Hey, kids...

Saturday night was... eventful, to say the least. Mostly, Bangkok never ceases to surprise me.

I went out with five friends to check out a nearby bar featuring live folk music. It turned out to be Thai folk music. We stayed for about two and a half minutes.

We walked up the street and stopped at 7-11 so a few people could buy beers. We were standing around, discussing what to do next, when an older white man approached us.

He introduced himself as Dee Dee and said he noticed that we left pretty quick. He was there to offer us his sage advice on entertainment in the city. "I'm a professional," he said.

He asked if we were Khao San Road people. Khao San is the main backpacker strip here. I haven't been there yet, but it's supposed to be full of cheap, dirty bars. "No. Not so much," we told him. We explained that we weren't tourists.

He went on to tell us where to find the best gay sex show on Patpong (a notorious red light district). Then his Thai wife walked up.

We asked where they were going. "Back to our hotel. We just bought a big bag of ganja. You guys know; you're from California."

Erin looked at me and mouthed, "Could this get any weirder?"

"What happens if the police catch you with it?"
"Oh, come on, the police are the ones that sold it to me."

We learned that he'd lived in Bangkok for eight years with his wife before they moved to the U.S. He said something about owning a business that sold designer labels like True Religion, Seven for all Mankind, and a few others that were supposed to impress us.

Before leaving, he wished us luck and held out a downturned fist toward Ryan. Ryan obediently extended his hand, palm up, and received a fistful of pot.

"You kids have a good time."

Sensitive to the fact that we were standing right in the middle of a sidewalk in front of 7-11, Ryan quickly shoved his hand into his pocket. Dee Dee and his wife left, and we started wondering aloud whether the Thai people watching us down the street were authority figures of some kind.

We walked to Saxophone Pub for some blues music, where Ryan spent the rest of the night nervous and fidgety and wondering what would happen if he got caught with that stuff in his pocket.

Gotta love the neverending supply of old, sketchy white men that Bangkok is so ready and willing to host...