After my return to the UK in July 2007 life became fairly hectic, it certainly wasn’t straightforward, but somewhere along the way I made a decision to pack up work in the UK and move to Thailand.
A Tale of Impulse and Naivety
Normally I am a good planner but I can be somewhat impulsive and on reflection there was a certainly a degree of the the latter involved in my move to Thailand. True when I arrived in Bangkok on the 16th January 2008 I had a job offer of sorts teaching English in Prachuap Khiri Khan but it was all a bit vague and as I soon discovered not worth the paper it was written on.
Naively, based on my previous interactions with the Thai people, I had thought that the Thai company I was supposed to be working for were above board. Well they weren’t and as I sat jobless and homeless in a hotel in Bangkok I did wonder just what I was going to do. Fortunately money was not an issue and I had a multi-entry O visa that would give me up to 15 months in Thailand. I also had a return ticket to the UK that was valid for a year.
I could have turned round there and then after taking a few days holiday, but given that I had burned my bridges back home, literally selling up everything I owned, I figured this wasn’t an option, not least because I didn’t fancy those back home saying “I told you so!” Anyway its was the depths of winter in the UK and the sun was shining in the land of smiles. Not necessarily the best reasons for staying but at the time it seemed a sound enough decision and I felt comfortable enough in a country that I had visited several times. I also had a Thai contact in the form of Duen the young woman I had met in Phuket back in July 2007.
I contacted Duen and she came to join me. After a few more days in Bangkok we travelled south to Prachuap Khiri Khan, I had this vague plan to confront someone from the company who had promised me work. Quite what I hoped to achieve, I’m not sure, but of course in those days I knew very little about the Thai culture and the way things are done in the country, particularly if you are a foreigner.
I never did find the company, the office they used was empty and I guess just a front for their operations which I later discovered was acting as agents supplying native English speakers to schools for a commission while employing the teachers at very low salaries. Incidentally I still see adverts this company place on a popular Thai based teachers web-board so I guess there may well be a few teachers out there who have had a similar experience to me or worse, ending up working for peanuts!
We stayed in Prachuap for a couple of weeks in a beach side hotel. It only cost around £10 a night for bed and breakfast, a real bargain. Hiring a motor-cycle and travelling around the area I soon discovered that I quite liked the laid-back off the beaten track lifestyle in this quaint seaside town. We also hired some cycles and one day when we were out and about we came across a new housing development not far from the charming and picturesque bay at Ao Manao.
A New Home and more Naivety
This is where I met the Doctor, who on face value seemed a charming upper class Thai who spoke faltering English. He seemed to be a local entrepreneur, a Wing Commander in the Thai Air Force, in the medical section, he explained that he was developing the housing project in the tiny village of Nong Hin. He had grand plans for the site including a swimming pool and medical centre. The houses were to be two and three bedroom bungalows set on different sized plots of land. Several bungalows were already completed and occupied.
Once again my impulsive side kicked in and before I knew it I had agreed to buy one of the houses on the Doctor’s development. At less than a million Baht(about £12,000 at the time) it seemed great value. Interestingly Duen did not seem impressed with my purchase and said on more than one occasion said she did not like the Doctor. Perhaps I should have listened, since given my now better understanding of the Thai culture, she was probably telling me that the deal was no good. But while I would have said this if I had had doubts she did not.
Of course with hindsight its easy to see why this move by me was a major mistake, but given my naivety at the time about Thailand the way the Thai culture operates it is perhaps understandable. Of course it wasn’t just my lack of understanding of cultural issues that were at fault here because I knew nothing about Thai property laws and land ownership particularly in relationship to foreigners.
Anyway I had a new house, purchased for a song in my opinion, so what could possible go wrong? Well I mean the Doctor said it would all be fine and he was respected local doctor and air force medic wasn’t he? Perhaps I am colour blind too because I’m fairly certain that most folk would have been seeing a flashing yellow light by now but not me, I mean why would anyone want to cheat me in Thailand?
Like I said was I naive in those days of my love affair with Thailand.
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