He was a familiar face in Pattaya a few years ago. I first met him in 2003 when he was a Go Go Boy at the original "Thai Boys Boys" which subsequently closed although it's now been resurrected further up Pattayaland Soi 1.
To my eyes he was strikingly attractive and we got on well at once. To call any Thai "fun loving" is rather stating the obvious but it fitted Neung so well. He was easy to be with but difficult to know. That took time and many more trips to Pattaya.
But gradually the transition from paid companion to genuine friend took place imperceptibly. On all the early trips Neung was still a Go Go Boy. The choice of hats varied but he stayed the same fun loving guy:
Then he abandoned hats:
When "Thai Boys Boys" closed he moved onto "Gacuya" (also now no more) and then briefly became a waiter.
But he'd never liked being a Go Go Boy and he then left Pattaya altogether. I would still see him though and was always amazed at the "Pattaya Grapevine" which never failed to let him know I'd been seen in Pattaya. On one occasion I merely walked through "Boys Town", on my first morning, and someone must have spotted me as he turned up in my hotel reception that evening grinning from ear to ear at how clever he'd been to find me. Emails weren't necessary to tell him I'd arrived, the Grapevine always did that.
Neung loved to party and as we shared a birthday one day we were going to have a party together but the dates of my trips never coincided with the right day.
One party I remember particularly was the house warming of some of his friends. It started early in the morning with a ceremony with local monks seated on the floor in the new house. I was the only Farang and they kept deferring to me in ceremonies that I found baffling. As I struggled to keep my head lower than the diminutive monks I would catch Neung's eye as he grinned at my discomfort. Once the monks had gone the party started and went on all the rest of the day and night. I bailed out early but Neung didn't reappear until the next day and then slept for 24 hours.
His time keeping was approximate as he just as likely to turn up two hours early as two hours late and saw no difference in either piece of behaviour. If he was ever actually on time there was that grin again as he pointed at his watch as if to say "look how clever I am!".
Neung died on June 3 this year he was 35 but admitted to 30. I was in Bangkok and beyond the reach of the Pattaya Grapevine. I arrived in Pattaya three days later and expected him to turn up as usual. His illness was so sudden and so short that I had no idea anything was wrong. It was only a matter of hours after my arrival that I got the news from a mutual friend.
I last saw him at Christmas when he appeared at my hotel room having evaded the attention of the security guard on the lift. As usual he was grinning at his own cleverness.
He was never my boyfriend but I valued his friendship and it was a privilege to have known him:
I'm going to miss his company and that grin. Farewell my "special" friend.
Nivet Seeree (Neung) 1973-2008.
