Marriage To My Thai wife, No Regrets
I'm an American shipyard worker with 7 years to go prior to hanging up my hard hat for good. I was married to a Filipina for 11 years in the 80's/90's then married a Thai girl in 2003 right after retiring from the US Navy. You can read about it here.
Since my 2007 submission about marrying my Thai girlfriend, life has been uneventful for the most part. I sometimes jokingly remind Nid that I married her because she is cheap and a girl; there is a compliment in there somewhere. Marriage to my Filipina ex-wife was passionate and stressful while Nid and I have a special, boring kind of love that is very satisfying. Part of the calm atmosphere we enjoy is due to the fact we've not had any children together. The kids from my first marriage are grown and I was snipped back in the early 90's. We talked about other ways to raise a family of our own, but Nid's cancer and a hysterectomy put a damper on that.
While Nid has some regrets about not being a mother, she feels that an uncomplicated life in our later years makes up for it in some ways. We live cheap in a small house that is paid for; airline tickets, food, gas and taxes being our major expenditures as we have no debts. Her family is middle class and has never asked me for money. I have very little in the way of life insurance but significant savings/investments which will allow us to enjoy retirement. If I die, Nid will liquidate our assets and move back to Thailand to divide her time between Bangkok and Korat. Since I'm still worth more alive than dead, Nid is making sure I stay that way; so no flying lessons or sky diving for me anymore.
Nid still returns home to Korat once or twice a year, but my visits have become less frequent. It's been six years since my last visit and when Nid realized this fact she declared that I would in fact join her this year.
One of our activities was Nid's class reunion. She's the only one in her class to marry a farang. It seems mom told Nid if she knew she was going to marry a farang and leave the county, she would have not paid for her accounting degree. But then I wouldn't have been interested in an uneducated woman either. The reunion seemed to be much like my own that I attended back in the States, lots of goofing off and drinking. More karaoke in Thailand than Minnesota though. They even had one class drunkard who got handsy with Nid. He backed off when I physically removed his hands from my wife; a few of her classmates ensured he was not a problem for the rest of the night. I also had to assure the attendees that I was not overly offended by his actions; it wasn't a big deal as he left us alone afterwards.
We stayed in Bangkok with my sister in-law for a few days prior to flying to Krabi for time on the beach. She's an accounts manager at a large company with a small but nice condo. When she spent her entire savings on the down payment for the condo I told her I'd pay for a nice queen-sized mattress as long as my wife and I had the privilege of using it when we visited; she accepted. It is very comfortable with the AC unit blowing directly down on us as we sleep.
While we were in Krabi we rented a car from Hertz. It was a Yaris quite unlike my wife's Yaris back home. It got us around just fine, the AC worked very well and we only had to fill it up the day we returned it. Nid noticed that I very quickly adopted the Thai style of driving; lane sharing with slow bikes as well as habitually speeding. Nid's smart phone served as our GPS; better than buying Thailand maps for our Tom Tom. The resort in Krabi was nice; it was within 100 meters of the beach and we had a swimming pool at our door. We visited the Emerald Pool and Blue Pool about 90 minutes away. The Emerald Pool is a swimming hole in one of the parks; nice but a bit crowded
I got a couple of massages near our resort in Krabi. Nid massages me a few times a month at home, but while in Thailand she prefers I go to a massage parlor to get rubbed down instead. Since the 1990's I've found that if a girl asked me to strip down completely for a massage, she was not going to be asking if I wanted a tug afterwards. If I left my boxer shorts on and she said nothing, there was a good chance she was going to be “accidentally on purpose” touching me and asking for a tip for that happy ending or more. My relationship with Nid is more than satisfying, so I'm not about to risk my marriage (or my genitalia) over a quickie at a rub and tug. This year the massages I got outside of the resort near Krabi were mediocre at best and ended soon after I denied the girl a tip; very disappointing.
I compare my expectations on oil massages in Thailand to the one expressed here; To each his own. I'm not the same kind of horn
dog I was back in the 1980's, but I'm merely old, not dead. Nude or not, a expertly performed oil massage is superior to a boring one with a happy ending in my opinion.
After a week in Krabi, we stayed in Bangkok at a hotel near my sister in-law's place. Nid and I were more comfortable in a hotel for two days as her sister had a few friends over to visit. Next to the hotel there were several massage parlors; most were small places offering a one hour oil massage for 300 baht. Another place was more upscale and charged 850 baht for 90 minutes. My wife wanted me to try a “real” massage for once this trip so in I went. It was nice; naked under the towel while the young lady did a respectable job working me over and no request for tip/extras.
As we get older our thoughts turn more frequently to retirement. My mother in-law retired from teaching several years ago and last year gifted her houses and property to Nid and her sister. I also own two houses in the States; in Minnesota and Washington. We plan on dividing our time between Minnesota, Las Vegas (my brother lives there) and Korat. While Nid will spend 4 – 6 months in Thailand each year after retirement, I told her I can't bear to spend more than a month or two at a time there as it is too damn hot.
Nid is quite certain that I'll drive her nuts when I quit working; that is my goal too. She has suggested that I work as a volunteer English teacher while in Thailand. I'm used to speaking in front of others; just need to see if I can communicate with Thai students while knowing less Thai than they know English. This way Nid will still have time to herself which she devotes to reading about 300 books a year.
I'm thinking that I'd have more fun teaching cute Japanese tourists how to scuba dive; I still fondly recall the sight of the stunning Japanese girl with the blonde crew cut on Koh Tao. My gun collection is a no-go in Thailand. It seems a mistress and massage parlor ownership are out of the question too. We might be able to enjoy ATV riding in Thailand though. We do plenty of it in the USA right now. I'm also trying to find time to visit the Philippines again although Nid is sort of suspicious of my reasons (just to visit friends) for going. We'll see how that all goes after I retire.
Ranb