[JayBee]

Nice story, mbrinkma. Thanks for sharing.

Being neither a naysayer nor a skeptic, I suppose I'm a bit of a pundit, being known to express my opinions on occasion. But I'm willing to admit that my views are shaped by my small world of experience, my observations, and my limited capacity for ****ysis. And I'm eager to learn what I can from others.

I have friends who stick to the "Only in it for the money" credo, and I've met BGs myself who tend to make me believe it. The ones I caught in so many lies. The ones who clearly were after my money. The "Buy me a cell phone. Buy me a gold necklace. Buy me a motorbike" ones. The "I love you too much, dahlink" ones. But then I've met others. One girl named Tuk from Khon Kaen was maybe the sweetest person I've ever met in my life. Had a heart of gold, couldn't pass a beggar on the street without digging into her little purse to pull out 20 Baht. Good thing she didn't live in BKK. She didn't seem to ever question the things that happened to her . She was like a leaf in the wind of life. Whatever happened, she just accepted it. God knows she put up with a lot from me, but never gave me a bad time about it. I can't believe that she was only in it for the money. She never quoted a price. Never bargained. Never asked for money, although I gave her some every day. The last day I saw her when I gave her 1700 Baht, I thought she might cry, she was so surprised.

But when you read stories like what happened to Butterfly Blonde, you know that you have to be careful. And you understand why some guys swear by the Butterfly rules to never get too involved. Then you hear from Nicke, Geespot, Heywood, Geir, Skorpionen and others and you hear good stories about good people.

One time in Chiang Mai, feeling somewhat confused about it all, I said to my masseuse May, a woman I would trust with my life, "May, they say that Thai women only care about the money. What is the truth, what do you think?" She replied, "For myself, the money is not important. I am not afraid to work hard, and I will always be able to take care of myself. I only want love. But I am not like most Thai women. For most, the truth is that you cannot separate love and money. The two things are hopelessly bound together. Unless you were born into poverty, grew up with nothing, watching your parents stuggle all their lives to make a go of it, then you can never fully understand. That is why it is different for farangs, hard for them to understand."