Never give up… A Thai love story or two!

Everyone loves a good love story, right?

Where do I begin? Let me start at the end, when I met Perry at Maybelle’s Coffee Garden in Phuket. He has just returned from his wedding ceremony in Korat in the northeast of Thailand. A glistening gold ring on his finger engraved with Phichawi ❤ Perry.

Sixty million gorgeous wedding photos later, I was spurred to write this blog as a testament to a Thai love story.

Phichawi ❤ Perry on their wedding day

Maybelle’s Coffee Garden

Maybelle’s Coffee Garden, is a melting pot for those arriving via the Phuket Sandbox. You will literally find all sorts of people here, from those sipping health smoothies or wheatgrass shots, or those after a pre-training coffee who have found Muay Thai as fitness their saviour. Or the ‘Stuff it! Life is for living!’ guys ordering a Big Baddy brekkie with black pudding! From hairy arsed traders to cool cryptocurrency geeks speaking in foreign tongues, coffee for us ladies – of all ages, we’re an eclectic international mix.

Drawn into coffee conversations are tales of life’s triumphs and adversities, and occasionally a love story. There is never a dull moment at Maybelle’s!

Maybelle & Richie

Richie and Maybelle’s YouTube

Maybelle’s Coffee Garden is an off-the-beaten-track destination, tucked away by the main road. Most arrivals seeking out Maybelle’s million-dollar smile, as Richie calls it, already know the lay of the land from watching Richie and Maybelle’s YouTube channel. 

Here an overseas bloke meets and falls in love with a beautiful Thai lady. The attraction of their story is replicated many times over in this coffee garden by those drawn to meet them and share their own similar and very personal love stories. It’s not all boy meets girl, this week I meet an Aussie lass who meets and falls in love with her Thai Muay Thai teacher.

Maybelle’s Coffee Garden

Love in the Coffee Garden

The first thing you see when arriving at the cafe is a giant love heart with a bench in its middle – a perfect Instagram photo spot, or just a place to cuddle up for a happy snap.

Richie and Maybelle are as captivating in person as they are on camera with an ever-growing number of 16,000 plus subscribers.

When Perry meets Phichawi

No wonder they inspired Perry to push through the obstacles of pandemic life to return to his long-awaited wedding ceremony to Phichawi. Perry like Richie is from the UK. He has been coming to Thailand for twenty years, returning year after year for the beaches, hot weather, Thai food, attracted by the friendly people, and the freedom to explore Phuket on his bike. 

Perry met Phichawi who worked at a restaurant in Patong in December 2018, on a stopover to see his daughter in Australia. Phichawi had moved to Phuket for work after her husband was killed in a motor scooter accident, leaving behind her two children to be looked after separately by her mother and her mother-in-law. 

Perry laughs telling how the shy Phichawi stood him up when he invited her to join him on his motorbike to visit the Big Buddha. She said she slept in, after all, her work was long hours and she was often tired.

Luckily, Perry gave Phichawi a second chance and by the end of his visit, they knew it was serious. Perry cut short his Australian holiday returning to Phuket on the homeward leg, to be with Phichawi. 

With Perry’s support, she was now able to realise her dream of owning a shop in her village and give up the all-night work. She packs in her job and Perry takes her back home to be reunited with her two teenage children. 

The legal ceremony

By Jan 2020 Perry returned to Thailand to complete the legal paperwork and marry his Thai sweetheart. But with Covid looming they were not able to have the big village marriage celebration they hoped for. Perry returned to the UK for work knowing that Phichawi was safe amongst family in her village. 

Phuket Sandbox

During the seventeen months that Covid kept them apart, Perry found Richie & Maybelle’s YouTube channel. With a similar love story to theirs, Perry’s was inspired to return to Thailand arriving via the Phuket Sandbox entry scheme that permits quarantine-free entry to fully vaccinated people with a negative Covid test. Perry saw this as his chance.

Unfortunately, rising Covid cases across Thailand caused Phuket to instigate additional health safety requirements and closed to domestic arrivals. Additionally, all domestic flights in Thailand were on hold, with Phichawi unable to enter Phuket. 

Love in a pandemic

Meanwhile, Perry completed his mandatory 14 days in Phuket then took an overnight bus to Bangkok, a 14-hour journey. From there, another five hours by taxi to Korat.

But love in a pandemic meant no romantic reunion. Oh, no!  After seventeen months apart there was to be no flinging arms around each other, especially under the ever-watchful eye of the Korat quarantine officer. Pichawi’s village elder consented to let Perry enter the village providing he did a 14-day quarantine at a motel in Korat. Twice a day Phichawi made the 10-km trip to deliver food to Perry. 

A long-awaited village wedding celebration

Perry is respectful of local rules, which meant that eventually he could return to Phichawi’s village. He realized it was an honour, as he was the only Farang, (western foreigner) there. After a lengthy quarantine and endless negative Covid tests, Perry was finally allowed to join Phichawi and her kids. 

The village at the time was in a dark red zone (the highest level of Covid health precautions) so Perry was confined to the house and the garden. The house has been decorated since he last saw it, the walls painted blue, chosen as the perfect backdrop for the wedding photos. Perry never left the premises except for an occasional escorted visit to the 7-11 convenience store.

The wedding celebration was planned to be at home, festively decorated with a banana-leaf archway and colourful balloons. The reception was planned for 150 guests, however, in Covid times they were allowed only 10 guests within the house, which meant the tricky job of reducing the guest list by 140 and condensing the celebration into three hours. 

Perry amusingly tells us about the wedding ceremony, much of which he laughs in recognition that he had little idea of what was occurring, yet he knows everything is for a reason. Phichawi who speaks English well tries to explain to Perry the many traditions such as the dowry. Perry listens but he wishes he were more skilled at sitting on the floor!

Whilst guests were not allowed in the house, Perry says that somehow he still managed to feed the entire village! He knows this is important as Thai people love their food and he adds with a laugh, ‘If you like to eat 10 times a day marry a Thai woman. If they are not eating food they are preparing it!’ 

Quarantine and more quarantine!

The following day, one of the wedding guests was declared Covid positive and the house declared a Covid no-go zone, with a large warning Covid sign put up and the house taped off. 

After a 14-day of Phuket Sandbox entry, a 10-day motel quarantine in Korat, and now a 14-day Covid isolation is enforced – it is certainly a memorable wedding and honeymoon! 

For more information on the Thai Wedding ceremony here.

Never give up!

Perry is relieved and feels a great sense of accomplishment in being able to finally hold their Thai wedding ceremony. He describes the past year and a half as a testing period when there were times he wondered if he should sensibly put it all on hold. He felt however that he had to pursue love regardless of the obstacles.

Perry credits Richie and Maybelle with the inspiration to persevere. 

He says, ‘I saw Richie’s love story I thought if he can do it, and he’s from Derby, I can do it as I’m from London!’

Wishing Perry and Phichawi a lifetime of love and laughter and happy ever after!

Linking with thanks to Angie at Mosaic Monday and all the hosts at Our World Tuesday