I did once bump into a mate. "What are you doing here
?" "Same fucking thing as you, ya dirty raj!"
There are one or two countries or places (very few in my opinion and far less than lazy fuckers proclaim) where a buddy to show you the ropes can be invaluable. I always do my own on-the-ground research, but in one case I can remember, even after turning up some excellent pigshit, I still hadn't hit the more sophisticated highs that I'd heard mentioned. I found a couple of ex-pats who, although a bit up themselves about it, had developed a system and even a venue where punters got a reasonably good deal and with pre-screened whores available for the asking. The whores were completely independent but realised they had a coveted reputation to maintain or they'd be off the 'list.' Other well-informed punters decried it, as with a long period of local knowledge, game, and language skills they could get the same for themselves; but for even an experienced newcomer it was largely a closed world.
A bit of a daft question to think anyone goes round bragging to non-punting mates, surely? Yet occasionally it comes up. I was getting off the plane on holiday once and a clearly clued in American guy was doing his best to get away from some other Americans, the louder variety, that he'd been travelling with. We soon struck up a bond and he confided to me that he was on holiday to 'look for some ladies' among other things. He was into both civvies and prossies and pretty expert. He only knew one place, which he introduced me to and we then found others (I had explored before). We became good mates. Bit of banter when we both got into the same prossie (he was not into same-room sharing) but overall it worked out quite well. It can be quite good cheer to have some good company to share a drink with inbetween rounds.
That was a punting buddy based on friendship. I am not really very interested in doing it the other way round. There's a difference between a friend, someone I want to hang out with, and a punting buddy (someone I might share tips with) or even a punting 'colleague' (someone I might have a laugh with in the sauna waiting room or even a LMP-style party). It's good to know the difference I think. Don't screw up someone else's boundaries. Or your own.
