This is Thailand. Chapter 12: Cheating. Part 3.

The girl came on her motorbike to the main gate of Laguna Phuket, where we were to meet. In jeans, a white t-shirt and loose hair, she looked a bit less exotic than she had the night before in her traditional costume and hair style.

Link to the previous part: This is Thailand. Chapter 12: Cheating. Part 2.

We jumped on a free shuttle bus, which took us around all of the hotels in the resort and finally dropped us in front of Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket. I grabbed Nok’s hand and led her inside. We went through roofed halls without walls, cooled by slow-moving but powerful ceiling fans. A hired artist in a traditional costume of Thai aristocracy played some music on an unknown instrument that looked like overgrown cymbals. Rich Swedish tourists looked at each other in a knowing way, which no doubt read as - Farang is taking a prostitute to his room. - We went to the garden that was full of tall palm trees, tropical bushes and exotic flowers. We passed a couple of swimming pools and entered one of the restaurants, which was completely empty. We sat at the table covered in white cloth and waited for the staff to bring us the menu. I saw that the price of the food was making Nok feel uncomfortable.

-What would you like to eat? Seafood? - I tried to encourage her.
-Maybe... I’m not sure.
-Take what you want. No problem. - I tried to suggest subtly that the problem of the price was mine alone.
-Ok, thank you. What will you eat? Seafood as well?
-No... I don’t eat seafood and fish.
-Oh, really?! Why?!? - Nok asked in disbelief.
-I don’t know... maybe I was a fish in a previous life?

The girl burst into laughter and smiled like a winner. It was possibly the first time I had joked and it had been understood. I ordered nam tok mu – spicy pork with sticky rice. One of the Laotian legends says that if you eat too much sticky rice, your nose will start to disappear. This, according to Thais, is why they have such small, flat noses. I love sticky rice. Piam claimed that it made my nose smaller. If that was true, I was glad it was only my nose that it made smaller. Nok ordered tom yum soup with rice. Normal rice. I don’t know many stories about this dish, except that it costs ten times the price of on the streets of Bangkok and that my dish wasn’t inducing the burning sensation in my mouth that I had gotten used to from the bazaar outside my apartment. Judging by Nok’s face and the fact the she asked for additional chilli three times, it seems they didn’t do the right job on hers either. We finished eating and I asked for the bill to be charged to my room.

-I won’t ask how you liked it, because I know you didn’t. - I said, striking up conversation.
-It was alright, it was a... different tom yum. Interesting experience.
-Different means bad?
-Hmmm... well, not spicy. But don’t worry, I’m very grateful. Thank you.
-No problem. I left my camera in my room. Let’s go... I’ll take a few photos.

Grateful? I hadn’t heard that word from Piam for months. It seemed that supporting her, her daughter and acting as financial support for her family was my fucking duty. We went for the camera, but of course the only reason was for me to get Nok to my room. The girl rejected my invitation however, blushing mercilessly and saying that she was not like that and was afraid for her reputation. It was probably because of the people who had just passed us by. I grabbed her hair, covered her mouth with an open hand, and threw her on the bed...

Just kidding. I remained calm, left her in front of the room, took the camera and rejoined her in the hallway. We continued our walk towards the traditional Thai restaurant and sailed for an hour across the laguna and got off at the Sheraton Laguna Phuket hotel. We climbed up the clock tower, from where we could see the whole view of the resort. Green fields full of tall trees, gardens with exotic flowers and water of a man-made lagoon. To the west, was a 5-mile long beach, which beyond we could see the limitless Andaman Sea. Nok was speechless. It was time to try again to bring her to my room. I didn’t inform her about my plans. I just opened the doors to the room and invited her inside with a delicate gesture. The girl looked at me nervously, then walked in. 1-0 to me.

Piam spat venom at me again in the text messages. I treated it as a green-light to go to work and switched it off. We ended our date kissing passionately in the white linen of my 5-star bed. First base scored.
We met the following morning. This time, Nok came to my room without any problems. Despite that, I didn’t get beyond second base. Using a baseball analogy, it would have meant that I was able to remove her bra. Perhaps not all Thai girls are interested in fucking farangs as soon as they meet.

The girl went to work and I spent some time on the beach, in the sea and in the swimming pool thinking about the newest idea of my friend, Peter. Peter worked with one of the leading incentive travel agencies. Similar to me, about a year ago he had had enough of his work and wanted to create his own travel agency. He even had the first clients with whom we could go to Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam and of course Thailand with. What we could possibly earn on this project, would probably help us survive six months in the country, as expenses probably wouldn’t increase. I would have to quit my job in Dusit Thani College. I slowly lost all illusions about Thailand’s educational system, so quitting the job wasn’t the toughest decision I’d ever made. More and more often, I felt that I showed my middle finger to the system, only to be caught out again a few months later. Of course it’s much better to teach English in tropical Thailand than to correct invoices behind a desk in rainy Ireland, but let’s be honest – I was not a good teacher. And I didn’t intend to do it for the rest of my life. The college guaranteed me some sort of stability, but was it really what I was after at this stage of my life? I came back to my room and sent Pete a message:

-I’m in! You can quit your job.
The answer was almost instant: - :-) :-) :-)

I met with Nok in the morning, just to say goodbye.
-Thank you Nok, it was a pleasure to meet you.
-The pleasure was mine. Will I see you again?
-Of course. I’ll let you know when I’m coming to Phuket. And you can let me know if you’re ever in Bangkok.
-Great, I’m really happy. Marek, I have one small request.
-Yes?
-I’m going for a friend’s birthday and want to buy her a bottle of wine because she likes it, but I haven’t had my salary on time. Could you please help me?
-How much is the wine?
-I don’t know, probably about 3000 baht.
-Hmmm... I don’t have cash on me and there are no ATMs in the area. I’m afraid I can’t help you this time, sorry.
-It’s ok, no problem.

3,000 baht for wine? Even I was not so naive. A bottle of decent wine did not cost more than 600 baht. The whole story about wine and birthday struck me as suspicious also. Thai women that I know, generally didn’t drink much alcohol and I certainly didn’t know any fans of wine. It was clear that Nok wanted a third of her monthly salary just for spending time with me in Phuket.

Unfortunately, stopping at first base wasn’t worth it. We said goodbye in the hotel car park and, after her request, I felt we wouldn’t see each other again. I didn’t want to change one gold-digger for another. I took a taxi to a bus station, where I jumped on the van heading for Ao Nang – the most popular tourist spot in Krabi – a picturesque province some 180 kilometres southeast of Phuket...

TO BE CONTINUED...