After my first night out in Pattaya, Thailand, when I met a lady on a blind date organized by one of my best friends, I sat up in bed and I thought about the details of the night before. We had begun in The Pig and Whistle, where I was staying on Soi 7.
The Pig is a lovely, peaceful, sedate, air-conditioned oasis of serenity in a street, which is one of the liveliest, noisiest and busiest streets in Pattaya.
We went outside into the soi (lane) and into a stream of people not unlike that of a crowd heading for a football match, except that all the women were dressed in skimpy clothes. We had popped into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise waiting for me.
His girlfriend of a time, whom I knew nothing of and a friend of hers who wished to meet up with me. The four of us had dallied there an hour before walking the thirty metres to Beach Road.
The traffic is one-way on Beach Road, so we took a Baht Taxi North (a pick-up truck) going with the flow and got off two or three kilometres further on just before Walking Street, which is the most notorious street in Pattaya.
We had entered a complex of bars and sat in one at random. It was only then that I noticed that the bars were all set out surrounding a Muay Thai boxing ring, where the fighting was continuous and free, although foreigners are expected to contribute a prize to the winner of every bout of 20-100 Baht ($1-$3).
We stayed there an hour and moved on to Walking Street to have something to eat. We dined at a seafood specialist restaurant which has a pier or jetty as its dining area. The food was fantastic and the mood was romantic with the moon reflecting on the sea and the atmospheric lighting.
I don't believe that I had a opportunity in reality, I fell for my beautiful date that night and I saw her every day for the rest of my 30 days holiday. We had a magnificent time and when I had to go, I decided to find out if I could settle in Thailand.
I went home and calculated, that if I was careful and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to live there for ten years.
Six weeks later, I flew back to Thailand and Joy was waiting for me at the airport. Nothing had changed between us and we took a bus to visit her family in northern Thailand.
We slept in a room that her brother had given up for us and everyone made me feel very at ease. Joy's family live in a traditional teak house built on stilts and everyone lived and slept in one room in the traditional manner, with the exception of Joy's brother, who had built an extension, because he was eager to be married soon.
I love that village and still live there now, seven years on. Joy and I are married and have our own home - a traditional, European, concrete-block bungalow not five metres from Joy's mum, who is a brilliant mother-in-law.
Her family appear to understand what a big step it was for me to come here alone and are determined to be there for me, if I need help, like my own family in Britain would be. The job at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, except for my wife, speaks English.
The Pig is a lovely, peaceful, sedate, air-conditioned oasis of serenity in a street, which is one of the liveliest, noisiest and busiest streets in Pattaya.
We went outside into the soi (lane) and into a stream of people not unlike that of a crowd heading for a football match, except that all the women were dressed in skimpy clothes. We had popped into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise waiting for me.
His girlfriend of a time, whom I knew nothing of and a friend of hers who wished to meet up with me. The four of us had dallied there an hour before walking the thirty metres to Beach Road.
The traffic is one-way on Beach Road, so we took a Baht Taxi North (a pick-up truck) going with the flow and got off two or three kilometres further on just before Walking Street, which is the most notorious street in Pattaya.
We had entered a complex of bars and sat in one at random. It was only then that I noticed that the bars were all set out surrounding a Muay Thai boxing ring, where the fighting was continuous and free, although foreigners are expected to contribute a prize to the winner of every bout of 20-100 Baht ($1-$3).
We stayed there an hour and moved on to Walking Street to have something to eat. We dined at a seafood specialist restaurant which has a pier or jetty as its dining area. The food was fantastic and the mood was romantic with the moon reflecting on the sea and the atmospheric lighting.
I don't believe that I had a opportunity in reality, I fell for my beautiful date that night and I saw her every day for the rest of my 30 days holiday. We had a magnificent time and when I had to go, I decided to find out if I could settle in Thailand.
I went home and calculated, that if I was careful and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to live there for ten years.
Six weeks later, I flew back to Thailand and Joy was waiting for me at the airport. Nothing had changed between us and we took a bus to visit her family in northern Thailand.
We slept in a room that her brother had given up for us and everyone made me feel very at ease. Joy's family live in a traditional teak house built on stilts and everyone lived and slept in one room in the traditional manner, with the exception of Joy's brother, who had built an extension, because he was eager to be married soon.
I love that village and still live there now, seven years on. Joy and I are married and have our own home - a traditional, European, concrete-block bungalow not five metres from Joy's mum, who is a brilliant mother-in-law.
Her family appear to understand what a big step it was for me to come here alone and are determined to be there for me, if I need help, like my own family in Britain would be. The job at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, except for my wife, speaks English.
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