Thailand Return After Decades And A UK Warning

I might have the longest interval between a first and second trip to Thailand. I first visited in February 1987, and my second trip was in January 2026. I will concentrate on travel mishaps and romance, including some hotel reviews. One extremely positive and the other quite the opposite. I’m now 64 years old, and on my previous trip I was 25. The main reason for going through was similar. In both cases, the reason was romance and women.

Though, now I hope my knowledge of the ladies is a little better and not just in relationships. The first time I stayed at the Malaysia Hotel in Bangkok, I heard it was still in business, and I wanted to stay there again, both for nostalgia and to compare the differences over nearly four decades. Some internet research told me that the Malaysia Hotel opened in December 1967, which makes the hotel 58 years old. I had been divorced for about a year after a 30 year marriage to a woman from Taiwan, not to be confused with Thailand. It took several months to separate the finances after the divorce decree, which delayed the trip from the winter of 2025 to 2026. After a good career as a data scientist, I had accumulated quite a large nest egg. Let’s just say I have a talent for investing. After giving my ex slightly more than half, I still had enough left to consider myself privileged.

Tokyo Flight Trouble

The plan was to fly and return from New York to Manila, and then return from Manila to Bangkok with my vacation starting in Thailand and ending in the Philippines. The total trip would be 8 weeks. I flew United to Tokyo, Japan, and then transferred to a budget carrier called Jetstar Japan for the flight to Manila. Jetstar was in some remote corner of the airport where you had to go outside to board the plane. I had no winter clothing, and the temperature outside was 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. The plane and the seats were budget as could be. Every seat was occupied mostly by Filipinos, so it was a crowded and noisy flight, and of course, there was a coughing toddler in the same row as me, and I wasn’t wearing a mask. The flight had an unusual amount of turbulence, and at one point the plane really jerked. The pilot made an announcement in poor English with a Japanese accent that no one could understand. After a second announcement, I gathered that we had a minor problem with the engine, according to the pilot, and we would be dumping fuel.

At that point, I knew we were not going to make it to Manila. After 3 hours or so, we started to descend back to Tokyo. There was a strong oil and gasoline smell in the cabin, and I have to say, to this day, my palms were pretty sweaty during the landing. When we finally landed, some passengers thought we were in Manila because of the pilot’s poor English. At this point, it was 1:00 a. m. in Tokyo, and we would have to catch the next flight 24 hours later. The passengers had to go through Japanese immigration, and then there was mass confusion. Japanese airline staff were handing out hotel vouchers in a chaotic manner. I got a voucher, and the Japanese lady told me to stand over there next to some other passengers.

I must have fallen asleep while standing, because when I looked around, the other passengers had left without me. By now, the baggage area was much emptier, since most of the passengers had already departed, and I had to explain to the Japanese airline employees in their limited English that I had missed my group’s departure. She then gave me another voucher for a different hotel, and I needed to catch a hotel bus at the main terminal. I followed a couple of other passengers outside, and I had to walk for 20 minutes in 32 Fahrenheit weather without winter clothes. When I finally checked into the hotel, which had a very small room, it was already 3:00 a. m. when I finally woke up. I decided I would try to get on an AirAsia flight back to Bangkok, since that was my final destination. I had already booked a return ticket on AirAsia from Manila to Bangkok, and had had a hotel reservation at the Malaysia Hotel in Bangkok. I got to the airport at around noon, and went to the AirAsia checking counter to explain my situation.

They told me that I could buy another ticket for a flight to Bangkok that was leaving in just 2 hours. She quoted me a price in yen that was equivalent to $350. I thought the price wasn’t as bad as it could have been, so I took out my credit card and booked the flight. I finally got to the older Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok and I figured I would be smart and use Grab to get to the hotel. One Grab driver after another canceled on me and it took an hour to get a driver. I later found out that I’d only saved the equivalent of about $5. I guess that wasn’t so smart. To make matters worse, the driver stopped to get fuel, use the bathroom, and buy food. The next time I landed at the airport returning from my trip to Cambodia, I took the airport taxi instead. There is a well-run taxi stand in a corner of the airport where the staff give you a number, call your number when a taxi is available, make sure you don’t get ripped off, and ensure that the driver uses a meter.

Bangkok Hotel And ThaiFriendly

Finally, I got to Malaysia Hotel at around 9:00 p. m. at this point. I could not have been more tired and hungry. I went to the 24-hour restaurant, which in its day had been quite a pickup joint in the evenings, but now, although it looked the same, the restaurant was busy with a local crowd and served authentic Thai food for locals. I ordered pad thai and it was clearly cooked to local taste. It was too spicy and too fishy for me. The next morning, I woke up and boy, did I feel sick. Remember, I was sitting next to a coughing toddler and guess what? I woke up with chills and a cough. So far, it was a pretty terrible start to my big retirement vacation. Luckily, I had scheduled 4 weeks in Thailand, but at this point, I had serious but doubts about whether I had made the right decision given the way things were going. I stayed in the room with the air conditioning off, chilled with fever and cough, and only ChatGPT as my friend, trying to talk me out of going home early and keep me positive with its upbeat responses. Getting sick in Thailand on vacation was one of my nightmare scenarios. I had thought about Luckily, by the second day my fever broke and I was strong enough to get out of bed. My cough was mild. I went out and the hotel visibility had changed very little in 39 years. Not so for the neighborhood. There were now several larger and more upscale hotels and more legitimate Thai massage parlors than I could count.

Let us say dozens. There was now a mall within walking distance. Mall One, an upscale shopping center with international brands you could find in the US. There was also a commuter rail system that did not exist before. I decided to go to a restaurant next door for some soup that I thought would be good for my cough. For some reason, I was the only one in the restaurant. If you have not guessed it already, the soup was not very healthy. The next day I was sitting on the toilet for the whole day. This trip just seemed to be jinxed. I would have to say at this point my mood was really low and luckily I was too sick to book an early flight home. Things eventually turned around, but I’m getting ahead of myself. With my illness, I spent the first few days in Bangkok at the hotel pool and restaurant, eating only grilled chicken breast and white rice. However, this gave me plenty of time to evaluate how the Malaysia Hotel had changed in 39 years. The hotel looked so unchanged that it felt weird. The signs around the pool were the same signs that were there 39 years earlier. However, although the hotel looked the same, the vibe could not have been more different. There were now three different categories of hotel guests. First, Asian guests looking for an inexpensive stay and cheap food. At the pool, there was a second category, the old-timers. The hotel looked like an old people’s home with long-term guests who did not look back.

They were waiting for the Grim Reaper. They already looked like the Grim Reaper or reassembled some kind of walking dead. Some were there with their female companions whom I would describe as their nurses. The third group consisted of men in their 50s and 60s who were gay. I think I was the only non-Asian in that age group that was straight. During my convalescence at the pool and restaurant, I did start talking with gay men my age from various countries. I was most interested in speaking with a guest who had been coming every winter for the last 20 years for his knowledge of the hotel industry. He told me that it was about 10 years earlier that the hotel had knocked out the women who were looking to be tour guides and who hung out during the day at the pool and at night in the restaurant. To me, that was a bit of a disappointment because that was how I met my cutie the first time 39 years ago. He said that 20 years ago it was already with gay men. I would not call the hotel a gay hotel with only about 25% of the guests being gay by my estimate. It was quite a change from when I was there before when the hotel was mostly occupied by straight white men of all ages. He mentioned that there used to be freelancers on the side street near the bars. That information was no longer accurate. The side street by the hotel was now quite tame with legitimate restaurants and bars plus numerous legitimate massage parlors. For a budget hotel, it had the best internet of my trip with a router in each room. It was decent value for the low price. Due to my illness, I had to extend my stay and they only had the more expensive renovated rooms available. I do not think the renovated rooms are worth the extra price and I thought it was better to stay on the back side of the hotel where there is no view, but it gets less sun and is therefore cooler. You also do not need to keep the air conditioning blasting like on the sunny side.

As I started to feel better, I decided to book a trip to Pattaya {slash} Jomtien. I only considered taking the bus for a second given my health problems. I decided to book a taxi from the hotel. For my last day in Bangkok, I decided to visit a Jim Thompson House. A fellow American had mentioned to me that he also wanted to visit the site. Let’s call him Joe. He was one of the gay men I met at the pool. But he was obviously unstable. He told me he had to go to bed at 8:00 p. m. in order to wake up for a Zoom AA meetings at 6:00 a. m. local time. And I thought I was a party pooper usually getting back to my hotel at 10:00 p. m. while in Pattaya later in my trip. He also told me that he took medication for bipolar disorder and he may have been manic when I met him. While on vacation alone, you often find yourself spending time with people you would not normally hang out with at home. When we got to the Jim Thompson House, he decided to skip the tour so he could spend more time in the gift shop buying silk shirts.

He told me he had forgotten to bring his credit {slash} debit card and did not have enough cash to buy the $300 worth of shirts he wanted. He asked me to use my credit card to buy them for him and said he would pay me back at the hotel when he got his cards. I have watched enough videos to know that the people you need to look out for are not the Thais but often people from your own country. Every part of my brain told me that I should not buy the shirts for him, but pressure got to me and I agreed on the condition that I would hold all the merchandise until he paid me. It also meant I had to carry all his bags back to the hotel. Now this guy was pretty unpredictable. He would stop and start talking to random Thais on the walk back. Instead of pay me back right away, he wanted to take a swim at the hotel pool and I decided to stay in my room waiting for his call. I am small and skinny and he was about three times my size. While I was waiting, I kept thinking about what I would do with all those silk shirts which were too big for me if he did not pay me. Eventually we met up and he paid me, but he rounded down on the exchange rate and with the fees I was out about $5. I mention this because I was doing him the favor, but he said I was being too much of a stickler. At that point, I felt I had come out ahead given how things could have turned out. So, I let it go. Joe wanted to hang out the next day to go to the bridge on the River Kwai, but luckily I had a convenient excuse. I was leaving for Jomtien the next day. I decided to stay at the Bay Beach Resort which is on the Bay Beach Road at the very southern end of Jomtien where it tends to be quieter. Being on Beach Road, the little baht buses which only cost 10 baht can get you to the busy side of Jomtien in about 10 minutes or if you ride them all the way to the end for about 60 to 90 minutes, you can get to North Pattaya near Terminal 21. I can only say good things about this hotel which I will review later. Finally, feeling better, I decided to join Thai Friendly to find a holiday girlfriend which was one of my main objectives beside a trip of nostalgia at the Malaysia Hotel.

I must thank this channel which suggested that the best place to find a holiday girlfriend is in the Pattaya vicinity and that using the internet was a good idea especially for somebody who does not drink alcohol. Using Thai Friendly was both easier and harder than expected. I went to the hotel pool with my iPad and I logged into to Thai Friendly app. I had only joined about 30 minutes earlier and already my inbox was filling up. In my profile, I indicated that I wanted a woman age 45 to 55 who still looked good in a bathing suit to be my holiday girlfriend while I was in Thailand. If I had put that description on a US dating site, I’m sure I would have been attacked as a chauvinist pig. Many of the women in my inbox were not in my target range. Many were hundreds of miles away in Isaan. Others were clearly overweight. I matched with many women on the site, but most fell into two extremes. They either wanted an expat for a long-term relationship or they wanted to come to my hotel for a one hour private massage. One woman I thought I was hitting it off with, I asked if she wanted to join me for dinner and she said, “You have got to be kidding me.” I guess she must have fell into the one hour private massage category. One woman who contacted me was out of my age range at 58, but she looked great in her picture. I asked her if she clearly understood that what I wanted was a holiday girlfriend, meaning we would have dinner, stay over, and sightsee the next day. And she said, “Yes, that’s what she wanted as well.” She went by the nickname Cookie and I asked her how fast she could come over. She said she was in North Pattaya and did it would take a while. I told her to come as soon as possible so we could have dinner. It took about 4 hours of active searching on

Meeting Cookie In Pattaya

ThaiFriendly to find Cookie. At the time, it seemed like a lot of work, but I realized I had been able to find someone who checked all the boxes in just a few hours. While waiting, I started to worry that at 58 she might not look anything like her picture. And I wondered what I would do if she was not as attractive as she appeared online. Luckily, when she arrived, she looked just like her picture. That was a huge green flag given that most photos of older women are either old or AI enhanced. I have included a photo of two of us to show what we look like.

She thought the restaurant next to the hotel was too expensive, which was another good sign. After dinner, we took a walk along Beach Road and I sat down by the beach. For a moment, I was not sure if she was going to be an easy connection, but we both made some preliminary moves and she said it was okay if I could kiss her. At that point, I said I was tired and suggested we go back to my room and get some sleep. When we got back to the hotel, they did not ask her for ID, which surprised me. The hotel did have the complimentary safe deposit boxes at the front desk, which I used to put most of my money away. The hotel also gave me an extra breakfast ticket for Cookie. I do like this hotel.

Cookie And The Pattaya Goodbye

Now, I have been in a loveless marriage for 30 years. Everyone on this channel says it is the best intimacy of their life, but for me, I could not tell the difference between hamburger and steak and I really could not care either way. But I felt my performance was not up to par and I decided I would go to the pharmacy the next day to try one of those pills. The second night on the pill was really next level. I had the response of a young man with the control and experience of an older man. I think I would would have won awards. Cookie and I did the usual sightseeing things, the wooden temple and the malls. I still love the Japanese toilet seats in Terminal 21. I paid Cookie 1,000 baht every day for her company. I felt that I was being cheap given that it was only about 20 US dollars and I consider myself privileged. But others say that it was too much. I also gave her a small 2,000 baht bonus at the end of the week. She told me that she needed to go to court in Bangkok and was worried she might have to take a short trip to prison. She explained that a scammer had asked to use her bank account to make deposits and withdrawals, thereby laundering money. I asked her how much she had received for this and it was only 10,000 baht. What did she do with the money I gave her? She took a portion and bought lottery tickets. I told her that next time she would buy only one, the minimum amount of lottery tickets, just enough for the temporary psychological lift.

Cookie only had a sixth-grade education, so she was not the brightest bulb in the room. Next, I was off to Cambodia for a few days to see Angkor Wat. So, I would say goodbye, but I would be seeing Cookie again. My plan after Cambodia was to visit Phuket, but because I had been sick in Bangkok, I decided to stay the two nights at the Nana Hotel right across the street from the infamous Nana Plaza. The Nana Hotel was quite nice with modern rooms and good bathrooms, and it was surprisingly quiet given the location. I arrived late the first night and decided to rest given that I was exhausted from my Cambodian trip and had to go through Thai immigration again.

As usual, I was in the wrong queue. I was behind a pretty girl in her 20s from Indonesia, and immigration were giving her a hard time. Eventually, they sent her to a side room while I ended up waiting about 20 minutes while everyone behind me moved into other queues instead of going out into the intense nightlife of Soi Nana. Instead of going out into the intense nightlife of Soi Nana, I decided to take that first night to rest and stayed in my hotel room. After taking it easy for most of the afternoon and walking around the neighborhood, I found that nothing much goes on there during the day. After sundown, I had dinner at an outdoor restaurant bar to observe the goings-on in the neighborhood.

I walked through all the three floors of Nana Plaza twice, but decided not to go into any establishments. I did talk to some of the women just hanging out on the street, and they all wanted 5,000 baht for long time. After paying only 1,000 baht to Cookie in Pattaya, I only offered 3,000 baht, but no one accepted, somewhat to my relief. I had a coupon for a free drink at the Nana Hotel, so I stopped at one of the outdoor tables and figured I would have my free orange juice before going to bed. At the next table, there was a young attractive woman in her 20s who started a conversation with me. I asked her rate for long time, and again it was 5,000 baht. I countered it with 3,000 baht, expecting her to rebuff the offer, but to my surprise, she said accepted my offer.

As she seemed younger and more attractive than the other woman on the street. She did, however, find a way of extracting a few extra baht by saying she needed dinner and a beer. Although she was more attractive in her birthday suit, but The private moments were very disappointing. She left at 6:00 a. m. and the evening felt kind of dull and dry. I actually preferred my evenings with the 58-year-old Cookie.

The next day, I was off to Phuket. I did not realize how far and expensive the airport taxi would be to the hotel. I found everything in Phuket more expensive, not just compared to Pattaya, but even Bangkok. When I got to the hotel, which was the most expensive hotel I booked in Thailand, I knew I had made a mistake. I have nothing nice to say about that hotel. It was on the top of a steep hill, so even walking to the 7-Eleven at the bottom and back was completely exhausting, even for a younger man, let alone someone in their 60s. So, you needed to take a taxi to go anywhere. The bed felt like on old springs without padding. The breakfast buffet was poor. The only nice thing was the pool. I had already decided to give the hotel a bad review, but to add insult to injury, at checkout after a room inspection, they said there was a a spoon missing and they wanted to charge me 100 baht.

I said I never made coffee or touched any of the cups or silverware. They showed me a generic picture of the area with glasses and silverware and said there should have been two spoons. There was no way to win the argument, so I just paid the 100 baht I needed to get to the airport for my trip out of Phuket. It just seemed like a small scam. While in Phuket, I tried Thai Friendly again and did not realize how lucky I had gotten in Pattaya. I finally matched with a woman who lived near the hotel. Her profile said she was in her 30s and I said she was too young. Suddenly, she was in her 40s. I guess she was willing to be any age I wanted. She also did not look like her picture at all.

She was in her 40s, and much heavier and older than the photo suggested. I said I wanted to visit the Big Buddha of Phuket. Google said it was closed for renovation, but she insisted it was open. After a long and expensive taxi ride, we discovered that the Big Buddha was indeed closed for renovation. I guess you trust Google over the locals. Anyway, the girl who will re- remain nameless had a fairly lifeless personality and again, less attractive than she looked in her much younger photo. During our late lunch, she kept telling me silly stories to try and extract more money out of me, but of course, none of them worked. At that point, no amount amount of pills would have worked for me and I had to negotiate how much money I needed to give her so she would just go away. After she left, I spent my remaining 4 days in Phuket either at the beach or walking around the Bangla Road area where at night.

After having a miserable time in Phuket, I still had one more week of my 4 weeks in Thailand. I had Cookies Line and asked her if she was willing to meet me again at my hotel. She said she was in Bangkok now, but would come back to Jomtien to meet me. I really prefer giving good hotel reviews rather than bad ones and for the Bay Beach Resort in Jomtien, I have really nice things to say. The rooms were nice and offered a great price. The breakfast buffet was delicious and elaborate and all the staff were extremely helpful and pleasant. On my flight from Phuket back to Bangkok, I left my iPad in the seat pocket in front of me. When I got to the hotel, I realized I did not have it. I was traveling without a laptop and was using the iPad for all my hotel reservations and to relax with YouTube videos. I was pretty frantic when I realized I had left it on the airplane. I explained my predicament to the hotel staff and they were incredibly helpful. I gave them the airline and flight information and after several phone calls to the airline, they reached the lost and found department and yes, the airline had my iPad. All of this communication was done in Thai. The airline would not send the iPad and instead insisted that I pick it up in person at Don Mueang Airport, which meant an expensive return taxi ride. When I get back with my iPad, I give the hotel desk clerk a generous tip. After Cookie returned to the hotel, the hotel always treated my girlfriend as if she were a full guest of the hotel. However, it was not quite as good as the first week with Cookie. The level of attention I received was not up to the same standard as before.

The private moments were not quite as exciting, but Cookie was always there to accompany me wherever I went. On my second trip to Terminal 21, she mentioned whether I wanted to see Soi 6 since it was close by. I was already thinking about it and I had already seen Walking Street, but I was surprised she suggested it. She walked out about 5 minutes behind me so I could get the full effect of the place. After Nana and Walking Street, I was expecting something similar, a street with maybe dozens of women. In actuality, there were hundreds of women of every age and shape. I noticed it was the less attractive women who were the most aggressive. It really is a must see in Pattaya and I’m glad I did not miss it. I was still only paying Cookie 1,000 baht per day. On my last day, she accompanied me to the airport, and I did give her a bonus. We said goodbye at the hotel, not at the airport. Although she had my LINE ID, there was no contact after I left Thailand. No sick buffalo, no sick mother, and no request for more money for legal issues. So, there was no crash and burn story here. I realized I was pretty lucky with Cookie. Things could have gone south, but they did not. I’m happy to say I disapprove the three-day rule. Now, it was off to the Philippines with another mature woman or two. More medical mishaps, including a stay at a small city Philippines hospital, but that is another story for another day.

Ung And The UK Medical Warning

I met Ung, not her real name, on a dating site. She’s an older Thai woman with grown-up children and runs her own business. I’m 58, and I’m semi-retired. And at the time, I was thinking about moving to Thailand. To cut a long story short, we met after a couple of months, and it’s been good fun. We traveled extensively around Asia together over the last couple of years, and I have regularly traveled to Thailand while she has visited me twice here in the UK. This story happened last year while we were staying in Southwest England. Ung became ill, and whilst appreciating the high drama levels that Thai women can sometimes display, I honestly thought this was serious. We had been away for a week, and during the last few days, this illness developed. It became so bad that I felt we needed medical help. The UK being in the state it is and me being away from the larger towns made it impossible to find any emergency assistance over the weekend.

So the next day we drove back home. Ung slept for most of the journey and that night took I took her to the local hospital where she was seen and prescribed some tablets. The next day she was still unwell and by the evening she had deteriorated further. So I called for an ambulance. I was informed it would take around 15 hours to arrive but whilst we were waiting various medical staff called her to discuss her condition. After a few hours Ung started feeling better and was able to eat. In the meantime I had managed to book a private GP appointment for the following morning. I phoned and cancelled the ambulance and the next day the doctor saw her and Ung began to recover. This is just background to what happened next. The following day I was working around the house while Ung was cooking. She was still a little fragile but definitely improving. There was a knock at the door.

When I answered it I found two police officers asking for Ung. I invited them in and they began questioning her before asking me to leave the room because they wanted to speak with her alone. After about 20 minutes I went back to check that everything was all right as it felt like more than enough time. I discovered the policewoman was using her phone to translate into Thai even though Ung speaks fluent English. I later found she kept asking Ung whether she was working, why she was in the UK and what her job was. They had also checked her visa which was a 6-month visitor visa. From what I learned afterwards the policewoman appeared determined to find something incriminating and seemed to be trying to lead Ung into saying something that could cause problems. Thankfully Ung remained honest and simply told them the truth. When I returned to the room the policewoman told me everything was fine, but then began asking me why Ung was in the UK and whether she was working. I remained polite, but after a few minutes, I felt it was time for them to leave unless they actually had a reason for being there. They eventually left after pulling the old Colombo routine of just one more thing at the door before proceeding to ask questions about my business and various personal details. Ung was very unimpressed that the UK seemed to care much about her welfare, but it dawned on me just how vulnerable my own position was.

Afterwards, I discovered this was classed as a welfare visit and had been requested by the NHS, even though in my opinion, there were absolutely no grounds for concern. We had simply been trying to get medical assistance for Ung. Had they sent an ambulance when requested instead of making her wait 15 hours while receiving endless phone calls from doctors, nurses, and translators, the whole situation would probably have been resolved without any of this happening. During one of the phone calls, they asked Ung whether they she needed help with English. She assumed they meant whether I could assist her as she lacks confidence speaking English with strangers, especially if they speak quickly or have strong accents. The next thing she knew, a Thai translator had been assigned to her. It was quite an insight into the NHS. There seemed to be plenty of resources available for translators and telephone conversations, but not much in the way of practical medical assistance. Here is the warning. I later found out that a police welfare visit is simply a welfare check. Ung could have come to the door, confirmed she was safe and well, and that would have been the end of it. I should have clarified the purpose of their visit from the outset.

I tend to be someone who wants to help the police, but times have changed. Because I invited them into my house under UK law, I can effectively give them unlimited opportunity to find a problem. Had there been the slightest issue inside the house, I could potentially have found myself in a serious trouble. I appreciate there are concerns regarding Thai nationals traveling to the West, but it made me realize just how vulnerable you can be in the UK when bringing your girlfriend here and coming into contact with the authorities. In these situations, they will naturally take her statement seriously. It is also complicated by the fact that many Thai women appear younger than Western women of the same age. My neighbor told me after meeting Ung that he thought she was 28 years old, when in reality she was 53. If your Thai girlfriend decides to make an accusation or even it says the wrong thing accidentally, you could potentially find yourself facing problems with the authorities. Ung flew home a couple of weeks later and we still see each other regularly, but I am certainly older and wiser now. I have enclosed a picture of us on a beach in Cornwall enjoying the sunset. The weather was beautiful for May, so she experienced the UK at its very best. The only thing she didn’t enjoy was the Cornish pasties.