Romance, Betrayal and New Beginnings In Manila
Way back in the mid 1980s I was going to college in the San Francisco Bay Area and I had to work a couple of part time jobs to pay for it. One of my jobs was at a local cable TV company in a town south of San Francisco. I worked with a small group of men who were all 10 to 15 years older than me but we all got on just fine. Usually at lunchtime the guys who were in or near the office would have lunch together would sit in and tell funny stories about ourselves or each other. But there was one guy who never met with us. He would eat in his truck by himself and always with a sad look on his face. I asked the other guys why he wanted to eat alone and they told me it was a long tragic story.
It took a few weeks of lunch hour storytime meetings but I finally learned the whole story.
The loner I’ll call him Chris (not his real name) had been working at this cable company for a few years and he loved his job. He put in overtime and bought what the guys said was a very impressive house. He was at a good place in his life except for one thing he was very shy around women and he never had a real girlfriend. Some of the guys would take Chris out to bars or clubs but he was never able to pick up a woman. The guys finally gave up and Chris was back to being on his own.
Then one day Chris came into work with a huge smile on his face. He said he had met a guy who told him there were beautiful women in Asia who were lining up to marry Western men. Chris asked this guy how he could meet one of these Asian women. Now remember this was the 1980s so there was no internet or cell phones. But luckily there were magazines. The main one was called Cherry Blossom that had pictures of these women along with a special address where you could write to them. Chris was a man on a mission and wrote and mailed two or more letters every day.
It took a few weeks but he finally started hearing back from some of them. He’d spend hours matching the letters with the pictures in the magazine and he fell in love with all of them. But soon he had narrowed down his choices to his five favorite women. After corresponding back and forth with each of them a few times he was down to his final three one in the Philippines and two in Thailand. Now all he had to do was meet them.
He took out a second mortgage on his house and planned his two week vacation down to the hour. His plan was to spend three days with each woman taking them on dates going on walks and just getting to know each of them. First he’d fly to Manila take a day off to adjust to the heat and time difference then spend three days with woman number one. He thought she looked a little plain compared to the other two but she had the best English and seemed to have a sense of humor. Next he’d fly to Bangkok and spend three days with woman number two. It was woman number three he was most excited to meet however. In fact he had scheduled four days for her because he thought she was the most beautiful one of the bunch. He was confident that he’d come back home engaged to one of these women.
Chris Meets Rose in Manila
First Day in Manila
Chris’s trip started out poorly when he asked for ice in his Coke upon landing in Manila. Chris had never traveled much and had never been to Asia or the South Pacific and it was the 1980s so he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to drink the water or order ice for his drinks. He was finally warned about this when he called the front desk of his hotel and asked if they had any medicine for diarrhea. After spending most of his free day in the bathroom and not getting much sleep Chris considered canceling his meeting with the first woman. But after thinking about it he decided to meet her just in case she had something special to offer. He stuffed a couple of hand towels into his pockets in case he had to clean himself up later took a swig of stomachache medicine and left for his date.
On his taxi ride to the meeting location Chris glanced at every woman he saw walking through the busy city and he started to worry that there were no truly beautiful women in Manila. He searched and searched but only found them to be average looking. He should have canceled.
He arrived at the restaurant a little early and ordered a Coke no ice. With his hopes shattered he was caught off guard when a beautiful woman walked up to him and began talking. Her accent was a little thick so Chris couldn’t understand what she was saying. She thought she saw that he was confused so she just pulled out one of his letters and said “You Chris.” Now he understood. She was the date. But she was much prettier than her picture in the magazine thinner too.
Rose Brings a Suitcase
They ordered food and talked a lot. She found that if she spoke slowly Chris could understand her. Chris couldn’t believe that the smiling woman sitting across from him we’ll call her Rose (not her real name of course) was focused on him so intensely. He felt a little embarrassed. She claimed to be 28 years old never married and never had any kids. They talked past sunset and into the night. Chris was worried that he was keeping Rose out too late so he said it was time to leave and that he would see her tomorrow. She stared at him then began laughing out loud. “No I go with you. I stay with you at hotel.” She held up a small suitcase that Chris hadn’t noticed before and said “Let’s go.
Chris couldn’t believe his luck. He’d never heard of a woman bringing a suitcase on a first date and spending the night with a man she just met. On the way to the hotel Chris was wondering if it might be possible to get Rose to sleep in the bed with him but just in case he was prepared to sleep on the floor. They stopped at a 7 Eleven and bought some beer and each had one once they got inside the room. When the conversation slowed down Rose stood up and asked Chris if she could take a shower. Flustered Chris motioned to go ahead whatever she wanted to do.
Chris had never been in a bedroom while a beautiful woman was taking a shower on the other side of the door. He wasn’t sure what he should be doing. Should he undress and get into bed? No he didn’t want to scare her or imply that any adult activities might be expected. He grabbed another beer and sat on a chair. Chris almost shot beer out of his nose when Rose flung the bathroom door open and walked out completely naked smiling from ear to ear. She walked over to Chris who was trying not to have a heart attack motioned for him to stand up grabbed his beer took a drink and set it down on the end table. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt and began kissing his chest. Before he knew it the first round of aerobics was on.
Chris had never had a night like this before. As much pleasure as Rose was giving his body his mind was so happy he couldn’t hold a thought. He felt that Rose must love him a lot if she was willing to have aerobics with him all night on the first date.
Rose Takes Chris to Her Family
Canceling Thailand for Rose
Mentally and physically exhausted Chris slept in later than usual. There were still a million thoughts bouncing around in his head but mostly he wondered if the whole thing was just a dream. When he cracked his eyes open and saw her new brown body lying next to him he couldn’t believe it. As he was scanning her perfect body Rose slowly opened one eye and caught him. She giggled at his embarrassment reached over to stroke his chest and slowly slid her hand down lower and lower.
Two days later Chris canceled his flight to Thailand and put the refund towards another three days in his hotel room. He was in love. He had never expected that someone as beautiful as Rose would ever go for a guy like him. He wasn’t bad looking and he kept himself in pretty good shape but why couldn’t he get a girlfriend back home? At this point he didn’t care. He and Rose had plans to take a trip into the country to visit her family.
Meeting Roses Family
The hot bus ride finally ended and Chris and Rose stood in front of a small local grocery store. Rose explained that it was tradition that when meeting a woman’s family the man should bring a gift. Chris said sure and they went in and bought a gift for her family. Three brutal miles of walking later Chris was drenched in sweat due to the heat his arms rubber from carrying a 20 pound sack of rice. Why couldn’t it be flowers? They walked deep into an area that looked like slums and Chris was becoming worried for their safety. He hoped they would quickly pass through but she seemed to be going deeper into the horror show. They turned the corner and were suddenly standing in a crude living room. Rose yelled something and an old lady appeared. Chris couldn’t believe this was Rose’s mother.
He had always heard that if you want to know what your girlfriend will look like in the future look at her mother. If this was true the future would not be kind to Rose. He pushed that thought out of his head. Mother was happy with the gift Chris handed her as her half toothless smile showed him.
Later Chris met Rose’s uncle and nephew who both lived with her mother. Her dad however was no longer living. They all ate a simple dinner most of it made up of the rice Chris bought. When they were done Chris asked Rose if it was time to leave. He was out of his comfort zone and didn’t want to walk back to the bus stop through the scary slums in the dark. Rose laughed and told him they were spending the night there. Panic shot through Chris’s body. Staying here? When there was a bed in a room with a door that locks back at the hotel? Why didn’t she say something earlier? He hadn’t brought extra clothes or a toothbrush.
Later that night Chris and Rose snuggled together on a small lumpy mattress in a dark room upstairs. Chris asked if it was okay with her mother that they were sharing a bed. Rose said yes yes that it is okay with her mother. Chris wondered where the mother was sleeping as Rose began feeling his body. “Don’t do that” Chris said. “They’ll hear us.” “It’s okay everybody has feelings” Rose replied. Chris couldn’t believe they were having aerobics right there in her mother’s bed in the middle of the slums.
The next few days were a whirlwind of pleasure happiness and new experiences. Chris was so enraptured with Rose that he canceled the meetings with the other two women in Thailand. He was madly in love and nothing else in the world mattered. He called work and told them he had to stay in Manila for an extra week because of a medical issue. They gave him a week off without pay reluctantly. At the end of that week he was torn. He didn’t want to leave but he had to. There was only one thing he could do ask Rose to marry him. She said yes and they went to the mall to purchase a cheap ring.
Marriage Move and Police Cars
Once he was back home Chris had a lot of work to do mostly paperwork. Rose couldn’t leave the country so he would have to fly back to get married. Then it would be another three months before she could move to the US and join him and he had to pay for everything her passport travel feeding 200 wedding guests. But it would be worth every penny.
Soon they were married and eventually she was able to move to the States. Four weeks after she moved in Chris would show up to work dead tired from the nightly aerobic sessions. But after a few weeks the aerobics slowed down way down. Then they stopped completely. Rose was putting on weight. Chris caught her crying but trying to hide it. He finally found out from her that she deeply missed her mother. Chris offered to fly her mother over for a visit and a few months later she was there. But soon when Chris got home he would find both Rose and her mother crying. It was because they both missed Rose’s uncle and nephew.
A few months later everyone was living in the States under the same roof. Chris and his needs soon fell to the end of the line. Rose practically ignored him. He had to warm up his dinner and wash his clothes. He didn’t think it could get any worse but he was wrong.
One evening after a long day’s work Chris came home and was surprised to see two cop cars in front of his house. Fearing the worst he rushed in to make sure Rose was okay. But when he tried to enter the house two cops held him back and kept him outside. “What’s going on?” Chris asked. “We have a restraining order for you. You cannot enter this house again ever.” “What? For what?” “For physically abusing your wife. Her mother and uncle both say they have witnessed you abusing her.
Chris was shocked. In a split second he had lost his wife his house. He had never seen it coming but now he had nothing.
The Truth About Rose
Rose’s uncle was not her uncle it was her husband. And her nephew was really her son. They sold the house as soon as they legally owned it and moved back to the Philippines.
That was when Chris began eating lunch in his truck. But contrary to what everybody thought he wasn’t avoiding people because he was depressed or unhappy. He wanted some privacy while he wrote letters to the newest batch of Asian women in the magazine. Even though he had lost everything to him it was worth that one year of pure happiness. He was willing to take that chance again. After all he had nothing else left to lose.
Young Brit Arrives in Bangkok
I’m a male currently in my mid 30s and originally from the north of England. Growing up I would travel with my family to the United States and spend summers in San Francisco and California. Due to Silicon Valley one of the biggest Chinatowns in the world California is a state with a huge Asian population. In the late 1990s as an impressionable young teen I had my first kiss with a Thai girl over there and later had my first aerobic session with a Vietnamese girl in the States. I had developed a serious case of Asian fever. Western women were no longer of interest.
Fast forward to 2005. I was living in Sheffield for university. My then Japanese girlfriend broke up with me after meeting a wealthy American who she later married. I took my next £2000 student loan took a week off university claiming illness and booked a flight to Bangkok to spend a week having the time of my life. During my first trip to Thailand by my early twenties I’d enjoyed the company of women from China Vietnam Cambodia the Philippines and Japan. I had simply never come across or spent a lot of time with any Thai ladies. So now still heartbroken from my ex girlfriend’s escapades it was time to dive deep into a wondrous world of excess and adventure.
Bangkok hit every one of my senses like a ton of bricks. The heat was intense as soon as I left the airport I was sweating profusely. Some of the smells as I walked around to find my hotel downtown were horrendous and the quality of women I saw at first was not to my personal liking. I had a quick shower after locating my room then stepped out into the unknown. I grabbed a taxi and asked the driver where all the girls were during the day. I was driven out of town out of the downtown area and taken to a building that he said was the number one spot for soapy massages in the whole of Thailand (in brackets I didn’t believe him for a second).
I stepped into the place and saw around 30 women lined up on some long red carpeted steps. I spent what must have been five minutes trying to decide between two of the more attractive women in the place. The owner then came over noticing my looking at two girls and said “Why not have both girls?” My reply to him was “Why not buddy? Why not.” It was a great workout but cost me a lot more than I thought took out about a fifth of my budget for the week and this was only the first few hours of the day.
Nana Plaza and Baccara Nights
On my first night out I explored what seemed like every seedy backstreet before venturing to Nana Plaza. Good atmosphere but not my scene as there were far too many ladyboys some you could tell from a mile off others not so much. Then I found the place where I belonged Soi Cowboy. Loads of girls to get to know good places to drink and bars that sold beer on tap.
After a couple of nights out here I found a go go club named Baccara which in my eyes by far had the best quality of women out of all the bars. On a busy night there are three floors of girls different music on each floor and the drinks are reasonably priced. Amidst the 50 or so girls working that night I caught the eye of a young blonde haired girl dressed in one of those cute backless sailor type uniforms. She came home with me for the night and did things to me that I’d never experienced before. I took my frustration of my girlfriend leaving me out on her in the bedroom for which she thoroughly enjoyed and even thanked me for when the aerobics were completed. A woman like that proved she could do a lot for a young man like me.
She left early the next morning after I explained I had a limited budget and could not afford to keep her on as a part time girlfriend.
The next few days with my money quickly dwindling I kind of felt like being in a casino waiting for your friend after you’ve lost all your money everyone else around you relaxed having fun and with more possibilities due to their larger budgets. I must remember this experience return to the UK improve my bankroll and learn from any mistakes made with overpaying for stuff etc.
Roulette Win and Thai Wife
Fast forward a couple of years. I was now in my last year of university and had made some good friends and connections. One of my friends was a nice guy from London. This guy was from an extremely wealthy family but rather than invest the money he was constantly handed out by his parents into something worthwhile he was in the casino three or four nights a week. Put quite simply he was the unluckiest person at gambling I’d ever known. If he had a flush in poker he’d lose to a full house. If he bet on red on roulette a black was coming etc. I personally witnessed a large horse bet he had where his horse was clearly winning but fell at the last hurdle. I knew this guy was my ticket back to Thailand.
I started going down to visit some London casinos with him. When playing roulette I bet on the opposite of what he covered. If he had high numbers I’d cover low. If he went black I’d go red and so on. I was hitting an average of seven out of 10 bets and in six months I had amassed a bankroll of around £10000. To me at 22 years old without a job and living by myself this was a huge amount of money. I took around 10 trips to Thailand in my early twenties all paid for by his misfortune. I explored not just Bangkok but places like Pattaya and the beautiful islands they have over there. I have some great further memories to share but we’ll save them for another day.
On one journey I met my Thai wife who now lives in the north of England with me. We have two great daughters who are my world. Just thought I’d share my Thai story as it’s a little bit different from the ones you normally read out a happy ending which I know your subscribers enjoy.
Vung Tau Bar Girl Kindness
About two hours from Saigon we have a seacoast town by the name of Vung Tau which became famous during the war as an R&R location. It is still a popular quiet sea getaway but has also become the country’s main oil town serving the offshore oil industry where many foreign oil service companies are located for which there are local support aerobic services. For many years I provided consulting services to a large offshore oil producer located there.
Back in 2002 on one particular evening I was in a bar which back then was a string of bars along the seaside that were probably all left over from the Vietnam War still in original form. They have all since been removed and replaced by a beautiful family park. There are still bars of course but now moved a block or two from the beach. Anyway on that particular night I came across a very sully looking girl who was nearly nine months pregnant wandering around. She did not look like a street person and was definitely in need of some intervention. So I asked her what was going on.
Turns out she was about 20 years old and was working in a bar and got pregnant let’s call her Pong for the story. Her family who lived in another town four hours away had no idea about what she was doing and she did not dare tell them. Typically bar girls who get pregnant outside of some committed relationship will get an abortion but she was determined to have the baby for reasons I never got into detail with her. I asked her where she would have the baby and she said she did not know. So I told her I would pay the local hospital for the delivery. The total cost for a normal delivery was only about $100 back then.
When going to see her after the delivery the nurses all assumed I was the father and everyone was nice to me. At some point I mentioned that I was not the father but just the guy paying for the room and they became even nicer towards me. Anyway I told her I would pay for a decent place for her to live with the baby and later on I was able to find her a job in a sewing factory with the help of a friend. Eventually her mother decided to come and visit but did not know about the baby. I told her I would be with her when she broke the news. The paternal father by the way skipped town as soon as he realized she was pregnant and keeping the baby.
Pong and a New Life
When the mother found out you can imagine the ensuing drama crying on all sides real emotion that could never be captured in a soap opera. Although already 21 years ago I remember all of it like it was yesterday. Anyway I would come and visit her when down there on occasion where she would cook me a delicious Vietnamese style beef stew for lunch. There was never any kind of romantic or sexual relationship but there was an unusual bond that formed and which still exists.
After she got her figure back the call of the bar returned to her. I suppose after being used to the higher energy and greater income the prospect of long dreary days in what was effectively a garment sweatshop was not very appealing to her. So back to the bar she went while her mother eventually came around to care for the child. About three or four years later she met a Swiss guy in Vung Tau and was taken back to Switzerland by him with her first child with whom she had an additional two children.
Just before COVID I received a call from her saying she was coming back to Vietnam for a visit with her three children where we all met. The first child was now 18 years old and blossoming into a beautiful young lady. Regrettably the marriage did not last but by then they were all Swiss citizens and she set up an online cosmetic business. I’ve not yet seen her post pandemic but will likely meet again at some point. I send a couple of pictures for your insight but please do not put them online.
We can look at this situation which is not a perfect life by any means but is now? Would she be better off having continued working in the sewing mill? Who knows? Being in this part of the world especially Vietnam and indeed Thailand decades ago not only was normal life so full of interesting things we as foreigners had an opportunity to make a bigger difference. Another example of many is the story of a crippled orphan an adult about 23 years old when I met her in Saigon in 1996 who with respect to her family had nothing but a piece of tissue paper with an address in a city in central Vietnam indicating where and to whom she was born. When I went to the address I found it to be the location of the provincial prison and nobody knew anything about my friend.
Thailand Ladyboy Bar Meeting
I recently visited Thailand on holiday and went to my favorite bar. I usually stick to the same bar in the city I visit. It is only a small bar with five beautiful staff. I think it’s so important to get on well with a mamasan and buy them a few drinks and have a chat. Always keep the mamasan happy and you can’t go wrong. I am now a messenger with Oi the best mamasan in the world. I get the staff a few ladies’ drinks too but don’t go overboard. I don’t like getting too drunk so I limit the shots. If I ring the bell which is not often I do a headcount first. I never ring it if I’m drunk.
But I will say ringing that bell in an empty bar when you’re the only customer in the afternoon and the girls have nothing to do will make you VIP for the night. In the bar I frequent there is also a small bell which when you ring it means only the girls get drinks. I even managed to take two of them to my hotel and gave them both a tip. On one night I did drink far too much and the 24 year old manager took me back to my hotel room and put me to bed.
Anyway this story is about my experience. I have wanted to do the experience for a long time now despite being happily married to a beautiful girl. So on the third night of going to this bar I asked the mamasan if she could find me a nice ladyboy. I wanted the best I wanted the catwalk model girl. I told the mamasan the girl had to be first class and nothing less. I told the mamasan if she could find me that one I would give her a 2000 baht finder’s fee. She was very quickly on the phone to friends and promised to show me pictures on her phone first and let me choose one. She also asked if I wanted post op or pre op. Naturally I wanted pre op. I chose a very pretty one that was so good looking I couldn’t believe she was a ladyboy.
The next step was the ladyboy’s friend coming into the bar to explain price. The price was 4000 baht for up to five hours of a date. I can already hear people saying that is over the top price wise yes it was expensive but I wanted top shelf or I wouldn’t do it and I told the mamasan that. Two hours later Nick turned up. She was 175 centimeters tall and 25 years old and better looking than her photo. She had the most beautiful face and body she was truly catwalk material. It turned out she worked at a nearby hotel by day and was available at night and sometimes in the afternoon. This was not a full time working girl exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want one of those pushy street ladyboys like you see in Nana or Soi Cowboy.
The Date With Nick
We had a drink in a bar together. She didn’t like drinking which was fine so she just had a Pepsi. She asked what I wanted to do with her and I said I wanted her to come back to my hotel shower with me aerobics and lots of photos. I also said my wife would be there as she had returned from visiting family for a few days but that my wife would not be participating. I told Nick my wife knew of my fantasy and that she had allowed me to do it one time only. I was upfront about this. I also explained I was quite nervous and it was fine about it. Her English was pretty good probably because of the hotel she worked in I will not say which one.
Back at my hotel we showered together. It was the first time I’d ever experienced a ladyboy naked in real life and it excited me no end. After the shower and a bit of play together I asked my wife who was busy doing her chatting online to take some photos of us. That was so much fun not pictures of us having aerobics but just posing together without clothes on. After that my wife returned to her Facebook time and Nick and I went off to play. It was truly amazing and in some ways better than a real girl. She was very gentle and attentive. I responded in kind. If it wasn’t for the extra accessories she had you would never know she was a ladyboy. I was in pure heaven. One thing about ladyboys is they can’t fake their arousal if you get my meaning.
I asked her to be Facebook friends so we could message each other and she was fine with that. We had a wonderful time and after I walked her back to her scooter parked outside the bar I returned to the hotel and thanked my wife for allowing me that experience. I took another shower and went to bed with my wife. My wife reminded me it was only allowed once even I don’t know of any other wife that would allow this but I am so grateful mine did.
Despite my wife saying “only once” I couldn’t get Nick out of my head. I was smitten. I knew my wife would be out most of the next day with her sister so I messaged Nick and asked her to meet after work. She agreed. She finished at 200 p.m. and her hotel was close to mine so we met at 300 p.m. I wanted her to swim with me but she didn’t have a bikini. There was no mention of money at this point by the way she gave me the full girlfriend experience. She took me on her scooter to the major shopping center close by and we went bikini shopping. She was worried about the price and tried on a few things always inviting me into the changing room to inspect. Finally we chose one.
Second Day With Nick
We held hands the whole time while walking and I was so proud to have her by my side.
We went back to another hotel swimming pool as I didn’t want my wife to come back and catch me with Nick again. We had an amazing afternoon in the pool together. She looked so hot and I won’t go into what happened in that pool but yes it was water aerobics and luckily we were alone in the water but still we had to be discreet skinny dipping in a hotel pool is not common in Thailand. We enjoyed some snacks and a drink together after pool time before I once again walked her back to her scooter. We kissed and hugged each other and I thanked her for an amazing experience before saying goodbye and getting back to my hotel before my wife got back.
I have amazing memories from my time with Nick and some beautiful photos I took loads of her in her sexy bikini. That second day cost me 2000 baht plus the bikini because I didn’t have to pay the bar fine. We still message each other but I didn’t break the two day rule as I could see I was really falling for her. I will certainly see her again if she is available when I next travel to the Land of Smiles. In the meantime we exchange the odd message and I have sent her some of the pictures we took together.
My understanding wife never found out about the second day with Nick. I can understand people not believing that a wife would allow her husband to do this but mine did. She would never allow me to go with another girl as she is quite jealous in that respect. The following night I returned to having some great aerobics with my lovely understanding wife and we didn’t speak of Nick again but I still think of her.
