Out on Pra Athit (a cheap night out)

We had a date with Ted and Jade at Commeé in Pra Athit the new hotspot for upmarket hangouts (true bars, artyfarty thai stile, no demimondains), just one block down from the awesome Kao San Road.
We wanted to talk businesss before my babe and I were fluing backto Europe the next day, and so we were also ready to sink some Changs.
Ted went broke with a shrimpfarm down in Prachuat Kirikan, and now tries to work for a bangkok daily.
He and Jade were out for a couple of days with a police unit they called "bodycollectors". Now he's offering the story to some oversee mags. "they shure gonna buy it"
We ordered more Changs.
Sudenly there was a bang, then an outcry, and then a guy came running out of the guesthouse in the back of this stupid Commeé. Then some not-so- beautiful-anymore-girls welled out of the backyard, and then police arrived. Somebody was shot. "4 more please".
Ted got nervous, he tried to call up his photographer partner, but couldn't get in touch him.
"You can do the pics for me,? We have to get in the house, I must know whats going on inside."
I always carry my camera with me and I'm always curious, so I answered
" Ok lets do it, but if I end up in a Thai jail tonight, that will cost you a lot of Changs."
They brought out the victim. He was one of those guys who sell faked passports on Kao San, They do it since ages and already are part of the more harmless Bangkok folklore. On Koa San they just accept the orders: fake press_ID's and so on, but also faked university degrees and whatever. They probably bribed the wrong one. We sneeked in. Hot body air filled the staires in this sleazy, stinky dorm where they did it (became later famous with "The Beach"). Blood on the ground, a messed up room, with police cameraman, hysteria.
A officer had knocked on the door of the faker workshop, and of course the faker threatend the poor policeman with a knife! , so the poor officer had no other chance than to pull out his heat to shoot the bad criminal over. (He was very lucky that he didn't had blood stains on his perfect white shirt. We all know how hard ist is to get them out again. A real hero.)
TV arrived interviewing one the of the suspects working for the faker. He was wounded but still living. We had our fotos, the police was gone, and we ordered more changs.
" Ithink even the police is happy that he's not dead, because a shot farang brings bad reviews. If he were thai, the western newspapers would give a shit, but a dead farang always pays off"
Then police came back
" we see you make fotos.
"we press"
"show press passport"
I handed over my hangover passport
"no press passport, you please have to come with us"
"ted, that means a lot of changs"
They seperated us, what is never good. They brought us to the police station at Kao San Road.
Meanwhile Jade arrived. She started to speak in Thai, almost forgetting to breath, to the police office,r who wanted to ope my digital camera to get the film out.
To make a long story short, we were lucky. They just wanted to frighten us a little, , they don't like to see people who think they are smarter than them, they wanted us to show who is the boss here.
They did it in an almost friendly, very effective way. Never do hanky panky with the thai police, don't try to be smarter than them, its like the attempt to trick a confidence trickster. AND NEVER GET ANGRY or say something stupid like I AM A CITIZEN OF A FREE COUNTRY.
They seized some old pc's and printers and some ready documents from some US-Universities. The faker's in the hospital, we walked back to Commeé. It was a cheap night for me.

© changnoi 2001 <