My Friend Thavorn

I met Thavorn about 2 years ago. It was a strange happenstance. I was already seeing 2 girls regularly and I was just out for a walk one night and doing a bit of exploring. I ventured down a side lane of Queens Park Plaza on Soi 22 that I never walk down because I find the bar girls a little pushy. However, there I was and I noticed a girl with a beautiful smile that I could not help but return. However, I kept walking but decided  ... don't know why ... to make another loop of the plaza. This time I stopped and asked the girl with the beautiful smile what her name was .. Sa she replied (her Thai short name) and I followed up with a 'Are you new to Bangkok?' and she gave me a panicked look and said ... 'Not speak English'.

At this point I would normally keep walking as there are many Thai girls with beautiful smiles who can speak English ... but for some reason I stayed and bought myself and Thavorn a drink. I recruited Pim (another Bbar girl) to translate for us and asked some questions.

It turns out that Thavorn was right out of the village, having just arrived in Bangkok 3 days before. Now, understand that many bar girls will spin you the same line to make you think they recently started work in the bar industry but you can quickly discover they are lying by asking questions. Thavorn was not lying. The key traits of a newbie are a lack of English language skills and no cell phone. Thavorn borrowed 3,000 Baht from the local village lender and set off for Bangkok with nothing but the phone number of the lady who ran the bar she was working in. It turns out she was sharing a one room apartment within a short walk, with 5 other bar girls, including Pim, our translator, and T. Here are 2 pics from Thavorn's short bar girl career.

Thavorn and Prai

Thavorn and T

I said my goodbyes after an hour and said ... might be back tomorrow night ... and indeed I was ... and the night after. The 3rd night I asked Thavorn  if she played pool and she said no but I insisted she learn so the next afternoon Thavorn, myself, and T headed out to Hustlers Pool Hall. T came along as a translator and because she could play pool. Thavorn now beats me at pool 50% of the time we play so we are a good match. We have since discovered that we are both 'Year of the Tiger' and share a birthday. I was born on September 23 and Thavorn was born on September 24 so we celebrate our birthdays at midnight on the 23rd. 

Here are some pics of Thavorn

 Somewhere .. someplace

 The famous smile ...

Thavorn is a Buddhist ... at the temple with Jaidan

Ditto

A new girl in Bangkok needs a friend and I became Thavorn's. After 2 weeks, of getting to know one another ... laughing most of the time as we tried to communicate, I had to say goodbye and fly back to Canada as my Mother was very sick and eventually died. I shut down my Vancouver apartment and moved back to Bangkok for a couple of months ... which has turned into a couple of years. As soon as I got back to Bangkok, I bought Thavorn's contract and she has never worked another day in a bar.

Thavorn's English is getting better all the time and communicating is no longer a problem. We are still good friends and still laugh more often than not. As Thavorn is wont to say ... 'Why Not?'

TTYL