Young Person’s First Time In Thailand

First of all I want to say I have a huge, love / hate relationship with Thailand.

About me: I'm 23 years old but probably look younger, this was my first trip to Thailand as part of a round the world trip, and I ended up staying in the kingdom for 3 months.

These are my thoughts and experiences of a first timer to LOS.

I arrived into Bangkok EXTREMELY NAIVE and not knowing anything about Thailand and what to expect. I came with one friend of mine, same age as me. The first thing we noted was the heat at 9PM at Bangkok airport, it was intense. We got a taxi to the Sukumvit area and stayed near the Nana skytrain station. It was our first long trip away from home, so what is the first thing two young guys do when they are in a new country? You guessed it, go for a beer and check out the nightlife. We went for a walk around to look for some bars, but all we could find was girls screaming their heads off at us to come inside their bars. I was well shocked to be honest, we did go into the bars but we did not take any ladies home, we were not really into paying for women because we were fairly good looking so we don't have to pay back home we thought.

It took us a while to get used to Bangkok and the different cultures, especially because we got severe food poisoning after we eat some Thai food on our second day which resulted in a trip to hospital, and no beer or proper food for about a week, just lots of medicine to take!

Anyway my friend and I were here for two months and basically went everywhere in the country. My friend did take some bar ladies but I stopped the urge. I don't know why it just did not feel right at the time, but when I was alone here for the last month I did take some ladies and I will explain why later.

One of three things I hate about Thailand is shopping for clothes and stuff. In my experience everybody wants to rip of the farangs because they think all farangs are rich. (I know some farangs are rich but they ruin it for us all by splashing all there money around.) The Thais tarnish us all with the same brush thinking we all have lots of money, ok I probably have more money then the average Thai but I can tell you now in my country I am just average.

One incident in Pattaya. I was looking at a stall for some T-shirts and I explained to this Thai guy I was just looking, but he could not take that. He physically tried to force me to buy something I did not want so I just walked away and than he shouted at me very angrily and aggressively. Why? In Patong I hate those Indian tailor shops. I really want to punch those guys. I am a young guy and I don't wear suits, just leave me alone.

But it is not just the stalls, corruption in the police too! I was on a taxi motorbike without a helmet. We got stopped by police and I had to pay a fine, which I had no problem in paying because it was my fault for not wearing the helmet. The fine is in Thai so I can't read it. I ask the policeman in simple English how much it is but he refused to tell me pointing blank. The taxi guy tells me 500 baht. I don't believe him but I have no other choice but to pay because the policeman won't speak to me. After the incident I ask my Thai friend who tells me the fine should only be 200 baht. There we go again, rip off the stupid farang. I was being honest. I had no problem paying the fine. It was the keys of the motorbike owner the policeman took so why should I care, but they had to rip me off, didn't they?

Why is there one price for Thai and another price for farang?

Anyway enough about the complaining, the good things are the friendly people but I firmly believe the majority of them are found in the non-tourist areas. I have just left Thailand and some of the people at the bar I used to drink give me some Buddhist flowers and wished me well and good look and really meant it. I was very impressed at that.

Songkran was the best fun I had in Thailand made some good friends at the bar from that experience of getting pissed wet and loved it.

My reasons for taking bar girls are because first I tried to take normal girls not interested in money (which I now know is never the case). My first experience with a Thai girl I liked was on Ko Samui. She worked in the guesthouse I was staying in so I thought she would be different i.e. not a bargirl wanting your money! I got on really well with her and I used to go to the local club with her just for fun drinking. I kissed her a few times when drunk but took it easy as I was not sure what she was after. Money? I than realised one night she probably was because I saw her and her friend with two older guys, maybe late 30s, in the club. She said they were just friends but I knew they must have given her money so I just stayed friends with her.

My next experience was in Pattaya. I picked up this girl, 24, nice looking, but nothing special in a nightclub. When I went with her, I did not have to give her money and she explained this to me so I thought she was normal. I soon realized I just was not attracted enough to her so I told her just be friends and she was cool with that. She spoke very good English which I liked, and she said she had to go Isaan to visit her daughter for two days, and asked me world I like to come. I jumped at the chance, a normal Thai girl showing me around a non tourist area in which costs would be spilt 50 / 50? Great!

We did have a great time ,especially in Roi et where every single Thai person stared at us, young and old. Because they saw me ,young farang, with lady and her Thai daughter, they were very confused and expected an old man or had just never seen a young farang before because they kept saying farang in Thai. I thought it was hilarious, everyone pointing at me. I was only her friend after all. She was a bit shy about it though, but those people were great really.

Anyway when we returned to Pattaya. I was happy that I had seen some of the Thai countryside with a Thai guide and shared expenses. Maybe she was a normal Thai girl? Nope, one day she came crying, banging at the door of my room, saying her farang long-term boyfriend had seen a message from me and she had lost everything, motorbike, apartment etc etc. So yes, she had lots of money because some stupid 40 year old farang was sending her money and just returned to Thailand and was very jealous. There was a farang name in her phone. Basically, I felt sorry for her because she was a good friend to me so I explained to the farang that I was young and just her friend. He took her back but she told me never to call her again as her boyfriend would leave her for good.

So my conclusion is that all the girls see farangs as rich. You just can not get a normal girl even if you are and young good looking. It’s all about the money, especially with the type of Thai girl I like – the Isaan girl.

So what I am to do? I am disillusioned with the ladies, but I have a big problem. I don't think I like farang women anymore. I really am addicted to Thai Isaan girls, but they are all poor and educated only until about 12 years old. Do I really want someone like that? I'm sorry but at 23 I should stay back in Farangland and go for the farang girls, but here I am on a Saturday night writing this, saving my money, not going out. Why? Because I going to return to Thailand very soon when I have enough money, I AM ADDICTED TO THOSE POOR ISAAN GIRLS, STUPID I KNOW.

Stickman's thoughts:

Your conclusions are way off base. If you go looking in a bar in Pattaya for a non-bargirl Thai lady to sleep with you then you will very likely be unsuccessful. Young farangs can meet nice Thai women but generally, time has to be invested first.

There are huge numbers of educated women in the Isaan region. You really have only seen a small subset of Thai women – don't characterise and stereotype all Thai or Isaan women on the prostitutes of Pattaya.

My advice would be for you to return to Thailand but stay away from the naughty bars of Bangkok and don't go to Pattaya at all. Take the train up into Isaan, visit some of the temples, the Khmer ruins, and the border provinces where the Mekong River is. Then you might meet some nice women. Staying away from the naughty bars increases your chances of meeting someone nice – though expect to put in a whole lot more time, effort AND money away from the bars!