Faces of Bangkok – A Smile in the Dark

It’s my first evening in Bangkok, a weekday; Thursday to be precise. Time to hit town and explore I decide. There’s a place near to my hotel I read about on the internet that I have been interested in for quite some time now. As I have never
been I quickly make up my mind to give it a try.
It’s a very short taxi ride through nightly Bangkok. The meter stops at 43 Baht. It’s 10:35pm. Time to have some fun! Stepping out of the taxi I’m surprised. This
area is a lot larger than I expected. I thought there would only be a handful of establishments but I can make out at least a dozen at first sight already.
I decide to walk around to get oriented. Slowly strolling through the alleyways I scan
the places for good music and lively crowds, yet most of them appear to be rather empty. Scantily clad ladies dressed in miniskirts and stilettos compete for my attention, baiting me to enter their establishments, but I politely decline. Eventually
I follow a bunch of people in what seems to be the most popular club this evening.
I don’t go out much back home as I am not much of party animal but this place I really like. It features a large outdoor seating area with cushy sofas
and a small pool, and an even larger indoor area with a young live band performing very rhythmic Thai rock and pop music on an elevated center stage. I can’t make out a dance floor as such. Most of the hall has wall to wall tables. As a
visual bonus all the staff, mostly pretty girls in their young twenties, is dressed in pajamas. I feel right at home.
The place is already buzzing but not overly crowded yet. Most of the crowd appears to be in their early to mid-twenties.
Looking around it seems like I am the only non-Thai person in the whole place too, and as such get a lot of attention already which I enjoy.
As I walk around a bit to get a better idea of the place I notice a pretty girl gazing at me. She’s
standing together with three other girls not far from the center stage, moving skillfully to the music. She’s cute, about 5,5’ tall, slim with a nice body. I estimate her at around 23 or 24 years of age. She wears a pair of jeans
and a white spaghetti top. As I turn my head towards her and our eyes meet she flashes a huge smile at me.
I order a coke and sit down at a table from where I can overlook the scene, watch the live band play, and also observe my newly acquired
interest still standing in the same spot about twenty meters away from me. Nothing much happens for the next thirty minutes. The place is just getting busier and busier by the minute. I notice how she occasionally turns her head and looks in my
direction. When she does I acknowledge her attention by nodding my head and giving her a friendly smile that she answers in the same fashion before turning back to her already giggling friends.
After a while one of the cute waitresses approaches
me and I am politely asked if I would mind moving away from the table as people have arrived who have made a reservation to sit here. I take this opportunity to start walking around again, moving closer to the stage, and not quite coincidentally
ending up standing only a few steps away from the girl and her group of friends. By now I feel adventurous and very curious about her and her intentions already.
Having noticed that I have moved much closer, and obviously on purpose, she continues
flashing those brain-melting smiles at me at ever shorter intervals. I reciprocate. As she passes me on her way to the toilet some minutes later I keep eye contact and smile at her. Oh…she looks amazing in the dark. I love her shape, her
curly dark hair, her smile. She’s just perfect.

A few minutes later she returns and stops beside me. She leans forward and asks my name. I tell her. She doesn’t speak any English so my Thai has to carry the conversation. It works reasonably well.

“Do you dance?”

“I do but really badly” I respond.

She laughs, takes my arm and pulls me to where her girlfriends are standing nearby. Introductions are made and they pour me a drink. They are all having some unidentifiable liquor with water and ice. I cannot really make out what it is. I
don’t really enjoy drinking but accept. We start dancing to the music together. The loudspeakers are on full blast and the music is turned up way too loud, but despite this I’m enjoying it immensely. The band is very talented and
is putting up one hell of a show. The crowd is ecstatic.

Conscious of the fact that public displays of affection and intimacy are mostly frowned upon in Thailand I carefully keep my distance while dancing, with her moving ecstatically only inches in front of me. She’s an amazing dancer.
Yet as time passes she gets closer and closer. First only slightly brushing against me with her arms and butt she soon becomes more daring, starting to rub her body against mine and also touching me all over with her small soft hands. Eventually
she pulls me close to her and leads my hands to her hip and belly to hold and sway her to the rhythm of the music.

I am surprised how open she is with her advances. At this time I already suspect she might be a freelancer. I’m thinking she is just way too straightforward with me for your average Thai girl.

After about an hour dancing close like this she’s all over me already. I’m holding her with both hands, touching her wonderfully flat belly and even butt, while she’s wildly swaying and rubbing against me, getting me
very excited. I dance with her like I have never danced before.

It all feels like a bizarre dream to me. This is not happening! This is not me I am thinking, but it doesn’t get any more real than this. She basically lap dances on me there, smack in the middle of this ecstatic crowd, and eventually
even turns around to give me a lengthy and passionate French kiss. I’m not sure what to think of this but go with the flow and play along. She’s not drunk and neither am I, and if she’s comfortable with acting like this I
am not going to stop her. Her friends pull at her, obviously trying to restrain her a bit, but she doesn’t have any of it. Instead she pulls me away from them and into a quiet corner where she gets very close again and continues kissing
me passionately. With me seemingly feeling less comfortable with this in a public space than her I take this as a signal for us to leave and pull her out of the place and onto the main road.

“Where are we going?”, she asks in Thai.

“Do you want to come to my room with me?”

“Where is your room?”

“Not far!”

“Ok”

She’s quiet while we are walking at first, rubbing her forehead. I ask her if she’s got a headache but she says no. I guess she’s just being shy now.

Moments later we arrive at the hotel. I smuggle her in without any of the staff paying attention. After lovely Vee about one year earlier this is actually the second girl I have had stay with me in this hotel overnight, and just like with
Vee reception never even bothered or asked for ID. Funnily so I’m even staying in the very same room on the 5th floor like back then.

In my room it doesn’t take long until things are heating up again. She disappears in the bathroom for a few minutes and then jumps straight into bed, pulling the blanket up to her nose while still being fully dressed. I take a quick
shower and then slide under with her, only wearing my shirt and boxers, dropping my wash bag holding a pack of condoms on the bedside table.

She immediately turns to me and starts kissing me forcefully. Soon her bra comes of and then her pants. She hasn’t bothered to shower but still smells good and wildly responds to the attention I am giving to her. I’m still not
convinced this girl isn’t a freelancer, but soon disregard my doubts as I notice how inexperienced she is between the sheets. She doesn’t really appear to know what she is doing.

Right in the middle of the act she suddenly asks: “Are you my boyfriend now? Will you marry me?”

That really irritates me, to say the least. Her timing couldn’t be worse. Is this girl so much more innocent than I thought? Did I completely misread the signs? Or is she teasing me or fishing for some kind of a commitment?

Either way I feel like retreating right there and then but she immediately pulls me back towards her and kisses me with force.

After we are done we cuddle up in bed. She first says she has to leave now as she lives with her family and they are probably waiting for her to come home, but then decides to stay nonetheless. I am exhausted and tired but she doesn’t
let me go to rest just yet. Instead she initiates again and asks me to perform for her one more time.

During the night her phone keeps flashing repeatedly. Fortunately she has set it to mute. Her friends are calling she says, probably wondering where she is. She doesn’t pick up. Holding her close in my arms, me relishing her warm body
pressed against mine, we finally fall asleep at 5am.

She wakes me at 7am, telling me that she has to go to work now and is already running late. I’m dead tired but feel like the least thing I should do is take her to work by taxi. We both shower and then leave the hotel for her work
place. It turns out to be a bakery shop near Chinatown.

At first neither one of us talks much in the taxi, but then she raises the questions I was hoping we would not have to get into.

“Simon, I love you very much!”

I take her small hand in mine, smile at her, but don’t respond.

“Simon, it’s really true. I want to live in New Zealand with you!”

I’m not from New Zealand and have told her so repeatedly but somehow this information didn’t stick. By now I have already resigned to not correcting her anymore. Again I don’t respond but only squeeze her hand gently.

“Simon, can I see you after work today?”

I look at her, smile, and truthfully tell her: “This evening I will meet friends. I am not sure what time I will return. I think it will be too late for you already!”

She looks disappointed.

I feel hung over, but not from the little alcohol I had last night.

I intend to drop her off near her work place and then head straight back to my hotel but she insists I meet her colleagues. I don’t like the idea but cannot talk her out of it. The shop has just opened and she presents me with chocolate
milk and freshly baked raisin buns before ducking behind the counter to change into her work outfit. I smile at her three co-workers who are visibly excited about me visiting and gossip to each other in Thai about my supposedly handsome looks
and impressive height, obviously not being aware that I am able to follow the essentials of their conversation rather well. How flattering. In any case so much nicer than being called “hansum man” by some gold digging freelancer
on lower Sukumvit. And I am even wearing my silly glasses and haven’t shaved yet.

I am back at the hotel at 9am and drop into bed exhausted. I wake up a few times but don’t rise until 2:30pm. I am just that tired. Little do I know that this is significantly more sleep than I will get during the days and nights to
follow…

To be continued.

Stickman's thoughts:

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