A Cautionary Tale

I am 60 years old and have been coming to Thailand for decades.

I met her at a Japanese restaurant just off Sukhumvit soi 19. We were both dining alone and I struck up a conversation. She was in her late 40’s, I guessed, well dressed and if not beautiful in the traditional sense, she had striking and powerful features. I asked if she would care to go for a drink, and she said yes.

We hit it off as we both liked a drink and she had a great sense of humour. She told me she loved the blunt observations of farangs and had missed it as she had been single for some years. She had been married to a German for some time but it had ended badly and he was long gone. I asked her to come back to my hotel and she said no but would like me to come back to her condo.

It is at this point the tale turns.

The condo must have taken up the whole floor! It was huge with a terrace and water feature. I was stunned. We spent the night in passion and conversation. I found out she owned a transport company which brought bulk rice from rural areas to Bangkok and the port. The next day we punted her 5-series BMW to lunch with a few of her friends. They were all welcoming and made a point of how happy they were to see her with a man.

How long could I keep this going, I thought to myself. I was under her spell and after lunch she said I needed to get some new clothes as my fashion sense and style were appalling – and if we were to go out together I needed to look good. She dressed me like a mother dresses her son.

Within the space of 24 hours I was living in a million-dollar condo, was dressed to the nines, had a stunning partner and was driving a new Beemer. Now my usual Bangkok holiday is a little more prosaic…..you know, Nana Hotel, Isaan girls, and breakfast at Bus Stop in soi 4, Biergarten in soi 7 etc.

So why is this a cautionary tale and what went wrong? I don’t know about others but I can be blinded by the light.

It lasted 3 weeks. I couldn’t cut it. I just was not up to it and in reality I offered her nothing. She asked me to move out and it was back to reality for me.

I was drinking in the Biergarten around 2 PM when I collapsed. My sweet drinking buddy got me to Bumrungrad Hospital where I spent the next 2 days undergoing tests. $3000 dollars later I was told there was nothing wrong with me.

I caught the next flight back home.

I had lost my sense of balance and walked around as though drunk.

Back home but a day I collapsed again. Again a battery of tests was carried out (one thing I noticed was that the equipment, MRI machines etc were all older than that at Bumrungrad) and then the diagnosis.

You would think an old hand like myself would know better, but as I said blinded by the light. It was news to me. My inner ear had been wrecked by the herpes virus which affected my balance and now my hearing. I was all but deaf in one ear with screeching tinnitus as a reminder. I had to learn to walk and balance again and I had filthy sores over my cock. I was cleared of HIV, thank god.

Big condo, big bucks big car, and stupid me didn’t wrap up. I never knew herpes could be so debilitating! My hearing isn’t coming back and I’m booked in for a hearing aid. I can walk a straight line but constantly feel unsteady. The bad news is I could have a recurrent attack at any time and be back to square one.

I have known plenty of people who have herpes and they are not affected like me, so is it me or is it some powerful strain of herpes? Well, according to all in the medical professional I spoke to, that is an open debate, although I was told that the level of virus in my system was extremely high.

I still talk to my rich friend on the Line app. She is such an interesting person and I don’t blame her for my predicament. Well, maybe I’ve forgiven her. I have told her about my situation but in her beautiful Thai way, she has no idea what I’m talking about.