I Was The Whore For A Change

As I was stumbling home at about 3 AM on Bangla street, I ran into one bargirl I had talked to earlier in the evening. She and her two friends were just getting off work, no customers tonight. She was a bit hammered which wasn’t surprising
given the number of vodka and tonics she could slam away. I played a couple of bar games with her and bought her a few drinks the night before as well. Her English was quite good, she had a sense of humor and I thought she was really funny. She
was from Issan and had one of those very slender hot looking body types. She smoked though, which was always a turn off for me. But she had on one of those little cocktail dresses that barely covered up her hot looking rear. To be honest, she
was one of those bar girls I thought was out of the league for a short, overweight, balding, middle-aged tourist such as myself. She had her pick of suitors, I just caught her on a slow night. She saw me, smiled and waved and then came over to
ask if I was looking for her. I told her that our meeting was a coincidence, I was going back to my hotel and that my budget had already taken a beating so I couldn’t help her. She then said, “I go back to hotel room with you now.”
I again told her that I didn’t have any money, so I was no prospect for the night. She kept insisting that I go back to the hotel room with her and I kept telling her that I had no money. After several iterations of this, she said, “I
don’t care that you have no money, I don’t care what you look like, I just want to go back to the room with you.” Well this made me pause. I know from other readers’ submissions that this happens on occasion, but usually
to some (albeit self-reported) good looking young stud, which I am about as far away as you can get. So once again, I said to her, “I want to be very clear, I have no more baht. I am leaving tomorrow for home. I HAVE NO MONEY AND CANNOT
USE AN ATM.” She again said, “That’s ok. I don’t need money, I have money.” Then I asked her, “Why? Why do you want to do that? Why go back to the hotel with me for nothing?” She had a sad look
on her face and put her head on my shoulder and quietly said “I just want to hug someone tonight. I liked the way your face looked when we talked before.” I don’t know, I guess I remembered she may be a pro, but she still
is a human being and really sounded down. I thought about it a moment, took another look at that hot dress and said, “OK, come with me.” (Not exactly free, the damn hotel I stayed in charged 1,500 baht for joiners but my credit card
would cover that.) I had one of those pool cabana rooms with a private Jacuzzi and pool entrance tucked away in a quiet corner and thought there could be worse ways to spend my last night in Thailand. Luckily the hotel wasn’t far but my
hottie, I will call her Na, had a pair of those ridiculously high spiked heels on and it was hard for her to walk. I literally had enough baht to take care of my expenses to get out of the country, like airport taxi, tips, dinner etc… so I wasn’t
going to pay for a tuk tuk to drive a few hundred meters or make another damn ATM withdraw. I made too many 5,000 and 10,000 baht draws as it was and I was at my 24 hour limit. So we walked.

Na’s attitude picked up and she was all smiles and jokes while she was holding my hand on the way to the hotel. She was telling me that when a lot of foreigners hear her talk, they ask if she was a ladyboy. (She had a smokers’
voice for sure.) She would imitate a deep voice and say, “I show you my big lady boy dick.” At that point, I pulled my hand away and said, “For the record, you aren’t a ladyboy are you?” She got all serious and
said, “No no no! I am a pure original lady.” She rooted in her bag and pulled out her passport and showed me where it said “Miss” by her name. Well that didn’t exactly inspire me with confidence, a document from
Thailand, the land of scams. At this point, I was thinking that maybe I will rescind my offer and proceed alone. She came up and softly grabbed my hand and said, “Please, I assure you I am not a lady boy, I am a real lady. Please let me
go with you.” She had that sad look in her eyes, and though you can’t always tell, her hands did look small and petite. So I agreed and we proceeded on.

We had to go through the humiliation (for both of us) of registering at the front desk. I was glad they were only guys working at night, I can almost feel any lady desk clerk’s disapproving eyes looking down at the inferior Issan whore
and her disgusting Western middle-aged farang. In reality, they would probably charge half Na’s price to go back to a pool room with a farang. It was a damn nice room! It was quite a way from the desk to the room and Na jokingly asked if
I could carry her. I said sure and she hopped on my back and I carried her piggyback style the rest of the way, all the while she was giggling her head off. We got to my room and I went to the back and opened the curtains and showed her the Jacuzzi
and private pool entrance. She got a wide smile and asked if we could use it, and I said, “Sure, do you have a bathing suit..” and before I could finish the question she was buck naked and there was no evidence of anything other
than pure original lady. She then said she wanted to brush her teeth. I slid into my swim suit (I am not as comfortable parading around buck naked. I guess it is easier when other people actually don’t mind looking at you) and hopped in
the Jacuzzi. Na came out and slid in and snuggled up next to me. I could tell she was having a blast taking a nice refreshing swim.

The smile on her face was so different from the sad ones I had seen earlier that it was worth the 1,500 baht room charge. As we sat in the pool and talked, Na revealed why she felt so sad that evening. Apparently she has a son and it was
the normal story of she had to work in the bars to make money to support him and her family back in Issan. She said she made enough during the high season that she goes back to spend time with him in the low season. She said she loved that time
of the year and looked forward to going back and playing all kinds of sports with him every day. Na also has a twin sister who married a Canadian and she was helping to support her nephew as well, and it was at an income level more than Na could
make. What really made Na sad was when she talked to her son on the phone recently, he told her that he loved Na’s sister more than her. Well I don’t have any kids, and I don’t care if you are a hardened bar whore or not,
but it must be devastating to hear a son you obviously love so much say that to you. I pulled Na onto my lap and gave her a big hug and kissed on the forehead and told her she was being a good mother to her son and some day he will realize that
he is lucky to have her. I also told her in a nice way that though kids are cute and adorable, they can be cruel little bastards at times because they just didn’t develop feelings yet. This seemed to make her feel better. We moved into
the room and laid on the bed and watched TV. Na snuggled up close and wrapped herself around me and laid her head on my shoulder. She just kept talking about her son, which was ok. The room had a killer air con (for what I paid, it better) and
the room was frigid so having a cuddly Thai blanket to warm you up was nice. After a while, Na asked to turn the TV off so I did. And then Na said, “Now we boom boom.” To be honest at this point, I was still not convinced this wasn’t
a scam and that in the morning there may be a very different version of Na who was expecting money. I said, “No. I have no money for boom boom.” Na laid her head on my chest and said, “I know. This ok, I want to do this for
you.” Well later on, as I was laying there I chuckled to myself and said, “Damn dude, for one night I was the whore! Maybe I should ask her for money.”

I would like to say the story has a real happy ending, but in the sober light of morning, I woke up and realized I had to get this bar chick out of my hotel room so I could pack and get out of Phuket and make my flight. I think Na was feeling
the effects of too many vodka and tonics and had quite a hangover and was not real interested in moving at all. And I was still not convinced there would either be a bill coming my way or some emotional plea for more money for her son. So I sort
of poked her in the back and said, “time to go.” I could look at her and tell she was feeling like shit and if I didn’t have to leave I would let her stay and sleep some more. She didn’t say much, she brushed her teeth
and got dressed. I sat on the end of the bed not looking in her direction, still expecting some monetary request. As she was walking by, she stopped and bent down to kiss me, but I just turned my head away thinking this was prelude to the request.
She let out a sad sigh and then opened the door. The blast of heat made her give a groan and she walked out the door without another word. I hopped in the Jacuzzi and I saw her walk by on the way out. I felt really bad for her. That lonely morning
walk after the farang is done with you must really suck for the girls. She would have to go sleep in some stinking hot tiny room and then get ready for another night of heavy drinking and trying to be happy for some drunken and sweaty Western
tourist who was pawing at her ass all night long. Same routine every day. There is definitely a dark side to the fantasy world of Thailand, a side that eats people up underneath its glittering and exciting veneer. Yeah these bar girls are whores
by choice, but they lead hard lives. Drink, screw, act happy for the customer. Do it every day until you are either too old or can buy your way out. Do that lifestyle long enough, if health issues don’t kill you, depression or despair will.
Well maybe for just a few hours one night, I did a bar girl a favor and let her use me to make her feel better instead of vice versa. But reality always comes crashing back with the dawn. Whatever problems you tried to drink, screw, or party away
are still there the next day. It’s the nature of the business. Deal with it or get the hell out.

Stickman's thoughts:

There is a dark side to it all, you're so right! It's something that even after all of these years I still struggle to rationalise!