Absolute Freedom

The two days after we'd returned from the visa trip went by so quickly, we nearly didn't get anything done. We needed almost half a day to organize a big saw to cut the tree trunk, the house was a mess and needed cleaning, the dogs needed fresh meat, a hundred things seemed to have been waiting for us, and the kitchen, the few things left to do there, remained untouched.

The first night we met Bernd, another German expat that had met a bar girl in Pattaya three years ago and had come to Sukhothai with her. They were together ever since and he had come to prefer this place to his old existence in Bavaria. He was an interesting fellow and as careful with new people as we were ourselves, but as the night progressed an interesting conversation developed that captured us until we decided it was late enough to go to bed. It was three in the morning when we finally arrived back at the house and that made for another reason the next day was a short one.

The next evening, my brother had to prepare for his trip to Bangkok and stayed home. I rang Lucie, to see if I could get her to go out, but she wouldn't answer. Just as I had more or less settled to spend the night watching a movie, she rang me back and ordered me to some restaurant. I needed a second to reset my mind, got dressed and went into the night.

The restaurant "Geau Laek" had a special touch. There were the common plain skinny tables you'd find in so many locations in this country, but there was also a sofa corner right in front of the little bar and it was quite obvious that it was somewhat reserved for special guests. When I entered the bar, there were none but these special guests, a group of friends all aquainted with the bar owner. Lucie received a warm welcome and I was curiously examined, but quickly pulled into their circle and offered some Thai rum from a plastic bottle. To the left of me I found the wide open eyes of Be staring at me, while to the right of me was Bon, taking care of me the whole night.

It was to be a long night, and even though everyone was clearly surprised and pleased by the little Thai language I could offer I was desparately lost in translation with so many voices and common talk. Bon somehow managed to make up for that and had a hell of a time trying his few words of English on me. From the short trip to the local 7Eleven he and I went on he returned proudly proclaming how much fun it was to hang around me and by that referred to the countless females that had stared at the big guy on that little Vespa of his.

I had enjoyed the night very much and had been invited for a followup. The next day I spent in the kitchen tearing apart more walls to make way for wiring. Also, I would get up under the hot roof of the house to lay cables and return completely covered in sweat, dust, spiderwebs, and what else. It would be my day job for the next few days and I would spend the nights more quiet and a bit exhausted.

But less than a week later, I found myself at the "Geau Laek" again. That night I met Best, the owner. He had a huge English vocabulary, but spoke very simple and unconfident. He had clearly put a huge effort in learning words, but had had little practice in real conversations for a while. Still, we could instantly have some more extensive conversations than I had with any Thai before, and they would last the whole night and some more to follow.

During the next days we had sealed the kitchen walls and painted them. At night I would return to the "Geau Laek" quite regularly and had soon made a few new aquaintances. Best took quite good care of me and was eager to practice his English. I still tried to follow the conversations, but could only hold up in one-on-ones. Still, for some reason the people liked to have me around, even though untypically I mostly had to chip in less than they did.

Contrary to other experiences I had made in Thailand before, these people didn't seem to care for the farang's money and were well covered themselves. Everyone was concerned about me having a good experience in the country just as if I had just arrived. And these people gave me something else, I had subconciously missed for some while now, a life next to the one with my brother and his family. A new and broader experience of this country's people and a space of my own to move in. They gave me a kind of new freedom, additionally to the freedom of moving freely in this world that I had attained already. And they promptly seized the next opportunity to extend this space and invited me to an upcoming wedding of some friend of theirs in Pitsanulok. I gladly accepted.