We moved to a small restaurant on the banks of the canal, where we watched the long-tailed boats speed by.
Most were carrying tourists. Some looked at us curiously. The place has a roof but no glass in the windows, so it is easy to see in.
'This would be a good time to go back to Pattaya, as the tourists are coming back after the election,' said Kew. 'The money is also good - B10,000 a month.'
Before his move to Pattaya, Kew was living in Bangkok. He went to Pattaya to start again after his girlfriend left him for another man in her home province.
That relationship is now over, and the girlfriend wants to come back. But Kew is enjoying his life as a single man, and is no hurry to take back a girl who has been making love to another man.
'They even talked about getting married, but were only together a month,' he said. 'I lived with her for two years.'
A few weeks ago, the girl's mother called him, complaining that when Kew and her daughter first started their relationship, the girl was under-age.
'I will file a complaint with police saying you had under-age sex, unless you pay me B10,000,' she threatened.
'Why didn't you say something at the time - or are you hard-up for money?' Kew countered.
He sent the family B5000. Since then, the parents have called him repeatedly, pleading with him to take back the girl.
'They say that in her home province, she is not studying, and spends all her time with friends. They want me to keep an eye on her in Bangkok.
'However, if I take her back, she will have to study. I want her to learn how to make Otop products [under a government-sponsored arts and crafts scheme], like I used to do. She could do that from home.
'The B5000 was not much, but I haven't earned enough money this month to send to my sister and aunt,' he said.
now, see part 3
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ReplyDeleteI have always love krungthep! it's my favourite city. I hope you don't mind if I add you on my blog roll. I will definitely love to be back more reading...
i'm part thai too, and very few thais have blog. feel free to drop me an email at finding_rainbows@yahoo.com
take care...
Well, what his story reveals (if it is true) is that Kew really did have some guilt here (because he paid up) but the parents don't give a damn about the "underage" thing because they were only using it as an excuse to extort money from him. What a community.
ReplyDeleteMr Rainbow Man: I shall add you too, Mr Rainbow. As it happens, I visited your blog yesterday. I liked it. I hope you are feeling a little better since you wrote that post where you're standing on the 19th floor of a building and wondering what to do next. There's always something worthwhile at the end of that rainbow, you know.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: The mother of the girl has gambling debts. The parents are also paying the tuition fees for her brother, who studies in Chiang Mai. They were having trouble making ends meet, so they tried extorting money from Kew.
As you have observed, they didn't really care about the fact that she had under-age sex. Kew was not her first boyfriend in any case.
I wish he had not sent the money to them...but maybe Kew felt as if he had had enough bad luck lately, and it was better not to tempt fate.