'I have no money, and have not eaten all day,' he said.
In Thailand, this is often as good a conversation-opener as you will get. So, despite the hour, we started asking about each other's lives - while wrestling over a 20 baht note which Nam (his name) fished out of my top pocket while I wasn't looking.
I would not let the 20 baht note go, and neither would he. He pulled it in his direction, I pulled it back in mine.
Nam, a personable, chatty young thing, likes to stand up close when he talks, which adds to his friendly appeal. It also brings him within reach of my shorts pockets, so while I was play-wrestling over the 20 baht note, he used his other hand to fish out my cellphone...and when I took that back, my wallet. When that failed he grabbed my crotch instead.
Now, if Nam really had sinister intentions he could have made a mad sprint away with those items. But he did not look like a bad boy... and in any event, he could not have gone far, as he lives in the same market as me. In fact, his place is right next door to my condo, it turns out, so if anything, I might have problems avoiding him, if he gets too good at asking for money.
Finally I relented and gave him B100 for food.
Two days later, I saw him again, when he called to say that once again he was out of money. When I found him he was talking to the security guard in the condo car park - no doubt taking this opportunity to neutralise him as a potential nuisance.
The night when we were wrestling over money, the security guard left his post to come over to watch. I suspect he was keeping an eye out for me, as one of the building's tenants. I am sure young Nam noticed him there, too, so decided to introduce himself.
Nam showed me where he lives - a small apartment block right next to my condo - and offered to take me in to meet the occupants. Nam, who moved here from Pattaya a month ago, is staying with the mother of a friend.
The mother has a young child and her own boyfriend, who works in a different province. She does not work herself, so is reliant on Nam for an income.
Nam, unfortunately, has yet to find work, although he claims he is looking. In Pattaya, he worked as an 'errands girl' for a massage shop. Before, he worked for the restaurant chain MK, where he spent five years.
In Bangkok, he is finding work harder to get, partly because he needs a new ID card, after he lost his last one in Pattaya. He has no family in Bangkok, just cousins.
Nam, a youthful-looking 31, lost his parents when he was still a teenager, and left school soon after. They did not give him his leaving certificate because he did not have enough money for the school fees.
His parents died within two years of each other, both of cancer.
'They were farmers in the provinces. On farms, we have to use a lot of chemical sprays. Over time, the poison gathers in the body and causes cancer,' he said matter-of-factly.
In the daylight, young Nam actually looked much cuter than when I met him in the gloom, which was a surprise. He looks much more like a boy than a girl, though he may have taken hormone drugs to change his appearance.
now see part 2
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