TheNHBushman.com

I’m glad that my guesthouse has a swimming pool! I live in Taiwan. I’ve been to the south of Florida. I’ve been to southern California. I’ve been to Texas. Hell, I’ve been 6 degrees off the equator in a jungle in Borneo (see my profile picture) and Thailand is hotter than all these places! And the humidity is high. But, its also a very nice place to visit, especially in the evenings. Where I am is in the famous Khao San shopping district (yeah, I know I’m supposed to upload a picture, be patient), and its a people-watching paradise. While interesting, I must point out that everyone and his brother is here. And that means one hell of a lot of foreigners. In fact, there are so many non-Thais walking around here that it seems more like Boston than Bangkok. I never see this many foreigners in Taiwan (which explains why people point and laugh at me in my own apartment building). Here, no Thai person looks at me twice. Why would they? I’m just another one of the plethora of farangs who frequent this place.

The proliferation of farangs (literally “white people” and not “foreigner” as many travel websites say) is so heavy that now we have foreigners begging for money in Bangkok. Just this morning a very scruffy looking Citizen of Australia tried to bum a couple of baht off of me for some “coffee” (the alcoholic variety no doubt). It would seem that its time for this one to exercise his return ticket option because things just aren’t working out for him here in Thailand. Its amazing how many older white men are in the company of a young Thai girl. Somehow though, I have the impression that none of these are not what you might call, a lasting relationship (the girls are prostitutes if you want to get technical).

If you think I am being harsh, reflect on the fact that the female taxi driver asked me if I have a Thai lady on the way from the airport to my guest house. You can get a girl almost anywhere. This is a natural result of the demand for them by aging men in mid-life crisis. As long as you know that and your eyes are open its no problem and you can enjoy your visit. Thailand is a very beautiful country with extremely polite and friendly people. I just wish there weren’t so many farangs around!