So you?ve just arrived in Phuket. Welcome. I hope you will be very happy here. You?ve found a job and a nice place to live and you have your eye on somebody at work; everything is going well. Congratulations, you?re assimilating nicely.

A few months later and the novel shine has dulled somewhat from your everyday experiences. There?s something missing in your life and something that perhaps you?re too grown up to admit. I know what it is. It?s friends. Genuine friends! Cynical chaps (if you?re English) down to earth mates (Australian) and brash buddies (American). Cable TV doesn?t cut it, you need interaction.

How as a heterosexual do you let somebody of the same sex know that you are interested in them, that you would like to get to know them better and that you want to be their friend? A glance at the bar, a smile on the beach would just lead to confusion. Well then, how?

When you were young it was easy, it would be the kids from your street. As you grew up, it would be the children from your class and as a teenager it would be those who shared the same amount of disdain for the same things. But what about now? What?s the link?

Living in a foreign country places, what I like to call, mirror mates in your path. Mirror mates are people who look like you, and whom therefore you are automatically drawn to, with fewer MM?s to choose from, you invariably make do with someone who you wouldn?t give the time of day to in your home country. Yes, it?s hard to find friends in Phuket and even as I type this I can hear ?Awwwww? and ?didums? in my own mind.

So what do you do? Well if you?re an expatriate man or woman you can join a group or a society under the guise of being genuinely interested in its doctrines/agenda/schedule. Here a just a few of those groups that have already been set up for you.

Rotary Club of Patong
Rotary Club is the world?s first service club organisation, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary Club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

Chairman of the scholarship committee of Rotary Club Patong Larry A. Amsden said, ?Anyone can join subject to the approval of the members of the club. The main reason people join is to engage in community service activities. We meet every week.?
Contact information: www.rotarypatong.org
Larry: 081 487 4812


International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP)
IBAP is comprised of leading local Thai and foreign businesspeople with an international outlook. IBAP strives to promote the collective business interests of its members and to provide a forum for the exchange of information and ideas.

IBAP president James Firth said, ?Anybody can join, whether you are Thai or foreign. We are an international organisation. You can also join as an individual. You don?t need to be part of an organisation. Most people join for networking. Our aim is to provide info on local and international businesses and issues of interest to the business world.?

Contact information: www.ibap-phuket.org
president@ibap-phuket.org
James: 081 970 7910


Masonic Lodge of Phuket
Freemasonry refers to the principles, institutions, and practices of the fraternal order of the Free and Accepted Masons. The largest worldwide society, Freemasonry is an organisation of men based on the ?fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man,? using builders? tools as symbols to teach basic moral truths generally accepted by persons of good will.

Mason?s member Howard Digby-Jones said, ?We are private but not a secret organisation. The main criteria is that prospective members must have a belief in the supreme being. There are about four or five things that attract people to join, mostly people like just one or two: the ritual side; fellowship; charity; the historical side and the Constitutional side.

Contact information: Howard: 081 891 5503


The British Business Association Phuket (BBAP)

Formed to promote the interests of the British expats living in Phuket and to help promote business on Phuket.

Chairman of BBA.P, James Sullivan Tailyour said, ?Anybody can join, not limited to the British community but any businesses that wish to deal with Britain. The most common reason is to network and business network. We normally have two events per month: a formal dinner and then perhaps a pub quiz at a pub in Patong. We are currently in the process of changing the format of the meetings and are canvassing members to ask what they want. We will probably hold joint events with other groups in the future.
Contact information: www.bbap.org
honsec@bbap.org
James: 081 476 9253


Chicky Net Phuket
A networking group for (expat) girls in Phuket. A website that works a lot like facebook where ladies log on and can post messages and link up with other similar minded ?expats?. Perhaps this site looks familiar to our regular readers as the ?chicks? used to contribute a regular column of what they were getting up to. To find out what they?re up to these days, visit their website.


Contact information: www.chickynetphuket.ning.com
berthe@chickynet.com


Phuket International Women?s Club.
A social network providing educational opportunities for needy children. A non-profit organisation, the club was set up in 1989 and has been growing ever since.
President Sue Arnulphy said, ?We were primarily set up to provide a friendship group for women but we also have a charity group. There are 140 women with 23 nationalities. We like to welcome new women when they first arrive on the island. We meet every Thursday and have coffee or play Mahjong.?

For contact information www.phuketiwc.com
info@phuketiwc.com
Sue 0872776948

So, there you are... six Phuket groups and societies that are just waiting for you to join. Perhaps there?s a potential friend there, shuffling his or her feet and biding their time until you arrive.

Phuket can be a lonely place. Central Festival can seem awfully large, the water can seem brutally cold and the beer terribly bitter on your own. You can be in the most beautiful part of the world but unless you have someone to enjoy and experience it with, then you may as well be in a box.

You may love your partner, he/she may be wonderful but you need someone to talk to and confide in, to moan to (English chaps) have a tinny with (Australian mates) and wrestle with (American buddies).

Admit it to yourself, you may never have friends like you used to when you were young, you will never recapture the indescribable bond that was, but you can always try, and who knows if you attend one of these group?s meetings you?ll probably learn something as well.

At the very least you?ll meet a lot of mirror mates and perhaps even a good ol? mucker, a sidekick, a pal, an ally, a bosom buddy, a cohort, a companion, a comrade, crony, a brother from another mother or sister from another mister.