My Life in Thailand Part 1

[highlight=transparent]I often get asked how I managed to end up in Thailand all those years ago as a 24 year old. I came to Thailand for the first time in between my second and third year at university for a 2 month break like many others at my age. I did the normal routes of kao san road in Bangkok, trekking through the jungle in Chiang Mai, full moon parties in Koh Phangan, pretty textbook stuff.[/highlight] [highlight=transparent]My adventure was not without problems, I ended up in hospital for about 10 days after an alcohol related accident, I got robbed……..twice and lots of other incidents which were not much fun but when I left Thailand I said to myself, “as soon as you finish university you are going back to Thailand”.[/highlight] [highlight=transparent]I finished university in the summer of 04 and was back in Thailand that November. This time I came as a golf professional believe it or not. I was a keen golfer off a handicap of plus 1 at the time, working at a local golf course in Bournemouth and enrolled in the PGA golf program, everything was going accordingly to my career plan but when the winter in the UK hit and the golf courses started to flood, I quickly became bored as there wasn’t much to do.[/highlight] [highlight=transparent]I thought about travelling to Spain for a couple of months to play some golf but a quick Google search put that idea firmly to rest. When I was in Thailand in 2004 I was also a very keen golfer but it didn’t even occur to me to check out any of the golf courses. To be perfectly honest I wasn’t there for golf and didn’t think Thailand would have any of real quality, boy was I wrong.[/highlight] [highlight=transparent]I searched on Google for golf in Thailand and quickly realised that going there for a couple of months to play golf was a much better option, it actually coincided with the Asian Tour Golf qualifiers so I decided to enter those while I was there. [/highlight] [highlight=transparent]I arrived in Bangkok's Don Muang airport and headed straight to what I knew, Kao San Road. I checked into an apartment and headed to a nearby internet cafe to plan my next stop. Another Google search revealed a place not too far away called Pattaya, I had never heard of it before as it wasn’t in my copy of the lonely planet. Pattaya had just over 20 golf courses so after a few days in Bangkok I headed there…………………..[/highlight]