Kanghan YUAN - One Who Moved Out to Get Rich

She says assertively, interrupted by bouts of a deep cough. I am impatient with persistent coughing; We have to do something about it before it leads to chronic bronchitis and maybe to pneumonia.

Hong also has a problem with flies and mosquitoes. She has forgotten the mosquito spray. She is now killing the insects using bare hand; it is unhygienic.

I am sipping a glass of wine, thinking of the shopping list for essential things. Regularly, I don't drink too much wine because I know that it contains sulphates that could lead to cancer in the end.

I have always complained about Hong's persistent coughing, but she does not seem to care about her health the way she consumes wines.

I order a glass of grape juice. By the way, many Chinese investors are buying more wineries all over the world, which will eventually make the wine price drop. It could also perhaps lead to many drinkers and unhealthy people as well. Talk about harmful feeding; I am still feeling uncomfortable because of the heartburn.

I am suspecting that it is due to much sugar and artificial enhancers in my body. I have been warned not to overeat of such stuff in Thailand because it could easily lead to cancerous diseases.

I now know why Hong told me one day that in China, many foreigners prefer buying fresh fruits and vegetables directly from the market and prepare the food themselves at home. I too believe it is healthier since you can choose what to cook and what you don't want to. I have always found that self-prepared meals are better and more robust than food prepared outside your home.

Once again, Hong believes that we are a matching couple, but in my view, I think it is the opposite of that. For example, this is what she once said to me.

"Franz, I am fast you are so slow, I am smart, you are stupid, I am rich you are poor, I am pretty, you are ugly, I am tough, you are soft, I am generous, you are stingy. I am strong you are weak; do you think we match?".

She asked. To avoid confrontation and trouble, I replied: "Yes, indeed I am sure that what makes us a good team".

We are in preparation to move to another hotel in South Pattaya.

It is closer to the city centre with better facilities. Yesterday was a day to relax because Hong was still not feeling well, despite taking cough juice. I did some exercise in the Tai Chi course and enjoyed the swimming pool too. In the morning, we will take a free hotel taxi to the city centre. We will get off a few metres away from the hotel to pass by the hospital with our rolling suitcases. I want to get proper treatment for Hong's cough.

Out of curiosity, Hong asks me whether it wouldn't be sensible to take a taxi to the hotel first, drop off our luggage, and then come to the hospital. Yes, I know it could make sense, and I do not doubt it, but since the hotel is in the south, it will take us much time reaching there while her cough is becoming too persistent. We have to use this opportunity; it is still in the morning. Afterall hotel checkin is not before after lunchtime.

We can take a taxi to the hospital, but it will cost us money, yet it is just a walking distance. In my judgement, we have done the right thing, with cheaper means without any cost in spending money.

Hong gets the prescription of which instructions she has to follow strictly. We have been told by the doctor, not to worry.

"If she follows the instructions carefully, there is no need for her to go back to the hospital for further examinations" — the doctor notes. Hong then pulls out her credit card and pays for the prescription.

After the hospital visit, we order a taxi to the five-star hotel where we are going to stay. We reach the hotel and go straight to the reception. I answer the greetings from the beautiful Thai lady behind the reception. Hong instantaneously throws a jealous eye on to me as if to accuse me of smiling back at the black-haired Thai lady in a red dress. When she smiles at me, I have to return her smile. I am surprised to learn that I am not allowed to smile back when women smile at me.

Hong is such a jealousy woman. Everywhere we go, she will find an excuse to show how protective she is to me. I calmly explain to her that it is common in the tourism business, for hosts in places like hotels to smile at guests, and vice-versa. I do not want to spoil our holiday mood. The silent row between Hong and me is not over yet.

During the meal, she comes up with yet another complaint.

"You don't love me enough; if you did, you would have remembered to bring the mosquito spray. I am nothing after all". She laments, shrugging her shoulders.

After the meal that evening, we go for a walk, alongside the beach. In the morning, before leaving for an appointment with the property developer, I have a quick swim in the hotel pool. Here comes the developer, a 50-year old, well-dressed Norwegian man.

He has lived here for over ten years. He knows the place like the back of his palm. Straight away, I tell him that I have not gone to him to hear any excuses or explanations. All I want is my money back. He, however, says that it is not possible to refund the money under the Thai law. But Hong has of a different view. She starts behaving erratically towards the developer, threatens to hit him with a water bottle, saying that such a statement was an insult to us. I try to calm her down. I warn her that violence would not solve any problem.

The reason for what she calls being offended is because she wants to record the conversation with the developer, using her mobile phone, which the latter refuses. She then sneaks and takes pictures of the Environmental Impact Agreement (EIA) when the developer and I are busy looking at the location of the property via Google Earth. The situation goes worse when she is told to delete the pictures. She insists that she is not about to do that. The developer recommends that I sell the property after construction.

While still talking with him, I discover that there is a lawyer's office, next to his showroom on the right-hand side.

Hong is not familiar with Thai real estate issues, despite being a lawyer herself. I want to obtain legal advice about my business.

"If you dare go there, I am going to divorce you".

She bursts out furiously; she insists that I am not going to get proper legal advice because, in her judgment, the lawyer and the developer are the same people. I am still thinking about her reaction.

It has started raining. We use the umbrella I carried with me since I had checked the weather of the day. Hong escorts me to the lawyer's office. Good enough, the young British lawyer does not charge any consultation fee, so I have to explain everything without any worries of being charged hourly.

The lawyer establishes that he would first need to examine whether the contract between the developer and I is legally binding and that all legal correspondence will have to go through him.

Before we go out of the office, Hong picks a leaflet off the shelf from which we notice that the lawyer also deals in real estate, selling apartments and condominiums.

After reading the brochures, Hong suggests that we open a youth hostel in Pattaya, so that we can save accommodation fees, whenever we go there. She says that we will also save money charged by middlemen. It means that we will be on-site for some time, to organize and prepare everything ourselves. We are now going to the city centre to buy tickets for the Travesty show at Tiffany's, and to buy cheap shirts and jeans. I think we have taken the right move. Since her cold is under control, it is wise to wear some of the dresses are going to buy. Usually, theatres and cinema halls get cold because of the air-conditioning system.

During the show, Hong becomes curious, because one of the episodes is about measuring men's penises. I wonder why she is so much interested in this. Does she want to know whether it means erected penises? I cannot not understand a thing. By the time we leave the theatre, it is night. We drive around the illuminated city using a baht, an American converted pickup bus, approved to carry passengers. The name Baht-bus dates back to the time when the fares per person were only one baht, the Thai monetary currency.