Swede Dreams

Swede Dreams

After months of blogging daily without a break, I suppose I'm entitled to a holiday every now and then. Well, the truth is, I had every intention to blog yesterday, but I was busy in the office the whole day, and in the evening I was out having dinner and drinks with my Swedish friend Johan. When I reached my apartment at Langsuan Road, it was already midnight and I was completely exhausted. I woke up late this morning and had to pack immediately to catch my afternoon flight home to KL.

And suddenly I'm in Subang Jaya, surfing the Net and blogging through my Streamyx connection, which surprisingly has not failed me for almost 3 months now.

I had an enjoyable evening with Johan eating and drinking with at Soi 4, Sukhomvit, where the famous Nana Entertainment Plaza (NEP) is. Sad to say, being the boring geeks that we were, we didn't join the rest of the farangs in their orgy of boozing and womenizing; but one thing Johan and I do enjoy is a quiet drink or two at the bar. (OK, maybe that's an understatement).

My friend, Johan is a freelance IT consultant and once upon a time, during the heady days of the dotcom boom, we used to work for the same company . I haven't met him for almost a year now, but this time a project in Bangkok brought us together again. And last night we had a sumptuous meal at a Thai restaurant in Sukhomvit and loaded ourselves with equally generous amounts of beer.

While we were happily feasting and recalling the good times we had in Hong Kong and Singapore boozing on the company's account, Johan recognized the familiar Swedish accent coming from the table next to us. There were a few Swedes with their Thai girlfriends there having dinner. Johan told me that Thailand is quite a popular holiday destination for the Swedes and there are a couple of direct flights a day from Stockholm to Bangkok.

Johan couldn't help smiling when he overhead what the Swedish guys were talking about. Later when we adjourned to another open-air bar for more drinks, we had a good laugh when Johan narrated to me what his fellow countrymen at the next table were talking about.

Apparently the Swedes--chatting in their native language--with their Thai girlfriends oblivious and smiling innocent beside them, were boasting about their sexual exploits to each other. They were detailing all the kinky acts that they subjected their Thai lovers to and how then even managed to photograph them for posterity .

It is a strange feeling--even a surreal one--living in Bangkok where every male fantasy can be easily realised. I wonder why some misguided bigots bother to slam planes into tall buildings when everything they seek for in their afterlife can be found in this earthly City of Angels.

When I slumped on my king-size bed in my apartment last night, exhausted from the day's outings, I felt perversely pleased that I was alone and had the whole bed to myself. I slept like a log and woke up this morning, still rather tired but feeling extremely glad that I was finally going home--well, at least for a week.