Ram Thai Dancer
This is my diary entry for 25th May 2006, and the poems that came out of it. The diary entry is more or less as written at the time. Comments are in square brackets.
My diaries have just been published in two books: Pussy Struck in the Land of Smiles and Amorous Adventures in Angeles City. The poem is from my Thailand poetry collection entitled Jasmine Kisses. FREE copies of this book are still available. Just email me and I will send you a Kindle version (now also available in PDF format).
THE DIARY
On Thursday I decided to check out Pattaya’s best-kept secret: Silver Star, on Soi 8. I wasn’t disappointed. Within minutes I had hit it off with a girl named Suwan (Su for short). Su is 25 and very sweet. She had only been working there for four days and I was her first customer. Before that, she worked in a garment factory in Bangkok. She is from Udon – never been married – no kids.
She spoke no English at all, and to make matters worse, spoke a Lao-influenced dialect. However, I managed to communicate with her to some extent [I had been learning Thai for a year, and was, at that time, working through Thai for Intermediate Learners, by Benjawan Poomsan Becker – highly recommended].
She has a rounded face, full lips, beautifully-shaped eyes, and a petite body with fullish breasts. I found out later that she is a Thai dance teacher, and skilled at Thai boxing (not so good at pool, though!)
She was very touchy-feely in a more genuine way than usual, and I quickly decided to barfine her. She was just the same after the barfine (that magic word that has the power to turn hot prospects into ice maidens!) and looked great in a short denim skirt and a tight yellow top. She thought my Thai was better than it was and chatted to me like an old friend. [That’s the problem! You choke out a few phrases learned by rote, and they think you’re fluent!]. I couldn’t understand most of what she said – even words I knew were difficult to catch because of her accent and speed. However, we managed to communicate quite well on the whole [a little Thai goes a long way!].
I took her to The Blues Factory [a live music bar] and then, at her request, we walked along Walking Street. It is ironic to think that I probably know Pattaya better than she does. She looked around wide-eyed as we walked – very much the innocent country girl come to the big city. Later, she told me that she had never been anywhere except her home, the mountains near her home, and the area in Bangkok near the factory.
Next we went to Polo [a show bar] She really seemed to enjoy this. The place was packed – a large party of Japanese, and also of Americans. The first show was three (then more) girls molesting a volunteer from the audience. Also notable was the Hawaiian show and the semi-naked katoeys [ladyboys]. It was Su that pointed out that they were katoeys because I was paying more attention to her than to the show.
After that, I took her to my favourite eating place [a seafood place on Soi 15 or 16, the name of which I forget], and then we went back to the hotel. After we had showered, she gave me a traditional Thai massage – the best I have ever had from a bargirl [that girl was so talented!] Then we talked for a long time, often having to look words up in my pocket Thai dictionary, and then she did her Ram Thai dance in my bed, singing a traditional Thai song at the same time! (wonderful!).
[A paragraph of a highly intimate nature is omitted here].
She left early next morning having agreed to meet me at eight in Silver Star.
* * *
There is no more about her in my diary, but I remember having serious thoughts about taking her out of the bar, marrying her, and setting her up with a Thai Dance school – thinking about her now, I wish I had! In the event, after the second night, she told me that she didn’t like bar work, and was going to give it up. She said that she was going to try to find work in a show bar where she could do her Ram Thai for tourists. I took her number – it’s there in front of me in my diary as I type this. But I never got round to calling her, and we lost touch.
THE POEMS
Su appears in two of my poems: I was thinking of her when I wrote this section of The Characters of Thai Women:
I met her in a gogo in Bangkok
Her name (it had to fit the rhyme!) was Nok.
Like many bargirls, she came from Isaan;
Escaping poverty, that was her plan.
Her only choices: bonking fat farangs,
Or sewing shirts for precious few satangs.
(The shirts you wear, which you think are a bargain
Are made by girls like her in sweat and chagrin.
This is the real source of exploitation –
Not men who pay for sexual sensation!)
Now Nok, like many Isaan girls, was brown,
Causing many Thai men to look down
On her – though many a pallid western woman
Would give a fortune to have such a suntan!
And as for me – there’s nothing more divine
Than seeing a brown body next to mine!
Her eyes were black, her hair was fine and long
And done in Geisha style, like Suzie Wong,
Her breasts, though not too large, were full and perky,
Her belly sleek – unlike the girls in Turkey
(The belly-dancers, whom the Turks like fat).
Her pussy – well, I’ll not go into that
(Descriptively I mean, I did in fact
Go into it, but I’m displaying tact).
Her ass – two cushions lying cheek by cheek,
Surely the finest part of her physique!
Her legs, like many Isaan girls’, were shorter
Than the ideal – but perfect to support her.
Her feet were cute – her polished high heels shone –
In fact, her shoes were all that she had on!
It was the way she danced that caught my eye –
Not the bored Bangkok shuffle but – Ram Thai!*
I’ve seen it in the toned-down tourist version,
But that was just a modern-day perversion,
With not a hint of girl-flesh on display;
And so unsexy that I went away.
But here was Nok dancing Ram Thai stripped down
Too far the other way (I missed the crown),
But loved the sinuous snakings of her arms
And the display of all her other charms.
And so I barfined her, it must be said,
To do her Ram Thai dancing in my bed.
And so she did – she did it wild and long
Like in the bar – but sitting on my d**g.
And so you see, I value all things Thai,
Especially when they’re easy on the eye!
*Ram Thai – traditional Thai dancing.
That poem is a piece of burlesque, and doesn’t do justice to Su’s character. This free-verse rondeau is much more personalised:
A gogo dancer
named Suwan,
I met in Pattaya and began a
love affair.
Soon after, I found that she
could dance Ram Thai:
Khon, Lakon and Ramakian.
And so I pondered
on a plan to save her,
wondering how can
such talent be so wasted?
Why a gogo dancer, when
she’s as graceful as a swan,
with curving hands
and finger’s span?
Another thing
that’s all awry – she’s thoughtful,
sensitive and shy.
My Suwan –
she’s so much more than a gogo dancer!
BANGKOK BYRON
The author of this article can be contacted at : rumblejungle2019@gmail.com
