A Bangkok Teacher Searches for Far After a Beer Bar Disappears

I’m going to tell you another true story from my days in Bangkok when I lived there. It’s another story about a Thai girl and a foreign man. The man was from the UK. No real names, as always we’ll call the lady Far, which is quite a common Thai girl’s name, and we’ll call the guy James. As I say, he was from the UK.

James The School Teacher

Now we’ll start with James. James was a school teacher, and in those days, school teachers weren’t paid a heck of a lot of money. It was a good experience for somebody, especially young people they could go over there on a working holiday, they could earn some money, they could discover and explore Thailand, enjoy themselves while making some money on the side. But as I say, it wasn’t a very highly paid job, and I’m guessing it’s still like that these days.

So James was a teacher. He was working in Bangkok, and James was actually teaching one on one. In other words, he’d go round to Thai family’s residences, to the houses, and he’d teach their children either one on their own or a couple, and he’d have one on one sessions for which he was paid.

Now obviously, being a teacher, not having a lot of money, James could just about afford to pay his rent, his food, and he could afford a few luxuries but not very much. And he certainly couldn’t afford to go out drinking in places like Nana Plaza or Soi Cowboy, which are expensive for anybody. If you’re there and you’re on a very good job or you’ve got a business and you’ve got plenty of money, then it isn’t a problem. But if you’re a school teacher, then you’re just not going to be able to do that. You won’t be able to live that kind of lifestyle. Basically, what you’ll have to do is either buy beers from 7 Eleven and drink them outside, or find very, very cheap places to drink.

Now James did find a very, very cheap place to drink. And in those days, there were a cluster of bars on Sukhumvit Soi 10. There was one bar in particular there I can’t remember the name of it but James used to drink there once or twice a week. And the beers were very, very cheap. He didn’t drink anything else but beer. It was local, being a Singha or a Chang, so it was as cheap as you could get. And as it was an outside beer bar tucked away, it was a lot more than what you’d pay in 7 Eleven for a beer probably 10 or 15 baht but anyway, James used to go there drinking.

And he wanted some female company, but as said, he wasn’t in the position to be able to date anybody and take them out on a regular basis. It just would have cost too much, and he certainly couldn’t afford to pay any ladies for their time.

Far The Cashier

Now at this time, the lady in this story, Far, she came down from Isaan and she was working in the bar where James drank. Now she was a cashier. She’d never actually worked in a bar as anything else she’d never rented herself out . She simply was a cashier. She came down I think a friend from the village told her about the job she came down and she got this job. It was her first job in a beer bar, and she was a cashier.

Now James used to go there to drink once or twice a week. He started down there before Far arrived at the bar. Now obviously once Far arrived and she started work, once she’d settled into the job, you know, you have long periods of not much going on, especially in the earlier parts of the evening. So James took a fancy to Far that sounds like a cliché, but obviously the girl’s name was Far and he took a fancy to her. And he started going a little bit more regular just so he could talk to Far.

Far was shy. Didn’t speak a lot of English, just enough to get by. James was fairly young I think he was about 24 to 26, something like that fairly decent looking bloke. So, you know, I’m guessing Far found him quite attractive as well.

So James went to this bar and he was working on Far, trying to get her number, chatting her up a little bit. Far kind of spoke to him quite friendly she did like him but she made it very, very clear that she doesn’t go on a short time, she doesn’t go with customers. There’s no way she was going to go back to his room or his hotel wherever he was staying at the time. And she made it crystal clear.

But James, being persistent as I say, he did like Far he didn’t give up. He thought he’d keep trying, and he kept going back to the bar. And he’d bring little gifts along nothing expensive, you know, small chocolate bars, the odd few flowers, the odd trinket, that sort of thing just to show his interest, and just to show that he was very interested, actually. And this went on for a few weeks.

Eventually, Far did agree to meet James. She said she’d go on a date with him. She took the night off. Because in those days I don’t know what it’s like now but in those days, if a girl was working in a bar, she basically works seven nights a week. She didn’t have a day off. She had a rest in the daytime. They’d turn up at the bar about 3:30, 4:00, even if it didn’t open up till late in the evening. They’d sit around and have their food, and then it went on from there until the last customers left. So basically, she didn’t have a day off. But on this particular evening, she asked the owner of the bar if she could have a night off, which he agreed I think it was a Monday or a Tuesday, very, very quiet.

The First Date

Now James did take her out, just the once. They went out to eat. Obviously, because James was on a budget, he took her to one of I think it was Soi 38 they have a lot of food parts at the end of the street. So there’s a bit of atmosphere there, but it is basically street food. You could, in those days, have got a plate of fried rice for 20 baht on the street. I’m sure it’s more than that now. But anyway, they had a very pleasant evening. He took her down to Soi 38. They sat outside, had some food, they drank some beer. I don’t think Far drank she was on the Coca Colas. And that was it.

Now unfortunately, James didn’t get Far’s phone number, because he obviously thought, you know, he knew where she was he could find her any night of the week. All he’d need to do is go down to Sukhumvit Soi 10, into the bar complex, and basically she’d be there. So he didn’t even think to take her number. So that’s the end of the first day that’s basically what happened on the first night. James had now taken Far out for a date. They’d had a very nice evening. Far quite liked James, and who knows, it probably would develop further on from there. James took her home or took her to the nearest BTS, not home obviously, because she probably lived way down Sukhumvit in a room. So basically that was it. That was the end of the first date.

James went home. He did say to Far, “Oh, I’ll come and see you another night, and we’ll take it from there.” And he was happy he was very, very happy. I think Far was quite happy as well. He went off on his way. Next day, went to work, teaching back to normal. Everything was the same. A couple of days went by, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Far. He’d actually fallen he hadn’t fallen in love at this point, but he did really like her. And the best thing about it was Far knew he was a teacher, he was on a small salary, and she wasn’t expecting too much. And they kind of clicked. So he was looking forward to his next meeting.

The Disappearing Beer Bar

Now about two or three nights later, as I say, James decided he’d go to see Far. But he’d go quite early he’d go about 6:30, 7:00, just when the bar was kind of opening up. They’d have their food, and that way he was guaranteed that he could sit and chat for a while. She’s not going to be too busy there’s not many customers hanging around the bars at that time in Soi 10.

So James worked that day. He had his dinner. At that time, there was a food stall outside his apartment block there most nights it was 20, 30 baht for a plate of noodles or rice. He was on his own, it suited him fine. And so he had his dinner, he went up, he freshened up and spruced himself up a bit, as you do. And when he went to Soi 10 to see Far, absolutely gutted. Stood there, couldn’t believe what was in front of him. He’d been there three nights ago, he’d been sitting at the bar with Far. And now he was standing looking at a pile of rubble. The bar had gone. All the bars had gone. He couldn’t understand what had happened. The whole lot had been ripped down.

Now as it transpired something that was found out later, but I can tell you about this now the landlord, the guy who owned the land, he was offered quite a lot of money to sell it to developers. And basically, he figured it would be easier and more profitable to just take the money from the developers rather than go round and negotiate rents with all these individual stall holders, bar owners, and what have you. And quite a few of these bar owners were farangs foreigners they owned bars there as well. And so basically, that was it it was gone.

Now obviously, James didn’t have any contact details for Far. He didn’t even have a family name. He was gutted, and he had to find her. Basically, he wasn’t willing to just walk away. The last thing he expected was to find no bars there when they’d been bars there three nights previously hence the disappearing beer bar, or bars.

So he went back to his room, thoroughly depressed. Thought long and hard about it, spoke to some Thai friends, got some advice, and he just didn’t have a clue how he was going to find Far. He spent a couple of nights around some other areas of Sukhumvit, just trailing around beer bars. I think even he walked through Cowboy and Nana, into all the bars, popped his head in the doors couldn’t find her. She seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

James Searches for Far

Now in those days I don’t know if it’s the same today but in those days, all the bars in that area came under the control of Lumpini Police Station. So one of his Thai friends suggested that maybe he could go down to the Lumpini Police Station, get some more information, and maybe follow up like this.

Now he did. He went down to Lumpini Police Station. Quite surprised there were a lot of Thais there, there was some press, there was some media. Surprisingly, there weren’t any foreigners there, even though there were foreigners who had bars there they just gave up, they just didn’t see the point. But there were quite a lot of Thai bar owners there. They were protesting that they’d lost their livelihood. There was a little bit of media there, interviewing them, what have you.

And James did his best to find out who owned the bar. And as it transpired, it was actually owned by a Taiwanese man not a Thai. He was from Taiwan, and his wife was Thai. He found out that much. And after some digging, he actually did hook up with the bar owner and met her. I think he slipped her a thousand baht as a sweetener, which she was very, very happy about obviously having just lost her bar.

Now he had a conversation with the lady who ran the bar the wife of the Taiwanese guy who owned the bar. And basically, what she said to James was that the girls who come to work in the bar, they’re kind of freelancers. The bar didn’t keep any records of these girls, and basically she didn’t have a number for her or anything. You know, basically Far turned up, she was given a job, she was paid cash. She didn’t really have any commitment to the bar if she didn’t turn up, she didn’t get paid. So unfortunately, it didn’t help James very much. He couldn’t find Far in this way. And you know, obviously, the more he couldn’t find her, the more he didn’t see her, the more he started to miss her. He had good memories of that one night out, and he was just desperate to find her.

The Private Detective

Now luckily for James, he did have some savings. Because when he came out to Bangkok, he hadn’t been out there very long when he’d met Far I think he’d only been out six weeks, something like a month, six weeks. So he did have some emergency money. I don’t know exactly how much could have been a couple of thousand dollars, which would equate to just over a hundred thousand baht. The exchange rate was very, very good back then in the ’90s.

And so, in desperation more than anything, he went on to Yahoo in those days, Yahoo was the big search engine, not Google and he did various searches on how to find people. And he came up with the idea, in the end, to hire a private detective in Bangkok. He did hook up with somebody. He wasn’t overly expensive I think it was several thousand baht a day as a retainer.

So he met this he was a foreigner, this private detective. He’d been there for a few years, but a lot of his bread and butter work was kind of spying on bar girls to see if they were faithful to their foreign boyfriends, that sort of thing. James met him in the Landmark Hotel, in the lobby of the Landmark Hotel, had a coffee there with him, explained what happened with Far, and he asked the private detective if he could do anything.

Now unfortunately, because James didn’t have Far’s family name, or he didn’t even know if Far was actually her real name or a nickname because Thais tend to have lots of nicknames but basically, the detective told him he would take on the case, he’d find out. One thing they did find out from the owner of the bar was that she came from a very small village about five kilometers outside Khon Kaen. Khon Kaen is a major city in the northeast. A lot of the girls will tell you they come from Khon Kaen, but they don’t actually come from Khon Kaen they come from very small villages close by. But you know, most people have heard of Khon Kaen, and so they say Khon Kaen.

Now as I say, James found out the village where Far came from, and he told the detective. The detective said, “Leave it. It will be a few days, and I’ll get in touch.” James gave him a retainer, and that was it. James went about his business.

Now the detective, obviously having quite a lot of experience in Thailand, he went up to the village where Far came from. And he basically went into the local the equivalent to what you’d call the council offices, the government offices that kept all the records. And before he did that, what he did was he went into a big store, he bought a couple of bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label, put them in a bag. He went in to see the officials in the office that kept all the records, met one man who was particularly friendly, passed him the two bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label, and basically told him what he was looking for.

Finding Far’s Family

He dug into the records, and believe it or not amazingly they did find a record for Far. They found a family name. Everything was down there. She wasn’t married. She had a brother a younger brother who lived with her parents. The detective got the address, and basically he got the address. And he took a well, it wasn’t really a car, he took a to this village. It was nothing more than a cluster of ramshackle wooden huts, really. You couldn’t even call it a village. But he did his inquiries, and basically, as I say, he did find where Far lived.

Now obviously, Far was quite shocked to see this foreigner on her doorstep in this village. And basically, the detective explained to Far that James was looking for her, he’d like to meet up with her again, and could he call her, and would Far speak to him on the phone to which she agreed.

So the detective actually found James. “I’ve got some good news for you. I’m here with Far.” And he gave the phone to Far.

Now at that time, Far explained to James what had happened after the bar closed. She had to come back home because, unfortunately, her father was an addictive gambler. He’d gone into debt. He was in debt to a local mafia person for about 50,000 baht. He lost this money, he couldn’t pay it back. Far had come back to the village to try and help sort things out.

Now as it happened, this mafia person had a son who wanted to marry Far. Now obviously, Far wasn’t interested at all. But unless this 50,000 baht could be settled, then she would probably have to marry this mafia guy’s son, and that would wipe out the debt and her father would be off the hook for now. I’ll tell you why I say “for now” in a minute.

So James, as I say, he did have some savings, and he agreed to pay her father’s debt. He just wanted her to be happy. He wanted to get back together with Far. Far started crying over the phone fainting she was quite embarrassed about it. But to cut the story short, let’s get to the ending so we can let you know what’s happened in the end.

The Resolution

So basically, the detective went off on his way. James went up to the village, met Far, settled the 50,000 baht debt with the mafia the local mafia and that was the end of that.

Now unfortunately, you don’t solve problems like gambling problems by paying off somebody’s debt, because it’s an addiction. And I don’t personally know what happened after that. All I know is the part of the story I know is that James did go back up, he met Far, he paid her father’s gambling debt 50,000 and that was the end of it, as far as I was concerned. But guessing, looking into it from my experience of addiction Thais, drugs, alcohol, gambling, all that sort of thing by paying the 50,000, all James would have done is bought him some more time. The father would have got back into gambling. He probably wouldn’t have stopped. It would have escalated. Slowly, slowly, a couple of months probably would have gone by. The family wouldn’t have known anything. And again, the mafia would have been back at the door saying, “He owes us 50,000 baht. You need to pay up, or else.”