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Behind The Smile #2
An Exciting Future
Lek, the eldest child in a typical rice-farming family, did not hope for anything more than the other girls in her village: work in the fields for a few years; have a few babies; let mum take care of them and go back to work until they had their own children and it was her turn to take care of them.
Suddenly, her father died with debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and the only one who could prevent foreclosure. However, the only way she knew was to work in a bar in Pattaya. She went as a waitress, but when she became pregnant, things had to change. She had the baby, gave it to her mother and went back to work. However, needing more money now, she drifted into the sex industry.
The book relates her her dreams and aspirations. It shows, from Lek's position, what it's like to be an ex-bar girl - the hopes and frustrations and the sceming that are part of her every-day life. One day, she meets a man she likes and he likes her too., and he returns, but real life with a real boyfriend is not as easy as she had dreamed it would be.
After all she has been through, can she be a normal girlfriend or wife again? Could she ever trust a man enough? Or would she be better off giving up her dreams and just working in the bar? Lek begins to learn that getting what you want is not always all you hoped for.
This second book in the trilogy called 'Behind The Smile - the story of Lek a Bar Girl in Pattaya' explores the characteristics needed by Thai women returning to their village and their foreign husbands if they want to live in an isolated Thai village, where there are none of the trappings of city life.
They move back to the village to be with Lek's daughter, other family and old friends, but the villagers are not all as excited about Lek moving back as she is, Her daughter and her mother are delighted. Craig is also happy to live in the village, although it is not at all easy for him as no-one there speaks English and the Internet does not work as well as he was led to believe.
Will he be able to make ends meet? Will he be deported? And would Britain allow Lek in if he had no money? Will Lek and Craig manage to live in the village of Baan Suay or will the loneliness, the tedium and the lack of stimulation drive them away or even apart?
'Behind the Smile' refers to the fact that Thailand is known the world over as 'The Land of Smiles'.
Suddenly, her father died with debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was twenty and the only one who could prevent foreclosure. However, the only way she knew was to work in a bar in Pattaya. She went as a waitress, but when she became pregnant, things had to change. She had the baby, gave it to her mother and went back to work. However, needing more money now, she drifted into the sex industry.
The book relates her her dreams and aspirations. It shows, from Lek's position, what it's like to be an ex-bar girl - the hopes and frustrations and the sceming that are part of her every-day life. One day, she meets a man she likes and he likes her too., and he returns, but real life with a real boyfriend is not as easy as she had dreamed it would be.
After all she has been through, can she be a normal girlfriend or wife again? Could she ever trust a man enough? Or would she be better off giving up her dreams and just working in the bar? Lek begins to learn that getting what you want is not always all you hoped for.
This second book in the trilogy called 'Behind The Smile - the story of Lek a Bar Girl in Pattaya' explores the characteristics needed by Thai women returning to their village and their foreign husbands if they want to live in an isolated Thai village, where there are none of the trappings of city life.
They move back to the village to be with Lek's daughter, other family and old friends, but the villagers are not all as excited about Lek moving back as she is, Her daughter and her mother are delighted. Craig is also happy to live in the village, although it is not at all easy for him as no-one there speaks English and the Internet does not work as well as he was led to believe.
Will he be able to make ends meet? Will he be deported? And would Britain allow Lek in if he had no money? Will Lek and Craig manage to live in the village of Baan Suay or will the loneliness, the tedium and the lack of stimulation drive them away or even apart?
'Behind the Smile' refers to the fact that Thailand is known the world over as 'The Land of Smiles'.
320 pages, Paperback
Published March 28, 2013
About the author
Owen Jones
318 books66 followersOwen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail, from Barry to Gibraltar, a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of seventeen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
Facebook: AngunJones
Twitter: @owen_author
Blog: Megan Publishing Services
This book is part of the 'How to...' series of 125 manuals by Owen Jones.
The whole series can be found on Megan Publishing Services at:
http://meganpublishingservices.com
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of seventeen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
Facebook: AngunJones
Twitter: @owen_author
Blog: Megan Publishing Services
This book is part of the 'How to...' series of 125 manuals by Owen Jones.
The whole series can be found on Megan Publishing Services at:
http://meganpublishingservices.com
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 27, 2025
Behind The Smile - Lek's Story So Far
"Behind The Smile - The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya" is the title of a series of books about the life of the daughter of a typical rice farmer in northern Thailand.
At the time of writing, there are two books in print: 1] 'Daddy's Hobby' and 2] 'An Exciting Future'. The author, Owen Jones, says that the third book is still in the planning stage.
The first novel, 'Daddy's Hobby' takes its name from the name of the bar where Lek goes to work in Pattaya, when the bank threatens to foreclose on the family farm after the unexpected and early demise of her father.
It is a family decision to send Lek to work in Pattaya, the capital of the sex tourism industry in Thailand. However, Lek goes willingly for the good of the family as a whole.
Lek's reasons for going and the circumstances of her employment are clearly laid out in the first book. The story is uniquely told from Lek's point of view and relates her anxieties about doing the job in detail.
The reader gets to know some of her colleagues in the sex industry and some of her clients who are euphemistically known as 'boyfriends' in the trade. You learn of Lek's hopes, fears and actual experiences. You are also left to make up your own mind whether you think that Lek is a victim or a predator; a good girl or a bad one, to be pitied or censured.
You will meet Lek's family: the mother who sent her away to work and the cousin whose bar she goes to work in. You are shown how she gets started in the sex industry, because she actually goes there as a simple bar maid with two of her friends. They set off together on an adventure together, no realising that they would become prostitutes in the eyes of many.
This is not just the story of Lek, that is clear. It is the story of millions of girls the world over and not only of poor girls in poor countries. It happens in all circles of life. Rings of people traffickers for use in the sex industry are being uncovered in the West on a weekly basis.
However, the book leaves the reader to think about whether the existence of such bars that attract 'rich' foreign tourists for the purposes of sex is a good thing or a bad one.
Lek, like most Pattaya bar girls, does not complain about her karma. It just IS and could turn out to be good or bad. Readers of 'Daddy's Hobby' will come away with the feeling that they understand the predicament of the tens of thousands of Lek's in Pattaya alone a lot better after reading these books.
They will also understand the much-maligned Thai psyche better too.
Without giving too much away, the second book, 'An Exciting Future', follows on seamlessly from the first. It depicts how ten years as a Pattaya bar girl in the tourist sex industry has formed Lek's way of thinking.
It shows how her job has affected her: the way she deals with men and how she sees her fellow villagers, to whom she can no longer relate and vice versa. It explores the problems of ever moving back into a farming community, where most people have never been anywhere, after having spent ten years in an International city with rich foreigners.
"Behind The Smile - The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya" is the title of a series of books about the life of the daughter of a typical rice farmer in northern Thailand.
At the time of writing, there are two books in print: 1] 'Daddy's Hobby' and 2] 'An Exciting Future'. The author, Owen Jones, says that the third book is still in the planning stage.
The first novel, 'Daddy's Hobby' takes its name from the name of the bar where Lek goes to work in Pattaya, when the bank threatens to foreclose on the family farm after the unexpected and early demise of her father.
It is a family decision to send Lek to work in Pattaya, the capital of the sex tourism industry in Thailand. However, Lek goes willingly for the good of the family as a whole.
Lek's reasons for going and the circumstances of her employment are clearly laid out in the first book. The story is uniquely told from Lek's point of view and relates her anxieties about doing the job in detail.
The reader gets to know some of her colleagues in the sex industry and some of her clients who are euphemistically known as 'boyfriends' in the trade. You learn of Lek's hopes, fears and actual experiences. You are also left to make up your own mind whether you think that Lek is a victim or a predator; a good girl or a bad one, to be pitied or censured.
You will meet Lek's family: the mother who sent her away to work and the cousin whose bar she goes to work in. You are shown how she gets started in the sex industry, because she actually goes there as a simple bar maid with two of her friends. They set off together on an adventure together, no realising that they would become prostitutes in the eyes of many.
This is not just the story of Lek, that is clear. It is the story of millions of girls the world over and not only of poor girls in poor countries. It happens in all circles of life. Rings of people traffickers for use in the sex industry are being uncovered in the West on a weekly basis.
However, the book leaves the reader to think about whether the existence of such bars that attract 'rich' foreign tourists for the purposes of sex is a good thing or a bad one.
Lek, like most Pattaya bar girls, does not complain about her karma. It just IS and could turn out to be good or bad. Readers of 'Daddy's Hobby' will come away with the feeling that they understand the predicament of the tens of thousands of Lek's in Pattaya alone a lot better after reading these books.
They will also understand the much-maligned Thai psyche better too.
Without giving too much away, the second book, 'An Exciting Future', follows on seamlessly from the first. It depicts how ten years as a Pattaya bar girl in the tourist sex industry has formed Lek's way of thinking.
It shows how her job has affected her: the way she deals with men and how she sees her fellow villagers, to whom she can no longer relate and vice versa. It explores the problems of ever moving back into a farming community, where most people have never been anywhere, after having spent ten years in an International city with rich foreigners.
August 4, 2014
'An Exciting Future' is the sequel to 'Daddy's Hobby' in the trilogy called 'Behind The Smile'.
It follows on directly from the first one.
All the usual characters are still in it, plus one or two more from the village.
And still the same old Lek, of course.
It follows on directly from the first one.
All the usual characters are still in it, plus one or two more from the village.
And still the same old Lek, of course.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews