My trips to the bars slowed. Never one to buy alcohol or drink at home, I stopped drinking and started keeping more reasonable hours. Then Beau asked if I wanted to move into her apartment. After paying rent, electric, water, internet, and maid service, the cost of living in my apartment was almost $2000, at the time, approximately 80,000 baht. We already spent most of our free time together, so I packed up and moved in with her, further distancing myself from the nightlife and breaking the party cycle once and for all. Late one afternoon, while napping, the room began to shake, awakening me. An earthquake in Thailand? Over and over again, someone’s fist slammed against the door. Eager to find out who had the audacity to pound away at our…show more content… Then I asked Beau for my phone. “Get me out of here,” I said. “I’ll try.” An officer put his hand on my shoulder and led me to a holding cell where two guards were awaiting my arrival.
“Sawasdee Khup,” one of them said, in Thai. “Sawasdee Khup,.” I said, managing a weak smile. “Oh, you can speak Thai.” “Yes,” I said, nodding. “Big deal,” I thought. “I can speak Thai. A lot of good it’s doing me now.” “We leave the door open,” he said, grinning. “But do not run away.”
Pacing in and out of the cell, I wondered would happen next.
Hours passed and I had no idea what was going on. In the lobby of the police station, Beau tried to negotiate my release. However, the disparity between the 400K baht the police wanted and the 20,000 baht she wanted to give them was unacceptable. The police controlled my freedom and knew they had me. Now they would extract as much money as they could negotiate. It would take more than twenty-thousand baht to get them to budge.
At this moment, I learned another valuable lesson; never put yourself in a position where the police have a valid reason to throw you in jail. Sounds like something I should have learned when I was in kindergarten, but in Thailand, it is more complicated than this.
“You, farang, come with me,” said the