5 Years of exile

[bassai]

25/5/11
Finally after 23 hours of traveling we stepped out of Suvarnnabhumi airport into the night air immediately being enveloped in its moist embrace, my body heating, perspiration welling up as if being excited by the lovers touch. Each breath moist and laden with the scents of exhaust underpinned with decay, life and the fading freshness of the thunder shower just gone by. It had been 5 years, some not so good, since my last visit to Thailand and it had become as a dream to me. A place to call to, to send money to, to receive pictures from, a dream woven for the future, which seemed as fleeting and impermanent as the flame of a candle.

As I stood there stinking after hours on a plane, the sweat starting to trickle down my back, the cacophony of Thai rising and falling in the air around us, it struck me with the force of a blow that I had escaped the true dream back to the place I belonged. My wife, ever aware of the obvious, stated, as would be her common refrain, “I’m HOT.”

Knowing a hint when I hear it, I hustled us over to the taxi queue and in minutes we’re in the blessed air conditioning on our way to our hotel near Ramkhamhaeng University. We checked in about 2AM and after cranking up the AC and showers it was right to bed. This had been our old base of operations in the past and it was familiar and easy to navigate around and from.

26/5/11
This day was pretty uneventful. With the jet lag and the heat I was afraid I was going to start the trip out being sick. My wife didn’t feel so good either so we limited ourselves to going to a money changer recommended to us by a friend as having the best rate (beat the banks), changed a suit case full of dollars to baht and then went to pay off my wife’s student debt. As all this money changing wasn’t as private as I would have preferred, given the amount and all, I was walking on cat’s paws with my eyes and ears on full alert. The bank wasn’t to far away and in short order my wife was debt free and I only had enough baht to choke a couple of elephants.

That did us in for the day, no Thai massage, no MK, right back to the hotel and out like a light at around 3PM.

27/5/11
Up at 3AM and after some well deserved stretching I go down to the coffee shop at about 4:30AM for a cup of coffee. Make small talk with some of the employees and a couple of other farang who show up and are apparently just coming in from a night out. I enquire if any monks collect alms in the area and if so at what time and where. I’m sure this is not the kind of request they normally get from farang and as time goes on I’m sure I’ve left quite a number of Thai people who think I’ve been in the sun to much! Anyway I bought some stuff and showed up as directed, but to no avail. Didn’t sweat it to much as the area had a lot of Muslim vendors and that kind of information always seems to come better from older people.

I went and roused my wife out of bed, tempting her with barbecued pork, sticky rice, and soy milk I had picked up from the street vendors across from the hotel. After showers, her 1st & my 2nd, it was off to MBK for shopping. Actually it was to get a SIM card for my wife’s phone and for me to trade in my old gold for new.

This had been a big bone of contention for my wife, as I had been wearing my Buddha ambulant on a rope for a couple of years because the gold chain I use to wear had an unfortunate encounter. I just couldn’t justify buying gold at the current prices. Needless to say my wife was able to convince me and when we were at the gold shop and she saw the gleam in my eye when the sales lady said I could get a half baht chain and some money back she persuaded me to get a 1 baht chain. When she offered to pay half the difference that really drove home how important it was to her. Well, much as I didn’t want to spend money on the gold I’m happy to have it now.

Wife and I split up for a while, her more shopping and I wanted a foot massage. Normally I would not get a massage in a big mall like MBK, however I had no desire to shop and my knee, which I had strained at work before coming to Thailand was killing me. I had to get off my feet. I limped into the massage shop and took off my knee brace when I sat down. There was a lot of conversation about my knee and the masseur offered to do some work on it after the foot massage for another 150 baht. I took her up on the offer and I was absolutely delighted with the results! I walked right out of there with no pain in my knee like nothing had ever happened to it. Foolishly I discontinued wearing my knee brace and by the next day the streets of BKK put a hurting back on it.

After that I hooked up with the little woman and after 5 years of waiting we went and had MK! I DO LOVE MK!!!!!! Little more shopping to get ready to go see the family it the up country, stop by the vendors at the hotel for some snacks, Family Mart for beer Chang, and now we’re only 2 days away from our flight to Khon Kaen.

Did I mention it was HOT?

[paul_au]

Good to see you back after 5 years, My self it has been even longer, apart from flying over Phuket in April this year, flying from London to Singapore, so close but so far, it's been a long time.

[Mozzbie47]

We fly to Thailand today, looking forward to the unforgetable heat and the smells.
For me its part of being there, its Bangkok, its Thai and l just love the way it is.

[yy]

Glad that you have fun, which I'm sure must be all the more because you have a Thai wife to double the joy of the Thailand experience.

Reading this, I can't help envying at least just that bit that it seems soooo easy for non-Thai guys to get a nice Thai wife and live happily ever after, than for a non-Thai woman to date a Thai guy who's equally sincere about the relationship/her, let alone live happily ever after.

PS: Any members planning to make some comments about foreign women not willing to pay her share on a date out with a Thai guy blah blah blah, please don't do it here to my post, thanks.

[simonebkk]

welcome akhil010, nice to meet you too. please enjoy the story in this community.

[yy]

akhil010 feels like a spammer, cos he/she has a link to an emporium in the other Members' Report post.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

akhil010 feels like a spammer, cos he/she has a link to an emporium in the other Members' Report post.

Akhil010 has been banned for that and being dishonest about the location they are posting from.

David

[Mahindrasarath]

Hello mozzbie and David,good to hear you! Maybe you want to see some of the pics that i'd taken,but it's not pretty good like yours.mozzbie was suggested want to see some of pics from where am at right now as i remember about 5-6 months ago.I did learn to post the pictures here but it was unsucessful.i am abit upset about that.in this topic that they're talking right now,bassai he spoke that where he's at there're lots muslim there,is it calm overthere now? I just heard about the unrest restive in the south of Thailand recently.hi....David you mentioned about someone dishonest about the location where they posted something,I think it's not atrictly banned,coz me too I wasn't at one locaton.good to read all these new here.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

hi....David you mentioned about someone dishonest about the location where they posted something,I think it's not atrictly banned,coz me too I wasn't at one locaton.

We Moderators know the rules.

David

[SpinDizzy]

5 years is a long time, Thailand can change so quickly I find.
Within a year an area has often 'turned' sometimes....