Notes From Korat
I have helped a couple of Nakon Rachasima ladies find farangs using the internet but it is hard to get them to understand a fundamental point – they need to dump their Thai husbands / boyfriends BEFORE getting into this new game. The women I ended up helping were 30-40, own house, car and small business. I would not have rated them highly physically but they ended up with new guys in a remarkably short time (3 days in one case!) And, most surprising, men who live with easy access to the nightlife scene and had been in Thailand a relatively long time. Judging by the response, there is a huge longing amongst farang for decent Thai women rather than beautiful Thai women. <Ahhh, thank you for this entire paragraph and confirming a few points I have been saying for a long time – Stick>
X told me she had finished with her husband and then told the girlfriend (a good Korat gal, hopefully) that she was taking her brother with her to drive down to Bkk. As soon as I heard that I, rolled my eyes, said Mangda (pimp) and it later turned out to be her husband. Of course, many Thai gals, once they get into serious money, do dump their Thai man, sometimes with a lot of violence resulting if there is no pay off.
Y reckoned that her Thai boyfriend would not be a problem once she settled with a farang, they were just enjoying the sex with each other until someone serious turned up. See above, maybe, maybe not.
Both mature women with their own lives well sorted other than romantically and no need to lie and deceive foreigners, yet they seemed to be obsessed with the concept of easy, quick money rather than developing a proper relationship over time. In retrospect, I would not have helped them and have made clear that I will not lie for them if asked a direct question by their farang (which keeps them out of my life!).
Z I have not helped, being an ex-go-go dancer she was in no need of aid. She married a rich farang and passed her boyfriend off as just a friend
– he's there grinning in all the marriage photos. She is hoping like hell she can stay in Nakon with the boyfriend whilst receiving her 100k a month from her hard working husband who can only spend a few weeks a year in the Kingdom – an ideal relationship to many Thai gals! Asked if she liked her husband she disappeared for a moment and brandished her bank book at me – she has the body of a thirteen year-old (22 actually) with piranha eyes and a vicious grin when money is mentioned. Luckily, as a poor farang I confound her expectations and she rarely has anything to do with us!
Stick going on about Korat and his wife's virtues (sure she is a lovely lady) has rapidly increased the number of farang wandering around Nakon R – a year ago it was actually a rare day that I saw another farang! Now we are talking a dozen or so a day – about half with women in tow (again the more mature type rather than young bar babe), although the huge Western sex tourist is still a relative and thankful rarity. Just trying to add that not all Korat girls are matured in honey.
Having spent a long time immersed in the Bangkok’s nightlife I have totally lost interest in the scene (must be true love with this Korat lady!) So can add no information about the deal in Nakon, other than to say there are a lot of Japanese karaoke bars that don't allow farang to enter (lots of Jap manufacturing co's in the surrounding area), some beer bars and massage type places.
All the highly polluting cars thrown out of Bangkok have turned up in Nakon, Korat's largest city. Along with a huge number of new cars bought on cheap finance, the city has been turned into another Asian hell-hole, especially on Saturday and Sunday when they all head for the Mall, a major shopping centre along the lines of Seacon Square in Bangkok.
Educated Thais don't seem to have any problems with (civilized) farang here, more amused to have their routine broken into by something new than anything else. There are definitely some low-life mangda types wandering around who give she-who-must-be-obeyed a hard glance, as if to complain about her (hopeful) disinterest in them. The tuktuk drivers are relatively sane but obsessed with charging 50 baht a trip and the bus system consists of a wide variety of pick-up's and lorries that cost 5 baht a trip. General driving standards are way ahead of places like Pattaya and Chiang Mai, although you do get the odd yokel stopping dead in the road whilst he decides where he wants to go, or indicating right and then swerving left to realign himself for the turn!
Accommodation costs roughly half of that in Bangkok (and the deposit is only one rather than two months) though land prices seem extortionate, an eighth of a rai on the outskirts of the city going for around 350,000 baht. About five times what I would be willing to pay. Air-conditioned hotel rooms start at 250 baht if you know where to look but more likely to end up paying 400-450 baht but do look around as the same price buys a wide variety of quality.
For some reason, Nakon has the worst chicken I have ever come across in Thailand and I rarely eat it – whether from the market, street stall or KFC. I can only guess that the good stuff gets eaten locally in the real countryside, exported abroad or sent to Bangkok. The only decent farang orientated restaurant, Chester’s Grill in the Mall. No great problem as I can live off fried rice and fruit.
If you are vaguely attractive and wander around alone you will definitely get a lot of eye contact and smiles from the gals, young and not-so-young, but I doubt if you will get into the quick f..k zone unless you waste time on the few obvious visiting b-gals decked out in their gold chains and excessive make-up, which has got to be the waste of a bus ticket (157 baht, BTW).
The place has no obvious aura of violence or threat, though no doubt if you get a tuktuk driver to take you around the illegal clubs at three in the morning you will find it there, as in all big cities.
Forgot to mention, an awful lot of Korat women end up using bleach-like products on their faces to make themselves whiter and end up totally ruining their complexion by the time they are 30, They also have a good go at ruining their hair…
Also, primary school kids seem to be taught an awful lot of anti-farang stuff of some sort as you rarely get a smile out of them and some are downright surly muttering insults, shocking the girlfriend to the extent that she complained to the parents in one case. No idea what is going down really as never seen anything like it either in Bkk or the actual countryside.
Much easier living than in the real Thai countryside but not sure if it is worth the trek if you don't have a Korat lady in tow already or any contacts in the city because basically you will not meet the decent gals in any of nightlife scene (and I include discos), their parents have them safely tucked up in bed! I would, unlike Stick, be very wary of using the internet to contact gals as those able to use it, either directly or through third parties (gulp guiltily), seem to be even more on the make than your average, poverty stricken country gal (who at least has some excuse). All down to luck, of course, and there are always exceptions.
It really is absolutely sad, though, the way the locals ruin their big cities with excessive traffic and pollution, which in turn must discourage tourists and physically ruin the inhabitants over time. I know, most Western cities are just as bad, but the ambient temperature in Thailand is already near meltdown and it is so stupid to ruin everything just to drive a car relatively short distances. Be lovely to see one local governor or mayor decide to ban auto's from the centre of town and work on outwards – and then do a tourist campaign around a garden city theme; bet it would even bring the smiles back to the Thai's faces!
Personally, I think I arrived here about ten years too late and am already looking around for somewhere that has a mix of civilized city life with a touch of fresh air (and cheap land!).
Stickman’s thoughts:
Korat is a great place to live, though the lack of really good jobs for farangs prevents the masses from moving there.
