Holiday Again

I had decided to stay in Udon for couple of days and mainly get some rest. I had called Anne, who I knew from my first visit, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to meet me. She was looking for a boyfriend and I didn't seem to fit her scheme. I decided she was right and it was the easiest way to keep her out of trouble and me from being bad.

Looking for a decent room wasn't as easy as I had thought as many places were fully booked to my surprise. I ended up checking into an expensive and fancy mirror room, but I managed to lower the price considerably and was thus able to afford the luxury. Still, I decided I would only afford one night.

Opposite my room was a little bar. A girl sitting in front of it had waved at me every time I had passed her driving around in search for rooms and she'd been waving and yelling as I had gotten out of the truck to check in. I guessed her intentions, but decided to have a little play with her and went over. She wanted me to sit with her, but I excused myself and offered to return after taking a shower. She blushed, as she realized I understood Thai. She had told her friend how handsome I was before she'd known I'd understand.

Freshend up by a shower I went to see the girl an hour later. We had a drink and now I was sure she was a bar girl trying to pick me up. She didn't last very long, though, as some regular customers of her's entered the bar a little later and were mad at her talking to someone else, me. Such a display of possession caught me by surprise. I had some imagination of the business, but I had never experienced any girl treated like this. She let me go immediately and turned her full attention to her customers. The play was over and I felt almost bad to have begun with it.

Leaving the bar, I bumped into Guitar. She was a small woman, but bursting with energy and she had my sympathy from the first moment. We went for a drink, but I was tired and didn't last long that day, so we made a date for the following morning for her to show me the town.

Next morning, I checked out. The room had been comfortable and of exceptionally unique design, but it was also home to many mosquitos. I had planned to stay there one night only, anyway. I met Guitar who wanted to help me finding another place to stay and we drove around quite a while and she phoned a couple of friends before I ended up in the Paradise Hotel in a decently priced good room.

Instead of sightseeing, I ended up resting most of the day. At night time, I'd go out with Guitar and some friends of her's. I enjoyed the Thai food more than ever, visited the local night clubs, met with people in their work place and their houses. I had made new friends in only one day, a thing I had thought to be impossible in that way in Thailand. Certainly, I had the bonus of being exotic, otherwise the opportunity would not have come up. Everyone took their time with me, as they all spoke only Thai and my language skills we actually not sufficient for a fluent everyday conversation, but I got better again now each day.

After five nights, I decided I had spent enough money and it was time to finally go home. I said goodbye to a sad Guitar in the morning and leaving her behind wasn't easy for me either. I had come to like her and her friends very much.

Driving by myself filled me with joy. There is nothing else like driving a car for me. Going endlessly down the road opens my thoughts in every way and gives me a feeling of ultimate freedom. I stopped for a meal somewhere, an hour later at some waterfall buried in thick jungle two kilometers down a dirt track. Besides that, I just enjoyed driving and the everchanging scenery.

In Lom Sak, already more than half way through the trip, I thought of spending the night and resting some more. I decided it wasn't worth the money and instead of the hotel's movie channel I could as well be sitting with my brother and watch a DVD in the evening. So I pushed on and arrived at the house just after dusk. I felt home, as I pulled into the driveway, went into the house and dropped my bag in my room. My holiday was over, my trip was over, everything went back to normal, whatever normal was.