jagoturner Posted June 10, 2003 Report Share Posted June 10, 2003 The Queen of Bangkok I saw her each day on Khao San Road. In her late fifties but maybe younger. It?s hard to tell after the harsh Asian sun have burned a skin to a leathery darkness. She wandered around wearing ancient flipflops, loose blue jeans and a looser blue-grey shirt with a neck as wide as the blades of her shoulders. Her feet were usually black with soot and dust but she didn?t smell. Her hair was matted and thick but lacking any grey. Her features scored with the lines of age and her teeth only half present but she didn?t seem to think much about this. When she walked she walked as if she was the Queen of Bangkok. The most beautiful girl in town. There was a swing to her hips as if she was still the good time girl breaking the hearts of GI?s on R & R. Sending them back to the war with dreams of her sweet young flesh. Of course at times she would laugh at herself and her lack of beauty like a crone knowing full well that her looks had vanished but she played a game for herself and everyone else that she was still the dream date. Thais are not always kind with their words. At times they would cast some remark about her to her face that probably stung but she bore it with the grace of a superior being. The fact that when she leaned forward her shirt opened revealing not shapely breasts but udders that looked as though the flesh had been sucked away through the teat was not her concern. If someone made a remark about this it was probably just that they were jealous because once she had been so beautiful and her beauty was such that they would never know. Not that anyone treated her as a madwoman. She was an eccentric. A character. And people would often ask her to eat with them. One day after a cop out breakfast at Buddy?s I walked into the narrow curling alleyway that led from Khao San Road to Rambutri Road and she came up to me and hurled herself at me embracing me tightly and kissing my chest. ?I love you? she said. ?I love you... I go with you for fifty baht.? ?Sorry... I?ve just had breakfast. Maybe another time.? ?But I love you now.? She said and kissed me again and again on the chest before leaning her head on my chest. ?Pba... Pba...? She said nodding at me. ?Pay duay.? Her grip on me was like a vice. Age had certainly not made her feeble. ?Sorry... I would go with you.... But I?d be afraid you might break my heart.? At this she let me go and cackled. She looked after me as I walked on. ?Never mind... Maybe tomorrow.? ?Yeah... Maybe tomorrow.? I said... Mildly shocked to have been accosted but accepting that this was part of being in Bangkok. I checked my wallet just in case and immediately hated myself for thinking that her game had some ulterior motive. I looked back at her as she walked on away as if there was another man around the corner who would happily take her to his bed. Her walk swaggered and I thought, for a second, I saw the ghost of a younger women imposed over her. I never really thought about this much. I was still new to it all then. I suppose I thought she was just some madwoman swimming in a mental landscape of white lies and illusions. But who knows. Maybe she was the Queen of Bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2003 Report Share Posted June 10, 2003 Wonderful story. Maybe I knew her in my early days in Bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted June 10, 2003 Report Share Posted June 10, 2003 I returned to the States in late April, ending a 3 month sojurn in Thailand and promptly fell into the well documented post LOS funk. I was surfing around the Nanaplaza site, looking up "Cents" beautifully crafted pieces about life in Thai villages when I hit one of his links to your work; Man, can you write! I had to forcefully ration myself to a couple of stories a day but it was the medicine I needed to disperse my malaise. Your opening lines are incredible, they always put me right into the heart of the piece. There is a book inside you, just waiting to bust out! dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagoturner Posted June 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2003 Statesman 1954 - Thanks and out of interest... When were your early days in Bangkok ? dddave - I know that post LOS funk well... It's like a strange disease of the blood that makes ordinary day to day satisfactions seem empty. The nights can be so quiet that your ears hurt. You can even find yourself listening to music that you used to hate because it puts you back in that state of mind. I'm glad if my stories help in any way. As for the book... It's close... Whether anyone publishes it or not is another matter. You see reviews for some film, documentary or novel that say "not another western man's look at the Thai sex industry" and it makes you wonder whether you shouldn't be writing about something else but... We'll see. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted June 11, 2003 Report Share Posted June 11, 2003 good luck with the book. on this piece I must say I knew one girl on one of my first visits in bkk & I frequently referred to her as 'queen of bkk'. thanks for reminding me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagoturner Posted June 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2003 Thanks ib13. It's interesting that so many fallen women take on that aspect of royalty. As if they have somehow managed to elevate themselves above every bad word that has been spat at them and have learned to fly above it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted June 15, 2003 Report Share Posted June 15, 2003 yes they truly deserve to elevated a bit after many years in 'service', but actually the 'queen' i WAS REFERRING TO WAS quite young even now! cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 15, 2003 Report Share Posted June 15, 2003 I first went in 1970, and then several times between then and 1982 - I then didn't go again until May this year - see my trip report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted July 9, 2003 Report Share Posted July 9, 2003 Jo, Excellent! Think I've seen a few queens around BKK. :-) Good story. Thanks. Any more? When ya get a chance contact me will ya? @ mpberg@webtv.net I'm back in the states now, but will be returning to BKK in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Cent p.s. Oh yeah. I restarted my yahoo mail account for when I'm in the LOS. I now have a computer in the Surin house. The addy is: centralscrutinizer01902@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singhaman Posted July 10, 2003 Report Share Posted July 10, 2003 Wonderful Story.....beautiful written. Nothing else to add. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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