by Owen Jones
After my first night out in Pattaya, Thailand, when I met a woman on a blind date arranged by one of my best friends, I sat up in bed and I thought about the details of the night before. We had started in The Pig and Whistle, where I was staying on Soi 7.
The Pig is a nice, peaceful, sedate, air-conditioned oasis of serenity in a street, which is one of the liveliest, loudest and most crowded streets in Pattaya.
We ventured outside into the soi (lane) and into a torrent of people not dissimilar to that of a queue heading for a football match, except that all the women were dressed in skimpy clothes. We had called into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise awaiting me.
His girlfriend of a time, whom I knew nothing about and a friend of hers who wished to meet up with me. The four of us had stayed 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 at 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 uninterrupted and free, although foreigners are expected to contribute a prize to the winner of each 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 think that I had a chance in reality, I fell for my beautiful date that night and I saw her every day for the remainder of my 30 days holiday. We had a brilliant time and when I had to go, I resolved to find out if I could settle in Thailand.
I went home and calculated, that if I was cautious and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to stay there for ten years.
Six weeks later, I went 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 comfortable. Joy's family live in a traditional teak house built on stilts and everybody lived and slept in one space 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 really like that village and still live there now, seven years later. 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 appreciate 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 task at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, except for my wife, can speak English.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of subjects , but is currently involved with <a href="http://stcroixvacationrentals.org/wordpress/82/yoga-holidays-and-yoga-retreats-frequently-asked-questions/">Yoga Holidays and Yoga Retreats</a>. If you want to know more about our <a href="http://stcroixvacationrentals.org/wordpress/">Travel Blog</a>, click a link.
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New Unique Article!
Title: Why I Moved To Thailand
Author: Owen Jones
Email: owen@amiabledragon.com
Keywords: pattaya,thailand,asia,travel,relationships,marriage,family,vacations,holiday,hobbies,leisure,recreation,outdoors,other,uncategorized
Word Count: 602
Category: Hobbies
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