Stealing Asia

by David Clarkson

  Any doubts I might have had about him evaporated after he had saved my life. The incident in Hat Yai had made me wary of trusting strangers, but I thought Esteban had more than proved himself. If the policeman in Sungai Kolok was right and somebody did want to stop me from seeing Asia again, I now had back-up. It was time for me to go and find my girl.

  Chapter 5

  The Full Moon party had been a mainstay on Koh Pha Ngan since back in 1985 when the proprietors of a local guesthouse had staged the first event as a thank you to their guests. It was hailed such an overwhelming success that they decided to repeat it the next month and then the next and so on until the legend grew and grew. It quickly became a phenomenon that attracted people from around the globe. In the peak summer months the crowd attendance could be anything up to 30,000 people and such was its popularity that it even spawned several unofficial spin offs such as the Half Moon and Black Moon Parties. None of this interested me, however. All I wanted was to find Asia.

  We stashed our bags in a storage locker and then headed down to the beach, which had begun to fill up sooner than we expected. A few overly optimistic individuals had started their party a little too soon in the day and were already looking a little worse for wear. I saw one guy lying unconscious in the sand with an impressive collection of empty plastic beach buckets stacked beside him. Something told me that he had not passed out from building sandcastles.

  ‘We may as well get the drinks in,’ I offered. ‘Is beer okay with you?’

  ‘Beer’s fine,’ replied Esteban.

  I approached the nearest bar. The counter was covered by small plastic beach buckets like the ones piled up next to the unconscious guy. Each one contained a small bottle of spirits, an energy drink and a can of soda. They were the ultimate DIY cocktail kit and went a long way towards explaining how that guy on the beach had gotten into such a state so early in the day. Before I even spoke the barman pushed one towards me.

  ‘Two beers, please,’ I said.

  The barman smiled exposing an incomplete set of crooked teeth.

  ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘You wan’ two buckets - yes?’

  ‘Not buckets; beer. Give me two beers, please.’

  I nodded to the bottles that lined the shelves of the fridge behind him. Still the barman tried to dissuade me.

  ‘You don’t wan’ that – is elephant’s piss! I do special price jus’ for you. Buy two buckets; I give you third - no charge.’

  Now I could definitely see how that guy had drunk himself into a stupor. I stuck to my original order and the barman reluctantly handed over the bottles. They were a local brand and the label bore a picture of an elephant on its logo. We had passed some of these creatures by the roadside on our way down to the party and after taking a sip from the bottle, I thought that the barman may have been telling the truth about its origin. I handed the second bottle to Esteban and we sat down on some rocks by the water’s edge in order to people watch whilst waiting for the party to gather momentum.

  ‘So whereabouts are you from?’ I asked.

  We seemed to have formed an unspoken alliance since meeting and as such I thought that I should try to find out more about my new travel companion. It was obvious to look at him that he was a few years my senior, but I thought if I got to know him we would soon find some things that we had in common. He took a sip from his beer before answering my question.

  ‘Argentina, originally,’ he replied, ‘but I move about a lot.’

  ‘You speak perfect English; have you ever been to the UK?’

  ‘Once or twice on business, but I spend most of my time in the States.’

  ‘What sort of business are you in?’

  The question seemed to unsettle him and he looked me over before responding.

  ‘I offer insurance,’ he eventually replied.

  ‘So, you’re a salesman?’

  ‘Not quite; I deal more with the risk assessment side of things.’

  His answers were guarded and I sensed that he had little interest in talking about himself. I decided to change the subject.

  ‘How do you rate my chances tonight?’

  ‘On finding your girl? I see no reason why not. If she were a blonde or a brunette you may struggle to spot her, but red may prove to be your lucky colour. I think your biggest worry is if another guy gets there first. After all, you did say that she cannot know for sure that you would be coming.’

  I dismissed his suggestion instantly.

  ‘Asia is not like that.’

  ‘I never implied anything to the contrary. My point is that there are a lot of guys here and a beautiful girl is not going to go unnoticed.’

  To illustrate his point, he drew my attention to an attractive blonde who was approaching the bar from the direction of the sea. She was wearing nothing but a flimsy bikini and her toned body glistened as the diminishing sunlight caught the reflection of the water droplets clinging to her, as unwilling to let go of her curves as the eyes of every male admirer around the bar.

  ‘Now watch,’ said Esteban. ‘Watch as the wolves move in on the lamb.’

  A group of guys standing at the bar became more animated as the girl drew nearer. Rather than move in as a pack, one of them separated from his friends and made the approach alone. He was tall and had a muscular build that was fighting to break free of his tight designer t-shirt. There was a lot of cockiness in the way that he walked and he hid his eyes behind expensive sunglasses. His approach was slick and had clearly been perfected by much practice. From where we were standing we were unable to hear what was being said, but it seemed that whatever it was had been funny as the girl returned a lot of encouraging laughter. After less than a minute, the man collected two drinks from the bar and offered his friends a wink as he left in the opposite direction with his prize. It was an impressive performance.

  ‘You can’t wind me up that easily,’ I said. ‘If Asia was the kind of girl that fell for guys like that she would never have been with me, would she?’

  He briefly looked me up and down.

  ‘Point taken,’ he conceded.

  After getting in replacement beers, I suggested that we take a stroll along the beach in order to mingle with the growing crowd. The sun was now almost within touching distance of the horizon and I knew that once the moon came out things would start to get a little crazy. Hopefully, if I was on the move, I stood a greater chance of running into Asia. It was still a long shot, but with the alcohol inside of me, anything felt possible.

  By the time that the transition into night was finally complete the crowd had reached chaos level. The booming music stirred up the raging, alcohol fuelled hormones running rampant throughout the melee and if you tried to resist the tempo of the crowd, it would overwhelm you. As I was pushed and jostled by the throng, I realised that expecting to run into Asia by sheer chance alone was all but impossible. It was clear that I needed to come up with a better plan.

  My frustration at not finding her did not mix well with the frantic atmosphere and after a while it all became too much and I had to break away from the crowd.

  ‘This was a stupid idea, wasn’t it?’ I asked Esteban.

  He put his hand on my shoulder.

  ‘If you expect disappointment then disappointment is what you will find,’ he replied. ‘Perhaps you should take a time out. If your girl is meant to find you here; she will.’

  He led me back to one of the many bars that lined the beach. The quality of the alcohol offered in the buckets had decreased considerably since earlier in the evening, but there was still a sufficient supply of elephant’s piss on hand. We got more drinks and looked for a less crowded spot where we could sit down for a moment. After a couple more bottles, I felt less anxious and did not worry so much about finding Asia. I also desperately needed to take a piss.

  ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ I told Esteban.

  There were some toilets by the bar, but the queue for them was humungous so I decided to do what most others were doing
and headed down to the water’s edge. It was not exactly discreet, but I was running out of time. As I stepped into the shallows, I noticed a couple of tourist police officers heading my way and thought it best to hang back a moment. This proved to be a wise decision as they grabbed some of the guys peeing by the scruff of their necks and dragged them back to shore. Nobody was charged, but quite a few people managed to stain their shorts. I decided to look for a more secure option.

  I ducked down an alleyway between resorts where I found a dark, secluded spot behind the main buildings that was adequate for my needs. After shaking off the last few drops, I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. Somebody had been standing on the corner and when I looked up they quickly fled. The only thing that I managed to make out was that they were wearing a green shirt. I carried on down the alley and turned the corner to see if the person was still in sight, but all I found was a couple fucking. Well, a couple trying to fuck would be more accurate. The guy, who was on top with his shorts around his ankles, was clearly having alcohol related problems. Even from where I was stood, I could tell that he kept slipping out of his frustrated partner.

  The green shirt was nowhere in sight and rather than turning around and returning via the way I had come, I carried on along the alleyway. As I passed the not quite copulating couple, the girl looked up at me. She pulled a face to communicate to me that she was having a less than pleasurable time. I smiled back at her and then kept walking until I returned to the party. Esteban was waiting for me and I told him about what I had seen.

  ‘I think that will be happening a lot around here tonight,’ he said. ‘Some guys think that alcohol is going to help get them laid, but too much and it becomes the most effective form of contraception. It just shuts down their libido completely.’

  ‘Well, luckily I’ve never suffered that problem,’ I replied. ‘I’m not likely to be given the opportunity tonight either. I came here expecting to find my dream girl and don’t want to have to settle for anything less.’

  ‘Does this mean that you have given up looking for her?’

  ‘Not given up, but it’s like you said earlier; if she is meant to find me - she will.’

  It can be said that there is comfort to be found in knowing that some things are simply out of one’s control and just as I was starting to relax for the first time in the night, I noticed a man standing at the bar staring directly at me. He was wearing a green shirt. Maybe it was just paranoia, but I could swear he was following me.

  ‘Hold this for a second,’ I said.

  After handing my bottle to Esteban, I strode towards the man at the bar. He saw me coming and quickly pushed his way into the crowd to get away from me. I tried to follow, but was stopped by a tug on my shirt.

  ‘Looking for someone?’ a voice asked from over my shoulder.

  I was going to shrug whoever it was away, but stopped myself when I noticed the distinctive red hair. Could it really be her?

  ‘Asia?’ I asked, turning to face her.

  ‘You weren’t expecting to meet some other girl here, I hope.’

  She had clearly gotten into the spirit of the event with stars painted down one side of her face and beads in her hair, but she was as beautiful as I had remembered. I was completely speechless and could not think of what to say to her. I only knew that I was not dreaming when Esteban caught up with us and broke the silence.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘You left in quite a hurry.’

  I had forgotten what had sent me into that crowd, but it no longer mattered. My gamble had paid off and I was back with Asia.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I told him. ‘There is, however, somebody that I would like you to meet.’

  I took a step back so as to bring him face to face with Asia.

  ‘Is this who I think it is?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes it is,’ I replied. ‘This is Asia.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said. ‘I am Esteban Cruz.’

  He took her hand and raised it to his lips, giving it a delicate kiss. I imagined that Esteban could be quite the charmer when he wanted to be, but this kind of thing seemed a little out of place at a full moon party. Asia giggled awkwardly in reply, perhaps not too sure how to respond to the gesture. I quickly took back her hand and placed my arm around her waist. Although I trusted Esteban; he had after all saved my life, I still felt possessive around Asia. Despite spending the best part of the day and night with my new friend, it was strange introducing him to her. It was almost as if the two were not supposed to meet.

  ‘Where did you meet Ben?’ she asked Esteban.

  ‘At the port back in Samui,’ he replied.

  ‘And you’ve been hanging out together ever since?’

  Her questions reminded me of how Esteban had been with me earlier in the day. She seemed to show more than a casual interest in the South American, but I put this down to her merely being possessive of me. It was, after all, she who had invited me to join her in Thailand and she could not have expected that I would bring a friend.

  ‘So what have you been up to in my absence?’ I asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

  ‘Not much,’ she replied. ‘Just chilling on the beach and hanging with the guys.’

  ‘The guys?’ I asked, trying not to sound too suspicious.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she replied. ‘It’s nothing like that. There were two couples who had huts either side of mine. We got talking and they’ve invited me to move to a beach on the northern side of the island with them. You will be coming too, of course.’

  ‘Where are these guys now?’ I asked.

  She took hold of my hand and led me away from the crowd towards the nearest bar. Esteban followed behind us.

  ‘They are just getting some more buckets,’ she said. ‘Have you tried a bucket yet?’

  ‘Not yet,’ I replied. ‘I’ve been pacing myself on the beer.’

  ‘Well, we have to get you on the buckets. No way am I being with the only sober guy at this party. Besides, you’ll probably want a few drinks in you when you meet the guys. They can get a little rowdy.’

  We made our way to a small clearing by the bar where we were met by the first of her friends. The guy looked about the same age as Esteban. He was below average height, but with his curly blonde hair he would have no trouble standing out in a crowd. Sunglasses covered his eyes and when he smiled it was like the carefully rehearsed grin of a movie star.

  ‘This is Clay,’ said Asia and then turning to the man, she added; ‘this is the guy that I was telling you about.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said, taking my hand. ‘Asia has told me all about you. This is quite a girl that you have here; you’re a lucky man.’

  His accent was similar to Asia’s, but less refined. It sounded a little more Hillbilly than Hollywood. He did have that larger than life aura possessed by so many Americans though. There was a blonde girl next to him and she was introduced to me as Dee. Like me, she was British. They then called over the other couple. Coming back from the bar with two buckets in one hand and a pretty blonde girl in the other, was one of the biggest guys that I had ever seen. Seeing him approach was like watching a pickup truck towing a Porsche, such was the contrast between this monster of a man and the waif of a girl on his arm.

  ‘This is Barrett and Izzie,’ said Asia.

  This time I did not offer my hand for fear of the bones actually being crushed. Clay took one of the buckets from his friend, which he then shared with Dee. We were still in a very loud area and this was not conducive to getting to know somebody. After the initial introductions the atmosphere became awkward. I made the excuse of getting more drinks for Asia and myself for us to both leave. We took seats by the bar where I hoped to have a bit of time to catch up with her on a one to one basis. I had forgotten all about Esteban. With Asia around it was easy to forget about a lot of things.

  ‘So, do you have somewhere to stay around here?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘We all checked out
this afternoon as it made no sense to pay for a room when we are partying through to sunrise. A taxi has been booked to pick us up just after dawn, but if you are already bored with the party we could try to find an empty cabin.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ I replied. ‘This entire corner of the island has been booked up solid for the past week by people eager to get accommodation close to the party. We’ll never find anywhere with a vacancy at this hour.’

  Asia smiled her most mischievous smile.

  ‘Who says we need a vacancy? All we need is an empty room and I don’t think that too many beds are being slept in at this moment, do you?’

  I had an idea what she was planning. The previous time that we had spent together had been sexually charged and I guessed that she wanted to pick up where we had left off.

  ‘Surely you aren’t suggesting what I think you are.’

  ‘Not suggesting; insisting – come on.’

  We left our drinks on the counter and then made our way up into an area filled by small beach huts. The noise from the party was still overpowering at this distance and the chances of any cabins being slept in were pretty remote. They were all secured by padlocks, but it did not take long to find one with an open window. After looking around to make sure that we were not being watched, we climbed inside.

  The room contained a double bed, but there was only one backpack inside, indicating a single occupant. The bed was freshly made and whoever was staying there had probably just dropped off their bag before going straight out to get started on the drink. Asia did not waste any time in pulling me over towards the bed. I began removing her top, but she stopped me.

  ‘There isn’t time for that,’ she said. ‘We may need to make a quick getaway and we don’t want to leave our clothes behind, do we?’

  It was obvious to me that she was becoming turned on by the prospect of being caught in the act. When I had been with her previously, we had essentially hidden ourselves away in our own private love nest. This was understandable given the circumstances that had brought us together. The sex had been heated and passionate, but not particularly experimental. With some distance now between us and the events of that night, Asia was a lot less guarded and exuded a great deal more confidence. I was seeing a whole new side to her and I liked it.