7.13.12

Friday was Ellie’s last day of teaching at HIC. I decided to hang out with her after school and take a taxi back to Songkhla later. We caught a motorbike to Wangburapa. Then she and I and her friend, Ocean, hung out for a bit before we headed out to the Bamboo Bar. I had really been wanting to smoke a cigarette lately. I have no idea why. I failed to bring my e-cig with me to Thailand. I didn’t think I would want it. Now I wish I had brought it with me. No, I have not had a cigarette. But I really wanted to smoke some shisha to stave off the craving. William had said that this place, the Bamboo Bar, had hookah. It is owned by a Welshman and is where William and his fiancé spend their weekends.

I left my backpack in Ellie’s room so that I wouldn’t have to lug around my laptop. We had found the bar on the map I carry around with me. But didn’t think we would need to take it with since it was popular enough to be put on a map. Not the case. We stopped two tuk-tuks, both of whom had no idea where to take us. Walked back to the room and got the map. This time the driver was able to figure out where to go. I hadn’t ever had to actually show it to a driver before. I usually just use it for my own reference, to get my bearings. When we arrived, weren’t sure at first if we were in the right place. There was just a load of proper bikers hanging around outside in their colors and cuts and leathers with their Harley’s all lined up. As we walked in to the bar, it felt like we were getting stared at. Not in the way I am used to; the curious stares of Thais. It was an unwelcome feeling. Inside it was very dim. A large main room but only a few people around the bar itself. Not including the biker gang hanging out at the indoor/outdoor high bar.

Ocean ordered himself a beer and a shot, I ordered a pineapple Bacardi breezer. What? I’m a girl. I can. I thought I would try out their burgers. See how they compared to the Buzz Stop. I asked the waiter about getting some shisha. He gave me a quizzical look. I used the terms hubbly-bubbly and hookah and acted out smoking from one. He said that they didn’t have that there. Great. The whole reason for going to that joint.

I hadn’t worn my glasses. Typically, I won’t make eye contact when I am not wearing them, because I can’t read the expressions on peoples’ faces. While we were waiting for our food, I made the mistake of meeting the eye of a passing patron. I smiled so that I didn’t seem unfriendly. Will try not to make that mistake again. He stopped (rather wobbly) at our table. He was a very tall, very beer bellied Glaswegian. And very drunk. He stood next to the table and asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Thailand, how long I had been here and how long I planned on staying. Then told me to shove over followed by inviting himself to sit down at our table. He said he liked my accent. Now, I don’t typically tell people straight up to leave. And I didn’t in this situation either. But we didn’t go out of our way to make him feel welcome and we didn’t instigate any conversation. This may seem rude, but I really don’t care to make friends with drunks in any country. He had me all the way up against a shelf on the wall. Ellie asked me if I wanted to throw darts. I readily agreed. She actually had no idea how to throw darts. She was just giving me an out. Our food arrived a little while later. I sat down in the middle of the bench with my dinner and told him, “Ok, we are just going to have dinner now.” He still made me scoot over again so he could sit down with us. We didn’t speak a word to him the entire time. He kept clapping for a server (so rude) and ordering more beers. Finally, he just got up and left us alone for the rest of the time. Too bad we were pretty well ready to go by then. All-in-all, I wasn’t impressed with Bamboo Bar.

Spoke to William on Monday and told him about the shisha situation. He said the server with the ponytail (ours) was new, only a couple of weeks at Bamboo, and doesn’t know what he is talking about. They get shisha every time they go there.

I may give it another chance some time, but at this point my opinion is that it wasn’t worth having to get a 500 baht taxi back to Songkhla at 9:30pm. He wanted 700. I talked him down.