BootsnAll Travel Network



Breakfast at Smile Guesthouse

I have changed hotels. I am now at the brand new Bau-Tong Lodge with free WiFi that is down little soi 3 off Loi Kroh…for half the cost of the Galare Guesthouse where I was for the last three weeks.

The Smile Guesthouse, a few yards up the street from my hotel offers an all-you-can-eat American breakfast each morning for $2. Most of the diners are older male westerners who live here…except for “Sharkie,” a long-haired 22 year old from South Carolina that fights fires near Eugene Oregon. He has lived in Mexico and gives me good information. Some of them tell me their personal stories. Yesterday I had a long conversation with a nuclear physicist from California who is retired from a career with GE.

Today I breakfasted with a soft-spoken well-traveled gentleman from New Zealand. We trade travel tips and I try to help him with the Bangkok Post crossword puzzle. Next to our table is a German and an American who have a very opinionated debate about current Thai politics…each contradicting the other…neither listening to the other. Except for the 75 year old New Zealander, these men are all here for the Thai girls of course who treat them like gods. I sense a thread of commonality among them…emotionally very shallow and insecure…defensive…incapable of deep abiding commitment. And I wonder how they feel, or if they feel anything, about depriving their grandchildren of their presence…their love.

I tell Supoat, my tuk tuk driver, about my aquaintences at The Smile. He launches into an emotional and heartfelt tirade against prostitution in Thailand. “They all want farangs with an ATM card,” he says, “to get their money.” Yesterday he kicked one of them out of his tuk tuk, he said. “The farangs give nothing back to my country,” he says…his eyes flashing in anger. “They are ruining Thailand, his voice rising! Our men are very poor and cannot offer the young girls a life. I look at all the tuk tuk drivers and feel so sorry for them…they need help. I wish I could do something to help them. I am losing my heart,” he says…his eyes watering. I tell him I am losing my heart too.



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