It was seven-ish and I was sitting in a nice-enough room overlooking the front doorway to the pub above which I had just moved in. The pub was the Pig and Whistle on Soi 7 in Pattaya. Across the lane was a big hole, which they were hoping to construct a hotel in and next door to that, right opposite me, was a small bar with one woman sitting on a stool outside it. Not that there was a wall there, it was open on two sides. The Soi was lovely and quiet, I thought. I also thought that I might go and sit in that little bar and talk to that woman, if my friend was late, because I would definitely see him arrive from two metres away, the width of the Soi.

So, I went to the bar in the pub at 19:15 to await my friend who said he would meet me at 20:00. It was much busier than thirty minutes earlier but not noisy and I sat at the bar. The first thing a barmaid did was say hello, give me a menu and step back. I did not really want to eat, I only wanted a beer as I assumed we would be eating together later, but I wanted to read the menu anyway.

‘A pint of Boddington’s’, I said. It arrived and the girl began laying a setting for me. I tried to explain that I was not hungry, but it was no good. Like in Spain, most people eat and drink at the same time. All the while the girl was smiling at me. Then she said: ‘You have room upstairs? My name Charli. What you want to eat?’. So, I gave in and ordered something and rice.

‘You first time in Thailand? You no can eat. Too spicy’, she said with a grin. ‘Oh’, I replied, ‘but I want to try. ‘I put only 50-50 for you’, she declared and went.

I battled my way through that meal and it took a Boddingtons and a bottle of water. Charli had been right, it was too hot for first-time foreign visitors and she had reduced the chilis by 50%. I have always heeded a Thai’s counsel on food ever since.

I moved to by the window to see what was going on as it was dark by 19:30 and I was curious. Within thirty minutes Soi 7 had changed completely. I could see hundreds of girls and tourists walking about. I wanted to go out and join in or at least sit in the quiet bar across the way, but I’m ashamed to say that I was too scared, so I sat put, rivetted to the Pig like a rabbit in a hunter’s flashlight.

My friend walked in on time and after we had been talking for an hour, he said: ‘Drink up, I have someone I want you to meet’. This was it, we were going into that mele. A waitress opened the door for us and the racket and the heat were tremendous. Particularly the din. Every metre at least two or three girls would shout: ‘Hello, sexy man, you want a drink’. Trying to say no courteously to each invitation was out of the question, so I just stuck close to my pal.

Luckily, we only had about fifty metres to walk and we sat down in another bar. My friend said hello to several women and then said, this a girl I have been going out with for some time. I was astounded as I had never heard him talk about her, ever. She was gorgeous, but could not speak English, so I sat in the tumult in silence. Not for long through, as my friend said, I have a blind date for you and he introduced another girl to me who was equally beautiful, but with whom I could speak a little. She was captivating and I was captivated. The din seemed to pass away, but it was only because I was concentrating on my new friend. The four of us had the best time and the best food I had ever had in my forty-nine years of existence.

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I first came to Thailand in 2004 and I came here more of less by accident. I had travelled a lot in Europe: Russia, Western Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa and north South America, but I had never found the time to travel to Asia.

One night, I was chatting to a friend who had travelled extensively throughout the world and he was telling me about his favourite country, to where he had been returning year after year for fourteen years. Knowing the man’s experience as a traveller, I was very taken aback to hear that he had been choosing to go to the same place in Asia for fourteen years.

I had to ask him which part of huge Asia held such an attraction for him and he said Thailand. I knew next to nothing about Thailand, except that I had had a few meals at a near-by Thai restaurant over the years. I also knew from collecting stamps as a boy that it used to be called Siam. Anyway, my friend asked me if I’d like to go. I answered that I would ‘one day’ and meant it.

He surprised me by stating that he was going to Thailand for a month soon and that I was welcome to go with him, if I wanted. I replied that I had a couple of jazz festivals to go to soon and maybe I would, if there was at least a month between them and if I could get a flight and if… I could hear myself putting him off, but I did not know why I was delaying.

A few hours later, I went home and being an avid Internet surfer, I checked out a bit about Thailand on the travel brochure sites. It looked truly fantastic. The prices were good too except for the flights. Hotels were cheap to reasonable and food and drinks prices were low compared to where I lived. So, I checked the dates of the two Jazz festivals and they were thirty-three days apart. Now for the flight. I spent well into the next morning checking flights and discovered one for the day after the first festival leaving from our local airport. It was not the cheapest flight, but it gave me more time.

In an impulsive moment I booked it there and then online. I then found a pub with rooms to let online that my friend had said he went to on quiz evenings and guessed that they would be open by now serving breakfasts. I sent them an email and a reply came back twenty minutes later. I had been lucky again. The boss was in the middle of checking yesterday’s figures, when he saw my email come through. However, not sure of his Internet ability, he wanted me to phone him right away. I checked my watch, it was still 4AM so I phoned.

He accepted my booking on trust and so I did not have to make a payment. I had heard about Thailand, made up my mind to go and booked the flight and room all within five hours and I could not wait for nine o’clock to come to inform my friend that I would be going too.

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