Letters to Bangkok is a story of love born on the internet between a practising Thai surgeon and an English University marketing manager. The initial Skype conversations and subsequent letters are true and exact records of written exchanges between two people trying to find love. Below is an extract pages 17, 18 and 19 of the actual book.The Skype ConnectionSeptemberNovember 2008Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, thefamous throwaway saying in Casablanca brings me immediatelyto thinking with amazement how I first metsweet Pen.
Reflecting on this momentous meeting, well momentousin terms of its life-changing impact on my small world, I often posemyself one question: How is it possible that two people, effectivelytotal strangers, with widely different backgrounds and experiences canbegin a conversation through a chance meeting at a moment in a timeand place on a social chat forum called Skype and through that conversationset off additional exchanges leading eventually to two heartsbeating as one? (See explanation of the term Skype below.) It must besaid at the outset that both Pen and I came to the site with reservationsand varying degrees of scepticism born from previous failed anddisappointing encounters on Skype, where people come and go withregular monotony, like ships in the night or ghosts briefly hauntingthe ether space but soon to disappear without a trace. It is the nature of the beast called social Internet chatting that youmay find someone interesting and then they disappear, never to be seenor heard of again, with no by your leave, refusing to reply to furthercommunications, leaving you saying, Um, it was definitely somethingI said!!!!
I had an early impression from what Pen said that she was moreexperienced on Skype in comparison to me, a relative newcomer.
Butwhy did Pen and I come to seek out one another in the first place?
I wassearching initially for company and solace, as I was suffering in a loveless,rather cruel relationship.
Despite my experiences, I have always been anoptimist, eternally inquisitive and open minded, a peoples person.
Settingaside early negative encounters on social sites, I have been blessed with astrong belief in the goodness of human nature and a belief in destiny. Whether I believed that destiny could be found in such a chanceand brief encounter is a moot point.
I had just come through a longand difficult marriage which had ended de facto, and although I hadnot made the break physically from my ex-partner, I had signalled myintention to leave, and in mind and spirit, I had disassociated myselffrom intimacy or any future plans with this failed relationship.
Soyes, in one sense, although not consciously acknowledged by myself,I was searching for a human being to fill the emotional chasm left byyears of mild mental abuse born of being married to an aggressive andsometimes violent alcoholic.
I was seeking someone who might besensitive, caring, supportive, loving, someone who could be my friendand confidant, someone I could trust with my heart, a lover that wouldbe my love for always, not just temporarily, someone that would bemy encourager and someone that would share my dreams and let meshare hers, and most importantly, someone that would not betray myemotional trusta big shopping order, you might say!And in that respect, I had already decided to cast my net wider,beyond the shores of England, and sought an international partner tobe my friend.
I was already familiar with some of the attractive qualitiesthat an Asian woman might bring to a relationship: loyalty, selflessness,spirituality, a caring, loving, and generous nature, and rarely abusiveof alcohol.
I was also physically attracted to the Asian look with theirdark eyes, sultry looks, and long dark hair.
For Pen, Skype perhapsoffered, amongst other things, an opportunity to d
