was all fun to me back then.

After four weeks of what had been the absolute best time of my life meeting and making friends with lots of people some of whom I still keep in contact with today it was time to fly onto 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 I searched online for a job and luckily started work the next morning. The job scene was much better back then than it is today.

Working in Australia While Thinking About Thailand

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 up to Darwin. It was a huge shock to the system coming from Thailand where £20 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 “Are they going to replace the two backpackers that had recently been sacked for stealing pearls?” 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: 6 weeks on, 3 weeks off. And on my 3 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 in the Northern Territory on a boat in shark infested waters. The wildlife was unbelievable.

Returning to Phuket and Traveling Southeast Asia

So the first break I got I sailed back to Darwin and booked the first flight to Phuket via Singapore. I had to spend the night in Singapore which I didn’t mind at all as it’s a beautiful city with also lots of fun things to do. Whilst 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 at 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 you see them 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 shop. 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 getting a little low on funds. After finding an apartment and paying for a month’s rent near the travel shop I was literally broke. I wasn’t really worried about this 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 about just 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 there 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 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. The Thai girl I was working for didn’t really have the same happy go lucky attitude she had when we first met in Bangkok. In fact she’d turned into a real misery and wasn’t pleasant to work for.

Getting a Job Managing a Go-Go Bar in Soi Sea Dragon

The owner of the bar invited me to sit down and eat so I did and I ordered a drink. The owner came and sat with me and asked all the usual questions “What’s your name? What have you got planned for the night?” I replied “I’m looking for a job.” Looking at me a little confused “A job? But you’re a farang. Why you want job?” after explaining my situation to her she said “You’re serious aren’t you? I try to help you. Wait one minute.

I carried on drinking my beer not expecting anything spectacular to develop when the lady returned with an Asian guy. I first thought he was Thai but after speaking with him he told me he was Malaysian and he owned four go go bars in Soi Sea Dragon and was looking for an English speaking manager. I told him I would be interested.

So began to follow him inside one of his go go bars. We walked inside and as you would expect around 20 scantily clad girls were dancing on stage. I thought all my Christmases had come at once. He showed me around a little and said “You can start tonight if you like.

I worked there for about 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 three weeks’ holiday and of course I went on to spend time with my favorite girl in the bar. I’d been watching her for the last three months but she 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.