A Thai Friend!

Today, I made a Thai friend! I was wandering about the Siam Paragon aimlessly when he and his friend came over and said hello. His name is Ricky and his friend’s name is Note, pronounced just how it looks, with a little bit of inflection to make it Thai. Anyway, we had lunch and discussed what I was doing in Bangkok (BKK for short, you may see me use this abbreviation in the future!). They showed me how the food courts work in Thailand.

By the way, I should give you as an aside a short little note that food courts here are WAY different from the ones we’re used to in the US. In the States, they’re almost places to be avoided and you never know about the quality of food there. In BKK however, they’re places to feel good about going to. They have amazing selections and have full-service restaurant quality food and service. And they don’t use cash. They either use special food coupons that you get at an exchange counter or you get an electronic card that can be scanned or swiped at each “station.” Then you pay at a central station on the way out when you’re done eating. It’s so much more convenient than making multiple payments at each different station!

Ricky needed to get a haircut that day and Note was introducing him to the hair stylist that he uses. I think I may go to this place in the future, although it’s a little expensive at 400 baht – it would definitely be a great deal if I were in the US at a little over $10, but I’ve seen haircuts listed for as little as $150 baht. Whether I’m actually going to use those places is a different story, hah hah. It was a terribly hot day so they suggested we go get some ice cream. Well, it was more gelato. In the quaint little shop itself, called iBerry, there were the usual flavors like vanilla, chocolate and pistachio, but there were also a variety of other flavors that were uniquely Thai – well, I don’t know for certain that other SE Asian countries don’t have them too, but for the sake of argument…I got a green colored flavor called “madang” in Thai. In English, it’s called Garcenia. It was sort of citrusy and tangy-tart. Just perfect. We then took a tour of Siam Square, opposite of the Siam Paragon and Siam Center (another shopping complex I’ve only walked through briefly). Siam Center was like an outdoor MBK, only the clothing there was even cheaper than at MBK and came in a variety of styles for men. In fact, there were many store devoted completely to men! I was quite surprised at the creativity of some of the men’s fashion I saw on display. As adventurous as I am with clothing, there were a lot of things I don’t think I could pull off wearing.

After that, they decided I should get some education on how cinemas work here (the movie theater). We debated over which movie to see and settled on a silly B-movie called DOA: Dead or Alive. Basically, it was male-oriented action flick with lots of beautiful women kicking butt on screen. The movie featured a lot of gratuitous fleshy scenes and suggestive language and behaviors. Still, it was entertaining. One interesting thing I should share with those of you who have never gone to a cinematic show in Thailand is that they play the King’s anthem at the start of the movie. Everybody stands up for the duration of the song and sits down again before the movie starts. Luckily, I was told of this custom by a former co-worker (thanks Randi!) ahead of time, so I was prepared for it. Still, it was a little weird.

When we finished with the movie, we decided to go bowling. Note had to go at this point, but another of Ricky’s friends, Kon, joined us. We went to a bowling place…I hesitate to call it alley because it was so much more than that. It was like the bar Manray on steroids. Ironically enough, it was called Blue. If you know anything about the club/bar scene in Seattle, this would strike you as quite funny! Anyway, as I was saying, it was a video bar but with a live DJ as well, bowling alley, karaoke bar, lounge and restaurant rolled into one. There was no smoking and most of the bowlers were fairly young. Blue featured a gigantic and crystal clear Bose speaker system as well as “beds” that you could recline on and have your drinks brought to you. Periodically, the DJ would announce special prizes if you could get a strike on a specific round. As for me, I’ve never bowled so well in my life! I was able to achieve something I’ve never been able to do before and that is to get a Turkey! For those of you who are in the dark, a Turkey is when you get three strikes in a row. In a different game, I only missed one pin through my 7th bowl or round or whatever they’re called. The rest were strikes or spares. I don’t know if I was just incredibly lucky or if there was some sort of cheating involved, but it definitely made me feel good!

Anyway, at the end of the night, we exchanged phone numbers and I said good night. It was about 10 o’clock by the time I got home.