Kudos for Mike’s Pharmacy

Dear Editor,
Being a Farang woman who recently came to Thailand with my husband, I have had all clinical check-ups necessary. Since I am in my mid-fifties, I need permanent medication to ease the problems of a woman in her menopause. After I had used all medication I had brought along from Europe - it lasted about two months - I searched in all drugstores to buy the same medication. Finally, I believe it’s the only one where this is available, I have found it at the drugstore at Mike Departments Store.
Not only that this medication is much cheaper here than in Europe but the druggist there speaks very clear English, is very friendly and does understand what he is talking about. In many other shops they were just shrugging their shoulders or telling me that I must “go Bangkok”.
I also bought some other medicine and vitamins and I found out that the assortment at this particular drugstore is very large.
I thought I have to write this letter as an appreciation and to tell other ladies, who have the same problems, about it.
Mrs. E.

Wake-up! Airport Authority

Dear Sir,
It is of great interest to read that Orient Express Airlines is now operating daily services from Pattaya International Airport (U-ta-pao). It is high time that such a move has been taken. We have been talking about making this airport into the hub of this region and that to help tourism and business on the eastern seaboard. It is also a big joke that the much talked about Nong Ngu Hao airport has again been delayed by another three years. But of course the delay is Don Muang airport’s gain. For now there is talk of spending thousands of millions of Baht to expand the facilities again. When are the leaders of our country going to wake up and realise that Bangkok has reached it’s stifling capacity and cannot accommodate any more movements in and around it’s city. I believe that the Eastern Seaboard could use it’s own international airport and that there is enough tourism and commerce to support it. For only a few million Baht U-ta-pao could begin to become one of the best airports in Thailand. There is a lot to gain for all concerned. But why is it being ignored and why can’t it get the boost that the politicians are so anxious to give to other airports. It is wonderful that so many international airlines are now flying directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui. What is wrong with giving our airport a much needed shove onto the aviation scene?
I am an extremely,
Dumbfounded Pattayan.

Improve hotel staff

Dear Sir,
I do know that there is a big communication problem in Thailand between Thais and Farangs. But one could believe that there wouldn’t be such a problem in large hotels, who have only customers from overseas. One could believe that such big hotels have very well trained staff, at least at the recep-tion or information counters.
A few days ago I was trying to call some friends who are staying at a big hotel on the hill. They only gave me their room number. To make a long story short, it took me and my wife more than 40 minutes to find out that they are not in their room. First I called, and after I probably asked too much, the receptionist just hung up on me. My wife was the second to call. She spoke Thai with them. Since this hotel has three different wings but only one operator, she was connected with the main building. The receptionist there said that the key was not in the key box but they were not in the room. After a short discussion, my wife found out that the particular room we were looking for was not at all at the main building but in the second one. The receptionist there told us also that the key was not in the key box but “nobody in the room”. My wife was talking rapidly to them and, oh wonder, we found out that the room was not at the second building at all. It was at the third one. We got connected again and there, at the third building, we were told that our friends just left about 2 minutes ago.
I sincerely hope some of the Managers are reading your mailbox. Maybe they will try to do something about it. It is not only a waste of time and energy, it is also disgusting to book a first class hotel and still not be able to get a decent answer or information in English even though those receptionists have to deal with foreigners only.
Steven McArthur

Searching for lost film

Dear Readers,
The other day at the Friday Market on Pattaya Tai, my purse was stolen. I know I will probably never get it back - but if by chance you find a black purse with a gold emblem, inside you might find 2 rolls of undeveloped film. These photos are of my wonderful trip to Australia. If you could please drop them off at the Pattaya Mail office or call me at 364 088 - no questions asked. I know the chances of finding my film, much less my purse, are close to zero, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you in advance.
Alice Poulsen

My Story

by a disillusioned farang wife

I arrived in Thailand from America with promises of living in a paradise for five years, a renewed marriage, a five year vacation, a five year honeymoon, and more financial stability than I ever dreamed possible. A full time maid and driver and a beautiful condominium by the ocean were to add the finishing touches to this dream like situation. Believe me, after raising four children, one of which was handicapped and disabled, and struggling financially to live a higher standard while supporting an aging mother with cancer, and living in a state for seventeen years which I never cared much for, this seemed too good to be true.
Believe me, it was. It took me two years to prepare for this major move, one year alone as my husband had to leave before me. I had to take charge of everything, including selling our home, packing, storing and arranging shipping. On top of all this was the need to get my thirty three year old son prepared to live on his own; with his brother’s help. I had to find him a place to live, which took months, completely furnish it, and make arrangements for his financial aid. I then had to fly to California to help my daughter with a new grandson. All this drained me emotionally so much that I did not think I would ever have the energy to even get on the plane to Thailand.
During this year living alone, with all of it’s trials and tribulations, the emotional support from my husband, who was now living in Bangkok, became almost non existent, which made me terribly depressed. His attitude became so belligerent that all we did was fight over the telephone and hang up on each other. Toward the end, as I was preparing to leave for Thailand, I reached a point that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go. This dream adventure was becoming a nightmare. My friends and family were concerned that possibly the reason for this total change of character in my husband could be that he was cheating on me. My reply was emphatically “no way”; he’s not that type. I’m not stupid, I would know.
“Wrong.” When I arrived after thirty two hours traveling time, totally exhausted but having lost sixteen pounds and looking pretty fine (even though I say so myself), he barely acknowledged me. A hug was all I got - no kiss, no flowers, no greetings of love. At the beautiful executive hotel where he had been living for one year there was no food in the fridge, nothing to drink and the place looked as if a team of sterilization workers had been in to clean it. He was ready to check-out the next morning and take me to Pattaya to stay in another hotel.
I said, “Hold on - what’s the rush? Let me rest here for a couple of days.” I then asked, “Why have you been so distant to me? And why are you not prepared for my arrival, with food and flowers?” His reply was that he had been much too busy, which got us into a huge argument ending with him packing his bags and leaving. I found out later he went to his new condo to spend the night with his mistress.
He left me in a hotel suite with no money and did not call for two days. I thought I was having a nervous break down. Nobody in the hotel spoke English, I felt like a child whose parents had put her out on the street corner and left her to make it on her own.
When he finally came back, we got into another fight. I zipped up my bag (it was 3 a.m.) and said I was leaving to find accommodations elsewhere since he did not care about me anyway. I asked for some money, which he gladly handed over (Baht 2,000), and said, “Fine. Go.”
I was only bluffing, hoping beyond hope that he would say, “No, don’t go. I love you, you can’t leave me. I’m sorry, let’s end this nightmare (which at this time I did not know was just beginning). I even called a porter to get my bags, hoping he would stop me - but he didn’t. I got all the way to the lobby and asked for a taxi, which took ten minutes to get across the language barrier, still hoping he would come rushing down to stop me, as I had no idea where I was going. He didn’t come down, the taxi came, and the only place I knew to go in Bangkok was another hotel where we had stayed two years earlier.
On the way, the taxi driver asked me in perfect English, “How much money do you have?” Feeling frightened and threatened by this, I replied, “It’s none of your business”. Thank God the hotel was only two blocks away. When we arrived he said “200 Baht”, and when I gave him 500 Baht, he jumped in his taxi and left. The doorman chased him, but to no avail.
At this point, I had been dumped by my husband, robbed by a taxi driver, left alone in a strange country for three days and had no idea where to go or what to do. So I checked into a room and cried for two days.
Finally, I called my husband and asked him, “What is going on?” He was still belligerent, but tried to sound worried when he asked me, “Where are you?” I would not tell him for two more days, thinking it was time to give him a taste of his own medicine, if he was worried, which I truly doubted by this time.
In the mean time, I suffered a severe migraine headache, and the hotel sent a doctor to my room. He gave me zanax, some other pills, and two shots which knocked me out for one full day. I realized after waking up that I had at least found some comfort in these pills. I am well aware of zanax, an anti-depressant pill of great strength, as I know several people who are dependent on them. I am fifty two years of age and have vowed never so much as to take a valium, but looking on the dresser I noticed he had left two packets of these pills. No wonder he charged Baht 1,000 for his room visit.
I was paying for the room with my credit card and was quickly running out of cash, so I finally called my husband and told him where I was. He came four hours later to pick me up, and took me to a hotel in Pattaya where we would stay until we found somewhere to live.
I never once left the hotel room for two weeks. During this time I would do everything possible to lead him back to me. Romantic candle-light dinners on the balcony over looking a beautiful pool and garden, play romantic music, dress sexily, but nothing appeared to work. He said that he had become impotent due to drinking.
I had to finally I look at my future. I had sold my home, had no money of my own and I had given up my career. My husband no longer needed sex with me. I was tired of fighting the battle. My children were grown, the state and his older brother were taking care of my disabled son. My other children were happily married, my sisters could take over the financial responsibility of our mother.
I felt no one really needed me any more, and I very seriously considered suicide. I took both packets of zanax in hopes of ending it. I knew it would work because I have never taken pills in the past, so I knew my system would immediately absorb them. I left no note, no love letters to my family and children - that’s how far gone I was. But five minutes after taking the pills with straight vodka, the phone rang from America. It was my daughter. She could not understand me, as I was going under fast, and immediately alerted hotel security.
I woke up two days later in a Pattaya hospital, with IVs dripping in my arm, very thirsty, not glad to be alive, and no-one on the hospital staff could understand a word I said. I was very disoriented and confused and only wanted water for God’s sake, but no-one could understand. Finally, they located my husband and the doctor released me. He gave me a large supply of zanax to take home. I could not believe it.
My husband and I returned to the room with four walls and twin beds which we had slept on for the past two weeks. He laid on his bed and proceeded to tell me in my unstable condition that he no longer loved me nor found me sexually appealing. He said he was very sorry and confused and really did not quite know if he wanted a divorce. He also informed me that he required sex only once every two weeks.
Suddenly his impotency is gone!? He also stated that I deserved someone better than him and that he was not good enough for me. Wow - was I confused... One of us had lost their mind, but I was not sure which one.
He then started drinking, and out of the blue he confessed to having a Thai mistress who had been living with him for the past year, saying, “I don’t know if I love her, I’m confused”. This all happened on the day I got out of hospital after a suicide attempt. The only thing I could think of was that he was attempting to get me to try one more time.
He said he had not seen her since my arrival and had made it very clear to her from the beginning that he was a married man and this affair would have to end when I arrived. He said that she cried and said she would kill herself if he left her. At this point, I am taking this all in with such shock, it seems unbelievable. He said it was over and he was not seeing her any more, yet I didn’t know what to believe. After all, this man has never lied to me before, had been a loving husband, and had never given a pretty girl a second look. Well - where do we go from here?
Nowhere. The same thing began to happen again, but this time he would get drunk and beat me (he had never laid a hand on me before this). I laid in bed for three days with a black eye and bruises all over my body. He never apologized once during this time.
He finally said, “I’m sorry”, and that he wanted to try to make the marriage work. That same night he left me and got so drunk, the only way I got him home was to call him on his mobile and inform him that if he was not home in one hour that I would try suicide again. He got home three hours later, probably to find the body.
But I took advantage of this opportunity. When he passed out, I took his mobile phone and copied all the numbers in its memory, then went to his car and searched every square inch, including his briefcase, which took me three hours. Drenched in perspiration, I furiously went through at least three hundred papers in his briefcase. At first I didn’t find anything other than an advertisement for a Bangkok condominium, but, for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity over why he would be looking at condominiums in Bangkok, I took it. I also found out about a condo in Pattaya, along with it’s key.
I learned later that the ad I found was to the Bangkok condo that he and his mistress shared, and that he was supporting her and her two year old child. His condo in Pattaya had been used for his other sexual exploits (six in all). Armed with this information, I went to Bangkok and informed the condo management that I was about to cause problems if he did not evict the girl and refund my husband’s security deposit, which to my surprise he did immediately. I must confess I did cause a little trouble.
I informed my husband about all of my discoveries and my actions. He was so utterly amazed he was unable to speak. I did get the pleasure, if you can call it that, of talking to his Bangkok mistress. She called him an S.O.B. and I thoroughly agreed with her. I informed her that it was over and that she should go back to work. My husband said that he had felt so trapped and confused, he was glad that I had taken care of this for him. He said that he felt he had gone crazy here in Thailand with the total of girls (raising weekly according to how much he’d had to drink). But I do believe so far that there has only been six bar girls, plus his mistress.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I am fighting for my marriage and so far it seems to be working. Some days are good, some are still very bad. I can tell you that I would gladly have chosen fighting the war in Bosnia than to have gone through this nightmare. At least I wouldn’t be fighting alone. Through this kind of war you are on your own, but you should at least try to find a friend to talk about it with. I didn’t have that luxury.
If you are experiencing similar problems and want to fight for your marriage, this will take so much energy from you and add so much more pain that you will need (if you succeed in your mission - and there are no guarantees) a long recovery period for yourself. Remember, you are fighting a war with a husband who (hopefully) has only temporarily gone insane.
I am still fighting this war and feel like I am closing in, but not yet close to winning. But its a battle I’m devoted to winning and believe me, you can never be sure you will win. So, face that up front. You will probably never completely trust him again, unless you are a saint. I also have to admit that I still have not forgiven him for the emotional pain he, at times, appeared to enjoy inflicting upon me. But I will tell you this, things are semi back to normal, and promises have been made, although I am still unsure whether or not he will keep them.
Truth, I can never be sure. At least he is home every night. Believe me my eyes are wide open and not closed any more. As yet there is still no happy ending (sorry this is a true story, not a romantic novel).
I wish it were the other way around.

Kudos for Mike’s Pharmacy

Wake-up! Airport Authority

Improve hotel staff

Searching for lost film

My Story