Dear Hillary,
On my first day in Thailand, I was walking around a shopping center rubber-necking as I was a bit lagged from the long flight from the US and two Thai girls came up to me and one said, “I go with you,” and stood there. I was gob-smacked. I didn’t know what to say or do, to be honest. Then the other said, “She want go with you. We come from Bulilam. Get here today.” Now it’s easy to say I should just have walked away, but she was gorgeous, so I stood there like a buffoon with this big smile and my head spinning round. Her friend took charge again and said, “You take eat now,” and the three of us walked to an upmarket seafood restaurant around the corner.
In the restaurant it was obvious that the girl who wanted to go with me did not have any real English, and the other one was only slightly better, and I was left thinking how brave they were to come and speak to me with so little communication skills.
By then I was almost passing out with tiredness and I paid the bill and left them there, even though they asked me where I was staying, but I didn’t know what to say or do. Was that being rude, Hillary? Or what should I have done? I never want to upset people, but this was something new to my experience.
Texas Tom
Dear Texas Tom,
How old are you? Petal. I think you must be about 17, or perhaps just a late developer? I can assure you that they had not come down from Buriram that day. They knew where the expensive seafood restaurant was, and they ate well on your wallet and probably got a small tip from the manager as well. You were being worked over by professionals who could spot a newbie from across the shopping mall. But to make you happy, you were not rude and you did not upset them. With steamed sea bass inside, they would have gone on to the next shopping center and looked for another likely sucker. Next time it will be safer if you just take me to dinner. I like expensive seafood places too.
