Stickman's guide to Bangkok Readers' Submissions
Love In Phuket Part 2
By Oxford Student
Norway Hotel Guide • Comfort Scandinavie Hotel • First Atlantica Hotel • Rica Parken Hotel • Augustin Hotel A few months ago, I wrote in with a story titled “Love in Phuket” which Stickman posted on 8/12/2004. This update refers to that story. When I wrote in, I was unsure if my lovely Thai girlfriend May was cheating on me or not. I had suspicions that she was taking advantage of me, treating me like a walking ATM from abroad. I was sending her 10,000 baht per month, quite a lot for someone on a teacher’s salary in South Korea, thus the reason for my previous post.
I received about a dozen emails from people all over the world in response to my story. A few of them did no more than mock me and call me names, but many were very sincere, and to those of you I thank you for taking the time to respond and to give me advice. There were also a few people who thought that my story couldn’t possibly be true, that I had fabricated it just to fool Stick and the community that reads the stories on his site. I guarantee that this is not the case. Every word of my story is true. Why would I spend time writing a story of fiction and then ask for advice? Believe me, I have better things to do with my time.
The majority of the people who wrote to me advised me to leave this girl because she was obviously taking advantage of me. I shouldn’t even think about marrying her, and I would be a fool to let this go on. A woman even wrote to me and told me that she had spent time talking with bar girls in Thailand and they revealed to her the tricks they play on unsuspecting farangs. Many of these girls have several sponsors all around the globe who have no clue about the others. My girl is not a bargirl, but she is/was a prostitute. But I think what really clinched it was reading Stephen Leather’s Private Dancer. I sat glued to my computer screen for 2 days (sometimes during work) reading this fascinating tale. Although Leather’s novel is a work of fiction, I found myself really identifying with the character of Pete, and Joy very well could have been my girlfriend May. Joy was saying many of the same things that May has said to me whenever I suspected her of seeing other guys. Things like “I love you only one” and “I love you 100%” and “I stay with you long time. I don’t go look someone else.” One point that Joy makes in the novel is that “It’s so easy with farangs. They want to believe you, you just have to tell them what they want to hear.” The rose shaded glasses were slowly coming off and reality was now in full view. I finally decided to end it with May.
When I told her that I wasn’t going to be sending her any more money, she did what any Thai girl in her position would do. She tried to convince me to change my mind by telling me that she loved me and begging me to help her. “I always love you. Why you not love me?” When she finally realized that I really wasn’t going to be sending her any money, things turned rather nasty. All of a sudden, this sweet girl whom I had grown to know and love was yelling at me through the telephone: “Fine! I don’t want to talk with you anymore. Don’t call me. Bye!” A week goes by without talking, and she calls me up, telling me that she loves me again. “I love you long time. Do you love me?” “Yes, I still love you.” “I don’t believe. I think you love me little bit.” Well, this goes on for a few minutes until she asks me for money again, with the same response and the same result.
Now I had purchased a ticket to Thailand a few months before (that’s the way you have to do it in South Korea, otherwise you’ll be freezing your ass off during vacation), and still planned on going. She knows this, and a few days before I leave, she starts calling me again. “You come to see me?” “Do you want me to come and see you?” “Up to you.” Now, she still had some of my stuff that I left there during my last visit (clothes, mp3 player) that I really wanted, so I decided that I would see her when I touched down in Phuket. Besides, she is fun to hang out with.
I touch down on Phuket and take a taxi to Patong. I rent out a room in a guest house and start to walk around. It had been over a month since the Tsunami hit the beaches of Thailand, and they’ve done a pretty good job at cleaning it up. Or just hiding the damage. Flowers line the beach of Patong, and as I walked around, I noticed big fences along the strip hiding the ruined buildings and the rubble. There are absolutely no street vendors on the main strip of Patong, and only one bar is open. It’s like a ghost town. Walking a few blocks inland, bars and street vendors are in full swing, but most are not as crowded as they should be during this time of year. The Holiday Inn has a huge fence around it and a sign: “Closed for Maintenance” in English, not Thai. People are still on the beach and walking around, but it’s just not the same as it was a few months ago.
I meet up with her in Patong and she gives me a huge hug and kisses me. She’s thrilled to see me after all this time. We first go and eat dinner, and then go back to the hotel room. Now it was actually quite difficult to have sex with her at first. I’ll spare you the graphic details, but it was very clear that she had not had sex in a very long time. Perhaps she was telling the truth and wasn’t cheating on me after all. We spent the whole week together, and overall we had fun, although we did have a few arguments.
The second day we went out with this other couple (both Thai), Sam and A. Sam is A’s husband, but A has at least two boyfriends. No one has any problem with this, least of all Sam. A has one boyfriend who lives in Miami. He’s very rich and bought her breast implants a few months back (45,000 baht). Her other boyfriend lives in Germany. They both send her money every month. We go out to lunch at a place overlooking Kamala Beach Absolutely beautiful. In the middle of lunch, A’s phone rings. It’s her boyfriend from Germany, and they get into an argument. Everyone thinks this is hilarious, for some reason. I only mention this because Sam will come into play in a minute. After lunch, we all go for a sauna at this nice hotel near Kamala. We spend a few hours there relaxing, swimming, taking saunas, and of course eating more Thai food. I look over at May and see her sending a text with her phone. When I attempt to look over, she immediately closes her phone like she’s trying to hide something. I wave it off as nothing, but I’m intent on looking at her phone later. We go to bed that night, and in the morning we are both woken up by her mobile. As she answers, she looks at me and tells me to keep quiet. Then she starts talking to somebody on the other end of the line in English. I’m only half awake, so it takes me a bit to realize what’s going on. She goes outside to talk so I can’t hear the conversation. But I sneak outside and overhear the conversation on the steps.
<giggling>
“Don’t worry, honey. I