At last, here it is: ‘Noi’s Destiny’

(The sequel to ‘Noi’s Story - From East to West )‘Life is made up of 50% luck and 50% of what you make of it’

It has almost been a year since I last wrote and published my recollection of the events that happened to me in the first chapter in my life (Noi’s Story – From East to West) that eventually led to me to leaving my home and family in Thailand and travelling the 6,000 miles all alone, to take up my new life in Scotland with my new husband Brendan.

Since I last wrote, less than a year ago, who would have thought that the world would have been turned upside down with the arrival of the global Coronavirus pandemic, that to date has affected over 37 million people and has tragically claimed over 1 million lives.

With that in mind, I feel that perhaps the time is right to carry on with recalling the second chapter in my life that from when I arrived here and was left reeling from the huge cultural differences, not to mention the differences in the weather between Thailand and Scotland.

Many of the events that have happened to me since arriving in this beautiful country have been both amusing and sad. During my time here I have experienced many happy and wonderful times here but also some sad moments that at times left me feeling rather alone and isolated.

Hopefully my recollections in 'Noi’s Destiny’ will, for a few moments take your mind off the events and restrictions that are affecting our lives daily at this time and may even at times bring a smile to our faces.

Before launching into this new chapter of my life in a ‘strange' country, in Part 1 perhaps I should briefly summarise some of the events that happened to me in the first chapter in my life that were related to in more detain in parts 1-16 of ‘Noi's Story- From East to West’. All of these parts are still available to read on my Blog that is on my website at www.thaimassageroom.com.

As I said earlier, my life began many, many years ago (not too many though! J) when I was born and raised in northern Thailand near to the Cambodian Border. We were a relatively poor family and I was one of 6 children. My early life included a near drowning event and to experiencing at first hand the dangers around us during the war that was taking place in neighbouring Cambodia.

My early life was happy and although somewhat rural, basic and rustic we had great fun working with our own Buffalo that lived underneath our house -I still remember the terrible smell! :(. We enjoyed seeing the elephants and many other wonderful things.

Our house had no running water or electricity and we used oil lamps for light. Due to the Buffalo living underneath our house the mosquitoes were terrible and when it rained we soon found out where the holes were in our roof. There was no TV and our toilet was outside

Despite this and being poor we were happy but however that was all to change dramatically following the sad and premature death of my father. In order to help my mother cope with raising a young family, I was sent away from my family and home to live with other families and to attend school.

Life with other families was strange and difficult and as I will still very young and inexperienced I often felt alone and lonely. In order to contribute towards my keep I had many chores to do both before and after school. I must admit though that it was not all one way as at times I was often strong-minded and rather rebellious, in fact I am still a bit like that today! 😊

There were many sad and difficult times but also some really happy and adventurous times such as when I was 13 or 14 years old and I went on a school trip to see the sea for the very first time.

When I eventually left school I met a man called Rung and he was a soldier in the Thai Army. After a fairly short time, we married and initially set up house together in army accommodation however our marriage was at times difficult and it only lasted a couple of years.

However, one good thing came of the marriage when I started to develop my own entrepreneurial business skills. Although I had to work very long hours (not too dissimilar to what I do now !), it turned out to be fairly worthwhile adventure and successful.

After we broke up, I eventually returned home to help my mother before returning to the hustle and bustle of the city life in Bangkok where my life was to take yet another direction. I looked for work and applied for a job in a Karaoke Bar but soon found out that it was not the bar work that I expected when I was lined up with other girls and the men came in to take their pick. Fortunately, being a simple country girl and not suitably dressed, I was not chosen and I couldn’t get out of the pace quick enough and never to return!

I then decided to look for safer work and eventually took a job in an Internet café as a waitress and this was my first introduction to computers and the Worldwide Web. After some time I met an Englishman call Ian who was computer engineer and eventually we started a relationship, starting up a business together selling computer parts.

We eventually decided to set up a high quality dating website that would introduce Thai ladies to men from all over the world, which was a direction that would again change my life dramatically after our relationship ended.

In late 2003, I dabbled myself on the Dating Website scene and I was contacted by a Scotsman called Brendan McIntyre. This was to lead to another major event in my life when we married and I eventually moved to Scotland.

During the period that I had to wait in order to get the correct Visa to travel and that was not easy L, I decided to train in the art of Thai Massage at the famous What Po Massage School in Bangkok.

In Thailand, traditional massage has been a part of our culture for many hundreds of years and as a child I was expected to massage my father and brothers after they had finished a hard days work. Although I had always had an interest and a wish to pursue this as a career, this was my first opportunity to formally train and this was to change my life completely.

Eventually the day came and with my Visa in hand, I embarked on the long flight, all alone and to a strange and at times wet and cold country. Initially, it was difficult having moved to a completely different culture where everything was new to me. With Brendan regularly working away from home for weeks at a time, I often felt lonely and completely isolated.

That said, that was 15 years ago and so next month I will publish the first part of ‘Noi’s Destiny’ and I sincerely hope that you will join me.

I hope that this very brief summary of ‘Noi’s Story- East toWest’ has given you a flavour of my life but please take the time to look at my Blog on www.thaimassagerom.com where you can read it in more detail.

Looking forward to seeing you next month 😊 !