Miss Perfect part 2.

I came to Bangkok to get away from England. After the big fight with the missus I couldn’t settle back down to lorry driving. My mind was wandering too much. A bloody great pile up on the M.1. was on the cards the way I was going. I needed a complete change and tell the truth I’ve always fancied Asian women. From afar like. But I’d heard stories about Thailand so I thought why not? I’m free now. Still got a bit of cash left after the divorce. Go for it.

Where was I? Oh yes. I was telling you about Nok. I’ve been paying her barfine for about a week now. We’re like an old married couple (just joking). We usually stay in bed till around midday then get some noodles somewhere and maybe do a bit of shopping. She loves shopping. Then she trots off and I see her again in the evening at the bar. It’s all right but I’m not sure where we go from here. And I do think about the money a bit too. Somebody has to be serious around here.

I do a few calculations. At the moment with the hotel and everything I can probably get by on a couple of thousand baht a day. Throw in a few drinks, barfine and what I give her….say 5000 a day. Minimum. You’ve got to be realistic so say 6000. About a hundred quid a day let’s say give or take a few quid. Quite depressing when you look at it like that. I’ll be broke in 4 months. I use the ATM too much as it is. And I seem to be handing out thousand baht notes like Santa Claus.

Life is funny. You think when you find someone special that’s the end of your problems yeh? But it’s the beginning too in a way. I get quite philosophical sometimes you could say. Or maybe Nok’s right. I just think too much.

The thing is I would never meet a girl like her in England in a million years. Let alone shag her. First off, English girls these days are all mouth. And fat. Fat noisy slappers that’s what you find in the pubs these days. A lot of blokes are amazed when they come to Thailand to find girls like Nok. Oh you get some rough ones here too but a girl like Nok can be working bar and still be polite and ladylike and make a bloke feel good. It just seems to come naturally to Thai girls. Funny thing is most of them don’t even know how pretty they are. It’s a mystery. I love Thailand.

The sex is great of course...best I’ve ever had but just lying in bed with her is nice too and watching her do things. I love the way she folds her clothes and rinses out her knickers and stuff. I love the way she lets me look at her body when we’re on the job but she still gets dressed behind a towel. Quite shy really. She’s always busy but never in a rush like.

Sometimes I wish I’d tried harder at school. Not that I’m clever or anything but it would be nice to write all this stuff down. It would give me something to do for one thing. Life can get boring even in Thailand and it’s good to keep your mind active. As it is I spend all day thinking about Nok. I wish I could explain it better. I ask her what she wants and she says ‘I want mally good man’ Strewth marry! One thing at a time Nok I say, I just met you. The thing is she’s not really a bar girl at all. Well she is but what I mean is she’s not really on the game. I’ve been through the options in my mind like…tell the truth that’s all I do these days. I can keep paying her barfine of course. But that’s daft. And how long can two people live in a hotel room anyway? What about her stuff? My visa’s up in a week too then what?

Am I making a big mistake? I keep asking myself that. This thing just started. I can’t blame her. If it hadn’t been me it would have been some other bloke. She was just sitting there like fruit on a tree. Or maybe I started it. I didn’t have to pick the fruit. And I could have taken a bite and walked away. So how will it end? There’s basically two ways. We either stay together or we don’t.

Did I mention her mates? There’s these two girls in the bar where she works…she might even live with them I’m not sure. I took them all out for noodles once after the bar closed and she did tell me their names but I can’t remember. Funny names they have. Anyway I go to the bar one evening and no Nok. I didn’t think too much about it but she still hadn’t showed up after about an hour so I mention it casual like to one of these mates of hers. ‘Nok she go village,’ says one and the other one kind of snorts. She doesn’t seem to like me much. Jealous most likely.

I met this writer bloke the other day. He was sitting in that Golden Bar. Chuck something. We got talking and I told him all about Nok and I could see he was interested. ‘Look,’ he says, ‘you can’t just leave it hanging like that.’

‘Well,’ I say, ‘the way I see it there’s basically only two ways this can play out. Either Nok gives up the go-go life and moves in with me for good like or I stop seeing her.’

‘Do you have money?’ Chuck asks.

‘Some.’

‘Enough for a house in the country? If not you better forget it.’

He’s the cynical type is Chuck. Most of these old-timers are like that. But he may be right. There’s no future for me and Nok. I can’t afford her that’s the truth. I could go back to England and work but what about Nok in the meantime? Suppose she meets some other bloke. Chuck sees me puzzling over this and he says, ‘You’re not the first my friend. What you want takes money. I’m just trying to save you some heartache down the road.’

What he doesn’t tell me is he’s making mental notes for some story he’s writing. Wouldn’t put it past a bugger like him to post it on some website somewhere complete with a picture. Nothing like a picture of some cute Thai girl to get blokes reading.