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[smokie36]

I was talking to an old friend from my backpacking days in India and Thailand this morning and the conversation turned to the many visits we made to Thong Nai Pan Noi.

Lazy days spent swimming and sunbathing, chatting up the girls, and almost every evening off to a party at one bar or another.

Dancing under the stars there on the sand epitomised for me what the full moon party experience should really be. Those really were great times on that beach.

The place has changed much in the last few years with the building of new 5 star hotels yet I still wander over there from time to time.

It has not lost all of its magic and neighbouring beaches carry on the tradition.

So there is probably my favourite place in Thailand....I am sure you have yours.

I would love to hear your stories...be it a spot where you met your partner....or had a life changing event....what ever the reason please post it so we can enjoy!!

Thanks.

[theblether]

Oh no......an impossible task......my best memory of Thailand.......can we make it my best 100 memories of Thailand??? Even that would be a struggle. The country is outstanding.

Some of you will have seen this before, I've had to edit this story to fit this topic..........the background is that I didn't want to come to Thailand because of all the bad press......this encounter on my first day was a blessing, so it was the beginning of my love affair with Thailand........here goes.................

....................................................................................................................

My first trip to Thailand was Feb 2008, I had done a business deal and I was taken on holiday to Pattaya as a bonus. I was reluctant to go as I had heard all the usual nonsense about Thailand, but being Scottish I couldn't see the holiday go to waste.

I duly turned up at the hotel opposite Wonderful Bar 2 and you can imagine I was blown away with my first sight of Pattaya. The first afternoon there was live entertainment in the bar, so I wandered across and sat down on one of the stools. There was an older English guy doing his turn, and he had a good voice.

Once he finished he came to over my way and mentioned I had blagged his seat, I skipped up one and he sat with me. He asked me if it was my first time in Thailand, he must have smelled the newness off me. I said it was and to cut a long story short he launched into this story. If he is reading this, I hope he knows the impression he made on me.

" I was 59 and living in London when I lost my wife, I couldn't handle it, I loved that woman so much. For 18 months I was like a zombie, going to work, coming home, drinking by myself every night and just wanting it all to end, I was so miserable. My daughter kept pleading with me to get on with my life, but my life died with my wife. One day my daughter came into the house with my best friend, they had bought me a holiday to Thailand to try and get me out of my shell. I refused to go, no way I could contemplate going on holiday, it would be a betrayal of the memory of my wife, how could I enjoy myself?

My daughter burst into tears, and I relented, I was a miserable sod but now I was hurting my kids too. The day came for me to fly to Thailand and never was there a more reluctant tourist than me, all the way over I didn't want to be going on holiday, I was betraying my wife. I got to Pattaya and I was miserable, angry with myself for agreeing to come and the first day I was a nightmare, by day two I was starting to relax a little bit, and by day three I was starting to enjoy myself.

By the time the two weeks were over I went home and my daughter was ecstatic, she could see happiness in me, as she had already lost her Mum, and she felt she lost her Dad that day too. It was all I could do but get to work, save up and get back out again.

He went on to say.............The first girlfriend you get in Thailand is always the hardest to get rid of, you end up entrapped and unsure and that was a nightmare for me. Eventually it all ended, and I took up with another lady that didn't work out either, and it went on until I met my lady here.

I retired from my job, moved over here and got married, my best pal did the same thing and two other friends have moved here too. We all stay in the same villa, we get up at about 10.00am and go for a swim, the wives make brunch, we sit and eat together, and we all take off in different directions for the afternoon. Today I'm here because I love a sing song, my wife here is a sweetheart ( I would say she was about 54, and the gent I was talking to would be about 67 at the time ), and she looks after me so well.

He went on to say..........

" I would give all this up right now for my wife, I loved that woman so much, I would give up everything to be with her again........I thought my life was over when my wife died, but Thailand has given me a second chance at life............"

I hope that gentleman is still going strong and still loving life in Pattaya, and I bet you there are many men reading this and recognizing a bit of themselves in it........I think that was one of the best phrases I have ever heard in my life.  

" Thailand has given me a second chance at life "

Edited by theblether, 43 minutes ago.

[poanoi]

Koh Samed the first week in Thailand,
Diving outside Koh Larn the first week in Thailand.
The first month with my first non-prostitute gf.
And a bunch of years in gogo bar's drunk beyond oblivion.

[richard_smith237]

A bamboo hut on Longbeach in Koh Phi Phi.

After years of stress and hard study I was offered a job overseas… Thailand… at 22 years of age I arrived, settled in, every thing was new and very different…
The first holiday a couple of new friends and I took was to Koh Phi Phi – I remember that first morning waking up, very hot, very sweaty and walking straight into the sea, I then sat on the veranda of the B120 per night bamboo hut and tucked into some ice cold pineapple I’d just purchased off a passing vendor.
My first taste of a paradise I’d long held in my head. I will always remember that feeling of satisfaction that it might have all been worth it after all.

[edwinclapham]

Excellent post OP!

My reply comes tomorrow

[yermanee]

AoNang - Krabi 23 years ago. Magic !!!!

3 hotels - few other tourists - only one restaurant not attached to one of the hotels.
Intimate, very private   beaches for us alone on the small islands, in the evening campfires on the beach with the locals (fresh seafood).
If it wasn't for the fact that I've had a vasectomy long ago I would have made my wife pregnant under the stars.

Have been going minimum 1 time a year for the following 15 years but it's spoiled now. Too bad.

Fantastic memories abound.

Yermanee

[Johnniey]

Over 20 years ago at the first full moon parties on Haad Rin beach Ko Pangan. Sex, drugs and rock n roll and no sexpats and internetpats.

[samsiam]

my bedroom...

[smokie36]

samsiam, on 16 minutes ago, said:

my bedroom...

Perhaps a few of your ladies will drop by and elaborate?

[theblether]

samsiam, on 16 minutes ago, said:

my bedroom...

Flying solo as normal.....we know already

[theblether]

smokie36, on 11 minutes ago, said:

samsiam, on 16 minutes ago, said:

my bedroom...

Perhaps a few of your ladies will drop by and elaborate?

It wasn't a good memory for them......

[beano2274]

Phuket about four and a half years ago, with my GF (now wife) pre-honeymoon trip, stayed at the Old Phuket in the Jacuzzi Small Chalet rooms, has now expanded and not been for a while. Had a great time, best laugh was that I buried my feet in sand and did not think about the heat, next day big blisters all over my feet, red raw my GF laughed all the way back home to Bangkok.

[smokie36]

beano2274, on 6 minutes ago, said:

Phuket about four and a half years ago, with my GF (now wife) pre-honeymoon trip, stayed at the Old Phuket in the Jacuzzi Small Chalet rooms, has now expanded and not been for a while. Had a great time, best laugh was that I buried my feet in sand and did not think about the heat, next day big blisters all over my feet, red raw my GF laughed all the way back home to Bangkok.

I had the same happen at Margate many years ago when my then GF's 4 year old did the same thing. Had to take a week off work. Not the happiest memory!