One thing I always have loved about living in Thailand is the sense of national pride.  Thais love their country and most would never consider living any place else.  I certainly agree that this is the best place on earth to live.  I chose to retire here and I have enough money to live in any of the 190 countries in the world.  When I narrowed down my choices of retirement destinations it was absolutely no contest.   I don’t know where I would move to if forced to leave this paradise, as I have found no other country that is even ten percent as enjoyable as here.   Ask any Thai where he would like to holiday if price was no object, and most would name a spot in Thailand.  

I was chatting with a pleasant fellow who runs an online dating site in Southeast Asia.  His site has ladies from Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and several other countries who want to meet foreign men and hopefully get married.  He and his wife interview the ladies via telephone or internet regarding their goals and desires when meeting foreign men.  One very interesting observation he has come away with after 12 years of doing this business is that ladies from every other country but Thailand normally say that they are willing to relocate to their future husbands country, but that Thai ladies invariably say that they would much rather stay in Thailand.  This fellow’s wife is from the Philippines, and she was less than proud to tell me that ladies from her country are literally dying to move elsewhere.  She said that when asked if they are willing to go to a particular foreign country, the usual comment is “any other place is fine, just get me the hell out of here.”  Must be a lovely place to live if you are a lady! 

Two years ago, His Majesty The King celebrated His 80th birthday. Enormous crowds gathered outside of the palace for hopes of catching a glimpse of the esteemed ruler.  The best way I can describe the love that the Thai people feel for His Majesty is to relate the nickname given to Him which is “Paw” or “Father” as He is everyone’s father.  I was watching television and following the festivities surrounding His birthday and there was an interview with a 23 year old medical student from Chiang Mai province who was amongst the crowd of thousands waiting outside of the palace for hopes of catching a glimpse of His Majesty. This young man was beaming from ear to ear when he said to the reporter “I drove 11 hours straight to get here after taking exams and if I can see Him for even 5 seconds it will be the biggest thrill of my life.” 

Last year there was a parade through downtown Bangkok to celebrate the return of the Olympic athletes.  I happened to be in Siam Discovery Center near the middle of the city when huge crowds began to gather lining the main street (Rama 1).  Tens of thousands of Thais came from their offices, schools and homes to wave the Thai flag and show their support for the efforts of the Thai Olympic team.  I entered my favorite restaurant and tried to order my lunch but the place was almost empty.  Suddenly the manger appeared and said “Khun Lee, can you watch the cash register for a minute so I can go outside and celebrate?”  I was left alone in the restaurant as every single employee went outside to view the parade.  I guess I have an honest face! 

I have been learning Thai language for 6 years now, but I still make mistakes all the time.  It can be extremely frustrating as learning Thai is not like learning another western language.  It has a completely different alphabet, sound structure, and set of tones and method of constructing phrases.  

Last week I think I finally made the mistake of mistakes, the epitome of screwing up the language.  I traveled to Chonburi province to spend the night with one of my favorite University gals who was working as a presenter (“Pretty” the Thais call the hot gals who stand next to products and look hot) at a conference there.  The poor thing was so lonely and had been crying on the phone, never having been outside Bangkok on her own before, so I felt obligated to go and comfort her.  Amazingly, most Thai people have never been alone for any period of time.  Their entire lives they have always lived with either family or friends, and many Thais can’t stand to even stay in their apartments by themselves for more than a few minutes at a time. This is one of the main reasons why Thai gals who travel to another country to stay with a man are almost always miserable.  Well, I must say I received most of the comforting but heck this is Thailand.  Anyway, we were in her dingy hotel room watching music videos on television and I was very pleased to see that the station had played music for an hour straight with absolutely no commercials.  So I said to her in Thai “chong nii mai mii sopanee” which I thought meant that this channel didn’t have any commercials.  Well, this gal is one of the sweetest and most polite ladies I have ever met in my life so I was a little surprised when she tilted her head, gave me a very strange look and changed the channel.  Geez I thought that an absence of commercial messages was a good thing?  It was at that moment that I realized I hadn’t said “this channel doesn’t have any commercials” but what I had actually said was “this channel doesn’t have any prostitutes.”  Well I suppose that also could be a legitimate complaint!

Read Khun Lee’s other WoWasis columns for more advice on navigating the adult dating scene through the backstreets of Bangkok