The next day Stephen announced he was going to Bangkok to give a guest economics lecture at Thammasat University. He gave Nid thirty thousand baht, which she split with me immediately after he left. Nid is an honest woman, and since the condo was paid up until the following morning, we decided to spend the rest of the day there watching Thai soaps, smoking ganja and drinking the alcohol Stephen had left for us.
5
Chapter 5
Tony
The flight to Abu Dhabi was pleasant with plenty of space to stretch out because the plane was less than half-full. I paid for an hour of in-flight WiFi and opened my laptop to search for a hotel in Thailand. Because I was arriving on a weekend, I decided on the Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya as Bangkok didn’t seem appealing on a Saturday. The hotel offered a limousine pick-up from the airport for only a hundred dollars so I included that in the reservation. For the last leg of the flight from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok the seats were fully occupied, with middle-aged male travellers making up most of the passengers. The plane finally touched down at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok after a journey of over twenty-four hours. Just as in airports all over the world, I had to queue to get a visa stamped in my passport. Long lines had formed at the few open kiosks. Eventually a female immigration officer stamped me in for thirty days after taking my mugshot. By the time I reached baggage claim my luggage was already circulating on the conveyor. A Thai guy wearing a hotel uniform was waiting in arrivals holding a sign with my name on it, and within ten minutes I was heading to Pattaya in a chauffeur-driven Toyota Camry.
The hundred odd miles to Pattaya took almost two hours. After checking in I went up to the room where my luggage was already waiting for me. I stretched out on the king-sized bed and dozed off. Anyone travelling across several time zones will be used to waking at odd hours, and I was no different. I woke up a little before 11 pm and, unable to drift off again, I took a shower. Still feeling wide awake, I decided to go for a walk along the beach and find somewhere to eat and have a drink.
The hotel was quite a distance away from everything and I walked for twenty minutes before coming across any bars or restaurants. As I walked along the promenade running alongside the beach, I noticed some women lingering in the sparse light. They beckoned me over and loudly asked me where I was going. Quickly realizing they were hookers, I continued walking. All of a sudden I found myself in the middle of a fight between a middle-aged western guy and two young Thai girls. I couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on; the girls were kicking the shit out of him. After the fight was over I heard one of the girls grunt in a low male voice, and realized that they weren’t girls as such, but transsexuals. I soon found out that in Thailand these people were called ladyboys; at the time I was just amazed to see them and didn’t even realize I’d stopped walking. I only realized I was staring at them when one of the ladyboys looked at me, so I just smiled at her and continued on my way, assuming that I’d witnessed a mugging. But whatever the case, I learned a long time ago not to interfere with other people’s business. As I walked away, one of the ladyboys snarled at me as he continued kicking the man on the ground.
I carried on down the road and was soon nursing an ice-cold lager and a cigar in a small restaurant on the beach road. I took in my surroundings and noticed that guys of retirement age were dining and drinking with girls young enough to be their granddaughters, let alone their daughters. I also saw some couples made up of a guy and a ladyboy, with everyone behaving quite casually as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. Even though I wasn’t socializing and kept to myself, it was exhilarating to be out. My body clock felt like it was late afternoon so I continued observing what was going on around me. I still wasn’t at all tired when I was shooed out of the bar by some sleepy-looking staff at 4am. I ignored the offers from motorcycle taxi drivers and smoked another cigar as I wandered back to the hotel, wondering if I’d be able to sleep.
She was leaning against a palm tree – the same ladyboy who had snarled at me earlier that evening. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I spotted her. She quickly moved towards me, clearly looking for a fight. I’m no hero, and having spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan makes no difference; in the army you are a team player, and besides, I’d never served in a combat unit. Here I was in a country that was strange to me with no plan and no one to back me up. Only fools have no fear of what can destroy a man before a shot is fired, or in this situation, a punch is thrown. Although I’ve seen fear many times, I’d never really experienced it until that moment. Luckily, I was able to control it. I feared losing this battle and prayed to God that she still had balls. It was a sense of relief when I felt them in my hand as I went for them. She screamed when I squeezed them. She responded by going for my face with her long, painted nails. I instinctively moved my head and punched her nose with my free hand. We both went down and she began scratching my chest. I grabbed one of her hands to stop the scratching, but she continued with her other hand so I head-butted her and then bit her nose as hard as I could. At this point it was clear that I had the upper hand, but there still was no decisive outcome to the melee. She then changed tactics and played the female card by sobbing and crying out for me to let go. I complied and pulled myself away from her before continuing on my walk back to the hotel. I walked at a more hurried pace this time as I didn’t feel quite so relaxed.
Once in my room I quickly showered and cleaned the scratches on my chest. Sometimes bad events have positive side effects. The mental and physical exercise had exhausted me and I had no trouble falling asleep. I immediately fell into a dreamless sleep until the early afternoon.
I’ve been smoking cigars ever since high school but now it was out of fashion. We cigar smokers are a dying breed. Just as in the US, smokers in Thailand are required to smoke in designated smoking areas. That’s okay for those who burn through a cigarette in a minute or so, but it’s less suitable for smoking a cigar which will burn for over an hour. Once I woke up I felt a need for a cigar, so I tried to find somewhere that I could enjoy one with a coffee. Luckily I found a coffee shop not far from my hotel where I could drink and smoke on an outdoor terrace. It was nothing fancy, but good enough for me to sit and puff away, and have a strong local coffee that the waitress called boran.
I enjoyed the coffee and cigar as I sat, just minding my own business, until some old, fat idiot plonked himself down beside me. He was wearing a flowery Hawaiian shirt and shorts, with his socks almost up to his knees. The reek of bad breath and pungent armpits enveloped me. He started a one-way conversation along the lines of how great Pattaya was for finding young girls, and how he was able to fuck a different one every day for less than the equivalent of thirty dollars. He also told me about his extensive experience of luring girls less than half his age to his room. He no doubt considered himself a real Lothario, and I’d soon had enough of him, and promptly told the guy to fuck off, which he did while muttering under his breath. This earned me an approving nod from a Thai who’d been watching the interaction.
The event somehow spoiled my mood. The presence of this moron had annoyed me and I left to wander around the area as soon as my cigar had burned out. I walked around for some time and ate some Thai street food before I started to feel a little bored. It appeared to me that Pattaya didn’t have much to offer men who weren’t either hungry or horny. With the memory of the previous night’s events still fresh in my mind, I decided not to leave the comfort zone this area had become, and returned to the coffee shop terrace for another coffee and cigar session. Not long after I sat down and lit my cigar, the moron I encountered a little earlier that day suddenly reappeared. This place was apparently his regular hangout spot, but luckily he ignored me completely and went to sit at the other end of the terrace. I was drinking the coffee and puffing away at my cigar when a stunning girl walked by. She wore high heels and had long black hair hanging down to her curvy ass, but when she sat and removed her sunglasses my heart stopped; it was the ladyboy I’d had the unfortunate alterca
tion with the previous night. Her appearance was different this time and she didn’t appear to be hostile. Instead, she glared at me with a vague smile on her face. Presumably, she’d applied a few layers of make-up to her nose as I couldn’t see any bite marks. I regained my composure and beckoned the waiter over so I could send her a drink – I’m fairly pragmatic and consider an avoided conflict as victory. When the asshole saw I’d ordered her a drink he went over to the ladyboy in an attempt to impress me with his Don Juan skills. He walked away moments later, tail between his legs. The ladyboy had clearly taken offence at his inadequate financial offer. At that moment I had an idea. I scribbled a note and beckoned for the waiter to send it over to the ladyboy. The note read: “Hello new friend, please join me for a drink.” She looked over at me with a puzzled expression on her face and I smiled and raised an eyebrow when our eyes met. A moment later she planted her curvy ass in the empty chair opposite me.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“I’m annoyed with that guy who came over to talk to you a minute ago,” I said. “I just want you to sit with me for a bit to show him that I can have you while he can’t,” I added, offering her a thousand baht just to sit and talk for a while. She smiled and nodded in agreement.
My plan worked. The asshole was clearly embarrassed and settled his bill as soon as he’d finished his drink. I made small talk with the ladyboy, and despite feeling uncomfortable in the company of such a strange creature, the hostility between us had passed. Of course she was pleased when I laid the one thousand baht note in her hand. I didn’t hang around for long after that though, and took a taxi back to the hotel. It seemed time to move on, so I booked the chauffeur to take me back to Bangkok the following day, not expecting to see the ladyboy ever again.
6
Chapter 6
Yayee
All the farangs I’ve ever been with have wanted sex, either the vanilla kind or the kinky stuff, but Tony was different – he was the first farang who’d ever earned my respect. I don’t think he’s a sadist as he stopped hurting me as soon as I surrendered during the fight, and I liked the way he used me to embarrass the other farang by making him lose face – something I understand very well as a Thai. Of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy hurting me. I could see the pleasure in his eyes, but only because it was a way of getting what he wanted. Inflicting pain wasn’t his goal. That was the first time a farang had hurt me like that, so it was a bit strange that I liked him. He wasn’t into ladyboys or bargirls, and when I invited him to join me for a drink in Pattaya’s red-light district he clearly wasn’t interested, and left soon after finishing his drink.
His loss – he could have been the first farang to have me for free, but I didn’t give it any more thought because I got a message from Nid about a customer she had for me in Bangkok. A Chinese guy was interested in paying for me to spend a few nights with him in a luxury condo in Thonglor. The money wouldn’t be as easy as the one thousand baht Tony had paid me, but I would be earning a lot more than one thousand baht, and I was looking forward to getting away from Pattaya and seeing Nid again.
Bangkok
As both the capital and the most populous city of Thailand, Bangkok has seen dramatic changes over the course of just a few decades. The once green and lush city has now grown into a mass of concrete, steel and pollution. Bangkok drivers spend an average of 64 hours stuck in traffic jams each year, making the city one of the most congested in the world. The capital plays host to the regional headquarters of many multinational corporations, and is also a major regional centre of finance and business. Bangkok is also well known for its vibrant street life as well as its notorious red-light districts.
Home to some thirteen million residents, the city’s population includes expatriates in their hundreds-of-thousands. Over half of these are Japanese, the remainder consisting largely of Americans and Europeans. There is also a huge number of foreign tourists, either visiting the city itself or passing through on their way to tourist spots elsewhere in Thailand. The many office towers and condominium blocks that make up the haphazard cityscape were built with little urban planning or regulation, resulting in inadequate infrastructure. As a result the Bangkok Metropolitan Region has a population density of 15,300 people per square mile.
Bao Shen
My name is Bao Shen. My family is from Hong Kong and we’ve been involved in the gambling business for many generations, dating back to before the time that Hong Kong became a British territory. My family expanded its business overseas largely through online betting after Hong Kong was formally returned to the mainland in 1997. A crackdown by the Hong Kong authorities in 1999 forced our syndicate to change tactics, pushing our gambling business onto the dark web. The ownership of dark-web websites as well as access to them is anonymous, and the sites cannot be shut down by any government.
We are increasingly settling bets using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Monero, as the transfers are instantaneous, anonymous and cannot be traced. This fact gives comfort both to us and to our users, who are often from countries where gambling is illegal. The syndicate controls over fifty websites on the dark web and accepts soccer bets for matches in Europe and South America, as well as for horse racing in Hong Kong and Australia among other countries. I’m responsible for a new syndicate betting venture for Muay Thai boxing. Gambling on sports matches is illegal in Thailand, even if the matches take place abroad. Thai news often reports police raids on houses and offices to arrest those involved in sports gambling operations, particularly during the World Cup.
I was never actually meant to join the family business. As the holder of a degree in computer science from Shanghai University though, it was natural for me to develop a smartphone app for placing bets. Gamblers can add credit to the app and can even place bets during a match, with the odds changing in real time. Thailand is a great country to test the app as few people own computers, but nearly everyone has a smartphone. Of course, the app isn’t available in the App Store or on Google Play and can only be downloaded from sites on the dark web.
We currently have a problem though. It appears that a gweilo [Chinese pejorative slang for a westerner] copied my app and is trying to compete with us. My uncle sent me to Bangkok to sort this out, and I’m also going to have some fun while I’m here. Not long ago my Thai lady-friend, Nid, introduced me to a gorgeous ladyboy. She is mixed blood and has both a Caucasian father and grandfather. That’s probably why her cock is huge – far bigger than anything I’ve ever seen on a ladyboy before. I’m looking forward to playing with it.
Yayee
This was the second time Nid had set me up with this Chinese guy. He was staying in a huge suite at the Centre Point condo in Thonglor. I’ve had all sorts of weird customers in my time, but nothing compared to this one. He made me clean his already spotless suite while wearing a maid’s outfit consisting of an extremely short skirt and high heels. He just sat at his desk working and got me to pick up the pieces of paper he threw in front of his desk, giving him full view of my panty-less ass while I bent over. Throughout all this, Thai guys would come in to talk business, and I had to serve them drinks while they sat at the large dining table. Almost all of them would just sit and glare at my cock and ass as I served them. One even grabbed my ass while I topped up his drink. It wasn’t too bad though. There was a 65-inch curved-screen TV with a gaming console on which we spent hours playing ARMS and Dark Souls. When I got hungry, we ordered tiger prawns and oysters from room service. Like me, Bao Shen was also a great fan of Chivas Regal whisky. He was a sort of friend of Nid – he’d stopped fucking her, but they seemed to get on well and he let her stay while he went out on business. When he left, we just hung out and got drunk playing on the game console. There was also a good restaurant downstairs where we often went for lunch or dinner, which we billed to the room.
7
Chapter 7
Tony
I’d already been in Bangkok for a week and hadn’t made any progres
s tracing the boiler-room operators, but one weeknight I had a lucky break. Due to either loneliness or boredom, or perhaps both, I wandered into a go-go bar in the early evening. The dancers weren’t yet on stage, and the place was empty except for one other customer who looked like an American. He was African-American and appeared to be in his thirties, completely bald and wearing gold metal glasses. He seemed somewhat intoxicated but was pleasant company. He turned out to be a US Marine, who had also been on tour in Iraq and was now stationed as a security detail at the US Embassy in Bangkok. I felt a connection with the guy, not just because we’d served in the same war, but also because I recognized the weary look in his eyes that showed he’d seen too much. I felt comfortable sharing my experiences with him and explained why I was in Thailand. He nodded while I spoke but took a while to respond.
“Listen,” he eventually said, “haven’t we been through enough shit in this life? Don’t you think it’s time to let go? Your father is dead and so are many others. We’ve seen people suffer and die, and most of them didn’t deserve it. But what’s done is done. At some point you have to let go – if you don’t, you’ll create your own hell.” He didn’t look at me while he spoke; instead he was eyeing the dozen or so naked girls preparing to dance on the stage.
“You see those girls over there?” I replied, “none of them can give me a hard-on bigger than the one I get thinking about what I’ll do to the cunts I’m looking for. To me, it will be far from hell and I’ll take great pleasure in it. Anyway, how did you become such a smart ass?”
The Second Poison Page 4