Gay Boy Thailand

One of these

2 am. I woke up hungry for a snack and I went to the 7-Eleven.

A Malaysian boy sat on a bench.
- Do you remember me? asked the boy.
- Yes, I said.
- I work massage now, said the boy. - 20 ringit for foot massage. Only massage. No extra, you know.

This was not what I had heard. The girls had told me I could get the full monty if I paid for it. But never mind. I let him save face.

The street was full of people even at the late hour, Malaysia style. Children were playing ball games and the adults were chatting.

I wondered if I should tell this moneyboy turned massage artist that he still had a bad breath problem. But it wasn’t any of my business.
- I stay in that hotel, said the boy and nodded towards a shoddy establishment behind us. - My sister stays there too. She also works massage.

The sister arrived and both of them tried to talk me into some massage. I was not interested.
- Look, said the boy. - There is my friend.
- Who?
- The woman. She is orang phuti, just like you.

I turned and saw a chubby white woman come out of the 7-Eleven.
The boy waved to make her come over to us.
- She is orang phuti, just like you! repeated the boy and smiled.

He expected me to be happy to meet someone from my own tribe. I should run over and hug her, followed by eager conversation till sunrise and lifelong friendship.

I tried to smile.
- Oh is she? I said.
What I really wanted to say was: a fat white cow? Keep that woman away from me!

The moneyboy was not aware of the animosity that exists between white men and white women in Asia, and in particular in Thailand. I did not know either, but I soon learned about it after moving to Bangkok.

I have received enough nasty accusing looks, almost snarls, from them to have learned my lesson. I get it on the street, on the Skytrain, at airports and in shopping centres. Newly arrived middle aged tourists are the worst. And if I dress informally or carry a camera I get more of it, as this makes me look touristy. Sex tourisity.

My first Fat White Cow was in my apartment building in Bangkok, shortly after I had moved in. The reception (aka gossip central) told me that a woman from my country had moved in above me. She wanted to meet me. How nice.

I went to see her. She was young, but still white and fat. Not only was she from my country, she was even from my city and the same part of town. We had lived within a stone’s throw of each other. We should have a lot to talk about, right?

The tone changed as soon as she, still standing in the door opening, asked me what I was doing in Thailand.
- Um I do some photograhpy and writing, I said.
It sounded lame and defensive and it was the wrong answer. I might as well have said “I am here to indulge in homosexual acts with skinny brown boys half my age. Got a problem with that, Miss Too-Holy-For-Sex?”.

The farang girl, on the other hand, had already given the right answer. She was in Thailand to help the poor and bring them Jesus.

The conversation halted and I made my excuses and left. A few weeks later I knocked on her door again. Before our first meeting had turned awkward she had talked about borrowing my flag for some event she was going to attend. Being a man of my word I wanted to follow up on my promise.

But when she saw me for the second time she greeted me with the warmth and hospitality of your average iceberg. Maybe she had seen me with Chalerm, or maybe the gossipy reception ladies had told her? She didn’t want to borrow my flag anymore and I never saw her again.

We were not in Thailand, which helped, but it was 2am and I was sitting on a bench in Malaysia with a moneyboy. To my relief the Fat White Cow ignored the moneyboy’s waving and shouts for her to come over. Phew! Maybe she wanted to avoid me just as much as I wanted to avoid her.

The moneyboy told me this woman was his friend because she had a job in the hotel he and his sister lived in. What kind of Fat White Cow was this, working in what was as good as a whorehouse? Maybe I should ask around about this woman. If I get some dirt on her I can snarl back, for once.