An End To Songkran

Songkran had swept over Thailand and everything was wet. It was Sunday night now, and all that was left were a few diehard Thai's and a couple of over-eager foreigners. Things were settling down and drying out. Not us though.

Kids throwing water during Songkran

My friend John from Europe had called me the previous night and had arranged to meet me Sunday night after his flight in from Koh Samui, he had spent Songkran on the islands, and had a few days in Bangkok before heading back North. I in turn had called on my American comrade, Chad from the journey to Laos, and his girlfriend, to meet us at Immortal.

John arrived shortly after me, and we quickly opened a bottle of Thai whiskey. Chad and his girlfriend arrived after the second round, and promptly added another bottle to the fray. He had brought one of his other friends along as well - Will.

Chad explained to me that Will was feeling a bit down after a fight with his girlfriend, and needed a bit of cheering up. He strongly hinted that what Will needed was a trip down to Nana, as I had vividly described the spoils that Nana offers to Chad when we were in Laos, and I quickly got the picture.

John is European so I knew he wasn't going to object, but nevertheless put the idea to the table. The idea was greeted enthusiastically, so we proceeded to finish both bottles, and ventured forth to find a taxi.

Mario, our Italian comrade from Laos, had been informed of our little get together earlier, and made a surprise appearance at the Victory Monument BTS, along with his zealous Catholic Filipino girlfriend, and her church friends.

We realised that if we revealed our plans too soon they would quickly shy away and draw our unwitting Italian comrade away from the temptations we would subject him to, so we concealed our plans. I suggested in an offhand manner that I knew of a great little Australian bar down at the end of Soi 4, and although their suspicions were aroused, they seemed to relax after I allayed their cynicism.

The entrance to Nana Plaza

As we passed the entrance to Nana plaza, Chad and I simply picked Mario up and marched inside. They had little choice but to follow. Mario was sputtering with fear, insistent that his girlfriend would murder him for this. We acted without mercy and made our way up to the second floor and into Angelwitch, carrying a distressed Italian.

For all his worries, the girls seemed to enjoy the show. Mario was however convinced that this was all an act, and he would answer for his supposed crimes later that night. He eventually wriggled free from between Chad and myself, and escaped. His girlfriend and her friends stayed for another show while he waited outside, frantically trying to avoid eye contact with the girls and Kathoeys beckoning him inside.

His party eventually collected themselves, thanked us for a great evening, and dragged our poor Italian friend off to the dog box.

My guests were still enjoying themselves though, so the night wasn't over yet. I had planned to drag them to Billboard next to see how long they would take to figure out the difference, but received a spanking on the way there. My guests seemed to enjoy it, so we entered Spanky's instead.

It wasn't long and myself, Chad and John were up on the stage dancing with the girls, noone seemed to mind. Chad and I sat down again, but John seemed mesmerized and just sat down on the stage and folded his legs, alternating his time between staring at the dancing girls around him and sipping his Singha.

The girls seemed amused by him as his facial expression was frozen the entire time. They started playing a game trying to get him to smile or frown or do something other than stare almost past them with the expression of a blind man. Occasionally, when the girls weren't looking he would look over at us and throw a big smile and attempt to give two thumbs up, almost dropping his beer on the stage.

The mama-san wasn't too impressed by this and we were asked to leave. Will was disappointed as he was busy enjoying a 'free' dance from a girl who was expecting a lady drink. Confusion ensued, so I quickly ordered and paid for a one before words were exchanged and we left.

Will, Chad and the girl thanked us for a great evening, but they had work in the morning and it was way past their bedtime. I had no commitments on Monday and John was on holiday, so there was no way we were going to bed now. We decided to go to Wong's, Bangkok's favourite little dive.

We started to walk in the direction of the BTS out of instinct, not realising it would be closed already, talking and laughing without a care in the world. As we walked past one of Sukhumvit's many mobile beer bars John suggested we make a pit stop, so we did.

There are many little bars like this along Sukhumvit

We sat down and were immediately served by a rather stunning post-op Kathoey. John doesn't seem to have a very good eye for these kinds of things though, and seemed a bit oblivious to this. It wasn't long though before John got bored with the conversation. She and I had hit it off, and he got up to see if he could strike up a similar spark with one of the other "girls".

I had no interest in doing anything other than talking, but this girl had other plans, and asked if she could come with us. I responded by explaining I don't do bar fines, and she said no problem, she just wanted company.

The three of us took a taxi to John's hotel. He had offered that I could stay there earlier, and he didn't mind that I was bringing a friend. We received a few funny looks walking into the hotel, as one always does, but we ignored it and took the elevator up.

Once inside the apartment John poured us some whiskey's, and my new friend leant over and started to kiss me. My hands slid up the inside of her thighs, feeling warmth... I took a sip of my whiskey.

The next thing I knew John was naked behind her, and before I knew what had happened the two of them were on top of each other in bed.

I watched them for awhile and then retrieved my cigarettes and whiskey, opened the sliding door and stepped out on the balcony. I gave one last look back at them and slid the door closed, drowning out their noise with the early morning traffic of Sukhumvit.

Bangkok waking up...

Across the way I could see another red eyed foreigner, drink in hand, having a late night smoke. I wondered to myself what he had done that night, and what he had seen. I wondered if he too was visiting his homophobic friend from Europe - blissfully unaware behind him - closed off by a glass pane and the sound of the morning traffic, staring at the sea of activity in the streets below as the lights of the city faded and the sun rose, and I felt an odd kind of kinship with him.