The Night Where Closing Time Became a Nan-Issue

The World Cup match I'll never forget.

Back in the United States, I would have never, under any circumstances willingly walked up to a police station, smelling of beer, at 3 o'clock in the morning, and ask an officer in uniform if I could join the force in watching a soccer match.

Last weekend that's exactly what I did. That's how the story ended. But why?

The time difference between South Africa and Thailand is 5 hours, Thailand being five hours ahead of South Africa. So when the 8:00pm USA vs. England soccer match started in Johannesburg, it really started at 1:00am in Thailand. I thought that since this was the most anticipated match of the weekend for most soccer fans, that a sports bar or two would be showing the match in its entirety. This would be asking a lot in my farm town of 8 or so thousand which doesn't have any bars, let alone a sports bar that would stay open 'til 3am. Surely though Nan, the province capital, most populous city, economic center, and a city touted for hosting the best (and only) night life within a 200km radius would show the game.

The night was filled with 3 matches, the first of which started at 8:30pm. This match was South Korea vs. Greece. My mates and I were in good spirits when we found a 'metal bar' that was televising the night's matches. The bar was dark, musty, furnished in wood, included a massive stage at the front-center, had several televisions with the game on, and was highly decorated with Che Guevara and Soviet Union memorabilia. Albeit not the sports bar we were looking for, but the beer was cold and the live music drowned out those annoying horns that the fans continuously abuse all throughout the match. The Thai "lock n' loll" cover band started playing midway through the second match (Argentina vs. Nigeria) and continued playing practically until closing time. Their best song of the night was Hotel California which was played during the lucky US goal late in the first half. A good omen.

The night came to a close when a Clapton song ended and everyone in the bar cleared out... excluding my table of Americans of course. Selfish Americans overstaying their welcome. How TYPICAL! To set the scene, the time was then 2:53am and everyone but me, my friends, and the waitstaff had left for the night. It was only half time in a neck and neck 1-1 game. We were looking forward to a 2nd half, but the staff wasn't havin it.

In a very Thai way of dealing with conflict, the bar staff never told us to leave or gave any kind of verbal suggestions that we should be on our way. That would be too forward. Thai people aren't like that. Instead, they turned off ALL of the overhead lights. My table sighs in unison. Our hopes to see a televised match that we had looked forward to all week were being crushed by a passive-aggressive, and probably pretty sleepy bartender.

Forget going to another bar. We were traveling by foot and bicycle. Where would we go? By the time we found a new Bar, IF we found a new bar, the game would be practically over.

My posse and I started to make the trek back to our respective sleeping quarters when we saw flickering lights in a window off in the distance. As we got closer we saw what looked like a Police Station. That night my posse consisted of:

• 3 American girls, elementary school teachers; time in Thailand 1 week
  
• 2 American guys, junior high and high school teachers; time in Thailand 1 month
• Me; time in Thailand 7 and a half months

If we were going to watch the 2nd half of the USA vs. England match with the cops, someone would have to ask them first. With the most experience speaking Thai, it was up to me to ask the policemen if I, and my group of 5 friends could join them in watching the remainder of the match in their station. The Thai cops were nothing short of hospitable.

In the States I would have likely been cited for being drunk in public or maybe even tazed for talking to a cop at 3am with alcohol on my breath. That weekend however, I was greeted warmly with 6 comfortable chairs in front of the television. We friends talked soccer with the officers, enjoyed an exciting 2nd half, and at the game's end we Wai'ed (bowed to) the police and said our good-byes. On our way out as we were all putting our shoes on, one officer even said "Have a good night, see you again tomorrow!!!"

In my time here I've found Thai cops to be nothing but friendly, helpful, and approachable. It seems that they are truly there to protect and serve. At no point during that night was I nervous about being in a police station. I dare any of you back home to knock on a police station at 3am after a few brewski's and let me know how everything pans out. You might just get tazed.