Roughing it

Pao, the young Thai who works next to Mum's shop in Pin Khlao, needs more trousers.

He has returned to Bangkok after months in the provinces, to his old job serving customers at an eatery/karaoke joint.

'I have just the one pair,' he said, referring to a back pair of jeans which he wears without a belt.

We were sitting at a table outside his shop. It had closed for the night, and only a handful of staff were left.

I brought a half-bottle of whisky over from Mum's shop, and gave it to him and his friends.

Last time I knew him, I bought Pao a belt. That had now broken, so he left it at home at the farm in Esan.

He had taken off his T-shirt, and his black boxers spilled over the top. 'It's hot,' he complained.

He stood in front of me, and stretched. His boxer shorts rose a long way on his narrow waist. Without a belt, his jeans slipped below the top of his buttocks. I asked him to put his T-shirt back on.

Pao also showed me scars from injuries he sustained when he fell off a motorcycle recently. 'I need medicine to get rid of the scars, but have no money.'

Pao has scars on his chest, shoulders, arms and back.

Pao says he is working for nothing at the shop but food and board. His hair, which he wore in a smart Japanese style when he first arrived a few weeks ago, now looks ragged.

On his feet, he was wearing a rough pair of rubber flip-flops, which he claims is the only footwear he brought with him.

'Mum has gone back to the farm,' he said.

Previously, his uncle Top worked at the same family-run shop. Top and his girlfriend slept in one room above the shop, Pao in another.

Now, Uncle Top has changed jobs. He is working as a cook at a similar shop down the way.

Pao introduced me to a young man aged about 30, called Lek.

'He sleeps in the same room as me,' said Pao.

I have not seen him before, but I suspect the pair work together.

Pao has lost weight, and his hair is thinning on top. I felt sorry for him.

'I will give you some money to buy some more trousers. However, I will entrust it to Lek. He can take you shopping,' I said.

Pao looked happy. He liked the idea of his older friend taking him to the department store to buy clothes.

I do not trust Pao to spend the money wisely himself, as he is only 17.

When I noticed him at at the shop for the first time since his return, Pao avoided eye contact, and tried not to talk to me. I put this down to shyness.

Last week, after they finished work, I bought him and his friends a few bottles of beer.

Pao has now overcome his anxiety. He remembers we were friends.

'What do you want with him?' a foreign drinking friend asked me.

'Just to look after him, or help,' I said.

My male drinking friend, farang C, nodded. Pao and his friends invited us over when they finished work.

An hour before, I had told Pao that farang C liked the look of a Vietnamese girl who worked at his shop.

'I will bring the whisky if you help introduce him to the girl,' I said.

He laughed.

After the last customer left, Pao set up two drinking tables on the footpath, with chairs, soda, and an ice-bucket for each. The Vietnamese girl, whose name is Nam, was there, along with a male Vietnamese friend who had arrived in the country just a few days before.

They insisted they were just friends. Nam had spent a year learning Thai before she left Vietnam a month ago. However, she has no English, which makes communication with farang C difficult.

An hour of drinking, the girl and her friend excused themselves and went home to bed. I was left with farang C, Pao, and Lek.

Half an hour later, Pao and Lek declared they were tired, and also went to bed.

I will go back tonight with the money for his trousers. Pao does not expect much, as he is used to having nothing.

The last time I knew him, I was in two minds about whether to help Pao. Mum said I should go ahead, if it made me feel good.

'You only see each other when you come here to drink, so why not?' she said.

Two weeks ago, a woman who works with Pao came over to Mum's shop, and signalled with her eyes that Pao was now free.

She is aged about 50, and is related to Pao. She is also happy for me to support him.

I like the idea of having a bad-boy nephew. Let's hope he does not get too expensive.