Study in Bangkok

I started to read your site almost a year ago when my friend who had been living in Thailand for a couple of years introduced me to it. I really enjoyed the reading, and I have to admit that without it I’m not sure I would have made my first trip to Thailand (Thank you Stick).

I’ve been thinking about writing a submission for a while, because I thought my experience in Thailand could be slightly different than the average Stick reader since I’m only 22 years old.

"The girls will almost rape you!" "Summer all year buddy!"

My buddy was trying to make me come with him to Thailand, where he had been spending most of his time for the last couple of years.

All of his stories sounded great and exciting, but I really didn’t feel that this was my kind of thing. It would also cost me money and time, which I had neither of.

As I said, I’m 22 years old. Scandinavian, so excuse my English. I’ve always been one of the kinds who associated a vacation to Thailand with older men who were looking for love. And I can assure you that to go to another country to look for love was not on my agenda.

After high school I took one year in the Army, and after that I’ve been mainly working as a bartender. I’ve been planning to start on my education for two years now, but until now, it has only been plans, but more on this later.

Anyway, I have always been interested in going to places far away to experience and learn about different cultures. So before this summer, I decided to go to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos as a backpacker with my buddy who had been living there. I was really looking forward to three months in the Land of Smiles, but little did I know about how big impression this place would make on me.

In the middle of May 2008 we landed in Bangkok. My buddy speaks pretty good Thai so he took care of most of the talking. We found a hotel close to Kao San Road, and off we went to meet some of my friend’s Thai friends (all girls).

To be honest, they just blew me away! They were beautiful, friendly and had great personalities, yeah you know the drill. The ironic part is that only about 12 hours earlier, on the plane; I was asking my friend if there were any pretty farangs there, since I didn’t think I would get a thing for Thai girls. Boy, how wrong can you be!

We partied with these girls until early in the morning, and although I’ve been out clubbing a lot because of my profession back in my country, nothing I’ve experienced earlier could compare to this.

The next 3 weeks were just one big party (I know it’s not healthy). We had a couple more farang friends from our country coming for a vacation. Together we went out almost every night. We would normally start out on Gulliver's in Kao San in the beginning. After a while, when we meet more and more people, we became aware of other places that really caught our interest.

Sukhumvit soi 11 has several clubs / bars which are really great if you’re looking for more clubbing than the whole bar scene where you barfine the girls. We met a lot of Thai college students at these places. I should also mention that these places are also more expensive than the average club / bar in Bangkok. Bed Supper Club is an excellent club that has had a lot of publicity all over the world. Some of the girls I went home with at these clubs had unbelievable condos that had to cost fortunes a month. Don’t ask me were they got the money, and I really don’t care. I’m guessing a lot of them came from rich families since I doubt any farang would be stupid enough to pay for their girlfriend’s 100k baht condo a month.

We quickly learned about the drama with the Thai girls I had been reading about on this site since we made the mistake to be seen with too many different girls at many of these clubs. Some of us became big butterflies in Bangkok. Or as some of our Thai girlfriends would tell us, "You’re not a butterfly, you’re an airport!" Some of these girls were really giving me a hard time although I never gave anyone the impression that I was their boyfriend. It’s easier said than done to explain to a Thai girl that you’re only there for vacation and are not looking for a relationship.

A friend of mine back in my country told me before I left, "You know, you think you’re going to have a lot of sex in Thailand, huh? Well, you’re going to have even more than you think!"

I have to admit it was really a nice lifestyle we were living. Maybe this was just all in our head, but we really felt like movie stars when we were out partying. We knew a lot of the people and got a lot of looks. I guess it helps that all of us are young and decent looking guys.

If we had not found a girl we liked around 2 AM, when most of the clubs closed, or just wanted to party longer, we would very often go to another place called Spicy or Boss. This place was a little more underground and not as exclusive as the clubs we went to earlier in the night. This place was open till 6 in the morning and you were allowed to smoke inside (unfortunately). At this place you could also see a lot more bargirls, and I guess a lot of freelancers. We would often chit chat with these girls, but never pay for one.

So after 3 months in Asia, mainly Thailand, it was time to go home. I had lost 7 kg mainly in muscles; due to lack of training and not much eating (fortunately I’m back at my ideal weight now).

But man, how depressed I was, which I’m guessing many others can relate to when they are on their way home. An Irish guy we met in a bar called Q Bar said to me this. "When you’re going home from a vacation from most countries, you talk about how the vacation has been. When you’re on your way home from Thailand, the only thing you can think about is when you’re coming back." This really applied well to me.

After two Xanex (sleeping pills) we got at the drug store and a 12 hour flight we were back in my cold country.

How could every anything be the same? I live in one of the most expensive and coldest countries in the world. Something had to be done!

I’ve always wanted and been planning to study in a foreign country, so why not Thailand? I looked on the internet if they had any good schools that instructed in English and found a couple actually. So, the 4th of January 2009, I’m starting on a bachelor in Business Administration at Bangkok University. I’m pretty disciplined, but still I cannot help to worry if I will get enough time for studies, and not everything else that Thailand has to offer. My Thai adventure will continue, and I will have summer for at least the next four years!

Till then, Merry Christmas!!

Ps: If there is any readers who is currently studying at this school, contact me on kaareking@hotmail.com.