IT WAS A VERY brief initial encounter… but it led to consequences which had a lasting impact on the rest of my life. Consequences which turned out to be of seismic proportions!.
Looking back, even though this encounter caused great turmoil in my life, the likes of which I'd never experienced in all my 40+ years, I’m a great believer in destiny and guess it was what was meant to be…, although I almost certainly didn’t think so at the time..
The background to my encounter in Bangkok is important.
So, before I go further, let me try and paint some of the background of the circumstances which led up to this encounter….
In the years following a major economic downturn in, particularly, south-east Asia, I was travelling regularly to The Philippines and Thailand and other countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia on business. I was working with clients looking to restructure their real estate assets or move forward with delayed or temporarily suspended projects which had been put on hold due to the economic downturn..
Some months, I’d be away every week for days at a time, sometimes returning to Hong Kong (my base) on a Friday night, only to leave again early the next week. However, one of the key compensations of such extensive travel was that the rates of luxury 5-star hotels had plummeted along with the rest of the economy..
In fact, it was possible to stay in some of the very best hotels in Manila or Bangkok or Hanoi for well under USD 100 per night, a rate most clients were happy to pay, despite the gloomy economic outlook. I must say, it was really rather pleasurable to live in style for a while!
Occasionally when I was in, say, Manila on the Friday and had to go back again on the Monday, I’d stay over for the weekend. I’d explore the city, visiting some cultural sites such as Fort Santiago, and more often than not looking at other historic buildings of interest.
Genuine trips or simply ways to have weekends enjoying ‘Asian delights’?
I can hear you now saying: that sounds like a great excuse to enjoy the infamous, or even notorious, delights of the nightspots in Manila or Bangkok, two of Asia’s best-known capitals of ‘entertainment’. Well, it wasn’t an excuse, just a practical solution although, to be honest, I had been taken (note, I am saying ‘taken’, not had been) to some very dodgy places in Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and even Hanoi.
I was usually taken there by clients, but sometimes by work colleagues living in those cities, and who thought it was de rigueur to show off the delights of their host city. Despite the temptations, I was very much a ‘look but don’t touch’ type of person who could admire the beauty, charm and grace of the females in such places but didn’t want to participate or get involved.
One time, when I accompanied a small group of American investors to Macau the host client insisted on going into the biggest night club I have ever seen with girls, girls and girls everywhere. I didn’t partake in the extracurricular activities even though almost all of the others did! I felt it not judicious to let the client have any hold over me, as it were.
After all, I still had a live-in girlfriend at home. Yes, true, the days of first love had gone as we’d been together over five years, but we still enjoyed a good relationship. Having said this, what I clearly hadn’t realised was just how much strain my almost constant travelling was putting on our relationship. I guess I was simply too wrapped up in my job and career, both of which I also loved.
Naturally, I suppose, my partner had her moans and groans about the time I was away but she had the opportunity to pursue a more active career or interests of her own, something which she never really did. But still….
