Amusing Anecdotes

Thought I'd post some funny occurrences, especially those that only seems to happen in Bangkok:

I spent last night with my cousins Beth, Andy, Jenna, Hallie, Owen and their aunt Susan and cousin Evan--we went to a market, dinner, and then, after dinner, I took them all, minus a few, to Patpong, the red light district in Bangkok (men walk around with "pussy menus," displaying all the types of "shows" you can see), but which also happens to hve a decent night market and is a particularly good place to find handbags. We were on a mission to find a nice bag for Jenna and also a tasteful ladyboy show (I guess this seems like an oxymoron). Trying to find a show was fairly amusing. One man came up to me and said, "Ladyboy show?" I said, "Yes, but I would like the ladyboys to be in costumes (I'd seen one where they were in costumes and it was cabaret style, very campy, very entertaining). Are they in costumes? Are they wearing clothes?" "Yes, yes" he assured me and led me to where his venue was. I climbed up the stairs into what seems to be a strip club, only to find ladyboys stripping, clearly not what I wanted. I started to head to the place I'd been to before when yet another man approached me and said, "Ladyboys with clothes;" he'd clearly heard me speaking to the other man. I tried to clarify again, pointing to my dress, and tugging at it for emphasis. He said, "Yes, yes, clothes, clothes," so I tried one more time, following this man to his questionable venue. I went up the stairs and all I could see this time were naked ladyboys, and I just turned running, signaling to my cousins to turn around immediately.
Finally, we made it to the place where I'd seen a show and I asked the maitre de of sorts if there was going to be a performance tonight. He told me, much to my dismay, that "the drag queens are all on vacation! they're all out of the country! not in Thailand! The show has to take a break and wait until they come back." How was I supposed to know that all the drag queens in Thailand take a vacation at the same time (or together)?! It was pretty hilarious when he said it, as if it was a totally normal thing to say. He told me to come back when they're back, and was actually quite flattered that I love his show. He asked me which number was my favorite, and I told him the Madonna number. "Ohhhh! (In an excited, high-pitched voice) 'Give it to me!' That's not me but another guy. I'm Rihanna now (which he stressed because he was clearly so proud of this, it was so cute!) Come see me!!" I told him I would and went on my merry way.

After this outing, I went home in a taxi since the BTS was already closed. My taxi driver, who I'd addressed in Thai, then asked me in English where I was from, what I did here and we started chatting. Then, he asks me if I like American Football, it's his favorite! Now, while this may be normal in the States, it is not normal in Thailand. People don't even talk about it, I haven't heard the NFL mentioned once and the only time I've heard anyone utter the word "football," it's in reference to soccer--so you can imagine how shocked I was. And then he went on and on and on, "I LOVE football! The Patiuts (Patriots)! I love the Patriots! Tom Bady (Tom Brady)! Quat-uh-bak (Quarterback)! Best position!" I was so amused, "No! Not the Patriots! The Giants! I'm from NY so I love the Giants! We're better than the Patriots! We won the superbowl." I also told him that if I played football I would want to be a linebacker and he laughed so hard, not really sure why. "I would be a quarterback but I'm too small! I would run and catch the ball, run since I'm fast!"
He then asked me about all the players on the Patriots line-up--"Who is that man with black skin (he points to his arm)? He so fast!!!" "Randy Moss?" I responded. "Yeessss!!! Rady Moss (Randy Moss)!!! So fast so fast!" After some other player discussions (he also loves the Texas Longhorns as a college team!), he then told me he watches American Football on his cable box (I don't even have this?!) and that he has 3 NFL DVDs he watches. Needless to say, I never thought I'd be talking about American football to a small Thai taxi driver. So amusing.

Anyway, thought those moments were post-worthy. Stay tuned for a post on my trip to Vietnam coming soon!