"Wha'... uh... what did you say?"
Alison started to repeat herself, but fell silent as her words were once again drowned out by the screech of the BTS train leaving Sala Daeng Station, right above her head. Between that and the angry rumble of traffic on nearby Silom Road, there was no chance that her drunken husband would be able to hear her words. Not that he was likely to listen anyway. Alison shook her head in frustration, her shoulder length blonde hair heavy and damp in the humid Bangkok air. The taxi driver grinned and drove away, a thick wad of baht stuffed into his shirt pocket.
Eric... her new husband... looked over at her and gave a lopsided grin. "We're here, honey."
Alison looked around dubiously. "Here" was not somewhere she wanted to be. On one side, traffic moved in fits and starts along the four lanes of Silom Road. Tuk-tuks honked and wove their way between the lines of choking vehicles, their lights flickering off the concrete of the BTS track overhead, creating a strange tunnel like effect in the gathering night. It would be a terrible traffic jam anywhere else in the world, but in Bangkok was the typical evening traffic.
A least, typical in Alison's brief experience.
On the other side, opposite Silom Road, was the reason Eric had wanted to come here in the first place.
Patpong.
Back when he had first proposed Thailand for their honeymoon, she had been enthusiastic, picturing romantic dinners on white sand beaches, under limestone cliffs. She had been - still was - excited at the prospect of exploring Phuket and trying new foods, and a few days in Bangkok, to see what Eric kept calling the "real Thailand", seemed like a small price to pay. It hadn't been her first choice of honeymoon stops, but rather something to get through before hitting the beach.
Marriage was all about compromise, wasn't it?
The actual wedding night had been something of a disappointment. Alison hadn't been a virgin, but her sexual experience before the wedding was very limited. She had hoped for... well, more from her new husband. The two, sweaty honeymoon nights at the hotel in Bangkok hadn't been much better. Alison put that down to jet lag.
And alcohol.
And now, on their last night in Bangkok before flying to Phuket, Eric had insisted, once again, on seeing the "real Thailand". What that meant to him, after an online search and a brief, utterly humiliating conversation with the waiter at the hotel restaurant, was one of the Thailand sex shows that Eric had, apparently, heard so much about. With a smirk, the waiter had recommended the Nana Plaza Entertainment District. Alison thought she would die when Eric had loudly asked for directions. He'd had more than a little to drink at dinner and was firmly of the view that any language difficulties could be solved by speaking English slowly and very loudly. After turning heads at the restaurant, the young couple were ushered outside and shown to a taxi on the street in front of the hotel.
If possible, things went downhill from there. Eric, drunk, kept repeating to the taxi driver that he wanted to go to Nana Plaza... the real Bangkok... speaking loudly and slowly in a slurred voice. The driver shook his head.
"You want real Bangkok, yes? You want?"
"Yeah."
"Not Nana Plaza. Nana Plaza for tourist. Real Bangkok is Patpong. You want that? Patpong?"
"Yeah... real Bangkok."
"Eric." Alison took her husband's hand. "No. Let's go back to the hotel, OK? I'm tired." She frowned. "And you're drunk."
"No. No... honey," he told her, with the careful enunciation of a drunk trying not to sound it. "Let's check it ou'... I wanna see it." He looked at the taxi driver. "Patpong."
The man nodded.
That had been a half hour ago. A half hour of Alison looking anxiously out the taxi window as night fell on Bangkok. Once or twice, she ventured an "I don't think this is a good idea", but Eric was adamant and, eventually Alison fell silent. She brushed her blonde hair away from her face and watched as the city, the endless procession of cars, trucks, taxis, tuk-tuks, food stalls and thronging crowds slid by. The feeble taxi air conditioning left her sweaty and frustrated by the time they reached their destination, under Sala Daeng Station.
Patpong.
The Patpong district ran more or less north from Silom Road, a series of narrow roads with connecting alleyways, leading to a confused mix of cast shadows and garishly lit signage, a harsh scream of advertising all jumbled together in a confusing maze-like warren. People... mostly men... mostly tourists... either alone or in small groups, drifted through the Patpong maze, peering hopefully up at provocatively dressed Thai women who gestured them inside their respective establishments with a robot enthusiasm that was somehow both extremely sensual and utterly bored.
Patpong.
"Yeah... that's what I'm talkin' 'bout." Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her along the street and into the one of the alleyways. "The real Bangkok."
Alison let herself be pulled along the alley, following unhappily as her husband of less than a week wandered through Patpong, staring at the bars and the clubs... and the women:
"You come here, Mister... you like club..."
"Lots of girls for you..."
"You like... sexy..."
"Eric," Alison tried to slow him down, frowning. "I don't like this. Let's go back to the hotel."
"No. I want..."
"Please, Eric, I..." Alison stopped mid-sentence, mouth open in surprise as she felt someone come up behind her and slide a hand around her waist. It was a short Thai woman, with spikey black hair. She wore a pair of tight shorts, black pumps and a bright red tee shirt, festooned with rhinestones and a design of a dripping heart. At the same time, she saw a slender Thai girl with cropped, blue hair, wearing a short, leather skirt and tank top, glide up beside her husband and take his arm, smiling.
