Love Around the World 02: Bangkok

A/N - I bet you thought as soon as you saw Bangkok, you've thought 'Ah, I've read a few stories written by UltimateSin. He loves to write transgender stories. I bet this story will be about the sexy ladyboys of Bangkok!'

While they might be mentioned, this is just a simple romance as boy meets foreign girl... without additions.

Previous stories in this series:

Love Around the World - Andorra (Mature)

Australian / British standard English. There is a good chance of reading the following: lots of profanity, characters drinking, typos, and bad grammar at times.

Proofreading and editing suggestions provided by OhDave1. Any mistakes are still mine.

Comments are appreciated as always.

Feedback by email is always welcome. Enjoy chatting with anyone who likes my work.

*****

Divorces suck. Even when they're necessary due to the relationship irretrievably breaking down, it still sucks. You've likely spent at least a few years building your lives together only to see it all collapse in a steaming pile of shit. At least I wasn't the one to blow up my marriage. That was my dear old soon-to-be ex-wife. It was the same old story or so it seems nowadays.

We both worked hard for a living. In our mid to late thirties. Married since our late twenties. No kids as I was on the fence while she was adamant about not having any, and she took extreme precautions by getting herself sterilised so there'd be no accidents. At least it meant she didn't have to take birth control and I didn't need condoms.

I'm not going to go into details about what she did except to say it had to do with a promotion and it was with her boss. The fact she was willing to fuck him at all almost made me gag considering the guy was in his mid-fifties and clearly let himself go two decades ago. I doubt she derived any pleasure from doing it, but the smug fucker pretty much told me at her company Christmas party, and by Australia Day in January, I'd kicked her out of the house, and she'd turned tail to go live with a girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Australian law differed from other areas of the world when it came to getting a divorce. The only reason I could kick her out of the house was that it was mine and mine alone. I'd inherited it from my grandparents as a place to live as my parents owned their own place and I was an only child, my aunts and uncles also owned their own houses, their kids not old enough to take on home ownership. The house had been in our family since my great-grandfather, had been renovated numerous times over the years, and thanks to the location in Sydney, I'd had it valued more than once and a small three-bedroom house that came with land out the back was an easy seven-figure sum.

Waiting to divorce is like treading water in many ways. Forty was looming large on the horizon and I was tired of living in the rat race. Heading into work five days a week, seeing the same old faces, doing the same old thing. Sure, I was making fantastic money, an easy six figures that meant I lived comfortably, and when I'd lived with my wife, we'd had a great life together.

"What are you thinking?" Adam asked me as we shared a beer on evening, "Sounds like you're considering something, Mark."

"Honestly? I want the fuck out of here."

"Here being your job? Sydney? Australia?"

"Probably all three, to be honest."

"What's the grand plan? I know what happened with Erica still stings..."

I almost groaned. "Don't remind me. Throwing away our marriage for some crap sex and a promotion that barely earned her a bump in pay but a hell of a lot more responsibility. And I know for a fact her social life has gone down the toilet at the same time. Even friends she's had for years are keeping their distance as they think if she'll sleep around to get a shitty promotion, maybe she'll try it on with their husbands."

"How did his wife take it?"

"Oh, she kept him around from what I hear but has his balls in her purse. Surprisingly, he still works at the same office though the head honchos were aware of what happened so made sure they don't interact either personally or professionally. I think Erica was on the verge of being sacked rather than promoted, but they couldn't deny she'd met her targets and then some."

"Is she still trying to contact you?"

"She still messages me every day. I don't actually have the heart to block her because I know how she feels. I just ignore them all. I know me not replying to her hurts her even more."

I did talk to my parents about my ideas, particularly regarding selling the old house and the fact it would earn me quite a little nest egg. I didn't want anyone else's noses out of joint should I sell it. My parents insisted that my grandparents had willed the house to me therefore it was mine to do what I wanted with.

Needing something to occupy my mind while I waited for the divorce to go through, I thought 'Fuck it' and decided to completely renovate the place, keeping the outside untouched but I practically gutted the inside and turned it into a modern, functional home though ensured there were traditional touches that ensured the place kept its charm. It took months for the work to be completed, but once everything was complete, and I'd worked on the extensive backyard at the same time, I had the place assessed and was told that, should I place it for sale, I'd be looking at an easy seven figures that should have at minimum a two as the first digit.

Yeah, house prices in Sydney are ridiculous and have been for over a decade.

By the time I could apply for the divorce, a long twelve months after I'd kicked my wife out of the house, we'd actually been in communication for a couple of months as I'd never genuinely turned my love for her to hate. I knew she was hoping for a reconciliation, but I told her bluntly the first time we saw each other in months that I was prepared to talk but any hope of keeping our marriage going was off the table.

We were both at the courthouse the day our divorce was confirmed. She was incredibly upset as expected. I just felt like shit. Not because I'd hurt her. I still thought she deserved it. I just hated the fact our marriage had failed, but she'd known from the day we'd met that I would never forgive infidelity. I could forgive a lot of things in a marriage, but to me, that was a boundary that would not break.

Drowning my sorrows with a few friends later that night, Adam finally asked, "So have you got any plans?"

"Yep. Now that I'm officially divorced, or at least it's in the works until I get the official paperwork in a month, I'm selling up and fucking off."

"Europe?" Chris wondered.

"Nah, don't really have any interest there. I'm thinking more south-east Asia. Maybe head over to Vietnam to start with and decide from there. Might eventually wander over to Thailand and end up living here, to be honest."

"Ah, going to have some fun with a ladyboy?" Tom joked.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," Scott retorted. We all looked at him, his face falling when he realised what he said, holding his hands up in innocence. "No, no, no. I've definitely not fucked a ladyboy."

"Maybe she fucked you?" Adam teased, Scott realising that he'd already lost the argument and shutting up, muttering into his beer.

"Anyway, when I sell my house, I'm going to have enough money to live on if I choose to live somewhere far more affordable. I'm nearly forty and I'm already tired of all this bullshit. I've accumulated plenty of savings as it is that I could even choose to work remotely at my leisure."

"At least Vietnam or Thailand isn't too far away," Adam stated, "Could pop in for a visit. Would you buy somewhere over there?"

"No idea. I'm just spitballing at the moment. But I wouldn't mind living somewhere different. There's a whole wide world out there and the only place I've been to is New Zealand."

I survived another year before I just packed in the job, put the house on the market and prepared to leave. My parents were aware of my plans, fully supportive that it was my life and did nothing to talk me out of it. My friends hoped I'd end up somewhere fun, so they'd have a reason to come visit me whenever possible. And when I let Erica know, despite the divorce, I knew she still had hope that something could be rekindled. Hearing that I would be leaving finally let her know that I was moving on. Although her last call was tearful on her end, I wished her well and hoped that she would find happiness with someone else. I found feeling hate and bitterness towards her was negative energy. I didn't need it.

Selling off anything in the house that wasn't nailed down, I endeavoured to leave with only a backpack full of clothes and essentials with a smaller bag that held my laptop and a few other bits. Phone in one pocket. Passport in the other. I'd been to the doctor for all the shots and vaccinations needed for visiting the region.

My parents and friends were with me the day I flew out, choosing to visit Vietnam first before making my way elsewhere, thinking I'd do a tour of what was once called Indochina. Vietnam was spectacular, taking a few weeks as I slowly journeyed from south to north before turning west into Laos and returning south, eventually entering Cambodia and finding myself in Phnom Penh. Not wanting to head straight to Bangkok, I caught a flight to the north of Thailand and continued my slow approach, enjoying plenty of time in Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and then Kanchanaburi, home of the Bridge over the River Kwai, before I finally arrived in Bangkok, certainly slimmer, fitter and with a healthy tan.

I'd put out feelers before leaving Australia, and while I was travelling, to ex-pats who lived in the city about places to live in Bangkok. I didn't want to live with other immigrants, I wanted to live with locals though wanted to retain a good standard of living. Didn't want a house, preferring an apartment in one of the many tower blocks that had sprung up around the city since the economic boom of the mid-nineties and their recovery after the economic collapse in the late nineties.

The Thai were incredibly friendly and welcoming from the moment I'd set foot in their country. And having made up my mind long ago that I would make Thailand my new home. I'd spent at least two years studying Thai, not just speaking but reading and writing it too. The script was completely foreign and that alone took months of study to slowly but surely figure out. Speaking wasn't an issue as there is a large Thai community in Sydney who were more than willing to teach me.

May or may not have scored more than one date with a pretty Thai girl at the same time.

Choosing to reside in a hotel while finding the right place to live, I also had to figure out if I wanted to just spend my days lazing about. Enquiring at the desk about my situation led to numerous suggestions. I was told that teaching English would be the best avenue for making a little money though the pay would usually be a pittance. It would help me integrate with the locals, particularly once I was able to easily converse with them in Thai on a daily basis.

Earned pretty smiles from girls behind desks or counters when I showed off that I could speak the language.

"Are you here on holiday?" a man asked as I sat at the hotel bar one evening. I was already a regular face, not missing the fact it was always a woman serving me rather than the friendly guy who would serve me a beer first.

"Nah."

"Work?"

"Not that either. I'm just living here until I've got my living situation sorted."

"Ah, you're another one," he stated with amusement.

"What's that?"

"Let me guess... You're approaching forty. Gone through a divorce. Nasty or not, it's happened. Ex-wife. No kids. I like to think most men wouldn't leave their kids behind and I doubt yours would be old enough to be considered adults if you had them. Had a career you got tired of. Don't have a large family so leaving them behind isn't a real issue. You no doubt gave it plenty of thought and figured you'd come here assuming it would be cheap living and a somewhat relaxing existence."

I could only stare at him in surprise before I finally asked, "That your story?"

"Lived here for five years now. I come in here because it's the only bar that always stocks the beer I like from back home. I have no doubt that many men I see around, usually alone, have the same story."

"Left feeling like a failure?"

"What did she do?"

"Cheated. Earned her promotion by fucking her boss."

He returned a rueful grin. "Yep, no matter where you are in the world, it's the same bullshit time and time again."

"What happened to you?"

"I walked in on my wife fucking the friend who I was told I should never worry about. Bitch showed no remorse whatsoever. Sold up everything I could once the divorce went through and fucked off as soon as I could."

"Kids?"

"Grown up by the time it happened. Had them when we were young."

"Got any suggestions while I'm here?"

"I would recommend you avoid certain areas of Bangkok though I'm assuming you probably want some fun. It still amuses me walking around even today that I tower over nearly everyone. Not the tallest of people. Incredibly friendly though, and once they hear you speaking Thai... Most of my friends are locals nowadays. I love watching tourists and other white folk react when I can easily converse at a table full of Thais in the local lingo."

"No desire to settle down again?"

"I'd like to but comes back to the avoidance thing. Most of the girls you meet probably have hearts of gold and want to meet a man to fall in love with. And trust me on this one, this city is full of pretty girls. But there are also those out there who are, putting it bluntly, fucking gold diggers. Looking for nothing but a walking ATM and meal ticket. I understand why. Life isn't easy for a lot of people, but though I know I'm fortunate, I won't allow myself to be taken advantage of."

"I'm aware of the reputation, you know..."

"Most people come to Bangkok to be a tourist, see the sights, but also have a good time. If they want to pay for that good time with a girl, more fool them. Stay away from the areas where the tourists prowl because that's how you end up not having a good time. Learn where the locals congregate and spend your time there. And given that you speak the lingo, they'll be cautious to start but will soon open their arms in welcome."

We swapped numbers once he finished drinking, promising to keep in touch as I figured I could always use a friend. Though I would take some of his advice to heart, I was still an outsider and figured I might as well have a little fun before I settled down.

I'd done my research and knew the area of the city to head to find cheap booze and hopefully some pretty girls. I'd prefer not to pay for company, not something I'd ever done in my life. Ending up in a bar surrounded by ex-pats, the music was annoying, the ex-pats were nearly all ten to fifteen years younger, and I just felt completely out of place.

At least I made more than one girl smile when they approached and asked me a question in English to which I answered in fluent Thai. This led to a couple actually sitting down to just talk to me for a few minutes, aware I wasn't there to just drink before finding a girl to screw.

"Are you looking for love?" one of them finally asked.

"I'm not sure about love, but I wouldn't mind trying my hand at dating."

"You're very much in the wrong area for that."

"Yeah, I had that figured out within a few minutes, but I guess I can't complain too much."

"Are you sure you don't want to invite me back to your hotel?"

She was a pretty little thing. I reckoned in her early twenties. Not too much make-up. Her breasts didn't appear fake. Seen plenty of those already. Dark hair and gorgeous dark eyes. If she wasn't trying to pick me up and expecting me to pay at the end of our time together, I would have said yes in a heartbeat.

"Part of me would love to say yes..."

"I'm not kathoey," she whispered, "Not a ladyboy. Is that what concerns you?"

"Wouldn't concern me if you were. I've never been with one before. My friend said I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it."

That made her giggle, noticing the glances around us as the white guy was chatting away with the pretty Thai girl in the local language. Meeting her eyes, she was ever so sweet though I still knew I was nothing but a customer.

"Ever been with a Thai girl before?" she wondered.

"A couple. I met a few while I was learning your language back home and I wasn't shy in asking a girl out for a date. I was going..." I sighed and shook my head. "You don't need to hear my sad story."

Her soft hand rested on mine as it lay on the bar. "You're not the first man in here feeling heartbroken and lonely," she said, "Obviously, most men enter here for a particular reason. There are some that want to just feel loved again, even if it's only for a couple of hours or an entire night. Some girls will be your girlfriend the entire time you're here."

"I'm here permanently..."

That earned another giggle. "Hmmm. That might prove expensive in the end."

I bought her a drink as I didn't really care how much they charged me, and we continued to chat away. I had no idea if anything she told me was the truth, but she certainly had me smiling as I sipped my way through a couple of beers, ensuring I kept my wits about me. I checked my phone to see it was getting late, even though I had nowhere to really go and nothing to do, I didn't want to be out all night.

Paying the tab, including the drinks she'd enjoyed, I finally rose to my feet and turned towards her. "I'd like your company back at my hotel..."

I think that caught her by surprise as I would have just paid for her company in the bar anyway. I knew I'd have to pay her something because no doubt she'd missed plenty of available customers. "Are you sure, Mark?"

Yeah, I'd told her my real name. It wouldn't matter. "I mean... Part of me would just like some company in bed. We don't actually have to do anything else." I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know whether that sounds completely pathetic or not."

"If I stay until morning, I'll give you the girl experience for the price of only two hours," she whispered, "Just throw in a little tip for me too."

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"A girlfriend experience. I've never done this before."

"It means I'll do all the things a girlfriend would do for you, Mark."

And she did. Whether she was faking it the entire time or not, I don't know. Whether she lied to me about being the only customer she'd had that day, I don't know. But when I was lying back as she bounced up and down on my cock for a couple of hours back in my hotel room, I didn't give a shit. And when she was snuggled into me later, she whispered what her life was really like, the way men would usually use her, why she was doing the job she did... And I just felt like shit.

She kissed me and told me not to worry about it. It was obvious I just needed a little affection, and she insisted that I'd been nothing but kind and thoughtful during our night together. "And no other customers usually give a shit about my orgasm," she added, "So thank you for that."

"It's not a lot of fun if we both don't cum." She giggled again before snuggling tighter into me. "You won't rush out in the morning?" I asked.

"No. Why?"

"I'd like to have breakfast before I take you home or at least somewhere, so I know you're safe. After that..."

"I won't see you again?"

"It's not my scene, Dara. I'm sorry."

"You'll find someone... Do you want to be with a Thai girl?"

"Well, given that I'm in Thailand, I might end up with one in the end."