Getting to know you (1)

'Do you like her?' Pon asked me.

We were sitting in what used to be a massage shop - the therapeutic kind, not the sexy sort - but from where, the massage side of the business having closed, Pon now sells rice.

'Er...we have just met,' I said, referring to her young woman friend, called Tik.

Tik works at the shop with Pon, but had stepped away.

'But most foreigners like girls with dark skin, don't they?' Pon asked, puzzled.

Pon, who has pale skin, was trying to find out if I fancied Tik as a potential girlfriend.

'I will talk to anyone, and Tik seems friendly. But when you get to my age, you like to get to know people first,' I said.

Pon looked at me. I wasn't making sense.

'I am getting old now, and people my age like to get to know people before they decide if they want to ... '

I couldn't finish the sentence, because I am not sure what Pon expects. As Thais like to say, I was in danger of thinking too much.

However, I knew my first remark - about my being old - would make sense, as Thais like to tell me that at my age, in my early 40s, I am now over the hill.

'Ah,' she said, nodding in agreement.

Pon, who is just 21, must know that people my age have their own peculiar way of looking at things. This was an old man's thing.

My young friend is from Laos. We met about a year ago, when I started visiting the shop regularly for a massage. After a break of many months, I started dropping in to see her again.

Before, Pon made clothes for the woman who rents the shop. Her name is Jay Pa. She runs a sewing and clothes-making business from home, but is also a trained masseur.

Twelve months ago, Jay Pa ran a massage business here.

After she finished making clothes for the day, Jay Pa would drop in to chat to her masseurs.

Now, her staff have left. When the economy slowed, customers stopped coming until she was forced to close the business.

Jay Pa, who is my age, would like to re-open eventually, with new masseurs.

For the time being, however, it sells rice. Pon lives and works here. She steams and sells rice, to help pay the rent.

Tik returned in a flirty mood.

'Pon - do you like my hair up, or down,' she asked. Tik put her hands behind her head to release her hair, which she had done up in a bun.

She was wearing low-rise jeans, and a yellow T-shirt.

'Pee Mali - do you use cream for your heat rash?' she turned to me, gazing at my head.

Tik, who wants a man, was going into caring mode. Thai boys can care in the same manner, and often ask me the same thing.

now, see part 2