One late Saturday morning in Bangkok: I see him on the crowded platform at Asoke: tall, lean, bespectacled, red-T-shirted, aged maybe 50. He, like me is a farang, a western foreigner. Me, female,β26 years old, dressed in floppy, short culottes and a loose blouse. As the elevated Skytrain pulls in, we exchange glances. He smiles. Or does he? Inside the train, we are pushed next to each other.
So many tourists. At the next stop, more people push in and I am forced against him. I look up in apology and he looks down at me and smiles as if to say, that's okay, honey. He's looking down my blouse.
At Chit Lom station, more male farang force their way inside although there is no more room. The doors close. The train moves off. I cannot move. I am pinioned against him, my nose pressed hard against his red T-shirt.
A hand clutches at my crotch and something pushes into my bottom. It might be a women's handbag, but no, fingers are working into my ass. Is it his hand in my crotch? Now it seems that three hands are getting under my panties at the front and back. Panic sets in. I twist and turn. I try and look for help. An Asian woman gapes at me in dismay from beneath a floppy straw hat. She is just three feet away but cannot see anything below chest levelβshe can only imagine what is happening. The ride seems to go on for ever. I bunch my buttock muscles in protest. Another hand gets right into my crotch from behind. Fingers dig through my panties and brush my vagina.
At Siam, the interchange station, the doors open and I gulp relief. I step out on to the platform and the throng pours out. I try to identify the gropers but they fade into the crowd swarming for the exits. My head spins. I wait by the doors but I do not see him get off. I get on again, but cannot see him. I am shaking. I cannot clear my brain. The train is not so full now but there are still no seats. I stand just inside the doors. My head is down, my chest will not stop heaving. The doors close and the train pulls out.