Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye.

[WorldSexGuide]

Went to borders and saw this book on the shelves. Read a few chapters and I thought it's not bad. It's written by Steven Leather. Thai cheongsters should find this book interesting.

Anyway, below is an intro of the book by Steve Leather himself.

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Reader2006/reader2814.htm

A few years ago I wrote a book called Private Dancer, reckoned to be one of the best novels describing the Bangkok bar scene. Private Dancer is a work of fiction, but I’ve just written a book set in Thailand which is very much based on reality. Confessions Of A Bangkok Private Eye is out this month and will be on sale in all good bookstores in Thailand. Anyone outside Thailand can buy it online from the publishers in Singapore - Monsoon Books. They have a website at http://www.monsoonbooks.com.sg

The book is the biography of Warren Olson, who worked as a private detective in Bangkok for more than a decade. I bumped into Warren in a bar in Washington Square a few years ago, fell into conversation with him and started talking about his cases. Fascinating stuff involving lying bar girls, ladyboys and lesbians. The guy had clearly had no end of adventures in Thailand and they cried out to be in print.

Over the next year or so Warren would send me notes on various cases that he’d worked on and I would fictionalise them, basically changing the names and places to protect the innocent (and the guilty). The resulting book, I can modestly say, is funny, provocative, and full of advice about how not to get taken for a ride in the Land Of Smiles.

Conventional wisdom has it that every visitor to Thailand should read Private Dancer before venturing into Nana Plaza, Patpong or Soi Cowboy. In future I think they’ll be telling everyone to read Confessions Of A Bangkok Private Eye, too. Working with Warren taught me a few things, too!

As with the Private Dancer cover, I had a hand in organising the photograph for the cover of Confessions Of A Bangkok Private Eye. The two girls featured on the cover work in Nana Plaza! The model for the Private Eye wishes to remain anonymous, but it is fair to say he’s much better looking than the genuine article!

to be continued....

[WorldSexGuide]

continue......

Anyway, here’s a taste of what’s in the book:



THE CASE OF THE INTERNET SCAMMER

I was having a dream about two twin go-go dancers doing terrible things to me with whipped cream when my mobile phone started ringing and dragged me back to reality. It was a British voice on the other end of the line. A man.

‘What time is it there?’ he asked.

‘What do you think I am, a speaking clock?’ I growled. I squinted at the clock on the bedside table. It was just after three.

‘It’s nine o’clock here,’ he said.

‘It’s three in Bangkok,’ I said.

‘That’s okay then,’ he said.

‘In the morning,’ I said. ‘It’s three o’clock in the morning.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m in London.’

‘Congratulations,’ I said.

‘Shall I call back later?’

I sat up in bed, rubbing my face. ‘That’s okay, I’m awake now. Is this business or pleasure?’

‘Business,’ he said. ‘I need help.’

I always keep a notebook and pen by my clock so I took notes as the caller went through his story. His name was Mike Tyson (no relation to the boxer, he said, ‘and I’m a fair bit older and whiter’) and he was a retired businessmen. He’d built up his own sportswear company and sold out for a decent price once he hit sixty. I got the feeling that he wasn’t exactly short of money. He’d sent his Thai girlfriend the money for her ticket to the UK but Mike had waited at Heathrow airport for hours and there’d been no sign of her. He’s tried calling her mobile phone but it was switched off. Mike was sure that something had happened to her and he wanted me to check the local hospitals, go around to her house, to do whatever it took to find out what had happened to her.

It was an easy enough job, so I told him to send me a ten thousand baht retainer through Western Union.

‘No problem, that’s how I send money to Metta,’ he said.

‘Have you been sending her a lot of money?’ I asked. Alarm bells were already ringing.
‘Just a few hundred pounds a month,’ he said. ‘And some extra money when her father was in hospital. And money for her passport and visa. And for her ticket.’

I asked Mike for as much detail as he could give me. Her name was Metta Khonkaen, he said. I got him to spell it for me twice because Khonkaen is a city in the north east and it seemed a strange surname. It would be like being called Pete Birmingham or Eddie Queenstown. Not impossible, but unlikely. He had her date of birth and I groaned inwardly when I realised that he was almost three times her age. Alarm bells were really ringing now.

‘Where did you meet Metta?’ I asked. I would have bet money that he’d met the lovely Metta in a go-go bar or massage parlour.

‘I haven’t actually met her yet,’ said Mike. ‘Not in person. We met on line.’

I was totally awake now. Mike had sent hundreds if not thousands of pounds to a girl he hadn’t even met? I was starting to wish I’d asked for a bigger retainer because Mike clearly wasn’t a man who kept a tight grip on his money.

I asked Mike to e-mail me any pictures he had of Metta, and to fax copies of any paperwork he had, then I put down the phone and went back to sleep.

The next day I wandered along to Starbucks for a latte and a banana muffin and then took a motorcycle taxi to the Western Union office. Mike had been as good as his word and I collected my ten thousand baht. There was a faxed copy of her passport and copies of the papers that she’d taken to the British Embassy. And he’d emailed me some head and shoulder shots of her. Metta was a stunner, no doubt about it. Pale skin, high cheekbones, long straight hair.

I went through the motions and phoned a couple of dozen hospitals in Bangkok but none had admitted a Metta Khonkaen. I checked my emails and there was a message from Mike. One of life’s little coincidences; just a couple of hours after speaking to me, he’d received an email from a friend of Metta’s. According to the friend, Metta had been arrested by the immigration police when she was trying to leave the country. There was something wrong with her visa and she didn’t have enough funds to cover her time in the UK. The police were holding her in the notorious Bangkok Hilton and the friend said that she needed fifty thousand baht to get her released, and another 150,000 baht so that Metta could show she had sufficient funds to travel to the United Kingdom. Two hundred thousand baht in all. The helpful friend had included her own name and bank account details so that Mike could send her the money without further ado.

I phoned Mike and the guy was at the end of his tether. It was too late to send the money but the next day he was going to be at the bank first thing to arrange the telegraphic transfer. I told him to wait until I’d made a few enquiries, there were just so many things about this case that just didn’t ring true. I pressed him for more details about his internet courtship. He told me that he’d first met her in a chatroom, and they’d started talking by email every day. She was working as a waitress in Bangkok but after Mike started sending her money she’d gone back to stay with her parents in Chiang Rai, helping to support her younger sisters while she studied for a degree in accounting. It had always been her dream to live in England, she’d said. They’d traded photographs, and Metta had told Mike that he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Like a movie star, she’d said. And she loved the photographs of his large house in central London. His thirty-two foot yacht. His collection of sports cars. Her email began to become more affectionate. Maybe she could fly to London to see him, she’d suggested. Maybe they’d get on so well together that he would want her to stay with him. Maybe he might one day want to marry her.

By the time Mike had finished telling me the story, he was in tears. I told him not to do anything until he heard from me again.

I picked up a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label and went along to the Immigration Department on Soi Suan Phlu. The chief there was an old friend of mine. I went up to the third floor, gave him the whisky and then we spent half an hour talking about golf before I got around to the real reason for my visit. I showed him the fax of Metta passport and he shook his head emphatically. ‘Mai Chai, mai chai, mai chai,’ he muttered.

He pointed at the passport picture. Metta was smiling happily. The chief explained that smiling wasn’t allowed in passport photographs. They were taken in the passport office and the camera operator would make sure that the person didn’t smile. Also, the wavy lines that were supposed to run through the photograph were missing, and the surname was in a slightly different typeface to the rest of the wording on the passport. It looked to the chief as if the photograph had been stuck into an existing passport, and the surname had been typed on a piece of paper and stuck into the travel document. The passport was fake.
I asked him what would happen if the girl tried to leave the country with a doctored passport. Would she be arrested?

The chief assured me that the girl would probably have just been turned away. If she had been a known criminal then she might have been held by the immigration police, but she certainly wouldn’t have been hauled off to the Bangkok Hilton. To put my mind at rest he tapped the name into his computer terminal. There was no record of any problems with a Metta Khonkaen.

My next call was to the municipal office in Pathumwan. I was a regular visitor and whenever I popped in I took a selection of Thai snacks with me. The head lady saw me coming and came over to relieve me off my tidbits and see what I wanted. I asked her about Metta’s surname and she shook her head emphatically. Khonkaen was not a surname that she had ever come across and after a couple of minutes on her computer terminal she was able to tell me that there wasn’t a Khonkaen family anywhere in the country.

I waited until late evening before phoning the unlucky Mike and told him what I’d discovered. And I told him of my suspicions – that Metta Khonkaen, or whatever her real name was, was conning him.

Mike was still convinced that there was some sort of misunderstanding. He was still getting frantic emails from Metta’s friend, imploring him to help her and he was convinced that she was banged up in a damp, dark cell somewhere.

I told him that I could get proof that he was being taken for a ride and asked him to send me another ten thousand baht. Then I told him to tell Metta’s friend that he would send some money to the Western Union office on Sukhumvit Soi 22 the next day.

I was outside the Western Union office with my camera and long lens just before it opened. It was on a busy road but I was able to sit at a duck noodle shop with a perfect view of the shop front. I didn’t have to wait long.

A black Cherokee Jeep pulled up in front of the office and a middle-aged Isaan woman wearing a gold chain around her neck as thick as my thumb climbed out of the passenger seat. She went into the office and spoke to the girl behind the counter. The woman produced a passport and signed a form and was handed a bundle of banknotes. I managed to get a few good shots of her grinning as she counted Mike’s money.

As she walked out of the Western Union office and headed towards the Jeep, half a dozen policemen in brown uniforms rushed over to her. At the same time a police car screeched to a halt in front of the Jeep and four police motorcycles pulled up behind it. I took a few more photographs with the long lens, then went over to shake hands with the police colonel who’d planned the arrest. The driver of the Jeep was a farang in his sixties, a bald head and heavy jowls and thick-lensed spectacles. He had a gold chain around his neck as thick as the one the woman was wearing.

continue.....

[WorldSexGuide]

continue....

The woman was crying and telling anyone who’d listen that the farang had made her do it, that he was the one who prowled around internet chatrooms and sent emails to gullible men around the world.

The farang and the woman were regular visitors to the Western Union office, the colonel told me, and in the last month alone had collected a quarter of a million baht from a dozen or so ‘sponsors. They were handcuffed and taken away. The money that Mike sent was handed over to me and I signed a receipt for it. I went back into the Western Union office and cabled it back to Mike, minus my expenses of course.

I phoned him when I got back to the office. I didn’t take any pleasure in telling him that his beloved Metta was a sixty-five-year-old Belgian scam artist, and the photographs that Mike had framed and hung up all around his house were of a well-known Thai soap opera star. He took it quite well, I thought, and thanked me for saving him from making a complete fool of himself.

Mike said that he’d learned his lesson and that he wouldn’t be going near internet chatrooms again. In fact, he decided that he’d come to Thailand himself. He asked me if I’d find him a girlfriend, someone who wouldn’t rip him off. I put him in touch with a reputable dating agency run by Nung, a good friend of mine. When Mike flew over three months later, Nung fixed him up with a few possibles but none took Mike’s fancy. Mike wanted to go travelling around the country and the girls that Nung introduced him to weren’t happy about sharing a hotel room with a farang they had only just met. I decided to play Cupid and went to a beer garden in Soi 7 and after a couple of hours stumbled across Riang, a thirty-five-year-old mother of two who looked twenty-five, pretty and with a good sense of humour. I ran the Mike situation by her and she jumped at the chance of a free holiday, especially if Mike would agree to take her back to her home in Phitsanulok for a couple of days so that she could see her kids. To cut a long story short, they got on like a house on fire. A year later and she was his wife and she and her kids were living with Mike in central London. All’s well that end’s well, that’s what I figure.

Contact Monsoon Books To Get The Book

Stickman's thoughts:

Having already read the book, I can confirm that any reader with even the smallest interest in Bangkok, the girls, and the bar scene, will very much enjoy the book.

[WorldSexGuide]

For those interested can read chapter 1 of the book here.

http://www.retiredexpat.com/expat-writers/stephen-leather-confessions1.php

The style is quite similar to Private Dancer.

[siamcutey]

Please don't buy this book because the Private Detective is a "fly-kite" Pte Eye.

It will take a while for me to post out the whole real scenario. And I do know that Warren Olsen is very popular and highly recommended by the people of bangkok tonight forum.

But once I post out the way he conduct his investigations, u guys will know how unprofessional he is in his work.

***For lovers of the old Club 20, I think this story will have to come from that part.:cool:

SC

[lorraine]

Please don't buy this book because the Private Detective is a "fly-kite" Pte Eye.

***For lovers of the old Club 20, I think this story will have to come from that part.:cool:

SC


Which book can you recommend, i'm interested to read some books related to Bangkok Nightlife.

Thanks.

[WorldSexGuide]

Which book can you recommend, i'm interested to read some books related to Bangkok Nightlife.

Thanks.

Can try "Private Dancer" by Steven Leather.
Some bros have it in PDF format, no need to buy.

[XiaoHoUzi83]

hmm really interested to know SC
=)
care to spill the beans?

cheers

[vaxvms]

Please don't buy this book because the Private Detective is a "fly-kite" Pte Eye.

SC

vali curious to know ur side of story....

[siamcutey]

Year 2003,

A grp of us were cheonging the now-defunct Club 20.

Happened that a friend from indo, I called him Mr X n he likes a dancer.
(I keep the story short here.)

Mr X likes Dancer and decides to sponsor her. Of course don't want her to dance in Club 20 anymore and get sole exclusivity. In a way, get her out of the bar. Mr X is rich.

Mr X wants to know whether the dancer has any funny activities behind his back because he does not stay in thailand. Also he would like to know more about the background of the dancer, to see whether is it worth it to sponsor her.

So Mr X decides to engage Warren Olsen (under my recommendation which was a big mistake) [The whole bkktonight forum was "endorsing" him, recommending how gd he is.]

In order to find out more details, Warren Olsen went down to Club 20 to find out.

And he went to ask a Mamasan named Tak (because he knew Tak) about Pat.

In the 1st place Mr X got a P.I. because he doesn't want the dancer to know that she is being investigated. [Of all people, he go interview Tak.

The problem is we knew Tak, I also know the bar crew, waiters, waitresses so well. If my friend need info from Tak, he simply doesn't need a P.I. He can just ask me and I can go dig info from her. The last thing that we need is the P.I. to go expose himself and let the girl be informed that she is being investigated.

Wahlau, we were at Club 20 twice a week at least.

When Warren emailed back with a report stating that he went down to Club 20 talking to Tak and the service crew to get more info about the Dancer, siao liao.
Now the whole fucking world knows it.

Mr X was pissed not because of the 15,000baht that he paid for 3 days of work done by Warren, but the professionalism in the way he conducted his work.

The last thing that Mr X wanted was the dancer to be alerted and by interviewing the people at her workplace is definitely not the way to do things. And if Mr X need info from the mamasan or the people in her workplace, he simply don't need Warren. me and my friends can help him because we knew the people in Club 20.

So u guys judged for yourself, whether he is professional in his work. :cool:

[thaiboy]

So Mr X decides to engage Warren Olsen (under my recommendation which was a big mistake) [The whole bkktonight forum was "endorsing" him, recommending how gd he is



All Ang Mo PI in bangkok is "How Siao", even www.thailandpi.com too :mad: they are only good is seaching home address but not in undercover jobs or checking personal info....dont waste money......i can be better than any1 or them:rolleyes: kekekekekek right SC??

[yinyang]

..So u guys judged for yourself, whether he is professional in his work. :cool:
Dumb ass (PI, not X). Recall the kiwi Stickman also moonlight as PI, with assurance on target being unawares. Dunno if he's any more street-wise, anyone tried?;)

[singrakthai]

dont waste money......i can be better than any1 or them:rolleyes: kekekekekek right SC??
Didn't know u also moonlighting as PI... :D

[siamcutey]

All Ang Mo PI in bangkok is "How Siao", even www.thailandpi.com too they are only good is seaching home address but not in undercover jobs or checking personal info....dont waste money......i can be better than any1 or them:rolleyes: kekekekekek right SC??

hehehe, until now no one dare to pay us siah.

The other time got 1 samster called yoyo, want to look for 1 thai girl called fern. I asked him for $1000, he don't dare to give me.

$1000 you got background report ready for him:D

hehehe
SC

[Sohni]

All Ang Mo PI in bangkok is "How Siao", even www.thailandpi.com too :mad: they are only good is seaching home address but not in undercover jobs or checking personal info....dont waste money......i can be better than any1 or them. kekekekekek right SC??

hehehe, until now no one dare to pay us siah.

The other time got 1 samster called yoyo, want to look for 1 thai girl called fern. I asked him for $1000, he don't dare to give me.

$1000 you got background report ready for him :D

Hahaha you all also down here earning a few bucks huh? Don't forget my kickbacks for girls movement intelligence in MPs and clubs hor. Kekeke.

[siamcutey]

Ya 1 more thing.

That time when Mr X engaged in this Warren Olson's services, only me and thaiboy knew about this thing. I did not tell any of those friends that cheong Club 20 together.

However, Yomun called me up. He asked me is my friend checking up on a Club 20 dancer. I teh siao (act blur) and ask him why he asked me that. He said cos Warren Olson emailed him and get info from him regarding this issue, whether does he know anything about the dancer.

KNN, is this Warren Olson trying to tell the whole world?

At that time Yomun was posting quite frequently in Bangkoktonight forum on club 20 escapades then. I am not sure whether Warren Olson asked other forum members in Bangkoktonight forum, but then the damage has already been done.

When someone engages a Private Eye, it means he wants investigations to be done on the secret and not let others know. In the end, everyone knows.

If Warren Olson can just ask a samster about Club 20, What the fuck Mr X need him for?

15,000baht for so-called 3 days of investigation work. Well Done Mr Warren Olson. :rolleyes:

So let me ask you guys, is he professional in carrying out his investigative work?:rolleyes:

SC

[vaxvms]

wow lan this kind of service "smelly", machiam paid for browsing sbf or other BKK related forum...no standard :mad:

SC.....buy apt liao or not in BKK......intro NICHADA swee.......ALL-IN-ONE
http://www.nichada.com/

[singrakthai]

SC.....buy apt liao or not in BKK......intro NICHADA swee.......ALL-IN-ONE
http://www.nichada.com/
well, not so bad.. I like this area but it'll be quite a distance from the new airport.
Also, currently, they're building a freaking bridge at Chaengwattana Road and its always jam at Chaengwattana and the "BYPASS ROAD".
I think already quite a number of Singaporeans in this area.....
;)

[lorraine]

Can try "Private Dancer" by Steven Leather.
Some bros have it in PDF format, no need to buy.


Private Dancer DEFINITELY can buy since some ppl here said the entire BKKtonite forum recommended it, "ENTIRE FORUM which means many ppl".

Any second book ? To read from the computer in PDF format very siong.

Wonder Borders bookshop carry it.

[siamcutey]

wow lan this kind of service "smelly", machiam paid for browsing sbf or other BKK related forum...no standard :mad:

SC.....buy apt liao or not in BKK......intro NICHADA swee.......ALL-IN-ONE
http://www.nichada.com/

No standard really, if want to dig info from Club 20, still need him for fuck. My friend can just ask me to find out.

Nichada area where got nice? Buy for own stay or investment? Investment then cannot buy. Own stay is only if you got spare cash. If not I don't find anything attractive about this place at the outskirts of Bangkok. Chaeng Wattana is damn far out siah.

Nowadays Properties in thailand also quite a few scammers, better find those that has already been developed rather than find those just starting/started to build. If not you can see them take years or even no completion:rolleyes:

SC

[yinyang]

Private Dancer DEFINITELY can buy since some ppl here said the entire BKKtonite forum recommended it..Any second book ? To read from the computer in PDF format very siong.Wonder Borders bookshop carry it.
Stephen Leather himself published 'Private Dancer' -due to popularity of foc version, and after his regular publisher's reluctance to go into print (due to perceived authors' marketing position as thriller writer).

Print available in Bkk (Asia Books outlets best), do not see this anywhere in Borders. Not that many pages to print, myself went through over 1-2 days over xmas 2004.

As for more stuff on LOS nightlife, many farangs caught the bug (some even stayed behind) and wrote volumes.. Plenty to chose from Asia Books, just dive into local section. I've got a few gathering dust (national library refused my donation hehe), pm me if you interested for me to offload from my shelves.

[singrakthai]

Chaeng Wattana is damn far out siah.
Chaeng wattana is not very far cos its got the expressway straight to city but it'll cost 40+10THB or 50THB for toll. And also actually only around 20 min to Ratchadar if via toll and with little traffic....
Its a nice area... near current airport (Don Mueng) and Impact Arena where they have concerts, exhibitions,etc... but everytime got shows, Chaeng Wattana will be SUPER JAM.... alot of nice food along Chaeng Wattana too. ;)

[swiftsuzuk]

Stephen Leather himself published 'Private Dancer' -due to popularity of foc version, and after his regular publisher's reluctance to go into print (due to perceived authors' marketing position as thriller writer).

Print available in Bkk (Asia Books outlets best), do not see this anywhere in Borders. Not that many pages to print, myself went through over 1-2 days over xmas 2004.



Hi bros

FYI: I saw a couple of copies on sale at Popular too. Quite surprised to see it available there. Cheers

[fubarmale]

Hi Bros,

I saw some books on BKK nightlife at Changi Airport Terminal 1 Departure Hall Times Bookshop (towards gate C1--C26).

Try your luck there.


Regards,

[lorraine]

Hi bros

FYI: I saw a couple of copies on sale at Popular too. Quite surprised to see it available there. Cheers


Bro,

Which Popular outlet, thanks.

[swiftsuzuk]

Bro,

Which Popular outlet, thanks.

I last saw it at the Causeway Point outlet about a month ago

[lorraine]

I last saw it at the Causeway Point outlet about a month ago


Thanks bro, will check it out:)