RAWBangkok

Well, earlier this week I reported that I set up a date with a former flight attendant (as in she stopped working for the airline two months ago) for this Friday.  That date will have to be re-scheduled as work has popped up with a conflicting appointment.  No problem, air hostess and I have been chatting on the internet every night, so I’m sure she’ll accommodate the schedule change.

Through my work I meet a lot of Thai people who range in age from mid-20’s to late 50’s.   Occasionally I see a girl who I think I’d like to go out with, but usually they aren’t interesting enough to risk damaging my work contracts.

A few months ago I took a swing at it anyway.  Longtime readers will remember that I failed completely, getting shut down when I asked Cat — a girl I’d met at work — out on a date.

In the past year there have been maybe a dozen Thai girls that I met through work that would have grabbed my attention enough to make me think that it’d be nice to take them out.  Of those dozen, Cat would have been in the top four or five, and she’s the only one I ever asked out.

Until today.

There’s another girl I’ve known for about six weeks.  She’s a nurse, and she rates in the top two or three girls for the past year.  Having failed so completely with Cat back in August, I’ve pondered whether to take another chance and ask the nurse out.  I’ve chatted with her a bit… enough to know that she’s 26 years old, and in spite of looking like a very pretty dark-skinned Isaan girl, she’s actually from the southern provinces, having grown up near the sea.  She’s the prototypical Thai girl who is sweet, soft-spoken, devoted to her parents, hard working and beautiful.

Not exactly the go-go dancers that I usually hang out with.

Today I saw her at work, and she was nice enough to give me a New Year’s gift.

This is not at all uncommon among Thais.  I have probably received a dozen gifts in the past week, including 2 bottles of wine, a gift basket, a jacket and a cheap ball point pen.

Usually the gifts are simple and inexpensive, but I am always touched by the thoughtfulness of the Thais who give them to me.

Well, today the nurse gave me a very simple gift as well.  She said she planned to buy me some cookies but she knew I was on a diet, so she gave me two small bottles of vitamin drink.  These are very common in Thailand — the most popular being “BRANDS”.  Thai people will uncap the tiny 42cc bottle and drink it down, swearing that it is part of the secret to good health.

I always imagined that this was some sort of tasty drink, infused with herbs and vitamins.

Not so.  I learned a few weeks ago (the hard way — by drinking some) that it is a foul-tasting drink.  Is it at least healthy?  What’s in it?

A look at the label revealed the contents:

Essence of Chicken    100%

No preservatives

Why, exactly, essence of chicken (which tastes much worse than it sounds) is supposed to be good for your body I don’t know.  But most Thai people I know swear by it.

This is what the nurse gave me as a new year present; two bottles that wouldn’t have cost 100 baht, but as I said… it’s the thought that counts.  She had wrapped it beautifully and with great skill.  (She told me that her family runs a small shop in their home province and gift wrapping has been one of her jobs since she was a young girl).

Opening the gift and saying ‘thank you’ gave me the opportunity to chat with her in private today.  She was flashing a fantastic smile and seemed totally relaxed and unhurried.  She normally has her hair pulled back in a severe look, but today — for the first time that I’ve ever seen — she had her hair loose.  She looked absolutely gorgeous… one of the prettiest girls I’ve seen this year.  Standing near her and looking into her sweet face I managed to keep my mind focused and coherent.  I didn’t babble or drool.

We talked for twenty minutes or more, and along the way I suggested that we go out together tomorrow night.  If a girl with dark brown skin can blush, then she did when I offered to take her out, but she said ‘yes’.

So, I’m meeting her tomorrow night after I finish work, and we’re going to do some window shopping at the mall near the hospital where she works, and probably have a cup of coffee.

There won’t be any reason for any of you to post a comment tomorrow asking if I “got lucky”.  This is a sweet Thai girl… the non-drinking, Buddhist daughter of loving parents who is probably pushing the envelope by going out with a western man.  I asked her out because I think she’s innocent, sweet and beautiful.

Getting in her pants — if it’s ever gonna be accomplished at all — certainly won’t be as simple as paying a barfine and heading for the nearest short time hotel.

Baby steps.

I know a lot of good Thai Girls, but I haven’t had many dates with good Thai Girls.  I’ll be going slowly here.

While I was typing this blog the air hostess got back to me online and confirmed that we can re-arrange our appointment.  She has a full day on Friday as well, so I’m gonna ride with her and chat while she runs some errands, then we’ll get something to eat.

She’s much less innocent than the nurse; having been a  flight attendant for many years she isn’t naive at all.  I’m not in any hurry with her either, but the potential for something interesting to happen soon is certainly greater with her than with the nurse.

So, dates with two ‘good’ Thai girls this week.  Of the two, the nurse would be the one who holds more interest for me.  She’s just the kind of girl that I dream about, with looks that please me.  We’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, one of the reasons that I’ve been approaching the good Thai Girls is that my favorite go go dancer left Thailand recently to spend several months in Europe with another punter.  This left a huge hole in my sex and social life, since I had been seeing her two to three times a week since the middle of the year, to the exclusion of almost everyone else.   I was starting to feel a bit proprietary about her when I got the unexpected news that she was going away for a few months.

Once she left, I hadn’t really expected to hear from her until after she landed back in Thailand several months from now, and maybe no at all.  After all, if the punter takes her to his home for four or five months then I assume he thinks it’s a test run for marriage.  I figured he’s have her on a short leash, and she’d be on her best behavior.

So I was surprised to get an email from her on the very day her plane landed in Europe.  And I was more surprised to get an SMS from her this week with her new European phone number.  Obviously it would be difficult for her to explain to the punter she’s staying with why she’s chatting in English on the telephone that he probably bought her, so giving me her phone number seemed to be a risk.  After all, none of her old customers should have the number, right?

But I was downright stunned today when she sent me an SMS asking me to call her.  Of course the punter she’s staying with can’t take a months-long vacation, so he has to go to work during the day.  Apparently he hadn’t been out of the house more than a few minutes when she contacted me this morning.  It was about 8 a.m. local time for her… the same time she messaged me yesterday.  The punter is paying the bill for her new phone, so she can’t call me, but she sounded pretty happy to hear my voice when I called in response to her summons.

Thai girls don’t really do well staying alone.  They don’t like it when they live in Thailand, and it’s certainly gotta be much tougher in Europe.  No friends to call, no somtam around, snow on the ground, late sunrise and mid-afternoon sunset, no Thai or Korean dramas to watch on TV, no one to speak Thai with.

What do you figure she does all day while her guy is at work?

Well, today she spent about a half an hour talking to me.  I’ll bet she’s spending another hour or so every day running up the phone bill calling her parents, her Bangkok roommate and other friends.

She said she’s having a good time, but she’s been there less than three weeks and she’s already checking with me.  Imagine how crazy she’s gonna be after another two months of European winter weather.  If you’re gonna try to bring a Thai girl home, you need to have a plan.

I don’t know if my favorite go go dancer is ever going to come back to Thailand, but if the guy she’s staying with now thinks he’s gonna marry her and move her to Europe he may want to re-think his strategy.  Bring her to Europe for months; leave her home alone for eight or ten hours a day; do it in the middle of the winter.  Today is his second day back at work after his Christmas/New Year holiday and it’s the second day in a row that she’s contacted me.  What’s wrong with this picture?

It may be that all this comes to nothing.  The sweet nurse, the experienced air hostess and my favorite go go dancer represent three points on the continuum of women in Thailand.  I may be back here in two weeks reporting that the nurse broke the date, the air hostess slapped me and my favorite go go dancer called to say she’s never coming home.    As always, everything may go against me, but here’s the fun part about living in Bangkok… at 49 years of age I’m actually in the hunt for a beautiful 26 year old nurse and an intelligent 32 year old flight attendant as well as competing for the interest of a 29 year old dancer who fucks like my sexiest wet dream.

All in the same week.

And I’m barely trying.

I just can’t imagine that would be the case back in farangland.

If you’ve never been to Bangkok, it’s time you came for a visit.

If you live here, don’t forget to say ‘thank you’ every day.