The Reason for My First Visit to Thailand.

I was born in Ireland what seems like a long time ago now to an Irish Mother an English father and have a Welsh Grandfather on my father’s side. My father was in the Royal Navy at the time.

Shortly after I was born we went to live in Southampton England where I grew up and went to school though every year I would spend my six weeks summer holidays as well as occasionally Christmas and Easter as well in Ireland with my grandparents.

When I was at school we were encouraged to have pen pals in fact we were required to have at least one. This was before the Internet was even dreamt about. I had one French and one American pen pal.

After I left school I kept in touch with the American one, not a lot I suppose about 3 or 4 letters a year we always said one day we would meet up either he would come to England or I would go to America.

During The Vietnam War or The American War as the Vietnamese would say he was posted to Udon Thani Thailand with the USAF, so when he wrote to me and told me where he was and what it was like I decided to go to Thailand to meet him.

One of the reasons was because of the way he described Thailand to me another and I wanted to see for myself another was because after years of writing to him and becoming friends I wanted to meet him as soon as I could in case he didn’t survive the war.

That would have been either 1968 or 1969 and my first taste and start of my love affair Thailand.

I have been back most years ever since in fact I gave up my career and started to work for myself in order to take extended holidays in Thailand every year.

In those early years I only really saw Bangkok and Udon Thani where I now have a lot of friends as well as my daughter and two lovely grandchildren.

Both Udon Thani and Bangkok were very different in those days but nothing stands still and for the most part the changes have been positive.

Take Bangkok for example the new airport the skytrain and the underground railway systems are world class and have made getting around Bangkok so much easier and quicker in air conditioned comfort they are transport systems the Thai’s are justifiably proud of.