CHAPTER EIGHT
WHEN I decided to move to Thailand, I wanted to be in the hub of things. I needed to get to the airport frequently, but mostly I wanted to be surrounded by the Thai people. I looked at condos that were far away from town and some close to town but in an almost foreign setting. Nice places with lots of Farangs (foreigners), upper class you could say. But I just didn’t care for that type of thing at this point in my life. I wanted to be surrounded by people who were as curious about me as I was of them.
A new culture to be explored first hand.
My Thai friend I have known for years told me he had a condo. I was surprised he never mentioned it. It was in an older building in the middle of a Thai-only area. It seemed nice inside but the outside and neighborhood seemed a little rough. I thought about it for two years while I was working a job in Taiwan. One day I had the feeling to talk to him about it. I bought the place and flew back and forth from Taiwan to Bangkok every two months and used it as an office. On December 31st 2008, I left my job and permanently moved to Thailand.
At first it was all new but really quite frightful. I had a good job in Taiwan so I could semi-retire here but filling the days up can be difficult and you go through a sort of depression of feeling useless. I had to think of a lot of things to keep us (me?) busy, and we can all get caught in the trap of just sitting around talking to the guys drinking beer and whiskey all day and one day turning into another. That was getting old and driving down my ambition and energy to do anything.
One of the things I used to do frequently was pull out a table by the sidewalk and drink beer everyday starting at about 3pm until about 7pm, then I would go home and usually have a few more while I watched a movie. When I