CHANG -- Epilogue

[JaiGuruDev]

Below is the Epilogue of The CHANG Gang. If you would like to read the report with the pics, you can do so here. http://www.jaiguru.net/thailand/tr/chang_epilogue.html

 

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CHANG Gang -- Epilogue

 

The short time between returning from the trip and the Holidays passed in a snap.

 

Immediately after the Holidays, it was off to Hannover, Germany for a couple months. While there I was able to patch things up with Sip over email -- I hope.

 

Photos courtesy of MikeM33607

 

View from the balcony at the Penthouse Hotel in Pattaya

 

Since then, Sip's life has been pretty rough. First her brother got in a motorcycle accident, her sister was diagnosed with brain cancer, and then her brother committed suicide.

 

As the events unfolded, I wondered if she would hit me up for money. I mean some of it was pretty weird. Sip's English is pretty good but even so, "brain tumor" doesn't usually come up in daily conversation. Could she have translated that, or is that the latest scam on the bargirl grapevine? But even when she described the plans she made for her brother's funeral, she never asked for a baht.

 

When I got back home, there were a dozen messages from GoodGirl on my answering machine. It seems she took my "See you later" as a promise I would be back that night. GoodGirl finally caught me when I was home, and we've had some good conversations since then.

 

MikeM33607 kept in contact with Pim, and Pim shared any news with GoodGirl. Pim decided she wanted to be with Mike only, and quit working at Morning/Night. She worked for a while at Bamboo Bar, and then quit working in the bars all together to go back to school.

 

After Pim quit Morning/Night, GoodGirl began calling more often. I wanted to think that GoodGirl regretted the way things ended, but the pessimistic voice in my head told me GoodGirl just realized she had missed the gravy train.

 

Enjoying the breeze at Starbuck's in Pattaya

 

I sent an email to Nit, and was pretty happy when she emailed back. We discussed many things about her rubber tree farm, and I did a fair bit of research on rubber trees in the little free time I had.

 

Making merit at Angkor Wat

 

After Nit bought her first parcel of land (eight rai), she came out and asked me to buy the rest of the land for her. The price of land is pretty inexpensive up-country, and the idea of becoming a plantation owner was pretty attractive. I could see myself sitting on the veranda, sipping my iced tea as I watched the foreman keep the laborers busy.

 

But after spending a little time looking into the Treaty of Amnity and what businesses a farang could get involved in, it just didn't look like I could make it work. Or make it work with any security so I wouldn't get kicked off land that I paid for.

 

Maybe if I could have rented the land I would have done it. Nothing's invested but first and last month's rent, and I can always leave if I hear the siren's song.

 

I told Nit about my fear of buying land, and she said that she also had a fear that her man would leave her. That is why she would never get rid of her farang husband. She said because she worked in a bar, no Thai man would want her.

 

 

Night on the town in Siem Reap

 

Nit's emails sounded very sincere, but I couldn't help thinking that a Thai guy would be willing to overlook her BG past if she had a prosperous rubber tree farm.

 

 

Soi Cowboy

 

Antman kept in contact with his last love, and even has her picture as his mobile's wallpaper. Not a lot of guys where we come from have pictures of Thai hookers on their cellphones.

 

 

Antman and Wifey on the way to the temple

 

By the end of February, Antman and I had tickets for our next two trips to the kingdom.

 

So stay tuned!

 

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Thank you to the forum members for their kind words and encouragement.

 

And a special thank you to Antman, MikeM33607, TiggerBKK, Hammers, Gooner, PommieBruv, LOSvirgin, CodeMonkey, Shotover, and others who shared some really great times. It wouldn't have been the same trip without each and every one of them.

 

I'm looking forward to doing it all again!