Have you ever had a massage that left you with a feeling like you just went to heaven for a while? If not, you did not get enough massages, or you never found the right therapist. What is it that makes a touch magical, what is the secret? Can one develop such a great touch?

Energy transforms, and if you think that this sounds esoteric, it is not. Did you ever see someone who is deeply in love? Did you notice that the person seems to glow, to radiate happy energy? Or did you ever meet someone who is deeply depressed and you felt like a dark cloud enveloped you suddenly? Read the rest of this entry

Why are Thai men not interested in relationships with foreign women? And why don’t western women care about Thai men? After all Thailand is known for cross-cultural relationships and men come here by the tens of thousands to find female Thai partners. Why is this a one way street? Why do you rarely see Thai men with western women?

Who follows whom?

Thais are shy people compared to most westerners. Culturally it is not acceptable to show strong emotion, get angry, yell at people, confront someone head-on, or have an intense argument. On top of that in many Asian cultures the woman traditionally follows the man much more compared to the total equality concept that is prevalent in the west. And here we have a major sticking point. Read the rest of this entry

In Thailand it is not always easy to distinguish between prostitution and legitimate relationships. Let’s say a foreign man hires a woman to be his girlfriend for a certain amount of time – quite a common scenario in Thailand – and pays her a fixed salary. That must be prostitution, you would think.

But what if that same man gets involved in a relationship with a Thai woman, lives with her indefinitely, but still pays her a certain amount of money every month, which she expects from him, and she would not stay with him once he stops paying. Now is it still prostitution? There is no clear and easy answer, since I have just described a high percentage of western man/Thai woman relationships. Read the rest of this entry

When you live in Thailand for extended periods of time, most visa types require you to leave the country on a regular basis in order to get a new stamp in your passport. The closest border to Chiang Mai, where I live, is the Burmese border in the very north of Thailand. I have to cross this border every three months to stay current. It is an easy day trip by luxury bus or a multi-day fun excursion on a motorcycle, which is the option I chose this time. Read the rest of this entry

Chiang Mai, Thailand, Flower Festival, Parade Float

Chiang Mai, Thailand, is the undisputed festival capital of Thailand. Between November and April Chiang Mai puts on several huge festivals that draw crowds of tens of thousands, visitors from all over Thailand and from all over the world. A major festival is not just a one day event. Normally they last three days and in one case, Sonkran, even seven days.  During those times Chiang Mai turns into a giant party, a traffic nightmare, and a major holiday destination for Thais. Train tickets in and out of the city are sold out weeks in advance, and it seems that half of the population of Bangkok converges upon Chiang Mai. Read the rest of this entry

Please, anything but your real name!

Would you mind being called a “pig” or a “buffalo”? I didn’t think so. But lots of people in Thailand are called just that and some other names that seem very strange to us. Thais have first and last names like we do, but they are often four or five syllables long and, at least for us, impossible to pronounce, what to speak of remember.

It was not always like that. A few generations ago Thai names were much shorter and simpler. Recently it has become fashionable to take on those monstrosities of names. The Thais actually had to come up with a law that limits the amount of syllables that a name can have. Otherwise those enthusiastic name creators would have made any official business a syllable nightmare. It is quite easy to change your name in Thailand. Don’t like it, no problem, pick another one. It is a relatively simple procedure.

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I live in Thailand, the Land of Smiles, as it is often called. The Thais pride themselves of their easy, natural and beautiful smiles. Many times I have gone out and felt touched by the wonderful smile of someone whom I had never seen and will probably never see again. It might have been a passerby on the street, a market vendor, or someone who stopped at a red light on their motorbike and flashed me one of those great Thai smiles.

What I love about the smiles in Thailand is that total strangers, including those of the opposite sex, will smile at you without ever feeling that this might be inappropriate or seductive or overly friendly. Thais are normally quite shy people, but this is one area where there is no shyness and no hesitation at all. They give away the greatest smiles to anyone at any time and there does not have to be a reason or justification for it. This is the Land of Smiles, after all. Read the rest of this entry