Incountry # 29

There were a couple of more ladies. A couple of one night stands that went no where. A mamasan bought my drinks all night long, the bar was slow and her husband was playing pool with a rival mamasan. I bar fined one of the girls at the bar. The most beautiful woman I have ever bar fined in Pattaya. She was not the worst bed partner I have had in Pattaya but she was close.

So there I was with two new choices but it would take months of getting to know the new good girls and months of language lessons before I would really know them.

One morning two weeks ago I woke up and started working on the computer. My left leg started tingling and my left arm went numb. Fear raced through my brain. I laid on the bed, luckily only a few feet away from the computer as I wondered how I would call for help and / or negotiate the four flights of stairs down to the ground level. I wondered which hospital I would go to. Pattaya Memorial was the closest but I had heard only the doctors spoke English not the staff. Pattaya International was next on my list but I wanted at all costs to avoid Bangkok Pattaya because of bill padding reports and the fact that they let an American die a couple of weeks ago while checking his ability to pay.

Alone in Pattaya. I had feared this. I had no ambulance numbers. Given a clear head I could tell a Thai person where I lived but not if I was in any kind of real pain. I knew if it was a stroke I needed to get to a hospital quick or suffer severe long term consequences.

What if I lost my speech? What if I lost my senses? What would happen? How would I get the money out of the bank to pay? How would I get down the four flight of stairs? Princess is the only woman I know that is strong enough to carry me.

None of the good girls spoke enough English to be of much assistance at all. As I lay on the bed I reviewed my plan of action. I never carry a credit card with me but I was going to have to start doing that. I had to carry some proof of my ability to pay. I had to carry a way to get in touch with my bank in Singapore.

Pattaya is not a small town but in some ways it acts like a small town. Dave and Mick, the owners of a café and restaurant complex, after finding out I was ill had been checking on me daily by calling to make sure I was still alive. Dave’s and Mick’s wives know Princess and told her I was ill. She showed up and insisted on taking me to the hospital. I could have gone to one or the international hospitals by myself but they are four times as expensive so I let Princess take me to one of the three Thai hospitals in town. I went to Pattaya Memorial Hospital where they informed me that my left arm being numb was caused by high blood pressure. As long as there was no pain they assured me it was not a heart attack or stroke. The doctor prescribed me Plavix and Prenolol once a day.

The doctor told me it should get better after 4 or 5 days. If not they would use a dropper to find out if there was an obstruction.

On my way home I figured out he was trying to say Doppler (I think) which refers to the Doppler affect in sound waves and I assume that is how they look for obstructions.

I didn’t really want Princess back but it is very hard to imagine being in a Thai hospital alone with no one speaking English. The doctors all speak English but few of the staff do. Plus Thai hospitals require a relative staying with you or they will not give you a private room.

The doctors also told me to stop smoking and drinking or I would die.

Princess has her own apartment. She comes over to mine after finishing work to make sure I am OK and normally sleeps a few hours before returning home or back to work. Business is slow right now in Pattaya and the two or three hundred baht I give her a day to cover her food and taxi fare and personal expenses are the difference between her making it or not.

She got fired at the Silver Star and has a new job in a new show at Naughty Girl A Go Go on Soi Diamond off of Walking Street. She gets decent money but it is paid at the end of her first month and there is a 60 drink per month quota that she must meet. She does a lesbian show, an oil show, an ice show, a soap show, a banana show and a show with a guy in a chair. She gets 15,000 baht per month for this but can’t be bar fined till 1:30 AM. Her daughter is also dancing at the same club but not in the show.

I am under no allusions why she is taking care of me. She needs the money. She was going to move in with a friend of hers and work at Rainbow 4 in Nana but her friend told her that was slower than Pattaya. <Gotta doubt it as Rainbow 4 is packed from early until late every night – Stick>

She has tried a couple of times to have sex with me, not for money. She said it has been a month since she has had a customer or Thai boyfriend and is horny. I told her to cool it because with the high blood pressure I really don’t feel up to it. Princess is not a quiet nor calm sexual experience. She requires a large amount of energy expended and if it is not forthcoming she bounces me up and down which results in the same energy expenditure on my part just to stay alive.

I am coping with not drinking with difficulty but experience as I did not drink for the previous 12 years I lived in the States before I came to Thailand.

I was an old guy running my own restaurants and it is a young man's business. I don’t think I could have done it and drank too. Plus there were the young women and the on demand erections necessary in the West which are more relaxed in Thailand.

I am not under the impression that I was making very intelligent decisions in Pattaya drinking 15 Tigers a night. I am sure that was a driving force behind some if not most of my adventures here. Only time will tell.

There are times in my life that I am completely rational. There are other times that I rely on gut feelings that have nothing to do with rationality.

A few years ago my corporate shrink told me I had an ideal personality to be a soldier. He told me I would fight even a losing battle because of loyalty.

When I couldn’t get out of bed and felt weak and unsure of my steps, when I felt a tightening in my chest and feared the worst Princess stayed with me. She dragged me to the hospital when I did not want to go and stayed with me 24/7 until she was convinced I was out of danger. Even if her interest was 100% monetary I appreciated it.

I know it is not going to work out long term. Who knows I may not work out long term myself. So off I go sober into Pattaya. It may be a whole new experience for me.

Stickman's thoughts:

It's great to hear that Princess was there for you in your hour of need. This is far from the first time I have heard of when a farang is in need and turns to their estranged girlfriend – they almost always come and help.