Lost on Earth

I am typing this entry on a Dutch computer with a Thai keyboard. Please excuse mistakes.

Last night I went to see a Thai Ska concert on the beach. There were thousands of people packed so tight onto the beach that it was impossible to walk anywhere. These are wealthy Thai at Hua Hin, and the ones on the bea h were every bit as pretentious as wealthy Americans. They drank cheap red wine out of champagne flutes (wine is VERY expensive here, so even a bottle of nasty Gato Negro, which sells at Trader Joes for $3.99 can be priced over $10 here, which is REALLY expensive in Thailand) and ate Jell-O (American “imported” food) with as much nose-in-the-air haughtiness as any American swirling brandy and chewing on a cigar in a mahogany-lined bar. Eventually the entire crowd erupted into dancing and spilling their beer into the sand.

I met two Economics professors who teach at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok – an American man and a Thai woman who have been married for 10 years. They were friendly and talkative, shared their food with me, and then gave me their contact information should I ever need any help with anything. That is how I spent my Saturday night. Sweating, covered in sand, and dancing with two 40-something economics professors at a beach music festival. Stranger things have happened before I guess.