[dittygari]

Apart from refueling stops in Bangkok, my first real trip to Thailand was in 2002 and to be honest, apart from knowing where it was and the name of the capital, I had very little knowledge of the country, as I had never had any interest in going there. But in 2002 I met a girlfriend on a chat line and a few weeks latter was flying to Thailand to meet her. It was the most unplanned trip I had ever made in my life, just decided to get a ticket one day and stay with my online girlfriend in Samut Prakan for 2 weeks. I think I have a good imagination, and Bangkok seemed much like I thought it would be, very polluted, dirty and heavy traffic, I never had any clues Thailand had a Royal Family and I was surprised to see the amount of Elaborate temples and stray dogs in Thailand. My Thai girlfriend got as rare spirt of generosity which I appreciated and pre-paid for us to stay in a resort near Pattaya at Jomtien Beach Ambassador City in the Thai only section for 2 days, the reception staff did not even speak English, and must have wondered what a farang was doing there, I had never herd of this Pattaya before, and it excited me as I had never seen any thing like it, even if thought the beach was nothing special, I really like Pattaya and I glad I went with a Thai woman, as the tourists get ripped off with the Two price policy, but my girlfriend managed to get me in for the Thai price on the utility busses as we would refuse the ride and would get the next bus.
Now I went to Thailand thinking, every one was trying to rip me off, but I discovered this is mainly around the tourist spots, when I was staying in Samut Prakan, where there are virtually know farangs, the busses charge the same price for every one, know arguments with the bus driver there, not like in Pattaya. I went to Thailand thinking every woman is out to sponge off westerners, and I guess that seemed to be true, as all my girlfriends female friends wanted me to pay for them as well when they came along, specially as they all had university degree's and earns good money for Thai standards. My next trip was in 2004 and my opinions stayed the same, In some way's I like Thailand, I like the easy going life style, the friendliness of the people, the cheap cost of living, but don't like financially independent Thai woman sponging, the beggars and scammers coming up to me, I never gave any of them money at any time. I also wonder why so few young people can speak English in Thailand, as even at the reception desk at P.T. House Hotel in Samut Prakan, the you lady there did not speak a word of English, so I stayed at my Girlfriends house instead.Over all my first impressions of Thailand were good, and I will go there again some day, just need to make some more friends that don't want me for money.