July, 2018

During my many years here in Bangkok, there have been maybe a dozen Thai women I’ve gotten to know halfway well. Some of them are fun loving, others simply nice, and a few turned out to be disappointments. None of these ladies ever became close friends, however. Too many differences in too many areas. But no real regrets. If you choose to live in a developing country, you learn to take what is offered.

I first met Tui last year at my usual haunt: the Beer Garden bar on Soi 7. She has the tendency, when she speaks, of drawing out the end of her sentences (“How are youuuu?”) which had me thinking hmm, this lady is not very bright. However, once I found out she was saving money to add a new room to her house for her daughter, and already had over thirty thousand baht ($1,000) in the bank, I revised my opinion. In fact, I was so impressed I decided to make a special contribution so she could leave Bangkok a few months early and get the project started. Though I’ve only seen her a couple times since then, we’ve continued to stay in touch through FaceTime, email, and phone calls every few days.

One of Tui’s hobbies is taking pictures with her iPhone. Sometimes she sends a few my way to let me know what she is up to. I’ve enjoyed these to the point that I decided to start this blog with her to share them. It’s a side of Thailand life few tourists get to see.