The Golf Cart Incident and a Successful Love Story

Story One Only in Thailand The Golf Cart Incident

This is just a very, very short story sent into me by a lady living in Bangkok. And it’s just one of those things ‘only in Thailand.‘ It’s a very popular saying in Thailand. And this is one of those things that can only happen in Thailand.

I have a short story that involves a friend who worked as an actress doing small parts in Thai TV and movies. She was thinking about buying a car but had zero driving experience. She knew I regularly played golf, so she pestered me to take her golfing so she could practice driving the golf cart, even though she had no interest in playing golf. I didn’t want to do it because I thought she’d be bored with four to five hours on the golf course, but she was hard to say no to.

I was standing a few yards away looking over the rental clubs when the golf cart guy pulled up with our cart. I was looking the opposite direction when I heard a scream and turned to see my friend shooting off towards the practice green with the guy running after her. Luckily, she took her foot off the accelerator, but unfortunately she didn’t find the brake pedal.

The guy caught up to her about halfway across the practice green. Up to that point, the cart had not done any serious damage. Then the guy grabbed the steering wheel while jumping forward to lock the brakes, causing the cart to come to a sliding sideways finish, ripping holy hell out of the middle of the putting green.

As he calmly reversed the cart back to the concrete, I started frantically calculating in my head the currency conversion rate on my credit card limits. When he had the cart back to the starting position, he proceeded to quietly give my friend a five minute driving lesson like it never happened.

My caddy loaded the clubs and we headed off to the first tee. We had a fun afternoon and she got plenty of driving practice without further incident. After the round, I was bracing myself for the reckoning, but not a word was said. You just have to love Thailand.

Story Two From the Australian Bush to Bangkok A Successful Love Story

I guess 2008 is a good place to begin my story as my first experience with internet dating begins there too. I had recently separated from my wife of 20 years and had found myself very low on funds as the end of the relationship was very costly for me.

I had a plan to stay for 12 months in an exceedingly small, remote Aboriginal village, which was a very long way from Perth, and to focus on my work and stay single. I stayed out there for 8 years. I made good friends in the bush and I had a wonderful time. But then I began to get lonely, and so I decided to join a pen pal site called Interpals.

Meeting Joy

I had messages from ladies all over the world. I decided to respond to a message from a Korean lady, but we didn’t really hit it off. I then decided to bite the bullet and go and meet a lady from Thailand who had also been corresponding with me. She was 7 years younger than me, so I was surprised that she would talk to an older man like myself. Her name is Joy.

I booked a ticket for December with Thai Airways. I was not an experienced traveler. The only flight I’d ever been on internationally was a Boeing 707 in 1967 when I was just 10 years old, when my family immigrated from the UK to Australia as £10 Poms.

The flight landed and I could not believe my eyes. I was from Perth, a small city with a tiny international airport, and I was in the queue of hundreds of people waiting to go through customs in the largest airport I’d ever seen. Finally, I made it through to the exit, and there to meet me was Joy and her daughter, who was the only one that spoke English. It turned out that all of my messages and emails were read and responded to by Joy’s daughter. Luckily, I was very polite whenever I wrote.

Getting to Know Each Other

Joy and I spent time together, even though I didn’t speak Thai and she spoke very little English. However, we seemed to get on okay. Joy never stayed with me at nighttime and we never even kissed, which suited me as I had hardened my heart to prevent myself from getting emotionally hurt.

One evening, Joy said we were going to meet with her friends at an outdoor restaurant somewhere near a large shopping center called Fashion Island. It was lovely there outside in the open. The weather was perfect. Everyone was very friendly, and the food was fabulous. I had never eaten Thai food before, but I loved it.

I had noticed some strange looks from some of the people at the end table and asked Joy’s daughter what was going on. She said that they were advising Joy not to trust me as I might take her back to Australia and sell her to an Australian mamasan. I was happy that Joy had good friends that cared for her. This told me a lot about her character.

When we were ready to leave, I offered to pay the bill, which I was expecting to be quite a lot, as there were eight people, and we had a great meal and a few drinks as well. The total was less than I would have spent for a night out with my friends in Perth (alcohol only and no food).

Joy Comes to Australia

I had an incredibly enjoyable time in Bangkok, and I decided to ask Joy to come to Australia to visit me, which she agreed to do. Joy was certainly not a girl that was used to life in the Australian bush. She had lived in Bangkok for most of her life, had a maid that looked after her house and kids. Her house was in a private estate that had security guards on the gate and a beautiful park and lake.

Eventually, after much paperwork and financial transactions with the Australian and Thai governments and a trip to the embassy in Bangkok, Joy’s tourist visa was approved. She came to live with me in the remote village, a place you will not be able to even imagine unless you have been there. It literally was the end of the earth.

Can you imagine what the local residents were thinking when they first laid eyes on a very pretty, petite woman from Bangkok wearing expensive clothes and shoes, sheltering from the sun with an umbrella as she walked from our government house on a gravel path through the schoolyard and back again? All around us are desert people who live in a very harsh environment, who are extremely tough but shy.

Years later, she told me how worried she was and how disappointed she was in Australia at that particular time, as it was just heat, dirt, flies in a small village with no shopping centers. Of course, she was yet to see Perth or any of the major cities.

Happily Ever After

A year later, Joy and her daughter came to live with me as I moved around the Australian bush for 5 years, and then we all moved to Perth where I now run a metropolitan school. Both Joy and her daughter are very proud people and have paid back all the money I spent on the visas even though I never asked for it or even wanted it.

Joy and I have now been married for almost 11 years, and we are very happy together. We go back to Thailand every year to see her extended family, who I’m sure are relieved that I turned out to be a decent guy and I never ever did sell Joy to an Australian mamasan.