Friday night I agreed to meet two Thai friends for dinner at the Telephone bar and restaurant on Silom Soi 4 in Bangkok. Every table (and toilet) has a telephone plus number and if you see someone nice, you can just call the other table (or toilet). No surprise that Silom is famous for its LGBTQH-image. The food was wonderful and the conversation made me laugh so much that I had to fix my make-up a few times in the toilet during which I didn’t receive any phone calls.
My plan for the rest of the evening/night was a visit to my favourite dance clubs. I hadn’t been out dancing for a while and I was really looking forward to that. I was joined by my best Thai “paint-the-town-red”-friend Santi. Our first stop was at DJ Station on Silom Soi 2, a place where management and visitors tend to know me. At 11.30 sharp they have a drag-queen show on stage with excellent performances of half a dozen transsexuals and cross-dressers as well as a fine set of male dancers.
It’s always fun for me to go to those places as there are practically no females inside, so I tend to get much attention. After the show the stage is open for visitors, mostly fine brave boys who like to show off their shirtless bodies. These days it's also expected from me to join them.
My plan for the rest of the evening/night was a visit to my favourite dance clubs. I hadn’t been out dancing for a while and I was really looking forward to that. I was joined by my best Thai “paint-the-town-red”-friend Santi. Our first stop was at DJ Station on Silom Soi 2, a place where management and visitors tend to know me. At 11.30 sharp they have a drag-queen show on stage with excellent performances of half a dozen transsexuals and cross-dressers as well as a fine set of male dancers.
It’s always fun for me to go to those places as there are practically no females inside, so I tend to get much attention. After the show the stage is open for visitors, mostly fine brave boys who like to show off their shirtless bodies. These days it's also expected from me to join them.
A little before 1 a.m. I visited Espresso opposite DJ Station, a more conservative club, as all the guests keep their clothes on. For me it always feels like coming home, as most people know me there. At around 2 I moved with my growing entourage to a club called GOD, at Silom Soi 2/5. It’s really my favourite club and most visitors are a mix of Thais, Taiwanese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Chinese, Japanese and a few westerners as well. GOD has professional dancers on stage in skimpy clothes and visitors are allowed to take their shirts off as well and join the dancers on stage. It’s strictly forbidden to touch the dancers, but everybody else is allowed to touch each other. After 3 a.m. and enough beer and other stuff they also tend to touch me. The 3 story club is my favourite. I love the music, I love to dance, I know most of the visitors and they make me feel like Madonna on a good day.
I was dancing on the stage when one person came up to me and said:
“Are you Pantau?”
“Yes.”
“The Pantau?”
“Yes.”
“I know you. I am a Tibetan monk from the Himalayas. I am having a holiday right now. And you used to be some sort of nun in Dharamsala, weren’t you? You were studying Buddhism with the Dalai Lama.”
My face froze. What a small world! "Yes. I am still a Buddhist, still very serious about my vows, even here in Bangkok."
“I can’t believe to see you here, dressed like this….or better: undressed like this,” he said. “I always thought you to be some sort of holy person. I cannot believe you’re dancing on a stage in a gay club in Bangkok, dressed like this.”
“Well, I am doing research for a new book as my protagonist is a gay Chinese man who travels to Bangkok with his companion. So I am researching gay life. During research I found out that it is actually a lot of fun to hang out with queer people and I was surprised they adopted me as their mascot. I get applause when I show up in this area. It feels good and feeling good makes me happy. Isn't that what Buddhism is all about?”
“But you’re not gay, right?”
“Are you Pantau?”
“Yes.”
“The Pantau?”
“Yes.”
“I know you. I am a Tibetan monk from the Himalayas. I am having a holiday right now. And you used to be some sort of nun in Dharamsala, weren’t you? You were studying Buddhism with the Dalai Lama.”
My face froze. What a small world! "Yes. I am still a Buddhist, still very serious about my vows, even here in Bangkok."
“I can’t believe to see you here, dressed like this….or better: undressed like this,” he said. “I always thought you to be some sort of holy person. I cannot believe you’re dancing on a stage in a gay club in Bangkok, dressed like this.”
“Well, I am doing research for a new book as my protagonist is a gay Chinese man who travels to Bangkok with his companion. So I am researching gay life. During research I found out that it is actually a lot of fun to hang out with queer people and I was surprised they adopted me as their mascot. I get applause when I show up in this area. It feels good and feeling good makes me happy. Isn't that what Buddhism is all about?”
“But you’re not gay, right?”
“No. I am heterosexual. I am the H in LGBTQH. But I am also a bit T and Q and dress a bit like a BL and when I was a teenager I was a bit G as well. But I compartmentalise my life. I am a different person during the day, believe me. It’s still the same me, but just a different aspect of me. In Bangkok I have come to understand that the way we move through the world is expressed in both body and in spirit and both must be honoured and obeyed in order to live fully and completely, to live a life that transcends just one or the other. Tomorrow I will be dressed in my habit again, just like you, I suppose. Having said that, I have just been invited to an after party, so I need to put my other life on hold just a little bit longer.”
One of the dancers at GOD.
Above photos: me and my friend Santi before hitting the clubs of Silom. Photos by Dale van Dussen, Cameron Wolf and others.
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I just wonder: if that monk was so shocked to see you dancing in a club, what was he doing there?
ReplyDeleteNot shocked, just surprised. He was there to dance as well.
ReplyDelete