Pent.
this night was so epic it warrants its own post.
the first night we met up with al, paul's friend from atlanta, who just happened to be in bangkok. al was with his friend from high school who was thai and happened to live and work in bangkok. his name is also paul. thai-paul, it turns out, is a mildly famous former thai actor (he was in ong bak) and model, and his family is like the 5th richest in thailand or something. anyway, i didn't know that at the time. we were to meet them at a bar - a "members only club" - and we were to wear a collar. as we pulled up to the club, it didn't occur to me that the place looked a lot like a strip club. we walked in and found our guys - this way, sirs. it was pretty loungy - we were directed to some couches. i was immediately handed a glass of chivas:
"thanks."
"take a look around guys. whatever you want is yours, just let me know."
"ok." *paul and simon walk off, come back a few minutes later*
"uh, john, don't go into that back room. you won't come back."
"what? what's back there?"
"uh, just go check it out."
"no, i want to get some drinks in me first."
"dude, there's this room with like 45 girls in it."
"what?"
(cue thai-paul, who explains to us that this is a hostess bar, known in korean culture as a room salon, perhaps unkown in american culture. i'll do my best to explain.)
the deal is someone is a member at this club (in our case, paul). you go there to hang out. there is a bar, a lounge room, and swimming pool (really), and a dance club. there is also a room full of SLAMMING thai girls. they are not strippers or hookers, but hostesses. i'm familiar with this because it's rampant in tokyo, and i can explain that in another post. this was, however, my first visit to a hostess bar. hostesses hang out with you, pour your drinks, talk to you, light your smokes, etc. but you have to pay them. in tokyo you have to pay them a lot. i wasn't sure what the deal was in bangkok.
after a few more chivas-and-waters, thai-paul talked me into going back there. i didn't really want to, but there was a lot of peer pressure and al was already talking to some girl, so i figured it was, you know, kosher. thai-paul went with me, and i was getting the sense that he was kind of a VIP there. in charge of the fleet of hostesses is a "mama-san," who is also outrageously attractive. she ushered me into this "room," and, yeah, there were just like a ton of thai girls sitting on couches smiling waiting to be picked. so, nervously and hurriedly i picked one, and mama-san said something to me, to which i replied "ok" without knowing what she said. so this girl stands up and trots over to me and we go back to the couches.
first things first:
"what's your name."
"first."
"ok."
**blah blah blah**
"how old you are?"
"i'm 24. you?"
"20."
i have to stop now because this is where things started to go downhill. as i looked her over, it became apparent to me that this chick wasn't no 20 years old. she was maybe 18. maybe.
literally 5 minutes into things (after i told her i lived in tokyo) she said:
"i girlfriend?"
"uh, ok."
"i love you."
"uh, ok."
"you my boyfriend."
"uh, ok."
"why you laugh?"
"because i've only known you for 5 minutes."
"i want to marry you."
"ok."
"we engaged. we get married?"
"yeah. when? are you going to move to tokyo with me?"
"yes. we get married in two years."
"why 2 years? i'm leaving monday."
"i have to finish high school."
**record skips like in the movies**
"what?"
"you call me every day and we get married in two years."
"ok."
so i'm thinking to myself "christ, am i stuck with this girl all night?" yes, as it turns out, i was. when we announced our engagement to everyone, al said "but john likes japanese girls." this set her off. assuming that i had a japanese girlfriend or girlfriends, she freaked out and threw a huge fit. i ignored it, but realized that she was taking this whole thing a lot more seriously than i was. even al tried to tell her he was kidding, but she didn't get it. this was to continue off and on for the rest of the night.
the group got relatively large, and through the course of the night i can't even tell you how many bottles of chivas got spilled. i'm thinking like 6. dudes were seriously going out hard.
we eventually moved to the dance club part. the [un]ambiguously gay DJ played the techno version of the theme from "dallas" for me and kept leering at me later on, "first" got too drunk, and "kick" told me "you gotta have hope, even if it's 1:45 and you don't have a girl yet, you always gotta have hope. that's the thai way." i tried to escape while my "date" was in the bathroom, but i couldn't get away and she caught up with me. she gave me her number and i told her i'd call her every day and we'd get married in two years. (summer '08 wedding in bangkok). perhaps i was being inconsiderate given how seriously it seemed like she was taking this shit, but thai girls are fucking loco and you gotta watch out for yourself first. plus, i mean, it's her job to do that shit, so i don't really think she was serious. either she was serious and she's insane or she was just working and i don't feel bad about it.
later that night a member of our group was involved in an accident. he turned in front of a motorcycle, which hit the passenger side of his truck going "like 50 mph." the guy on the bike broke both his legs. although, according to some, the driver was not at fault, the cops, smelling alcohol on his breath, took him to the police station, where he took and failed a breathalizer test. a few thousand baht later he was free to go, no questions asked.
the events of my first night opened my eyes - this was the fucking wild west. this city was, in every respect, the complete opposite of tokyo. it was terrifying and exhilarating, appalling and arousing, and so on. it was that night i fell in love with bangkok.
the first night we met up with al, paul's friend from atlanta, who just happened to be in bangkok. al was with his friend from high school who was thai and happened to live and work in bangkok. his name is also paul. thai-paul, it turns out, is a mildly famous former thai actor (he was in ong bak) and model, and his family is like the 5th richest in thailand or something. anyway, i didn't know that at the time. we were to meet them at a bar - a "members only club" - and we were to wear a collar. as we pulled up to the club, it didn't occur to me that the place looked a lot like a strip club. we walked in and found our guys - this way, sirs. it was pretty loungy - we were directed to some couches. i was immediately handed a glass of chivas:
"thanks."
"take a look around guys. whatever you want is yours, just let me know."
"ok." *paul and simon walk off, come back a few minutes later*
"uh, john, don't go into that back room. you won't come back."
"what? what's back there?"
"uh, just go check it out."
"no, i want to get some drinks in me first."
"dude, there's this room with like 45 girls in it."
"what?"
(cue thai-paul, who explains to us that this is a hostess bar, known in korean culture as a room salon, perhaps unkown in american culture. i'll do my best to explain.)
the deal is someone is a member at this club (in our case, paul). you go there to hang out. there is a bar, a lounge room, and swimming pool (really), and a dance club. there is also a room full of SLAMMING thai girls. they are not strippers or hookers, but hostesses. i'm familiar with this because it's rampant in tokyo, and i can explain that in another post. this was, however, my first visit to a hostess bar. hostesses hang out with you, pour your drinks, talk to you, light your smokes, etc. but you have to pay them. in tokyo you have to pay them a lot. i wasn't sure what the deal was in bangkok.
after a few more chivas-and-waters, thai-paul talked me into going back there. i didn't really want to, but there was a lot of peer pressure and al was already talking to some girl, so i figured it was, you know, kosher. thai-paul went with me, and i was getting the sense that he was kind of a VIP there. in charge of the fleet of hostesses is a "mama-san," who is also outrageously attractive. she ushered me into this "room," and, yeah, there were just like a ton of thai girls sitting on couches smiling waiting to be picked. so, nervously and hurriedly i picked one, and mama-san said something to me, to which i replied "ok" without knowing what she said. so this girl stands up and trots over to me and we go back to the couches.
first things first:
"what's your name."
"first."
"ok."
**blah blah blah**
"how old you are?"
"i'm 24. you?"
"20."
i have to stop now because this is where things started to go downhill. as i looked her over, it became apparent to me that this chick wasn't no 20 years old. she was maybe 18. maybe.
literally 5 minutes into things (after i told her i lived in tokyo) she said:
"i girlfriend?"
"uh, ok."
"i love you."
"uh, ok."
"you my boyfriend."
"uh, ok."
"why you laugh?"
"because i've only known you for 5 minutes."
"i want to marry you."
"ok."
"we engaged. we get married?"
"yeah. when? are you going to move to tokyo with me?"
"yes. we get married in two years."
"why 2 years? i'm leaving monday."
"i have to finish high school."
**record skips like in the movies**
"what?"
"you call me every day and we get married in two years."
"ok."
so i'm thinking to myself "christ, am i stuck with this girl all night?" yes, as it turns out, i was. when we announced our engagement to everyone, al said "but john likes japanese girls." this set her off. assuming that i had a japanese girlfriend or girlfriends, she freaked out and threw a huge fit. i ignored it, but realized that she was taking this whole thing a lot more seriously than i was. even al tried to tell her he was kidding, but she didn't get it. this was to continue off and on for the rest of the night.
the group got relatively large, and through the course of the night i can't even tell you how many bottles of chivas got spilled. i'm thinking like 6. dudes were seriously going out hard.
we eventually moved to the dance club part. the [un]ambiguously gay DJ played the techno version of the theme from "dallas" for me and kept leering at me later on, "first" got too drunk, and "kick" told me "you gotta have hope, even if it's 1:45 and you don't have a girl yet, you always gotta have hope. that's the thai way." i tried to escape while my "date" was in the bathroom, but i couldn't get away and she caught up with me. she gave me her number and i told her i'd call her every day and we'd get married in two years. (summer '08 wedding in bangkok). perhaps i was being inconsiderate given how seriously it seemed like she was taking this shit, but thai girls are fucking loco and you gotta watch out for yourself first. plus, i mean, it's her job to do that shit, so i don't really think she was serious. either she was serious and she's insane or she was just working and i don't feel bad about it.
later that night a member of our group was involved in an accident. he turned in front of a motorcycle, which hit the passenger side of his truck going "like 50 mph." the guy on the bike broke both his legs. although, according to some, the driver was not at fault, the cops, smelling alcohol on his breath, took him to the police station, where he took and failed a breathalizer test. a few thousand baht later he was free to go, no questions asked.
the events of my first night opened my eyes - this was the fucking wild west. this city was, in every respect, the complete opposite of tokyo. it was terrifying and exhilarating, appalling and arousing, and so on. it was that night i fell in love with bangkok.
posted by digital bees at 00:56
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home