From China to Thailand A Teachers Journey

I am a teacher by trade starting my teaching career in 1999 when I was only 18. I taught for over six non consecutive years in the U.S. before getting sick of the lack of pay teaching in California.

One night I had a dream about teaching in Japan. I got up in the middle of the night and started researching online. From what I could see teaching in Japan was not very profitable but I found a Canadian company that worked with schools around the globe placing English teachers. Looking at their website I saw they were recruiting teachers to go to Georgia the country not the state. So I applied to go there.

I got a pretty quick response from them and they asked me why I wanted to go to Georgia and not to China where I could make incredible money. After a few back and forth messages they convinced me to go to China.

A few months later I had my bag packed my car sold and my passport in hand and I was off to Shanghai China.

I am a disabled man with my limitations but I have pretty much always been able to mask my limitations pretty well. But in China they do not have the respect for disabled people like myself that they had back home.

I cycled through a few jobs in my first few months but was determined to make it on my own. I left Shanghai and went to a smaller city just south of Guangzhou. I was renting a room in a house with about 10 Chinese people who spoke no English. I was working two part time jobs seven days a week and bringing in crazy money while paying practically nothing for my little room.

Teaching Jobs and Visa Pressure

But to keep my visa I had to find a full time job. So I left my little room and got a job at a big chain hotel on the other side of town. That job turned out to be a flop again due to my disability. So I kept looking and found a lower paying job on the outskirts of the city but with a free room. I stayed there for about a year before the boss found a couple of non native English speaking guys to teach there for much less money.

At that point I found the best job ever. I was teaching adults and a few teenagers in an English language learning center in a small city of less than 500000 people. The pay was outstanding and the apartment provided by the school was across the street from the center. I couldn’t ask for a better situation.

I stayed at that school for a full two years before moving to a larger city with the same school where I taught for another year and a half. So now I had been in China for five years and learned to speak Chinese well enough to get by. I had made lots of friends and had a few girlfriends and lovers taboo!

I was at that same school called Webb for about three and a half years when things started to get bad. Teachers were getting let go and classes were getting canceled all the time. I was called in one day to come see my bosses and was let go for having had a student complain about one of my classes. Great.

I went back on the job boards and found a school looking for teachers. I made an appointment with the boss to discuss it. I immediately loved this guy named Joe. He was a Christian pretty rare in China. He was a really friendly guy and had some great things to say about his school.

At this point I had to go back to the U.S. for a family wedding so I took my final paycheck from Webb and bought my tickets for a two week stay. On my return I immediately went to work with Joe and we worked the whole summer growing his school from about 50 students to over 300. The only problem was his school wasn’t fully accredited with the Education Bureau so he wasn’t able to renew my visa.

Deportation and a Thailand Plan

I went down to Hong Kong and met a visa agent who set me up with a 10 year business visa. The only catch was I had to leave the country every 60 days to renew it. This proved very difficult for me because the second exit was due during the Spring Festival holiday in 2019 and traveling out of China during Spring Festival was damn near impossible.

I unfortunately turned myself into the police right after the holiday and was arrested for overstaying my visa. I was deported back to the U.S. Not long after I was back in my country the world was struck down by the virus that shall not be named.

I have been saving my money up to go back to Asia and I think Thailand will be my destination. Talking to quite a few people it doesn’t sound like teachers get paid very well in Thailand either but honestly what else is new? I’m a simple guy looking for a simple life.

Story Two A 1960s Love Story Tim and the Airman

When I got out of school back in the 60s I received my draft notice to come and fight in the war in Vietnam. But I knew it was coming so I joined the Air Force. I was truly so green and dumb that I had no idea what life was really all about. I was raised on a farm northwest of Arkansas. I had not even had a date in school with a girl. I was so bashful I couldn’t even speak to a girl.

So what happened is I married the first girl that came along. I fell in love with a Korean girl. I thought I was living even though I have to admit I probably should have never married her.

I got stationed at an AFB in Arkansas. After my career my wife finally got her visa and she was able to come to the States on August the 19th 1972 a month and a half later. But at that time Vietnam was still going on and the AFB was right in the middle of sending personnel to support the war. We were together once again but it only lasted about 45 days.

They were sending me to what I thought was Anderson Air Force Base in Guam for six months. I tried everything I could to get out of the temporary duty station but they said I had to go. So what was I going to do with my wife? She had only been in America a month and a half and I literally had to dump her on my mother and father to take care of her.

In my orders it said Guam but I ended up at Takhli Air Base Thailand. My wife and family had no idea where I was until I was able to write home and tell them.

Airman Sent to Takhli

At first when I got there I worked day shift. I was pretty good at first but I was feeling sorry for myself thinking how could the Air Force do this to me? I tried staying in my barracks but it seemed like the war started closing in.

One of the guys in my barracks said he was going downtown to do a little drinking and asked if anybody wanted to go with him. I said sure why not? That night I drank a little to see what it was like. But it’s when we decided to get a massage that things went downhill.

The girl giving me my massage was only interested in massaging my private parts. I couldn’t take it anymore so I made love to her. I’d already cheated on my wife. I felt so bad and went back and said ‘No more. I’m gonna stay on base.’

Once again after about 10 days the war started closing in again. This time another guy asked me if I wanted to go out drinking with him. I thought sure I could just go out and drink with him. We started bar hopping from one end of Takhli to the other. We were doing good until we got to the last bar. I was really feeling good and was well on my way to getting drunk.

And then it happened. I saw a go go dancer on the platform above the bar. My eyes just about jumped out of my head. I thought the girl on the platform was about the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I just had to meet her.

The other guy I came with had his eyes on a girl named Dang. Dang said the girl on the stage’s name is Tim and she was her sister. I said ‘Do you think I could meet her?’ So she introduced her to me.

Meeting Tim in Takhli

I still remember how Tim looked at me the first time. That look basically told me to get lost. But for some reason Dang told her something and Tim just smiled at me and went back to dancing.

I stopped drinking at that time hoping she was available to stay the night with. Dang who said she was Tim‘s sister said that Tim was having her period so she can’t stay the night with anybody. Since the other guy was staying with Dang I was going to have to catch the bus back to base by myself.

Then Dang said ‘You can stay the night for two dollars and fifty cents and stay with Tim but you can’t do anything.’ I said that sounds great. I think she only did it because of Dang.

When we went to a bungalow the first thing she did was show me a picture of another Air Force guy working without a shirt. I think she was trying to tell me that he was her old boyfriend so that maybe that would scare me away.

After that we went to bed and she sure didn’t make it easy for me. She stripped down to only her panties climbed into bed and laid her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and told her good night. We slept that way all night. I really believe she was testing me to see if I would respect her and not try to do anything.

We both woke up the next morning and since I was off work that day I was slow to get ready to go to the base. Just as I was ready even though we never made love I gave her five dollars and told her ‘Since you couldn’t make any money please take it.’ I really think that changed her whole attitude towards me.

A Day Trip to Lopburi

As I started to go she said ‘Please can you spend the day with me since you don’t have to work?’ I couldn’t believe it. I said yes I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

After breakfast she said ‘Let’s go.’ Since she couldn’t speak English too good she couldn’t tell me where we were going but I didn’t care. I just followed her because I felt like I was with the most beautiful girl in Thailand.

We had to walk a little ways but we ended up at the train station. She bought our train tickets. I tried to pay but she said no. We got on the train and I was just hoping we got back by dark.

We finally got to a place called Lopburi. What I remember most was I never saw so many monkeys. As you walk you had to walk by and around and through monkey after monkey. We finally ended up of all places at the hospital. She came to see a friend named Noy. But what Tim didn’t know when we got there was that they were discharging her friend. So now we made the long trip back and once again Tim paid for the tickets.

After we got back it was time for her to go to work and dance. This time Tim asked me to stay the night after she finished dancing. Once again she said she was still on her period. I didn’t care I knew at least I got to hold her. So once again I spent the night and did nothing.

But the next morning I had to get up early and go to work on the base. She walked me out of the bungalow area and said ‘Please come back tonight.’ I said I will be here.

Moving Into the Bungalow

After I got off work I couldn’t wait to see Tim. I told myself that I don’t care how long it takes I will sleep with her. Well once again for the third night we did not do anything. But early in the morning as I was sleeping I felt her slowly come to me and started kissing me. So that was it we made love. Without a doubt she was and will always be forever the best lover I’ve ever had. I absolutely thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

After that Tim and I became kind of a couple. But one night I drank too much so she put me to bed early and said she would come in later. I guess I went to sleep and when I woke up there was no Tim. She never came back home.

The next morning I let myself out and was really upset. I thought she had gone and spent the night with someone else. So that night I got with the same guy I went down with the first time and we started bar hopping again. I thought ‘I’ll show her.’

It was almost bus time and I was pretty drunk so I was going to go tell Tim off. Well it didn’t happen. She had been looking for me all night long. Dang jumped on me wanted to know where I’d been. Tim was crying because she thought I wasn’t coming back.

Then I asked ‘Where was Tim last night?’ Dang said that when Tim checked on you you were sleeping so well she didn’t want to disturb you. Dang said ‘I’m having my period and she stayed with me.’

I felt bad. Then when I saw Tim I told her I was so sorry I didn’t trust her. Then it happened. She said that she was getting a job on base as a go go dancer and if I wanted to move into a bungalow together with her I could. Once again I said yes before I could think.

Pregnancy and Sudden Orders

I told her that I don’t have much money and it would be hard to get a bungalow on the base. She said ‘That’s okay I can help with cash.’ So the next day we moved to a bungalow and we started to build a close relationship.

I told her about my wife and said I was going back to the States to get a divorce. Everything was going well and to me I had the perfect life with Tim. The only thing I hated was her working as a go go dancer and having to show herself off to all the airmen and the officers when she danced. But what could I do? She made the money.

But then after about two months she told me that she was pregnant. I was as happy as I could be until she said that she was going to abort our baby. I tried and tried to talk her into keeping our baby but she said she couldn’t trust me. I was devastated. But it was her choice. If she would have only known I would have traveled to the ends of the Earth for her and my child.

I kept trying and trying to get her to change her mind but she refused. I thought she was going to a doctor to have the abortion but a couple of days later I came home and found Tim very sick. She had taken some pills that would cause her to lose a baby she said. But there was a catch she said she could die. So I had to watch her for three long days. Tim had a friend that watched her during the night when I worked.

At the end of the first day she said that she had lost the baby. I didn’t show Tim but I had to go off by myself and I just cried and cried. By the end of the fourth day Tim had turned the corner and started to get better. But for some reason I felt a little betrayed. But as time went by and we were able to make love it got better.

For about a little over a month things were going great again. Then it happened. We saw some of my day shift workers coming down the path to our bungalow. We were wondering why they were there. They said that the tanker unit is pulling out and the SAC personnel have been restricted to the base because all the tankers are flying back to each base they were assigned and each tanker is taking their personnel with them.

Leaving Tim Behind

What a shock. I had to pack while Tim was crying so bad I couldn’t think. We had to say our goodbyes. I promised her that I would come and get her as soon as I could.

Well I broke my promise. I got back but I was too late or so I was told. I was on the first tanker to leave and that was the last time I saw my beautiful Tim‘s face.

What a long flight it was and I had all that time to process what I was going to say to my wife and how to ask her for a divorce. You see I hadn’t written to her in four months. My mother even got the Red Cross involved and they called me from the United States.

When I talked to my wife I told her that the mail was all messed up because of the war but I had a feeling she didn’t buy that.

I prepared myself for a big fight. But then as I was thinking I thought ‘I don’t have any money because my wife will probably get everything we have. How can I get back to Tim?’ Then I thought that I would just wait to see what my wife says. She may ask me for the divorce and a plane ticket back to Korea. But my parents I knew will be on her side. So I prepared for a fight and a divorce and see where it goes from there.

Well we finally landed at the airport. My family didn’t even know I was back in the States. When I called I only talked to my mother and she said Dad will come and pick you up. My wife didn’t come with him so I thought she probably doesn’t want to see me again.

Choosing the Road Home

By the time I got home I had planned out everything in my mind what I was going to say and do. My dad talked very little to me all the way home. He never said a word about what happened to me over in Thailand or why I didn’t write to my wife.

We finally pulled up in the driveway and I think my knees were shaking because I figured all hell was fixing to break loose. I got out of the car and got my bag out of the trunk. Then finally I was with my wife. I thought to myself ‘This is it.’

She walked up to me and didn’t say a word. She then threw her arms around me and told me she loved me and then gave me a big kiss. I thought to myself ‘This is not supposed to happen. She should be mad and very upset.’ Then she kissed me again and I couldn’t say anything.

Then she said ‘I don’t want to know anything about what happened in Thailand.’ She also said that she forgives me for whatever I’d done to hurt her. I was completely shocked. How could I ask for a divorce if she forgave me for all I’d done?

I found myself right in the middle of having to make a choice in my life. My beautiful wife or my beautiful Tim. Which one will I choose?

That night I saw a completely different wife. Before I left Thailand she even talked differently and I liked it. It was like I fell in love with her instead of that young and dumb selfish husband.

Letting Tim Go

It wasn’t easy but I told myself I was going to have to let my beautiful Tim go. I had no money to get to her. I had nothing to offer her. I was so mixed up and I had nowhere to turn. Yes I had two roads in life to go but I could only choose one at that time.

I loved Tim more than my wife but I couldn’t give Tim a life at that time. So I chose my wife.

Over the years our love grew. But I confess that when I made love to my wife it was Tim‘s face I saw when I closed my eyes. But over the years our love has grown. Tim’s face slowly disappeared.

I never thought about Tim too much over the years until I started having vivid dreams about her and us making love again. I thought I was going crazy because the dreams were so real. Then I found out that because of Parkinson’s I will be dreaming a lot about the past.

I would love to find Tim after all these years but I’ve got a feeling she probably wouldn’t want to see me. Tim’s road would have been a rough road. The road with my wife has been a road of blessings. On this road I married a beautiful wife I adopted a beautiful daughter and I got two beautiful granddaughters. That was a road worth taking.

If I was to ever see Tim again I would ask her to forgive me. She probably wouldn’t. I hope Tim found a wonderful guy to give her a wonderful life. But to this day I still have a place in my heart for Tim.

Story Three The Rainmaking Ceremony

This happened yesterday 25th of April so I thought I would send it to you whilst it is still fresh in my mind. My name is George and next month I shall be 83 years old so I’m no spring chicken.

I have lived in Thailand for 13 years always somewhere inland and well away from the tourist areas. For the last eight years I’ve lived in a small village in the province of Nakhon Sawan Central Thailand. I live with my girlfriend who is 56 years old and is still an attractive woman together with her 16 year old son who is not at all attractive.

There are 10 houses in the village and all are occupied by members of my girlfriend’s family. But that’s another story never live that close to your girlfriend’s family.

We haven’t had any rain this year. In fact it’s been very hot up to 45 degrees Celsius on several days. My girlfriend’s brother who is the village headman told me last week that if the heatwave didn’t soon stop he would organize a rainmaking ceremony. There hasn’t been one in the area for six years as we have had plenty of rain in that time and I’d forgotten the locals still believed in these types of superstitions.

We haven’t lived what passes for a normal life in a Thai village for the past three or four years because of COVID so I’m a bit out of touch with local goings on.

Rainmaking Ceremony Near the Temple

On Monday evening my girlfriend told me there was going to be a ceremony in the field near our local temple in the morning to pray for rain. Some of the local men had made an almost life size effigy of a couple copulating in the missionary position. It was made from a wireframe covered with wet clay. It was situated on a large concrete area normally used for loading and unloading farm machinery on the edge of the field about half a kilometer away from the temple.

There were also 70 to 80 plastic chairs borrowed from the local temple set up in rows facing a makeshift stage covered in rugs for the monks to sit on when they did their chanting.

People who were going to attend the ceremony all met at the local temple at 7am. When the monks were fed and watered we all trooped off to the ceremonial site. When we arrived there was the usual fussing of the monks making sure they all had a cushion to sit on and were generally comfortable. They then said a few prayers and did some chanting followed by sprinkling water on the effigy.

This was followed by the women who were there dancing around the effigy sprinkling water on it and then bending down and rubbing the bodies of the copulating pair. Of course by now the clay was very wet and the effigy was losing its shape but the locals didn’t seem to care. It was very lively and there was a lot of backslapping. Some beer appeared. The monks disappeared back to their temple and everyone else fell into party mode.

Now did it work? I was skeptical but it worked six years ago much to my amazement. I put it down to coincidence then. But would coincidence happen again? Everyone else was full of optimism.

And sure enough at 7pm there was an almighty clap of thunder. A gale blew through the village and it rained for about 10 minutes. At the first clap of thunder all the lights went out and we had no electricity until 2am the next morning.

Rain Falls in the Village

It was still baking hot. The next morning it was a few degrees cooler. At 3pm it started to rain and we had showers for about four hours. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees and it was much more comfortable.

So is it coincidence or do the pagan gods still run Thailand? I swear this is a true story.

Story Four A Familiar Tale And a Word of Caution

I have been coming to Thailand for about a decade and have several stories to share . Today’s story is quite humorous.

I was in Bangkok in February this year on a working holiday as I’m a digital nomad. I was telling my best friend Ian in Australia how I was having minor dramas with every bar girl that I took home. He offered to call an old contact of his who gave great massages and has an awesome body. He told her to come to Bangkok for the weekend and take care of me. She used to be a massage lady in Bangkok but had left five years ago.

Anyway she stayed with me for the weekend and indeed she gave me some genuine massages fixing some body pains. We then moved on to the aerobics. About halfway through the weekend the famous switch was flicked and she explained that because we had made love she had a part of me. She showed me photos of gold necklaces. I declined.

So she went to plan B which consisted of going halves on a buffalo. I explained that my assets were frozen by my solicitor as my divorce was going through but my friend Ian had money and was interested in getting involved with some Thai farming.

Buffalo Plan and Blocked Number

When we got to Sunday afternoon I kept hinting that she needed to go as I worked during the week. It didn’t work. So Monday morning I dressed in proper work clothes and literally pushed her out the door as she wanted to stay and look after me. I gave her 4000 Baht and reminded her that my friend was interested in the buffalo.

Once I was around the corner I blocked her number. But three months on my friend still receives phone calls from her asking to go halves on a buffalo.