Thai social climber (2, final)

Duck has good luck with foreign men. Since I met him, he has gone out with three, who visited Thailand as tourists, fell in love with Duck, then invited him back to their home country for a visit.

Duck, who comes from a coastal province close to Bangkok, grew up in the same town as my boyfriend, Maiyuu.

He asked me to write emails to his foreign boyfriends.

Duck's western friends knew that I helped with his emails, and seemed unworried by the fact that they conducted their long-distance love affairs through an intermediary.

At times I concealed information, though I tried not to lie outright.

Previously, Duck was in a relationship with a man from Spain. They lived in the same condo building as me, and were together five years.

Spanish Fly liked to play around. Duck put up with this as long as he had a roof over his head.

One day, Fly met a Thai Chinese student. They saw each other on weekends first, but then Fly asked his new love to move in. Suddenly, Duck was without a place to live.

Shortly before Fly threw him out, Duck met a tourist from California. In his 30s and a psychologist, he visited Bangkok, and took Duck to Koh Samui.

They shared a bungalow on the island for a few nights. It was Duck's first time on a plane.

In Samui, Duck and Mr California fell in love. Eventually, though, the tourist had to leave. They kept up regular phone and email contact until one day, the interest from Mr California's end stopped.

Duck was devastated. For days, he turned up at my place to check his email. He missed sleep, cried, came down with a stress-related illness.

Earlier, we spent weeks trying to organise a visa for Duck to visit his boyfriend in California, without success.

In my emails, I did not tell the foreigner that Duck was previously living with Spanish Fly, and had been doing so for years.

Mr California, who was no fool, wanted to know why a young man of 27 had still not found regular work.

But as the relationship with Mr California was winding down, Duck met a new westerner at a sauna.

This was Mr Germany, who despite being a policeman wears a beard and moustache.

Duck found the German's appearance intimidating, as he had never met a farang with facial hair.
Mr Germany invited Duck to join him in Pattaya for a six-day break.

Mr Germany, like Mr California did before him, offered to take him back home and enrol him in an English language school.

Thais look to the stars for guidance. Duck went to a fortune teller a few weeks before, who told him he was likely to travel overseas.

At the time Duck thought the fortune-teller was referring to Mr California, but in the end, Duck ended up visiting Mr Germany instead.

As Duck's email helper, I wrote Mr Germany a few messages.

I did not tell him about the previous men in Duck's life. I passed on news about what Duck had been doing, and on Duck's behalf asked after his health.

I did not write any begging letters, to any of his men.

On one visit to Pattaya, I found a paperback book of love letters, written in Thai and with a corresponding translation in English.

The letters are fictional but serve as exemplars for Thais who meet foreign tourists who visit Thailand.

It gives them ideas about what to put in begging letters to the foreigner once he leaves these shores. The book belonged to a Thai woman friend, who has a foreign boyfriend of her own.

She had underlined key passages: 'This month, my expenses are likely to be high, as Mum has to go into hospital. Can you help?

Most letters in the book are sent by Thai women to western men, though there is a small section for gay Thais to write to foreign gay men.

The authors say they are bar workers, sometimes prostitutes. They tend to come from Esan, and have no money.

Mum has fallen ill, the car has broken down, or they want to leave the sex trade. They ask the foreigner to send money. Some specify the amount.

A few stories are about hope: one student says she is about to graduate. She and her foreign male friend plan to buy a home. She writes to ask after his health.

Most stories, however, are about despair. The girl has fallen pregnant, but her western lover has lost interest.

The book is popular, with many printings.

Do Duck's experiences with western men belong in the hopeful, or despairing category?

I would say that he lives in hope, but often meets unhappiness.

I have met Mr Germany.

He is close to retirement, Duck a mere 30 years younger.

On his visit to Pattaya, Mr Germany met an old Thai boyfriend from a former visit.

This young man comes from Korat. He told Mr Germany proudly that he had now met another tourist.

A British guy with whom he had fallen in love sent him B100,000 to build a home in his home province.

Mr Korat also managed to obtain a visa to visit Mr Britain for a few months.

At the time he was selling his body, which is not the kind of thing you want to tell the embassy. For his visa application, he found someone to claim in a testimonial that he worked in a restaurant.

I'm going to ask him for more!' Mr Korat boasted.

Mr Germany was shocked by his brazenness.

'Duck doesn't ask me for anything,' he told me.

He's a lucky one then...maybe it just falls into his lap.