Table of Contents
The Flower Girl
Author’s note
Chapter 1 - The Flower Girl
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 - Exploring the Island
Chapter 7 - My Perfect Day
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
About the author
The Flower Girl
E-book, 2nd edition 2013
Text by Guy Lilburne
Edited by Burnie Sinclair
eISBN 978-616-222-099-9
Published by www.booksmango.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Text & cover page Copyright© Guy Lilburne
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are entirely drawn from the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, stored or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Author’s note
Last October (2011) I suffered some serious airport delays whilst flying from Manchester to Phuket. The usual 18 hour journey took 32 hours. I sat in the departure lounges at Manchester, Dubai and Bangkok thinking about Thailand, a place I have grown to love. I had my laptop with me and I started typing out a few ideas for my next book. The idea grew and grew and I started writing The Flower Girl. I intended it to be a tribute to everything I love about Thailand, both good and bad.
Also by the author.
The Thai Dragon.
My Thai Story.
The Kiss of the Dragon.
Cocktails & Dreams.
Chapter 1 - The Flower Girl
I knew that I loved her the very first moment that I saw her. I had never seen anyone so beautiful before. She had brown almond shaped eyes that were almost black, hair like black velvet that reached to the bottom of her back and the most fantastic smile that I had ever seen. She had walked up to me with an arm full of red roses for sale. She was The Flower Girl. She was dressed in rags and pregnant, but to me she looked like a princess. I had heard all the stories about all the beautiful Thai girls that loved foreign men and would do anything to please them, and to be honest that is why I went to Thailand. I just wanted to see for myself. I wanted my own Thai beauty, but it was not what I expected and nothing was as it seemed. It wasn’t about love and romance, it was about hard cash. Looking back, I don’t really know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting what I found. I had been in Thailand for two days before I met The Flower Girl. She was to change my life forever in a way that you would never believe and that is why I just had to tell my story.
My name is Steven West and I’m 38 years old, average height and build and nothing special to look at. Actually, ‘nothing special to look at’ is just my way of telling you that I am one of life’s ugly people. Gopping! is how people usually describe me. I never chose to be born ugly, I just was. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t look like the big fella from the Goonies or anything like that! I have never been married, but I’ve had enough girlfriends over the years. To be honest, just like me, they were nothing special to look at and they did look a bit like the big fella from the Goonies, if you get my drift. I live at home with my dad because I can’t afford a place of my own. My mum died of cancer when I was 10 years old and I am an only child. I loved my mum and dad very much, but I always got the feeling that I had somehow intruded into their lives; a sort of unwanted add on. I think that I’m just a normal guy, but what was about to happen to me in Thailand was extraordinary and, at times, frightening. Although you might not believe it, every word is true and I’ll tell you the story just the way it happened.
It is usually a chain of events that puts a person into any predicament. My chain of events started when I saw a travel book on Thailand in the window of one of the charity shops in my local town. I don’t usually look in charity shop windows and I had never actually been inside one in my life. It’s not that I’m mean or anything. I just never thought about looking in one before. I don’t know what made me look in the window that day; I just did and saw the book on Thailand. The cover was a photo of three young boy monks smiling at the camera from the back of a yellow tuk-tuk. I suddenly had an urge to read about Thailand. It was marked up for sale for £1, so I went in and bought it. I read it from cover to cover and was strangely drawn to Thailand. I found myself falling in love with the place. It seemed so exotic and friendly, strange and exciting. I made my mind up that I was going to go and visit Thailand. I decided that the tropical island of Phuket was the place for me, and Karon Beach was the area that I wanted to stay. I worked all the hours of overtime that I could get working in the factory where I had worked since leaving school. I made plastic mouldings, which always made me go home smelling of glue and, according to my dad, the glue also ‘made me stupid’.
I booked the flights and the hotel and crossed off each day on the calendar for the next nine months until finally, my dad dropped me off at Manchester airport.
“Don’t get coming home with a Thai bride” he said as we stopped in the drop off zone.
“I won’t dad.” I forced a smile, knowing that the next thing he would say was going to be about ladyboys, because he had been saying it since I told him that I was going to Thailand.
“And make sure that they are real women. You don’t want any surprises in the knicker department.”
“Yes dad. I’ll make sure.”
“Have you got your passport?”
“Yes dad.”
“Have you got your tickets?”
“Yes dad.”
“Okay son. Well, be careful and I’ll be here waiting for you in two weeks.”
“Thanks dad” I said. There was an awkward silence for a minute. I had never been on holiday without my dad before. We always went to our mobile home in Wales and this was the first time that I had travelled outside of the United Kingdom. I put my hand out and we shook hands and then my dad just leaned over and hugged me. It was only the second time that I could ever remember him hugging me and it was a great start to my holiday.
“I won’t get out the car Steven. Don’t forget your suitcase in the boot.”
“I won’t.”
As soon as I shut the boot he drove away. I stepped out into the road and waved to my dad, but I don’t think he saw me because he didn‘t wave back. I was nervous and excited at the same time. To tell the truth I was a bit scared. I had never been to an airport before and it was a lot busier then I had imagined and everyone, except for me, seemed to know what to do and where to go. I stood there for a while trying to work out where I had to go. There were some queues of people waiting at Check In desks, but then I saw a sign that said Departures. An arrow pointed the way ahead. I didn’t know what Check In was so I headed straight for Departures, because I knew that
I needed to depart. I was soon told that I had to actually check-in first before I could depart. A very nice lady showed me to the Etihad Airways check-in desk and I checked in, departed and embarked on a long, long journey to The Land of Smiles. I had to change flights in Abu Dhabi and again in Bangkok and finally, 24 hours after I left my house with my dad, I landed in Phuket International Airport. The time difference meant that I had to put my watch six hours forward, so now it was actually 12:30pm in Thai time, but I was too excited to be tired.
The heat and humidity made me sweat as soon as I stepped off the plane. I had never been anywhere as hot as this. I just couldn’t stop smiling. I was in another country and it felt so tropical. I paid 700 baht (£14) for a taxi at one of the counters at the airport. The lady gave me a pink coloured paper slip and told me to walk outside the airport and turn left. I did as I was told, dragging my suitcase behind me. A Thai man took the pink slip off me and grabbed my suitcase. I followed him across the car park and I was relieved to sit in his air conditioned taxi. He smiled a lot, but didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Thai. I handed him a print out of the hotel voucher, as supplied by Agoda, and the nice Thai taxi driver took me to The Whale Resort, Patak Road, Karon Beach. I loved the taxi ride to the hotel. All this was another world to me and it all looked so exotic. I saw some monks with shaved heads and wearing saffron coloured robes, just likes the photos that I had seen in my book. I saw two, three and even four people at a time all riding on motorbikes. I saw school children aged 11 or 12 riding motorbikes. I saw a motorbike with a BBQ welded onto the back and it was cooking as the little Thai man drove along. I even saw some elephants and they weren’t in a zoo. The road seemed to go up and down hills and had some extreme bends. There was green jungle on one side and a fantastic clear blue sea on the other. I loved this place already. People were selling everything you could think of from the side of the road; fruit and vegetables, clothes and cooked food.
The taxi driver said something about having to call into the office on the way to the hotel and we stopped outside a small row of glass fronted shops. The driver got out and lit up a cigarette and wandered over to another man and sat on a low wall. I just sat in the back of the taxi and watched him. I was slightly puzzled, but then a pretty Thai lady seemed to just appear at my window and she opened my door and put her hands together in front of her chest in prayer-like fashion and bowed her head to me. It looked so pretty. I tried to do it back to her, but I did it too quickly and poked myself in the eye. She smiled at me and asked me to step into her office for a drink of water. Nobody had ever been so friendly to me before. It was really hot and she was giving me free water. This was a wonderful country and the people really were as friendly as it said in the guide book. I followed her into the office and I drank some water. Her name was Fon and was really interested to know where I was staying and how much I had paid and how long I was staying for. She recommended some really interesting trips and offered me some fantastic discounts on the prices it stated in all the leaflets that she had given me. I really liked Fon. She had no reason to try and get all these discounts for me, other than she was just a really nice person. She was my very first friend in Thailand. She gave me a card with her phone number and said that I could ring her anytime and she would do me a special deal on any trips, once I had made my mind up which ones to go on. She also told me that I could even ring her if I wanted to book a taxi anywhere. It was really lucky for me that the taxi driver had to stop at his office. I had made a real friend in Fon and I was going to be able to get some great bargains. This holiday just kept getting better and better. I was already getting excited about telling all the lads back in the factory how fantastic and friendly this place was.
The taxi driver was outside waiting for me and he took me to the hotel, which was at the end of a small cul-de-sac off Patak Road in Karon Beach. He got my suitcase out of the boot and another Thai man came running out of the hotel to carry my case up to the reception desk. I didn’t know how much to tip the driver, so I gave him 100 baht. It must have been enough because he smiled and did the prayer thing to me as well, holding the money between his hands with a great big grin on his face. I smiled back and did some nodding. I later found out that this greeting that all the Thai people do is called a ‘wai’. It looks very beautiful when they do it and I wished that I could do it as nicely as they do.
I had a lovely poolside room. The patio doors opened out onto a small patio and it was just a hop over a small wall into the swimming pool. I tipped the little Thai man who had taken my suitcase from the taxi, shown me to my room after I had checked in and was now showing me how to use the safe in the room. As soon as he left the room I punched the air and started dancing a little jig. I had made it safe and well to my hotel room in Thailand. I had travelled to the other side of the world all by myself. I had never been so happy in all my life. I actually started singing out loud;
“I feel good, nananana, and I knew that I would now, nanananana………..” I was dancing and pointing to myself in the mirror. I had a big silly smile and I just didn’t care. I was really pleased with myself. I was here in Thailand. Thailand! Half way around the world and I had done it all by myself. The sense of freedom and achievement was intoxicating. I was making myself sweat even more with all the dancing, but I didn‘t want to stop. My heart was filled with joy. I turned on the air conditioning, undressed and had the most fantastic cold shower. All the time I just couldn’t stop singing and I couldn’t stop smiling. I think so far this had probably been the best day of my life. I unpacked my case in the nude and then dressed in my new shorts, tee shirt and flip flops, which I had bought in the sale from Matalan. I walked out of the hotel to go and explore the area. I had noticed so many shops and markets and bars on the journey to the hotel, with so many pretty smiling Thai ladies sitting around. I couldn’t wait to go and say hello and introduce myself.
Chapter 2
Handsome man.
I think I must have been bouncing along and I know that I had a stupid grin on my face, but I just couldn’t help it. I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life. I was in Thailand, the sun was shining and beautiful girls were smiling at me. My hotel was at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. At the beginning of the cul-de-sac, at the junction with of the main street, there were two bars, one on each side of the road. There were a few Thai girls in each bar, just relaxing, chatting and playing pool, but as soon as they saw me they all started squealing and waving to me. They were all calling me ‘Handsome man’. I’m not kidding you, they really were, and some were shouting to me and asking where I was going.
“I don’t know” I said and shrugged my shoulders. Nobody had ever been as interested as this in me before. It was true. I had no idea where I was going. I was just going to go walking around. They were all looking so lovely and sexy, dressed in very short dresses and skirts. One girl even came running out of the bar and grabbed my arm. I couldn’t believe it. All the stories that I had heard were true. All the Thai girls really did like European men, even if you are fat or ugly, or both. I’m the first to admit that I’m nothing special to look at, but they all thought that I was a handsome man, every single one of them. My smile got even wider. Maybe to a Thai lady I looked exotic and interesting!
“What’s your name?” said the girl who had grabbed my arm.
“Steven” I said. “Steven West, I’m from England.”
“Sa-teven?”
“No. Not Sa-teven, Steven” I smiled.
“I say already, Sa-teven.” She smiled and I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Sorry!” I said.
“My name Lek. You want play pool, Sa-teven?”
“OK” I said. I suddenly thought that I had pulled a girl already and I had only walked 20 yards from the hotel. I looked around and all the other girls, who were playing pool in the other bar over the road, were still all looking at me and smiling. A couple even wave
d. I am not joking. I really think I could have taken my pick from all of them, but I didn’t really get a chance to decide. Lek picked me and she was really interested to know all about me. She wasn’t like all the English girls that I had ever met, who never wanted to know anything about me. Actually, most of them didn’t even want to talk to me.
“You stay in Whale Hotel?” asked Lek, while she was racking up the pool balls.
“Yes. I just arrived. Well, about half an hour ago. I just unpacked and had a shower. This is my first day.”
“You have lady, Sa-teven?”
“I have lady?” I found myself repeating and I could feel myself going red. The question just made me feel shy.
“No. I don’t have a lady. I haven’t even got a lady in England. I did have one last year, but it only lasted for a few days. Well, it only lasted for one day really. I kept ringing her for a few days, but she didn’t answer the phone. She had told me on the night that I met her that she had no credit on her phone, but no, I have no lady now. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“You funny, Sa-teven. Why you say like all this? I like you. Do you like me?” she pouted.
“Yes, thank you.”
“How long you stay, Sa-teven?”
“Two weeks.”
“You like lady?”
“Oh yes, I like ladies. I’m not homophobic or anything. I think each to their own, but I only like ladies. That’s just the way I am. Or as they say in America ‘that’s the way I roll’. I knew that I was talking too much, but I was just a bit nervous; well a lot nervous actually. I had never spoken to a beautiful, sexy woman in all my life, and now I was.
“You want lady, Sa-teven?”
“Well, yes. I was hoping for a holiday romance. I just didn’t think it would happen so quickly.”
The Flower Girl Page 1