I went for a walk in the soi in the cooler air after sunset. To escape the traffic and the noise I went up the soi, away from the Skytrain, away from the tall buildings and the Silom road area.
Going in the other direction took me away from the farang zone and into the Thai zone, the maze of smaller sois where ordinary people live. I saw the Noodle Family. Now they were selling pancakes. Maybe I should rename them the Pancake Family.
A kid came walking. I paid no particular attention to him but as he passed me on the pavement he flashed a bright smile at me. There was something about that smile, and something about his eyes, that made think - My goodness, he is a mini-queen!
I gave him the thumbs up.
Next came two Thai-Chinese men in their 40ies. They wore tight singlets that revealed their muscular bodies. They had worked hard in the gym for those muscles. The two men walked tightly together, one man holding his arm across the back of the other, resting his hand on the shoulder of his boyfriend.
After half an hour of walking I reached a busy market. A young man was working at a food stall, cooking. Our eyes met for half a second and he understood why I was looking at him and his partly unbuttoned shirt. He grinned as I passed him on my way to a shop. I gave him the thumbs up too. He knew what I meant and looked happy.
I went to an Internet cafe. I have broadband at home but I still like to go to these places. I can sit down there and enjoy the air condition after walking, and it is only 20 baht an hour. I can also rub shoulders with the local boys.
There were no local boys of the People Like Us categories in this particular place, but as I left someone was standing outside. Two Thai boys were looking at things at a market stall and one of them stood in my way. More than that, he was trying to block my way. At first I was annoyed, but when he partly turned his head to make eye contact I understood he was flirting; he did his best to create a bumping-into situation.
That was round one. Round two came when I had bought a bottle of water and returned to the scene. The boys were standing by a noodle stand, ordering food. Only one of them was cute, the other one needed plastic surgery. Ooops. That sounds awful, doesn’t it? It wasn’t that bad. It was just that he had a large mole on the middle of his nose. It would take any doctor two minutes to remove it. I didn’t understand why he had not begged or borrowed a few hundred baht to get it done. Maybe he thought the mole was cool, as Thais sometimes do.
I considered pinching the butt of the mole-less boy but even if his body language was inviting I thought that was going too far. I poked his back instead. This was not the most elegant thing I have done, but it made him turn and smile. He had gorgeous white teeth. - Where you from? the boys shouted in English.
Round three. I went up the soi and came back. The cute one was still standing by the food stall, waiting for his meal along with his buddy Mr. Mole. The cutie held a twenty baht note in his hand. I went up behind them and pretended to snatch the money. This made them laugh.
But then what? My Thai is good enough to start a conversation but I have trouble keeping it going. What was I supposed to say? And unlike the boys I was embarrassed to interact with them in the bright lights of the market, with lots of people watching. And the lack of purpose held me back. I could not bring them home - at least not for any hoopla.
I went up the street a bit to look for a taxi. Lo and behold, there was another boy. This one was leaning his back up against a cement pole on a street corner. He was showing off, if not soliciting. On second look I was quite sure he was soliciting. His pose was too inviting, his shirt too unbuttoned, the place he stood too visible. I looked back at the cutie by the noodle stand and he was watching me, serious now. A taxi came and I got in. As I sat back in the seat and watched the market from inside the car I was amazed. Only in Thailand, I thought, can I meet this collection of interesting people in just a couple of hours.
When I came home there were no signs of Chalerm. But my mobile phone rang.
- Hello, said Chalerm.
- Hello.
- Come here.
- Where?
- Here.
- Are you home?
- Yes.
I went to the bedroom. Chalerm was in bed. He grabbed my hand and made room for me under the sheets. He was huggy and clingy. For 8pm this was unusual. I swear he can read my thoughts. I had strayed (if only in my mind) and somehow he knew it.
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