The Temptation of Pattaya and a Love Lost to One Drunken Night

I first went to Thailand in 2012 as a 27-year-old. I had just broken up with a Thai girl who was living and studying in Sydney but had never been to Thailand before. I had planned the trip to go with her, but after we broke up I decided to go alone, which was very new and scary for me as I had always traveled with a group of friends.

I had an absolute blast. I just loved going out, meeting people from around the world. I would go to the beer bars almost every day and never once felt lonely. There was always someone to have a beer with, and if not, the bar girls would always be entertaining with flirting, playing pool you all know what it’s like.

In my job, I get six weeks holiday per year, so I’d split them into two lots of three weeks and go twice a year between 2012 and 2017. I just love the place, but especially Pattaya.

Moving to Thailand

In 2017, I decided that I wanted to spend more and more time in Pattaya and live there for about 18 months. I saved and saved. I lived in a tiny little flat in Sydney, worked my backside off, worked all the overtime I could, and had about two or three days off a month. I managed to save up about 50,000 Australian dollars and planned to live cheaply in Thailand, work on my fitness, and basically have a chilled lifestyle for a while.

So it was early 2018 when I sold everything that I had which wasn’t much and I just had a suitcase with clothes and a few other essentials. I had spent the last 18 months working out at the gym. I had a pretty good physique and I was at the prime of my life.

The Lawyer Girlfriend

After a few weeks of partying and drinking every day, I started feeling run down, anxious, and realized that I was overdoing it on the booze. I decided that I should move away from temptation for a while. I had an old friend who lived just outside Jomtien, so I got a little place near there and told myself that I need to get fit again and cut down on the booze.

This plan worked pretty well. I managed to get fitter, only had beers twice a week, and life was looking up again. I met a lovely Thai girl who was a lawyer. She was on a weekend getaway. She was 28 and very beautiful. I was in love instantly.

We got on really well, and I decided to move in with her. I would pay her monthly mortgage payments, which were cheaper than most guesthouses would have charged me for a stay in a month. I had been really good with my money, but it was in need of some replenishment. I had about $15,000 left.

My girlfriend and I decided that it would be a good idea for me to go back to Australia and work for about six months, save about $20,000 Australian dollars that would last me about another year in Thailand if I was careful.

The Fatal Mistake

I decided to visit my friend in Jomtien a few days before my flight to say goodbye for six months. We hit the bars in Pattaya. He started buying shots, and we got wasted. I don’t remember too much of that night, but I woke up to my girlfriend’s call and realized there was a girl asleep next to me. I had taken a bar girl back to my hotel.

The hangover was horrendous, but the guilt was sickening. I ignored the call from my girlfriend and laid there for about an hour thinking about what I should do. I felt terrible for my girlfriend and decided that I should not tell her what happened, as we had a really good life set up. She one day wanted to live in Australia. We had discussed living in Thailand and Australia together, and I didn’t want to ruin her dreams.

The next day, we were in bed together. It was the day before I left. We were just watching random YouTube clips on my phone. A text popped up from the bar girl from Pattaya. It said, ‘I miss you,’ with a photo of her in a very sexy pose. As you can imagine, my girlfriend was distraught.

The next day I flew back to Australia. It was February 2020. I started my job in Sydney, and I would spend all day texting her, begging for her forgiveness. She replied sometimes. She never officially broke up with me. The pandemic was now in full swing, and I can’t get back to Thailand to this day.

We still talk. I still have hope that one day she will forgive me and the world will open up and we can live our lives together.