I've just returned from a wonderful two weeks in Thailand. I was in the country for 36 hours about 5 years ago, and always wanted to go back to explore in some more depth.
Chinese New Year started midweek this year, so my company opted to close the office for two weeks, as little to nothing would have gotten done in the two days of business on either end of the national holiday. As most of you probably know, the Spring Festival is the only time of the year that many workers have off to go home and see their families.
Two days ago I woke up much too early for a holiday, crawled out of bed and grabbed a quick shower before waking my girlfriend so we could go down to the lobby of our hotel. We were spending the last part of the holiday relaxing at the beach, but wanted to do a little sightseeing as well. So we booked a one day tour of Phang Nga Bay, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful places in Thailand and in Asia.
An hour bumping along in a mini bus and we were at the pier. A German-accented man named Sonny introduced himself as our group's guide. After a short wait while administrative issues were processed, we boarded and were off.
I am a terrible swimmer but I love the water. We had to keep the throttle low as we exited the marina, but once we pushed out past the tidal zone the speedboat captain had us bouncing through whitecaps. The tour group was from all over: a Norwegian couple on what looked to be their honeymoon, a French family en masse, Italians, Germans and one other Chinese apart from my girlfriend Gaby.
Let’s just get this over with: Phang Nga Bay IS gorgeous. Limestone islands pop out of the sea with rocky cliffs topped by deep green vegetation. The mist adds to the dramatic effect of the islands when viewed form a distance, as they seem to mimic each other back to back, side to side. Being a photographer, it was a wonderful day.
What was really interesting though was Sonny. As the morning wore on, he made his rounds of the passengers and we got to speaking for a while. It turned out he wasn’t German at all; he was born in New York City, just like me. I was very impressed that an American could speak so many languages so well – he spoke with every passenger fluently in his or her own language, save for the Chinese lady.
Sonny explained to me that he actually spoke seven languages fluently: English, German, Spanish, French, Arabic, Japanese, and Thai. As I boarded earlier I had noticed him wearing a Navy Seals T shirt and thought it a bit cheesy, given that I know a lot of former Seals and other Special Forces. He explained though, that he actually was in the Seals for a long time. He’d grown up the son of a German mother and American father (I surmised that his dad had also been in the services). After high school he went into the US Navy. He was posted in Europe, the Middle East and Japan before getting out of the military more than ten years back.
Sonny was obviously a smart guy. He asked me a lot of questions about China and life there. I mentioned my plan to head back to the States in the medium term and likely go back abroad again after spending a good chunk of time back home. He asked me where and I said probably Europe again, but I wasn’t really sure. So he said, well what about Thailand?
You see, Sonny had come to Thailand ten years ago to visit a friend working and living there. It was supposed to be a short visit, but he liked it so much that he stayed. And although I was only in the country a short time, I kind of see his point. Thailand is not the fast lane. Bangkok is not a global business hub. The Thai economy is really still recovering from the 1997 financial crisis, according to many locals with whom I spoke. Moreover, Thailand does not have a strong presence in global organizations and its military, while well trained, is small.
What drew Sonny in was the quality of life. Let me rephrase that: the Quality of Life. He lives in a place where there are beautiful beaches all around, good food, great nightlife, extremely friendly people, and a very welcoming society due to its Buddhist values. He rents a 160 square meter (that’s over 1700 square feet) place five minutes from the beach, with a garden much larger than his house, for about $200 per month. He admitted it took him a while to settle in, but now he has a local group of friends and he is enjoying life immensely. Work is still work, and he said that going out on the tour boats was a drag after a while, but overall at 47 years of age he is enjoying life fully.
It really does make you think. Here is a guy who could walk into good jobs in most major cities in the world due to his track record and abilities, yet he chooses to focus on the day-to-day quality of life. It reinforces one’s hope, let me tell you.
Well, I still think I will be more likely to go back to Europe or come back here to China after returning to the US for a while, but I will definitely be going back to Thailand for more R&R in the near future. Maybe I’ll bump into Sonny having a beer at the local bar on the beach.
