My world walk blog - 11 - Thailand - Foreign men and their Thai women

Foreign men and their Thai women.

I took a lazy rest day one Saturday in Chaiyaphum. At the hotel, there were a couple of retired Aussies friends who were taking a break from their Thai partners. One of these men is 72-years of age and he seemed pretty full of himself as he figured he had it made with his 36-year-old woman. The other man was 62 and talked about how his woman now 40 'was getting on a bit" as he crudely put it. I have heard many stories about what they told me. These men agreed that in the north of Thailand women are less materialistic than the south and especially Bangkok. There a woman's family or friends would encourage a woman to take a man to the cleaners. Some of these men actually pay the women a monthly allowance and the older one I spoke to here said that his woman wanted 30,000 baht a month which is around 750 Euro but he bargained her down to about a third of that. As he put it. "Fair is fair as she has to live and also has a child." This man goes back to Australia a few times a year to take care of business. He is living in Thailand with her on a 12-month retirement visa which he just renews every year. A few days later I met a 25-year-old Swiss man who is married to a 38-year-old Thai woman, that was different from the norm. He agreed when I said that it seemed that Thai women don't get much protection from the law. According to him if they break up she doesn't get much from him. But if she had Swiss passport things might be different. He wasn't too keen on living in Switzerland! 

A week before I was in a restaurant and the Thai woman that served me spoke decent English. She mentioned that life was good for her. She liked the simple life and didn't need much money to live. 

"I don't need much money to be happy, If  I clear two or three-thousand baht a day I'm satisfied." Then her phone rang and it was her Swiss boyfriend who she called Captain. It was interesting to hear her tune change as she switched from her carefree mode to say. "Listen Captain I can't live the poor. I need to buy new furniture and I will only stay with you for two or three more nights unless you buy more furniture. I tell you again that I can't live the poor."

    Next day on the way out of the city I stopped at a bicycle show to have two of Karmas wheels straightened and lots of spokes replaced. The mechanic did a fantastic job and then the owner didn't even charge! Thanks a million!

It was noon by the time I made my way onto some wonderful backroads. My decision to take that more interesting route was now going to be thirty kilometres extra. However, that extra distance spread over ten days and to escape the ugly highway, that was a no-brainer decision That is 330 km instead of 300 on the highway to Thai/ Laos border
You can always see where I am by clicking on my Spot tracker on my website as in the photo. I usually give a track every ten kilometres.

After twenty-two km, I stopped in a village and bought a can of ice coffee and some snacks. The owner came out and gave me some fruit and then his daughter gave me a delicious cup of flower tea. Everyone is so friendly in Thailand.
I walked seven more kilometres and it started to rain lightly. Then gradually it rained heavier as I continued walking along glorious back roads and through some quaint villages and past rice fields and everything is as green as Ireland. Almost everyone I meet is surprised to see me walking through their area. I tell them I'm walking to Nithi Nat that evening. To my ears, it's a funny sounding name and I play out the sound effects and as always I get lots of laughs. I took out a golf umbrella the people at the At Home Hostel in Pak Chong gave me last week. It's brilliant as it keeps me fairly dry. There was little traffic. Mostly small motorcycles, motor rickshaws and a few cars. Everyone was driving slowly as the road had so many pot-holes and deep puddles. That meant  I could push Karma with one hand and hold the umbrella. Just then, as the rain became torrential I got to a hamlet called Nong Ta Kai and as luck would have it, there was a large covered area with a large table. The table measuring about five-metres by three. I wasn't sure if anyone saw me as there was nobody around and there was a faint flicker of a television from a house at the side of my shelter. That would do for the night and there as even a socket to charge my phone.
I sat at the table and waited for the cover of darkness before making myself comfortable. Across the road, I could see a man moving around in his yard. He was cleaning his motorcycle in the rain. With the aid of my golf umbrella which I had propped up on the table, I tried my best to hide and was careful not to use my mobile phone as a lit up screen would betray my presence. That was in vain as soon after that the two men from the house came over to investigate. Surely it would only be a cruel person who would kick me out on a night like that. I showed them the laminated printouts explaining my walk in the Thai language that Ryan Chittasutthiyan gave me last week. That did the job. One of the men made a gesture questioning my sanity! There is a time to agree and a time to debate For I was allowed to shelter there for the night.