I was teaching near Pattaya, and I had to get away.

Too many lost weekends. Get off work at 4:30 on Friday, drive home, shower, pack some stuff for overnight, catch the baht bus up Sukhumvit, transfer to the Naklua baht bus, check into my fav hotel, dinner with a big Leo, then start the "serious" drinking.

I always planned to go home Saturday afternoon, but it seldom worked out that way.

I'd end up sitting at a bar Sunday afternoon, occassionally looking at the time, rationalizing that I could finish another beer and still have time to catch a baht bus home.

"Four-o'clock? Yeeaahh! Plenty of time! Last baht bus leaves Naklua around 7pm. Ow eek, kap! One more Leo!"

A few times I'd have to flag down a taxi, standing on Sukhumvit at 8pm, drunk.

A few times I'd just get a room for Sunday night. "I'll catch the first baht bus in the morning."

Once or twice I just called off sick Monday morning.

I had to get away. I worked and lived too close to Pattaya. I loved it, but I was blowing too much money.

My buddy and his wife had a shop in a small town in Issan, not far from the Laos border. He said the local high school would love to have an experienced falang teacher. They had a guy from Cameroon, but they'd love to have an American.

I'd visited before. It wasn't bad. Kind of quiet, but that's what I needed. Less money than I was used to, but expenses were less, too.

I'd done my stint in a village before. This would be a piece of cake compared to that. They had two 7/11's and a Tesco Lotus express!

What the hell. Try it for 6 months or a year. See how it goes.

So I quit my job, packed a minimal amount of stuff, and hopped on the bus.

Issan, here I come.