damn hair dresser
I went to meet friend one evening and I arrived a bit too early so I thought..hm, going to get some hair washed could kill some time. Turned out to be worst hair dresser I've ever experienced in years.And this one is very close to Khaosan. Nothing fancy in this shop. Quite sleazy I must say but it was not far from the meeting point and I thought just to wash my hair it couldn't be bad.I entered a salon and found a hair dresser was lying down on her sofa watching soap drama on TV. She seems to be surprised to have a customer (hell, no!)She started with.."You hair is quite oily. Did u use any hair cream?""no, it's like that"*wash wash wash*"Do you have hair fall problem?""no, why?""oh seems here.." (she pointed here and there on my head) "on the back looks fine but there's less hair in the front""er... so?""Oh, nothing nothing"*wash wash wash wash* "Did you just dyed your hair?"
"yes""Here seems to be much lighter than here""It meant to be like that"
"Are you sure?" I thought.. ofcourse I'm fucking sure, it's my head! now shut up!I looked at my watch"Are you in hurry?"
"Not so bad, but make it quick don't waste time too much on massaging my head, it's OK I don't need that""ok ok"Finally she finished with her 180 times of shampooing me. I moved to a chair"Can u get me some magazine pls?""Oh.. magazine?""YES! anything that I can read..?" she looked around and came back with a magazine named "Cheewit Rak" (Love Life)
What the fuck is this magazine? does it still exist? I thought it was dead since I was 7 years old! I can't believe that anyone is still actually reading it these days!I browsed through that "magazine" half of it is crappy ad. about cream for bigger boobs, download themes for mobile phones.. and another half is full of stories of shitty messed up love lives. I just DON'T understand why some people wanna read this stuff? maybe it makes them feel that "ohh.. compared to this people, My life is not so bad!"And about every 2-3 pages.There're free artworks drawn with bright blue pen by her kid all over pages. . They're Godzilla, Doraemon, and other undescribable creatures that only hair dresser's son could explain.I dropped that magazine. Now there're 2 of them trying to dry my hair. It took FOREVER.
"Did you just dyed your hair?" the new one started same question"No, I was born with half red hair in the front and brown hair in the back""oh!""Any other questions?""hehehehe"".......""..................""Are you going to party on Khaosan road?"
"NO, I'm meeting my friend"
"Oh ok ok" then she left. One of them still kept trying to dry my hair.FInally she finished messing my head. What a relief."How much" she poked her head outside the shop to ask the other one and turned to me
"100 Baht""What..?? just washing and drying?? 100 Baht!?""hehehe"
"What the.. u know in front of my house they charge only 50 Baht!!""er.. well..er..."
"here ! 100 Baht. Keep it coz you'll never see me again!"Beware, this shop is just right next to lottery office behind Khaosan. What an evil.
Ticket..paid! BKK-Kolkta-Mumbai-BKK!
Went to BIG+BIH fair yesterday to see p'Sakchai as he told me it was free seminar about exporting biz stuff. But it turned out that they charge 400 Baht/person to get in there. So, instead of spending 400 Baht on seminar that he might not understand what they talk about. We went to fancy sophisticated 499 Baht buffet at The Bistro where the foreigners on bussiness trips don't drink "water" but "Perrier" (what is the fucking difference?)
At least they have freshly cooked pasta. Good food (not better than Thai food though! :-P ) and nice dark chocolate cake.
P' Mong transfered money to the agency for tickets to India. Spent another 6,000 Baht on brand new backpack (so light for 50 L.!) I think she won't buy new backpack for next 10 years ..lol
Supposed to go to the embassy today but forgot to go to get visa photo taken. So we'll go tomorrow. Now p'Mong can have her excuse to go to buy wallpaper at HomePro :-D
Met Katy couple of days ago. I thought she would need her shoes she forgot at my place so I went to see her at Hua Lam Pong station to give her shoes back and just for a bit of chit chat. But when she was ready to go and about to pack the shoes in her backpack. Turned out that the shoes I brought were not hers! lol silly me. I didn't check inside the bag before I took them. So stupid. But at least it's better that she didn't find out when she arrives Chiang Mai and found stranger's shoes in her bag :-)
Books fair is coming this week. Time to burn the hole on my wallet! argh!!
Got fwd. mail with pictures of this dog.
A man who took the photos was wandering around the campus. He saw a dog with "badge" he thought "Oh, how nice. This campus have "Stray dogs control system" by tagging them" But he looked closer..
That dog even got its picture taken (I bet it's one of security guards of students there..) Badge read
"Allowed-to-howl-in-the-campus-card"
Name : Boonlong (Long means straying)
Surname : Loves aircon room
Position : Unsecurity Gaurd #297, (very) special agent.
Crazy Thais :-)
I think it's very common here in every faculty and campus has "Campus dogs" nobody actually owns them but they all got their names and being fed by the students and campus officers. Pretty smart if they decide to "stray" in collee or university because they will never go starving.
One of "our" dogs in univesity was bright brown one. We called him Ai Som (orange dude.. his hair is almost orange color) this dog always running after cute chicks(boys call this dog ma-nah-moh = literally "Pot face dog" meaning "lusty bastard" ) in the campus he knows how to beg for food! Last time I saw him he got soooo fat... :-D
Monday! no sh*t!
It's Monday again and it's already 9th of October!! Less than a month I'll off to India. Gosh. This is so stressful.
Meeting on Saturday night was great.Very impressive hitchhiking stories from Ludovic
Went to have more drinks at Old Leng then few more beers at Astra. Jaid turned out to be the queen of the dance floor. Dead fun! :-D
Off to meet Ron at Emporium soon. Still don't know what's the plan today. Mahogany might surf my couch. She's taking online exam this evening. We'll see.
How to eat out with Thai friends - Idoit proof survival guide
OK I don't know if anyone would find it useful or not. But, doesn't matter. Feel like sharing it.
First of all. This is not 100% Thai standard. Most are based on my experiences and some complaints and bitchy opinions from other Thai friends.
Ever wonder what to do when go out eating with your Thai friends? Since we have non-Thai friends come to visit sometimes. Apart from taking them to party their ass off in RCA. Things we have to do is.. going to eat!
This is Idoit proof survival guide. How to eat out with your Thai friends.
STREET FOOD
Since everything cost 20 - 35 Baht on the street (except in China town.. some simple dish can be expensive even on the street) If you're visitor. We normally pay for you anyway. Considering you're "guest" and this is a hospitality for us to do so. Anyway, ALWAYS try to offer to share the bill. Even 90% of chance that we'll refuse it.
For example if the bill comes out 120 baht. Your friend(s) will pay all that. Or share between them without letting you pay any single Baht.
You'll NEVER see me and my friend count how much MY dish costs, how much YOUR dish costs.. we always go 50-50 with the bill or a little more or less. It depends. Not a big deal.
Don't ever offer to pay ONLY what you ate. It's considered rude. If you wanna pay. Offer to share the bill even it would turn out less that what you ate. It's still better than wanting to pay only what you ate.
Sounds weird but it's true.
And if you insist to pay for everyone. And if they let you do. That's OK too. But it won't happen to "well-mannered" Thais that often. Unless you're really really close friends.
NICE RESTAURANT
Food in "nice" restos cost around 70-150 Baht/dish. With 2-3 people bill would come around something like 400-500 Baht approximately. (including drinks) This case, ALWAYS offer to share the bill. We always do. Even I eat only 100 baht food plus another 20 Baht for a soft drink. Or 120 Baht PLUS a little bit more. Same rule : Don't ever offer to pay ONLY what you ate. But if you drink beers, always pay for your beers.
65% of chance that your Thai friends will let you share the bill. (depends how expensive it is..haha) and depends at what time of the month too. Especially for people they work in the office. First week of every month is a "generous" week coz it's a pay day in the end of every month. When it comes to 3rd week or last week of month. Always keep in mind that your friends might be broke :-)
For example bill comes out 1200 Baht for 4 people. That's 300 Baht each. We'll always put 300 baht on a table. And generally if we see that someone ate not that much we always return something like 100 baht back to him without having to calculate it. Just giving back some money is already OK. None of Thais think it's a big deal to share exactly same amount of money for food.
Can pay more or pay less for what you ate. We don't really care much about it.
What we do here, we put the money on the table so one of us will collect all the money and pay to a waiter. If they really don't want you to pay. They will just push it back to you. If you really insist (please do! lol) they might take it. But if you insist to pay more than 2-3 times and they still say No, Mai pen rai. It means that they really don't want you to pay.
Strange way to show your manner. But it will work well. You'll see
Restaurant we went last night!
POSH INSANELY EXPENSIVE PLACES
This case you can pay only what you ate. Can pay a bit more or a bit less between your friends. Even paying exactly only what you ate is OK. Plus a few tips for waiter. if the bill is over 1000 Baht. Minimum tip is about 50 Baht. If we're really satisfiled with services (food came quick and hot, waiter is serving good and polite AND fast!) usually we tip 100 B.
CLUBBING
Since you're not gonna eat there. Only issue is BEER! (or whatever drink it's gonna be) Cocktails cost around 100-120 Baht in normal (not too posh) clubs. Same for beers. if you're 4-5 people together it will go by "round" Someone goes buying 5 bottles for 5 people first round. Then second round will be second person. Like that.
If you'll go for a bottle of Black Label or something (usually costs 900-1100 Baht. Depends on promotions.. Red Label is cheaper) in this case, go with the same rule for "POSH INSANELY EXPENSIVE PLACES" Except for "mixers" that will be randomly paid with everyone later.
What NOT TO DO
- Calculate EXACTLY what you ate and only pay for that. It's considered quite rude here actually. As it makes you look like a stingy person.
- Sitting there still, Without offering to split the bill or pay some of it. Even you know that your friends will treat you but always offer. If they don't want it. They will insist you NOT to.
Otherway round, If you find your Thai friends just sit there still waiting for you to pay.(unless you've told them in advance that it would be your treat) You should consider making new friends already.
- Insist to pay half of little money at EXACT amount. Like.. "OK that's 85 Baht right? So I owe you 42 Baht and 50 Satang!" Who don't give a damn about 2 baht 50 Satang, really. Don't do that. It's ridiculous.
What TO DO
- Offer to treat your friends next time would be appreciated.
- Treat them with something else. Like movies later on, or few beers next time is OK too.
- Saying Thank you after every meal. Even it's just street food. That's all we wanna hear.
Not much, isn't it.
Pizza+Death Note+Go Kart+China Town
