Flipje Tiel is back in Pattaya

You must be a loyal reader from the very beginning to remember a story I made in 2012 about a resident of Tiel, whom I called Flipje Tiel for the sake of convenience. He was already a loyal visitor to Pattaya and the Megabreak Pool Hall. If he wasn't in the pool hall, he was somewhere in a bar enjoying booze and pretty girls.

You can read that story again at: www.thailandblog.nl/thailand/flipje-tiel-hoteldebotel

The direct reason for that posting from then, that Flipje made a turn in his Pattaya life, because he fell in love with a Thai beauty. Going out became less as well as his visits to the pool hall, the couple in love was mainly concerned with each other.

become a father

That infatuation has grown considerably over the years, especially when a girl was born from that relationship. For Flipje it was his first and probably last paternity. He comes to Pattaya at least two, but often three times in all those years to lead a more or less normal family life with his girlfriend (because he is not married) and daughter. He still comes to Megabreak to participate in the tournaments, so I am regularly informed about the growing up of his daughter.

Travel restriction

Well, and Flipje was also affected by the travel restrictions of Thailand. After a visit at the beginning of this year it was over, he could not travel to Thailand anymore. He had to wait for better times, like many other Thailand enthusiasts, who were elsewhere in the world when the country was locked.

That travel restriction was then somewhat relaxed at a certain point, so that certain groups of people still had the opportunity to travel to Thailand. One of those groups consisted of foreigners who could prove that they had a long-term and married relationship with a Thai partner or legally owned a parent of a Thai child or children.

Thai Embassy in The Hague

At the beginning of August I told him about the latter possibility, but Flipje had already seen it and contacted the Thai embassy in The Hague. The ball started rolling, Flipje took care of the necessary documents, booked a flight with Emirates via Dubai to Bangkok and also arranged a hotel in Bangkok for the mandatory quarantine. About three weeks ago he sent me a message that he had arrived in Bangkok.

The procedure

Yesterday Flipje was in Megabreak again to participate in a pool tournament and I asked him if the whole procedure wasn't too complicated. Flipje replied that Thailand simply determines the rules, which were clear to him. If you stick to that, it's complicated and laborious, but it's doable.

Of course there was always some stress whether the next document would be in order, but Flipje took all the obstacles with ease. After the stress in the Netherlands came the dullness and boredom of the quarantine in Bangkok.

Finally

So Flipje Tiel is back in Pattaya, which he estimates (including medical documents, flight, quarantine hotel) has cost him about 2500 Euro. He thought it was well worth it, because he now enjoys seeing his girlfriend and daughter again for a month. Last night he was eliminated fairly quickly in the pool billiards tournament, but he didn't really mind, because the next morning he had to get up early again “by order” from his daughter to take her to school.

So a happy family and I was happy too, because Flipje had brought me my favorite Dutch cigars, just like on all previous visits.

About this blogger

Gringo

Bert Gringhuis (1945), born and raised in Almelo in the beautiful Twente. Later lived for many years in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, working in export for various companies. I first came to Thailand in 1980 and immediately fell in love with the country. Been back many times since then and moved to Thailand after my (early) retirement as a widower. I have been living there for 22 years now with my somewhat younger Thai lady Poopae.
My first experiences in Thailand as a kind of newsletter sent to family, friends and acquaintances, which later appeared under the name Gringo on Thailandblog. Many, many articles followed those first stories and that has grown into an almost daily hobby.
In the Netherlands still an avid footballer and football referee, but the years are starting to tell and in Thailand still avid, but the pool billiards is really of inferior quality, ha ha!

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