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decreaseIn the English speaking world her name is Kate. When she is in Thailand she calls herself Gade.
Gade is the smartest girl I know. She speaks flawless English and constantly corrects my clumsy attempts at speaking Thai. She finds it so amusing.
When I say smart I don’t just mean smart, I mean she is bright, witty, intelligent and very attractive. Most people she meets in England assume she is Chinese or something, but few bother to ask. When she smiles, which is often, her eyes sparkle and her entire face lights up. She finds fun in just about everything. When she is not with me, I miss her terribly but she has her own life and I would never make any demands of her just to satisfy my own selfish needs.
But this was our time together. It would not be for long because she would soon return to England. But for the next month or so, she was all mine. And how I had missed her.
We would stay at my condo while Gade was in Thailand but for that first night as a special treat for both of us, I booked us into The Grand Hyatt Erawan. We caught up with the events in our lives over a few glasses of wine in the wine bar downstairs. It’s a quiet place where an intimate conversation is possible and then after a light dinner we retired early because tomorrow we planned to go shopping.
The following morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast completely engrossed in each others company. Then we headed off to Siam Paragon. I had a feeling that this might be an expensive excursion but what the hell. It had been almost two years since we’d seen each other.
We did the rounds. Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel and I spent a small fortune. I owed her at least one special present for not being able to make it to her twenty first birthday party last year. As recompense, Gade chose a classic little black dress from Chanel and matching shoes and handbag from D&G. I sighed with relief when she couldn’t find anything she liked at the Gucci store. She did insist on buying a stack of music however. The only one I recognised was a Rihanna CD.
Later, back at the condo first we went for a revitalising swim and then relaxed to the sounds of some of Gade’s new music. Some of it sounded quite familiar to me but I couldn’t name the songs or the artists. I had probably heard them before on Soi Cowboy or at Nana Plaza but I didn’t feel the need to share that information with Gade.
Around six o’clock I was starting to feel hungry again. I hoped to God that Gade wouldn’t insist on going to one of those posers’ joints like the Bed Supper Club. I crossed my fingers when I asked, “So, what shall we do for dinner tonight, sweetheart?”
“Can we go to that new Mexican place I heard about. I think it’s somewhere on Sukhumvit near the Emporium. Do you know it?”.
I sure did and I was delighted. Some Mexican grub and a jug of strawberry Margarita sounded just great to me.
I didn’t realize it at the time but Thursday night at this place is Ladies Night. As we discovered when we got there, all ladies drinks are free and there are all kinds of special discounts on offer. That’s all fine and good and of course it means that the place is packed out with women of all ages and nationalities every Thursday night. This one was no exception. Gade and I were shown to a table near the bar next to a couple of grey haired Australian women. I would have guessed them to be in their late fifties or maybe sixty years of age. I nodded a greeting to them as we squeezed past their table to get to ours. They both returned a stony glare without speaking. Gade and I took our seat and ignored the old girls.
But as we tucked into our first Margarita Gade and I could not but help overhearing snippets of the conversation the two old ducks were having on the next table.
“yak, yak, yak……and he should be ashamed of himself. He looks old enough to be her father……yak, yak, yak”
On hearing this and realizing that we were the subject of their conversation, Gade raised a hand to her mouth and opened her big brown eyes wide in mock outrage.
Then she leaned towards me and said in an exaggerated whisper, “Dad, those two old girls think I’m your girlfriend!”
The Australians stilled their wagging tongues and turned their heads towards us. My daughter stifled a giggle and I raised my glass towards them in salute.
Union Hill
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