The start of my life in Thailand

The start of my life in Thailand.

On November 1, 1999, I was invited by a German group in Thailand to go work with them on a project for a multi-national Petro-Chemical industry in Rayong. I was working in Belgium for an Incinerator company and looking for new experiences. I was living alone in Belgium and spending most of my life in other countries, building and starting up the new installations. I accepted the invitation and started to work as a Project Manager in Thailand.

My dream was never to stay in Thailand, but rather to work 5 or 10 years more, buy a Finca in Spain and spend my old days in my home country.

During my work in Thailand, I meet a woman who liked me and was ready to start a relation with me.

I told her that my plan was to return to Spain and she was OK with that. We talked about how we saw our future together and everything seemed to be fine. In one of our chats, she said that she was "CUT (Sterilized)" and could have not children anymore. I did not want to have any children at my age and that was an advantage for our relation.

In 2001, she was feeling unwell and we went to the hospital for a check. The verdict was that she was PREGNANT. The "Immaculate Conception". This was not as I had planned and would change my future plans.

After almost 2 years working for the German Company, the work was finished.
A few of my co-workers were living in Nakhon Ratchasima and were planning to start a new company in Nakhon Ratchasima.
The Thai Government was planning to require the Temples to upgrade their Cremators to the new environmental standards and as I had experience with the design and production of high standard incinerators they asked me to join them in their new venture. I agreed and we went to live in Nakhon Ratchasima.

On May 12, 2002, the child was born. A girl.
As a result of that, I decided to marry with my girlfriend for the sake of the child.

The new company had not the expected success, mostly due to the high level of corruption in Thailand, and was  closed after 2 years. I was already retired and decided to spend the coming years with my new family in Thailand. Life was good and the relation between my wife and my daughter was very good.

But in 2007, life started to turn from "Heaven" to "Hell". Mostly due to the never ending involvement of her mother and her family. My wife developed also a penchant for gambling which become worse and worse. She started to meet a circle of gamblers and spend her days in temples or visiting a Layman to hear the prediction of the winning lottery numbers.

Her mother was constantly blaming her that although her daughter was married to a "FARANG (foreigner)" she had not the same luxury as other families in the village in Chaiyaphum. Most families who had a daughter married to a "FARANG (foreigner)" had a beautiful house in bricks with concrete and had a beautiful car. The families whose daughter had not married a "FARANG (foreigner)" lived in wooden "shags" and had no means of transport of their own.

Life with my wife was becoming impossible and I decided in 2010 to divorce her and stay with our daughter. I knew 100% sure that if our daughter stayed with the mother, her life would be to take care of the "JAY (the grandmother)" and my ex-wife would go "work" in the city to provide money for the family.

In 2018, my daughter left Thailand to study in Belgium and I was left alone.
After 5 years living alone in Thailand, I decided that it was better to return to Spain and live there.