It was my first night in Bangkok, and it was already dark outside when I decided to venture out to buy a newspaper and familiarise myself with the local surroundings, I’d planned to go for an event-less stroll and stretch my legs after the long flight, but the hotel doorman had different plans for me. Almost pleading with me and seemingly in fear for my safety he explained that Bangkok was a dangerous place at night, and that I would be far better off hoping into the waiting tuk-tuk (a motorised rickshaw of sorts), which would happily whisk me away to anywhere I wished to go, for a reasonable price.
Bright lights in a big strange city, pollution, cooked chicken, and sweet chilli, a swirling vortex of counterfeit consumer goods, dancing girls, Thai beer, and cheap cigarettes, and then nothing but the sinking sea-sick sensation that comes with sleep, after a night of unexpected excesses enjoyed.
Upon waking my head was a mess of fragmented memories, and the room held evidence of crimes too heinous to recall. But I knew that somewhere between stepping inside the tuk tuk of the grinning Thai who’d been my driver for the evening and waking this morning, I’d enjoyed a very expensive sea food meal at a very posh restaurant the likes of which I would usually avoid, I’d been cajoled into shopping for antique statues of questionable origin, and amongst other things, the Thai woman that now lay beside me still snoring softly, did more than suggest that at some point I’d ventured into Thailand’s notorious red light scene, and I hadn’t returned alone.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember the events of the night before, and I recalled that it had all started innocently enough. The tuk tuk driver had explained to me openly that if I was willing to visit his friends store, he would be given free petrol tokens for taking me there. And with little else to do I agreed.
But the store I was taken to was way out of my league, full with antique statuettes and carvings of exquisite craftsmanship, with price tags to match. So I browsed swiftly like a man in a museum that held little of interest, and then I got the hell out of there.
But the store I was taken to was way out of my league, full with antique statuettes and carvings of exquisite craftsmanship, with price tags to match. So I browsed swiftly like a man in a museum that held little of interest, and then I got the hell out of there.
So with the night lit up light a dirty Christmas tree we sped off again into the darkness. Passed towering malls, and food stalls, and near collisions, and t-shirt vendors, and prostitutes of ambiguous gender, completely at the mercy of the grinning Thai behind the wheel.
And at some point during the night I’d chosen a big pink fish from a tank, and then eaten it with Thai style side dishes, copious amounts of beer, and complimentary schnapps. Dining alone at a restaurant that was far too posh for me.
There were more drinks along the way, shared with my driver who by this point had wormed his way into the action, and positioned himself as a confidant of sorts, and a drinking partner for those who found themselves alone in strange lands. And it was upon his suggestion that we headed towards ‘Jasmines’, “to watch girls dance” as he put it. And with a belly full of fire; I needed little in the way of convincing.
To be continued.
