1.27.2008

Bangkok nights


Last night began with dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then found me on the 36th floor of a swank apartment building amidst a swarm of salsa-dancing duos. The party's host was a Brazilian man who’s moving to South Korea in a few weeks. Since Korean law forbids him to enter the country with wine and liquor, Marcelo commissioned his guests to finish off his stash. As bottles were drained, he raised them with a cheer: "Five bottles gone!" "Six bottles gone!" Most of his furniture had already been moved out, leaving behind a wide open dance floor. Marcelo is part of Bangkok's salsa circle, and some of the city's best dancers were there. I'm not sure which view was better, the one of fancy footwork on white tiles or the one from the balcony looking down on an illuminated city. A city of ten million that seems like a small town at times. Here we are at a random party, invited by a friend of Toby's we just met hours earlier, and Sarah runs into her salsa teacher. Six degrees may be a conservative figure. Our group said our good-byes around 3am and decided to take a walk down the infamous Soi Cowboy (I mean, how often are we right around the corner?) before splitting into different taxis. And that's when I ran into a long-lost childhood friend (Just kidding, but wouldn't that have added to the whole small world bit?) My first encounter with the street known for raucous behavior was actually disappointingly uneventful. I guess we had outlasted many of the revelers. Or maybe we were just too exhausted to be shocked.