In For A Penny – In For A Pound
There was a remark in Marc Holt’s contribution "what Charley did wrong" about <Thai Crack> .
This rang a bell in me and I think this is very accurate, at least concerning me…
I started coming to Thailand in 2000 as part of a flight from Germany to Sidney with stopovers in Bangkok and Bali. I did a bit of preparation by buying some travel books, so I ended up in the Khao San road in the Siam Hotel.
That was quite ok, actually I instantly liked Bangkok and its flair. From my book I took the information about Nana and Soi Cowboy and the barfine system, so I took a taxi to Soi Cowboy and entered my first Gogo bar, a quite small one , there I saw a girl, and I wanted to take her to my hotel. Here I made my first serious mistake, she was new in the bar scene and didn't speak English well and she didn't like to go with me, the mamasan offered me another girl, but I insisted on my first choice, and finally we went to the Khao San Road. I really feel sorry about this now, I will never again insist on a girl, that is bad style for me now, but you have to do a certain learning curve…
After Bangkok I went to Bali, it was quite nice but I am not a beach type, and later Sydney was just nice too but not really my thing. I was attracted by Bangkok and returned quite quickly. I found a nice lady in a bar in Nana and had a good time with her visiting Karaoke bars, so it started. Actually I had no idea about the girlfriend system, I was wondering how the guys got their nice Thai girls, I saw them with. I came to Thailand a couple of times and went to the south and the north, what is really nice is to rent a motorbike in Chiang Mai and do a round trip to Mae Hong Son and back, that was quite fun. I was lucky to find a fellow German girl to make this trip with. Up to now I was not serious involved with ladies of the night, but that changed.
At the end of 2002 I quit my job and made a trip down the Mekong to Laos, with some weird ideas of getting some kind of job (clearing landmines or so, I don’t like teaching).
I was in Bangkok for the New Year and I was outside Robinson on the Sukhumvit Road watching a band playing on the opposite side of the road. There were a couple of girls standing next to me, and I smiled at one of them and she smiled back… To cut a short story shorter, we ended up in my hotel room and lost the time…
I will call her L., I was hooked by her very fast, that’s a fault of mine (I always give my heart away easy), we spend a couple of days together and finally I ran out of money, and she told me it would be better to go home and get a job rather then staying in Bangkok and hoping for a miraculous job coming up… Just to make it clear there was no talking about love you forever and the like, from my side it was just that I liked her very much. Ok, I got back to I. and tried to get a job, that turned out to be not so easy, so I sold my assets for a very modest amount and returned back to BKK to find L. again. After a couple of days, which I spend with T. who I met eating soup at Asoke, I saw R. when I was with T. at the restaurant opposite the Biergarten soi 7. I told T. that I knew R. and I send T off, there was no problem about that, and I stayed with R.
Now an interesting time began, R. was addicted to gambling, when I met her first she had a nice room she shared with a friend and a TV and a Stereo and stuff she got from customers. Then I met her again the room was nearly empty, all stuff sold and pawned. She asked me if I could "borrow" her money to get her stuff back, I decided to do it, my thinking was I needed a friend in this foreign country, and I like to trust people, if they cheat youม you have a sound evidence not to trust them, I don't like to distrust people without proof, (I am not a total sucker- I like to take chances with people). So I gave her about 30 000 baht, she took care of me finding a room in Soi 22, and I asked her if I could join her to the casino, because I like to have adventures. That was really an adventure, the only Farang among a lot of Thais in a room with Roulette and Blackjack and other games. The people looked at me very curious but after a couple of times they got used to me, I lost about 2-3000 baht each time, but one time I won about 20 000 baht, so I considered the money I gave to R. as coming back.
My relation with R. was not too happy; I think I was not exactly her type… She asked if she can go to Pattaya with a customer to make some money on her own, I was not happy but I agreed. During the time I stayed with R. we met a friend of her- P., and we had a threesome and I liked P. from the start. When R. was in Pattaya she responded hardly to calls and SMS and I got bored with this, and asked her for the number of P. The reply came fast with the number; I think she was happy I changed my interest away from her.
But P. was not without problems too. She had the habit of calling at 3-4 o'clock in the morning "I have no customer, can I come with friend??" As I had a weak spot for her, I agreed and she showed up with another girl, Ok there was discount because of the circumstances, but after a couple of times I was tired of this. Unfortunately when R. returned from Pattaya, she came with a friend too, and asked I if want to take 2 ladies, I was angry because P. just did the same the night before, so I asked her to send her friend away (big mistake- I think a loss of face for R- I was still on my learning curve).
I was a little tired of the girls and Bangkok, and in my frustration I went to the Eden club, where I met M. she just started the day before there, and I took her for the whole night. We got along quite well and I started to book her every evening, in the club they called me her husband, I even took her on some 7000 baht/day holidays to Pattaya and to her family. That was quite an experience, we went hunting frogs in the night with a battery powered light and I got a quite good impression of the life in the rural areas. Finally my money went to an end and we parted as friends. Back in I. she asked to sent her some money, about 20 000 baht, she promised to give it back, as she always kept her word in BKK I send it to her, but when I came back to BKK, she told me about an accident happening to her sister, as a reader of stickman, I was getting suspicious, and finally she left me.
But I found P. again with her friend T. We had a quite good time together and I started smoking Y. That was quite a costly habit, but gave some new adventures, attached to this. P. told me about her life and that she wanted to do some education, and if I have the money I would sponsor it…
Since then I return to BKK on a regular basis, I work to save some money, and then I go to BKK and spend it. My life is really fixed about this, I think the worst what could happen to me is if I get banned from entering Thailand for some reason, even if I get offered a million euro under the condition not to return to BKK, I would refuse the offer. On the outside I think this will qualify as a serious addiction, your whole life circles only around a small area of interest…
But I am happy with it. I try to cook up some plans to make the money that allows me to retire to Thailand, or set up a business in Thailand. I really like the whole way of living open to me there. I don’t think Thailand is heaven, but for me it is close enough.
I think in Europe and the US. things get out of hands, lets say about this whole terror thing, in my opinion if there is a "real" terror thread out there, there would be bombings on a weekly bases, like in Israel at certain times, because it is really a no-brainer to blow up people if you really want to or just make a list how many people died from smoking, traffic accidents and the like and try to spot the terror victims, my guess is page 3-4…
Another thing I don't like is everything related to political correctness, you call me whatever you like , and I feel free to call you whatever I like – that's a fair deal in my opinion…, and not I sue you because I feel emotionally hurt by you…
Referring to another contribution I think about setting up a charity to “support” the street girls in BKK, with me in charge of distributing the money to the girls who need money, I think that will be an easy job ;-)))
Just put up a website with some sob stories about the conditions and the "exploitation" about the ladies of the night and the women in the west can hand over the cash to save them, if it makes them feel better, will see if I really try this one, there is no scam about this, the money goes there it is intended to go…
So I think I found what I want to do with my life, when I look at the people in my city, you really feel like an outcast if you are in a good mood, not this feeling of easiness I experience when I am around in BKK.
Just 3 tips about women in general :
1) There is never a guaranty on relation.
2) Never invest more money than you are prepared to loose
3) Enjoy the ride
Will see what happens next, I am definitely "in for a pound".
Stickman's thoughts:
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