Dawny’s Bedtime Stories Part 2

STORY 2

The beer Chang was going down a treat and so was the scenery around them. The four men started to relax into the rhythm of a Pattaya night. A move was made further along Soi 7, as they walked they manoeuvred around huge soft toy carts, roti
sellers, girls selling flower garlands and countless other street hawkers selling everything from clothes to lighters to makeup. Another bar was chosen and seats taken, John called over one of the hawkers, a small youth who waved in his hands
a small amount of cigarette packets.

“How much?” John asked.

“Ha-sip baht” came the reply; John looked to Stan for help.

“Fifty” Stan translated for him.

“I’ll have three packs then”.

The money was exchanged for the cigarettes and John sat back “It’s great here, the shops come to you!”

Brad was looking towards one of the bars further back from the one they were in. The bar was packed with people and the bar itself was decked out with balloons. Girls were running around shouting and generally having a great old time. “What’s
all that about?” The men all looked over.

“It’s a birthday party, at midnight they pop all the balloons” replied Stan.

“Looks fun”.

Time was getting on and the traffic down the Soi was getting more congested, more and more food carts were appearing, road kill chicken, squid, kebabs, fresh fruit, and Laos food, you name it, it was there. One of the carts pulled up alongside the men
and the vendor started scooping up the contents of one of the metal containers and putting it into a bag.

“What on earth is going into there?” asked Adie, before anyone could answer.

Noi his lady friend jumped up and waved at the vendor and he came over with a bag which she paid for. Noi offered the bag around much to the horror of all sitting there, deep fried locusts not being a regular item on an English menu not one of them was
willing to try, Noi shrugged her shoulders and tucked in, in her opinion they didn’t know what they were missing.

“You like Chang, Blad?” asked the stunning girl that for the last half hour had been firmly attached to Brad’s arm.

Before he could answer he had received a sharp tap on his shoulder, thinking it to be another persistent hawker he turned sharply only to be confronted by an inquisitive, hairy proboscis which fronted one of the most appealing faces with the largest brown
eyes he had seen in a long while. The elephant wanted feeding and she wasn’t about to let this opportunity go! She had nothing to worry about, Stan in his desperation to get to her had already pushed passed and was already handing over
his 20 baht to her mahout.

“Chang Chang!” shouted Stan taking the plastic bag of bananas, the elephant gratefully received them one by one, made a small curtsey and passed the plastic bag back to her mahout. This process was completed yet again for Brad, Adie and
John and for Stan several times “Pom rak Chang jing jing!” he explained to a rather bemused mahout. The elephant then slowly turned around, walked back into the traffic and made her silent way to the next bar.

Time to move on, “Why not go Soi 6 or 8?” suggested Sarod who had somehow whilst everyone was involved with the elephant managed to procure a pretty little thing himself and was looking rather smug.

“Who’s this?” asked Stan,

“Tong my fliend from long time” was the reply.

They walked slowly to Soi 8 taking in all the sights along the way, Adie moved quite quickly when a snake vendor went to make his approach.

“No no me no like” he shouted, the man shrugged his shoulders under the weight of the snake and moved away.

After sampling a few of the bars in Soi 8 the time was approaching for the night to wind down. The flashing lights in the bars were slowly being extinguished and the music was coming to an end, the bars were still very busy and the alcohol was still flowing,
just on a quieter basis now the clock had turned two.

It had been a long day for all the travellers and although the temptation to carry on was strong, there were another fifteen nights to go. Just one more for the road was the thought in all their heads, but we all know what thought did. Very relaxed and
by now very comfortable with the attentive and caring girls they had hooked up with, the night stretched on.

Sarod stood up and held out his hand towards the men. “Me go now, tired need sleep”. He stretched and yawned as if to make it more convincing.

“Okay mate” replied Stan.

“Thanks for today, see you tomorrow”. Sarod grinned and headed back towards his car, girl in tow turning occasionally to wave.

It was time for them all to make a move, four very happy people settled their bar bills and headed slowly and unsteadily towards Beach road leaning on four pretty, laughing bar girls.
Beach road was still incredibly busy, buses, bikes and
cars all speeding up the road, taxis cutting up vehicles in their desperation to acquire a fare. Noi hailed a passing taxi and gesticulated for the group to climb into the back, which is easier said than done when volumes of alcohol have been
consumed. Once the back step had been negotiated the brightly painted pick up headed towards the Nautical Inn the driver blasting its horn at anybody even vaguely looking like they required a ride. Finally one of the girls pressed the bell and
the taxi stopped. The security guard at the gate made a polite salute and raised the barrier. Their first night in heaven was coming to an end and what a night it had been!

What happened to complete their night once back in the hotel we will leave to the imagination for that is another type of bedtime story all together!

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