Thailand, the land of smiles. A country where you have all. A paradise on earth.

Hello my dear friends,
This post is an introduction about me living in Thailand for most of the year.
I started visiting Thailand for the very first time in October 2010.

My old army buddy Ernst who sadly passed away in 2011 persuaded me during a reunion of my old platoon to visit Thailand.
He was twice married to a Thai lady and knew Thailand (Pattaya in particular) very well after visiting this beautiful country for over 30 years in a row.
I then decided to celebrate my 60th birthday in Pattaya Thailand in 2010.

An old High School friend of mine said: “what better way to celebrate your 60th birthday then with a Mai Tai (cocktail) in one hand and Thai lady on your other hand on a sandy beach.
He was right.

In about one month Ernst taught me all the ins and outs which avoided me to make the mistakes many first timers make.
When I returned the second time it felt just like coming home.
My first visit made me fall in love with this country and since then I return every year.
It is almost like my native country Surinam in the tropical part of South America.
I now have a condo on a 5 year lease and now that I am retired I stay here for over 7 months a year.

I try to avoid being in Holland (where I actually live) during the months with an “R” in the name.
I prefer the quietness of Jomtien over the crowded Pattaya.

From my desk I can see the sea which is only 800 meters away and it only takes a 15 minutes walk to get there and every evening I can enjoy a beautiful sunset.

On my motorbike Pattaya is only about 10 minutes away, so I am living in quiet Jomtien and enjoying wild Pattaya now and then.
Jomtien however has plenty of everything you will find in Pattaya, but on a much smaller scale.

The beaches of Jomtien are wider and more beautiful.

I like riding my motorbike and get off the main road (Sukhumvit road) into the countryside which many times gives me the feeling that I am back in Surinam.
I mostly end up in small villages where I enjoy the real Thai life, customs and food and friendly people.
Sometimes you just bump into a couple of elephants with their trainers taking a stroll outside the Elephant village

I like fruit and I always have a basket on my table with various fruits.
I have mangos, watermelons, pineapple, the very small sweet bananas, jackfruit, young coconuts etc all year round. When it is the season for the other fruits I make sure to eat plenty of them too.

Vegetable are fresh. Most of the time they are harvested in the morning and sold in the afternoon.

So everything you buy is fresh.
Life in Thailand is very cheap. For about one US dollar you can have a hot meal freshly prepared in small restaurants and the cold water is free.

Furthermore I feel safe in Thailand.
Name one country in the world where you can park your motorbike, using only the lock from the bike itself, hang your helmets and come back after one hour, on day or one week, and everything is still there untouched.

So far the intro of me in Thailand.

Follow me and I wil tell you much more.
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