I am a peaceful person and never get in fights in America. Maybe it is because I understand the rules and the culture and know what to expect. In LOS the two fights I have been in were caused by people attacking me, once a LB and once several farangs. Several other times I came close to getting into fights with farangs, always because of something having to do with a woman, usually because I was sticking up for her.
On one such occcasion, I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk in front of a conveniece store at the intersection of Sai Nam Yen and Nanai at about 3:30 AM, drinking Chaang on the rocks, with 4 Thai men, all bartenders or bouncers from the clubs and bars, 1 TG, and 1 Aussie. The Aussie started straight in to talking trash to the girl I was with altho I don't think he knew we were together since we came separately. I asked him several times to behave like a gentleman and refrain from hassling the young lady.
He was very drunk and ignored me. His profane language and disrespectful attitude, telling my GF that all TGs were f*cking low-down *****s and such, was way beyond merely rude. The Thai men ignored him and my GF was insulted but didn't say too much. I was suprised the men, who were friends of hers, didn't tell the guy he was out of line. Finally, I could take no more. I told him his behavior reflected poorly on Australians and that if he could not shut his mouth and act like a gentleman, then I would be happy to shut it for him.
He replied that he loved and good fight and would like nothing more, "Bring it on," he said, "Show me what you got." At that I leaped to my feet. Sitting next to me was the Thai bouncer, a nice guy and one of the biggest Thai men I have ever seen. He seemed to have anticipated my move. As I went up he caught me with his hand on my shoulder and gently, but firmly pushed me down in my seat, like a parent restraining an unruly child. I like him and wasn't about to argue with him. Then my GF cut loose and told th Aussie just what she thought of his behavior, b*tching at him a mile a minute like a snake spitting at him. The Aussie was stunned by her outburst and sat silent. Then the bouncer asked me to switch seats with my GF who was seated beside the Aussie. As soon as I was seated, one of the other Thai men started in to tell me the story of what had happened to the Aussie that day, when his TG had dumped him and run off w/ a Thai BF that she hadn't told him about. He said that he felt bad for the Aussie because as he put it, "the same thing happened to me last week, my TGF ran off w/ a farang." I thought it was great that he could sympathize with the Aussie even though a farang stole his GF. He saw us as all being men, dealing w/ problems w/ women first and as Thai and farang second.
Suddenly it all became clear to me why he was verbally lashing out against Thai women, because he was drunk and heartbroken and couldn't contain his feelings. I looked in his eyes and saw that he had been fighting back the tears with his angry words. I reached out, put my arm around him and told him that I felt bad for him. "Let's have a drink and be friends," I said. The Thais poured another round(they were buying all that night), and we had a toast and commiserated the plight of all men dealing with heartbreakers as all of us have at one time or another. Ironically, little did I know that soon I would have my heart broken by the very TG then sitting next to me.
A little while later, after the Aussie took his leave, one of the Thai men asked me, "When you jumped up, were you going to punch him." I said, "Not unless I had to," since that was not really my intention, but I was ready for it if it came to that. I'm not sure he believed me. But then as all the Thais nodded in agreement, he said, "We don't believe in fighting. Because it never solves anything, it only makes more problems." I thought that was a beautiful thing to say.