Days in the Life of a Pattaya Hotel Owner

[This post was submitted recently, for those of you that can't wait to read about Kevin's fate in Pattaya through a long series of excellent updates. Personally, I apologize for the delay. I've imported my very own Thai problem and I have recently married her! -- Blog Janitor]

It seems as though many of the good and valued guests of Jasmine Mansion are keeping up to date with news of my life via this blog. Well, thank you for continuing to read all about my trials and tribulations. That said, I must tell you I am still here. Now, perhaps, given the state of disarray my marriage is in, I may not be here too much longer but, alternatively, you may have to endure me for years to come. That one is for the lawyers, or possibly the courts, to determine!

For the many of you who have written to me inquiring as to whether I have sold the lease and, if so, telling me that you may not return here, I am grateful for your support, although I feel I do not deserve it. I also think you are completely barking mad as I consider myself to be the furthest thing from a good hotelier or mien host! I do endeavour to be efficient though and try to keep the hotel clean and fresh even as the years pass. I also still reply to inquiries and bookings with almost Germanic efficiency, as those who write to me will testify!

In the event that the business is sold or I am booted onto the street, the latter being more likely given the vagaries of the Thai legal system, I assure you all that I will write about it and tell you who the new owners or operators are. Any business, to its owner, is like a child. You start it, you nurture it, you watch it grow and you are proud of it. It is impossible to sell a business, turn your back and simply walk away into the sunset with no cares for its future — it will always remain part of you. I sold my business in London to my partner many years ago, but it still hurt when I learned, earlier this year, that he had sold the company and the trading name would be no more. It was no longer mine, it was no longer anything to do with me and hadn’t been for a long time — but it still hurt.

Jin, Mrs. Boss to you lot, is probably not on my Christmas Card list at the moment and there are times when I could cheerfully jump up and down on her head. However, as all of you who have experienced the odd bit of marital strife will know, it takes two to make a marriage and two to break one. I am not blameless, far from it, but I have my reasons and my stories only reveal the small part that I am prepared to share. I will say, however, that Mrs. Boss is an incredible woman as those who have met her will quickly testify. From a poor background, born and raised in Issan, to being less than a scullery maid in her early teens and with no education past the age of 12, she has scaled the highest mountains. She has made up for her lack of education through teaching herself English, teaching herself to use computers, teaching herself about business and much, much more besides. She may not be perfect but then none of us can claim that particular accolade can we?

So at the moment we are going through the painful throws of separation and that is never good — it is, of course, made considerably more difficult by having children and it is their futures need to be given paramount consideration as the decisions that shape Mrs. Boss and my futures are being made.

I am now 55, my best years are now my history or so I am led to believe. However, I still want to achieve much more than I have to date. I no longer strive to make a mark on planet Earth, but I want to achieve a little more than I have to date. I have never really known what it is I want and often still feel like the young boy in school being asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I remain seated, silent and dumbfounded by the question with no semblance of an answer even close to hand — or more pertinently brain! Is that a good or a bad thing in one of my age I wonder?

I enjoy writing. It has given me a real buzz to have one book published, one ready for publication and another over half written. It has been an outlet for my frustrations, not so much of Thailand but more of life in general. I willingly and readily accept that I am not even fit to hold a candle to Shakespeare nor can I even be compared with the Grisham’s and Rowling’s of today. However, I write the way I feel, I endeavour to put into my writing the emotions I have as every incident occurs and give a little of myself through my honesty. From this you may be able to see how difficult it is to write about something as personal as a marriage breaking up and, added to the hardship, is such a thing happening in a foreign land, in a foreign tongue and with foreign laws — foreign to me that is!

My present writing regarding the marriage will, of course, form part of the story for my third and final book of the Riff-Raffles trilogy: Riff-Raffles — The End. I have, and still endeavour to, put a humorous spin on the events that seem to crash on me from a great height. I also reveal the brutally honest truth and will hopefully give some the chance to think about what I have said before acting in a similar fashion themselves. Whatever the response to my writings though, I still do not to see blue plaques adorning numerous London buildings saying Kevin Meacher lived here — although that would, of course, be nice!

All the best to everyone and I hope to see you at Jasmine Mansion soon.