Pattaya is a coastal city near Bangkok, best known for its nightlife and as a hugely popular destination for tourists and foreign retirees. It has a reputation as a place where genuine love stories and much murkier situations coexist, and the stories collected here reflect exactly that double face. There are sailors and passing travelers who met someone special in a bar in the city, alongside accounts of people who had to learn, sometimes the hard way, to tell genuine interest apart from someone only after money or a visa.
A 35-year-old Brit, freshly out of a devastating breakup, recounts his first trip to Thailand with two mates both called Paul, a Jenga record, a near-fatal chili challenge, and a relationship with a girl called A that ended in the worst possible way.
A 55-year-old Australian recounts how, after walking out of a relationship in Hua Hin in a bad mood, he wandered into the most boring looking bar in town and met the woman he'd marry in Perth years later, after a visa rejection for the strangest reason.
A German from Frankfurt recounts how, on his fourth trip to Pattaya, he spent 27 days with Siri, a 28-year-old bar worker, until he saw her holding hands with another man and she gestured for him not to speak. A final goodbye message changed little.
A 35-year-old Belgian sent to Pattaya for work met Nong, a woman working in a bar to support her sister. After a year of visits and video calls, they sorted out a visa and she moved to Belgium. Six months later, despite the family's doubts, the relationship is still working out.
A 46-year-old Dane met Bun, a 26-year-old Thai translator, and they talked daily for seven months before meeting in person. They spent a month together between Bangkok and Pattaya with no red flags at all. Weeks after he got home, she vanished, and pre-wedding photos on Facebook were the last clue.
After seeing plenty of bar scams in Thailand, a Swedish man was introduced online to a woman from Isaan looking for something serious. Months of daily calls and a visit to her family later, the relationship never quite came together. It wasn't the love story he hoped for, and it wasn't a scam either.
A 43-year-old Welshman went back to Thailand looking for a quiet holiday around Bangkok and Pattaya. He ended up meeting, almost by accident, a 47-year-old Thai woman with kids in Scotland. Now he's planning to drive up to Edinburgh to see her and maybe move there with her.
On New Year's Eve 2023, a 44-year-old Dutchman spent the whole day with a bar girl in Pattaya, covering food, pool and beers at a Soi 7 beer bar. Half an hour before midnight, her supposed Canadian boyfriend turned up. Months later he found out the same setup kept repeating with other foreigners.
A divorce sent me to Pattaya on holiday with my brother. There I met Nat, a single mother who'd lost her partner before her daughter was born. I fell in love, started doing bike deliveries at night to support her, and months later proposed at Bangkok airport. We've been married four years now in London.
At 52 I flew to Thailand to meet Chompoo, my Messenger girlfriend, in person, more suspicious than excited. Between money requests, a gold bracelet, and an itemised bill for picking me up at the airport, I nearly booked a flight back to Auckland. One simple test, asking for my money back, changed everything I thought about her.