You and I, the last refugees

Imagine This

95 degrees, humid, potential for a thunderstorm. A parking lot in front of Lotus (shopping center with an upgraded Target) blasting music with a man in spandex on a platform moving energetically to the beat of the aerobic exercise. Below him 150 women all following diligently at 2:30 in the afternoon under the heat. Only in Thailand. This my friends, is where some people get their exercise.

There are certain interesting facets to living in Bangkok, this was one of them. Another more disturbing aspect is the great quantity of old white European and American men with much younger Thai women companions. By younger, I mean a lot younger. As I was walking around the MBK (large cheap shopping mall) and the great great weekend market, known as JJ or Chatuchak Weekend Market, I kept encountering the same couples. Being rude, I couldn't help staring, as these women literally feed the overweight, old, sweaty men their dinners. I mean, I understand everyone needs some loving, but really. As I was standing outside an internet cafe waiting for a friend, the women sitting outside of a massage parlor chatted to each other ignoring me until an aforementioned older white male walked by to which they would call out, "hey big boy, you want massage?"

Besides this, there are some great aspects here, which I enjoy. The greatest so far, I would have to say, is that all the clothing fits me snug as a bug without having to try anything on. Case in point, at JJ market I bought 2 skirts, 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants/capris allll for $20 as the sellers look at me.. and go "same same, free size." This was of course much to the displeasure of my Dutch friend Wendy, who is bigger than me, and did not find the same success.

Some photos for your enjoyment:

Weekend activities

Edit: Forgot to add this. I spent a good number of hours in the pool. At first I thought it was a coincidence that there was a bevy of good looking tall, muscular men and women who liked to lay around. However, I then realized that they were all European, from Eastern Europe to be exact. All the females were tall, didn't really swim but rather just laid about sunbathing while the males had sixpacks and were evenly tanned. Esther suggested they were prostitutes, I think, on the other hand, that they're models. I think I win as I overheard them speaking of photoshoots. I'm going to hazard a guess that they're struggling models as this is not really a "swanky" hotel for the ultra successful, but a more middle of the road place. Yeah and the speedos, knocks down the guys a good 5 notches.

posted by Mai-Lan @ 10:06