Her voice is angelic, the sultry notes she purrs raising the hairs on my arms, my decision to dine at what may be the most expensive Thai restaurant in the city vindicated.
With looks to match her voice, she reproduces the works of some of the finest female artists, Carole King and Celine Dion amongst them, superbly. I had ventured over to the nightlife area of Khon Kaen which is centred around the city's best hotel, the Pullman. But in Khon Kaen things don't get going until late, so I had time to kill and the ground floor restaurant provided a pleasant spot to skill some time.
I glance at my watch for the umpteenth time and decide that with 10 PM long passed, surely the locals have come out to play. I get up, my bill long since settled, and stroll through the elegant lobby. The bell boy catches my attention with an almost imperceptible raising of his eyebrows and I stop for a moment. I wonder just how he would arrange it if in fact I was keen. It's almost a prerequisite of his job to have a network of people to be able to call upon and to be able to come up with creative solutions to such situations.
Would he make a call to one of the bars around the corner and order take out? Or would he perhaps make a call a bit closer to home? A family friend?
A sister? This being Thailand, perhaps, God forbid, he might even call his wife! I repeat that I am out for a good time, but not a woman. I get a confused look, suggesting that a man can't have a good time without having a woman. He's getting manipulative and I move on. I stroll out to the road and turn left. There's no-one around bar tuktuk drivers and samlor riders. They ask me where I am going in English. I tell them I am going for an evening stroll in Thai.
