Pool.

Im not good at too many things but I am quite good at pool. Ive been playing for over 20 years. One thing I found while travelling is that the pool table is a good centre for meeting people and making friends. This is easier when you dont get beaten. For those who dont know, the worldwide accepted rule is that the winner stays on. So I played pool with many girls, mainly prostitutes im sure. One of the girls took me across the road to meet some of her friends. Once inside this huge place I am surrounded by girls on platforms with poles holding up their deflated egos (look into their eyes fellas), with many, many over the hill Farang (westerners). Mainly German and English, admiring what was on show and for sale. And what song was playing that these girls were dancing unenthusiastically to? Can't buy me love by The Beatles. I think I was the only one in the place who appreciated the irony. Next we went to a small upstairs bar and again I played pool for the remainder of the night. Met people from London, Bournemouth, Sweden, America, Nigeria and elsewhere too. Spoke to a lot of locals, I was not long in this place when I had run out of money. When you first go to Thailand of course everything seems so cheap and you dont want to walk round with wedges of cash, I had simply underestimated what I would spend. But no-one would let me leave and many times it was insisted that I stay for another beer, the cost no problem. I was quickly getting used to the Thai hospitality but always somehow wary that whatever was free right now may have to be paid for later. As it turned out this was not to be the case.