Chapter 8
1276 Words
Chapter 8
Bangkok. Khao San Road.
The smell of fried chicken hit Frank’s nostrils as he jumped from the taxi. The thick air seemed almost unbreathable. A Westerner grinned at him from a café table as if Frank were a patsy in a creampie joke. He shoved some baht notes at the driver, determined to find this guesthouse as soon as possible.
It took a while for Frank to get to the guesthouse that Theo had recommended. He almost considered going to the first place he saw, but then decided against it and soldiered on. Eventually, another English tourist pointed him in the right direction.
The room in the ‘Sunny Beach’ was clean; the ceiling fan provided cool comfort for half an hour as Frank smoked cigarettes and watched the propelling blades slice up the grey cloud. A high-pitched whine stung in his brain. Frank decided to lay off the alcohol for a while. Those drinks on the flight from India hadn’t done him any favours.
The outside eating area was a small courtyard where he’d come through from the side street earlier and was decorated on all sides with beautiful mosaic tiling, featuring a Buddha dominating a Thai landscape. It was a quiet spot, well away from the frantic Khao San, and Frank felt relieved he’d followed Theo’s advice.
He wanted a drink and a bowl of noodles, and then remembered he was off the booze, but when the waitress came over he decided to order a Singha beer anyway. Looking around at the clientele, Frank could see a few Thai office workers and old travellers killing time at the tables. An old, silver-haired, tanned guy in a red shirt read the Bangkok Post and smoked a cigar.
Another man stopped at his table. He had a young Dirk Bogarde look about him, with jet black hair, sideburns and a five o’clock shadow on his chin and wore typical English attire: long sleeved shirt and white slacks.
“Mind if I sit here?” he asked.
“Of course, no problem,” said Frank.
“Just arrived?” the man enquired.
“Yeah, I came from Goa. I’m headed south as soon as I can get out of here.”
They introduced each other as Frank’s beer and Thai noodles arrived.
“I’m Richard.”
“Frank.”
Richard ordered himself a coffee.
“Bangkok is an extremely interesting city. It can be a tad daunting on first arrival though.”
“It’s manic. I’ve only been here a couple of hours but I’m not planning to hang around.”
“Well, you can’t leave until you’ve visited the infamous Pat Pong.” Richard winked at him.
“Oh, what’s that?” Frank asked, sucking in his noodles.
“You don’t know about Pat Pong? It’s girlie bar central, Frank. It’s where the action is,” said Richard. He noticed Frank didn’t look convinced and added, “Don’t worry, we’ll just look around and have a laugh.”
***
The tuk-tuks swarmed through the early evening traffic, weaving past helmetless bikers and Japanese cars. The pollution rose in the air like a mist, making the city’s buildings look like grey husks through the taxi window. Golden roofs of little temples tucked away amongst the shanty huts, jutted into the dimming sky.
The two men paid the fare and joined the crowd that milled around two parallel roads of Pat Pong. It was packed with T-shirt stalls, girly bars and prostitutes of every manner. There was certainly a seedy feel about the place. Richard warned that it was easy to get ripped off, but he knew a good place to go.
They were constantly harassed by gangs of girls or Thai pimps. Frank glanced into a passing bar and caught a glimpse of a beautiful Thai girl, dressed in a bikini, gyrating around a silver pole. She was closely watched by a gaggle of men at the bar.
Richard turned to Frank, smiling, as they fought through the crowd and pointed towards a side street. “I was down here last week,” he started saying as they negotiated the crowd. “I saw a group of Rugby lads fight their way out after they were asked for an extortionate amount of money for their beers.”
They paused to let a group of singing young German men pass them by.
“Another time there was a chap who had to flee for his life from a strip bar,” Richard continued, “he was chased by machete wielding Thais who ran the place.”
“What did he do?” asked Frank.
“I heard later that he accidentally insulted one of them. And he groped one of the girls which obviously didn’t go down well.” They turned left into an alleyway.
Great, thought Frank, sarcastically, as Richard rang a doorbell to a sinister looking metal door. A slot zipped open for a moment before the sound of a bolt unlocking the door revealed an older Thai woman peering out from the darkness. She held a torch to their faces and Richard quickly gave her some money. The two men followed the torchlight along a blackened corridor which led up a series of steps. She knocked on another door and babbled something in Thai before it opened to a buzzing interior, tinged with red light.
A bar ran all the way around a raised stage where people hunched over their drink and watched a group of dancers swing their stuff. To the back of the dimly lit room lay further tables and seats on different levels. The two men took seats at the bar and ordered beers. A group of young Thai girls in bikinis immediately surrounded them.
“Buy a drink for lovely girl?”
“Wanna try nice girls like us?”
Frank smiled at them. “We’re just here for the show and a beer.”
“Beer s**t. Try hot Thai girl,” one of them said. Frank laughed, wondering how he had been persuaded to come here.
Richard ordered drinks for the girls, which consisted of an inch high measure of orange juice and cost the same as their beers. He gave them to the girls who made small talk before leaving them to find more willing customers. After a while, a young couple came on stage and started a live s*x show for the crowd. Twenty or thirty positions later, they trooped off. Their bored expressions throughout the entire spectacle indicated it was just another day at the office. Frank took in the seedy atmosphere and drank the beer in quick gulps.
“There’s a free table at the back, let’s grab it,” said Richard.
“You’re a sad old man, Rich, knowing these type of places,” Frank said jokily.
Richard laughed. “Yeah. Just red-blooded. But it’s all part of Bangkok’s rich tapestry, you know.”
Richard gestured for more drinks from the waitress dressed as a Playboy bunny.
“I like to live a certain type of life, Frank.” He lit his tenth cigarette of the hour. “I can meet people here. For the kind of business, I do.”
Frank sensed a change of tone in the conversation.
“There are ways of staying out here and making money and that’s what I do. I’m not a traveller Frank, I live here.”
He smiled again, but Frank could tell by his eyes he wanted to get something off his chest.
“I guessed as much,” said Frank. “So how does someone from the old country make a living here?”
“Well there are all kinds of business one could get into. Asians love to do business, Frank. It’s in their blood. That’s what I love about it over here. No bullshit.”
“Yeah I can imagine,” nodded Frank.
Richard continued to talk about the black market, currencies, precious metals like gold, even selling snakes. It was a crash course in being a hustler in Thailand. After a few more beers, Richard mentioned he had a problem. He needed someone to bring some gems to Bangkok from the south. It was an easy deal, easy money. No borders to cross. He used travellers all the time, apparently.
“Thanks for the offer, Richard, but it’s not really my line. Not right now anyway,” he said.
“No problem, Frank.” He searched his wallet and gave Frank a business card that only had a Bangkok phone number on.
“Just give me a call if you change your mind.”
Frank took the card and slipped it into his wallet.
- Writer
