Having finished our fine dining experience, with Gam in charge of cooking (see Part 1) it was now time for us to shop. First on the agenda, a SIM card for my phone, so that I would have a local Bangkok telephone number. After all, I’m in big demand in this town.
The first, and apparently a very important step, when becoming “phoned” in Asia is the selection of the phone number. At the phone store, there is a list of available telephone numbers posted, with the pricing scale reflecting the desirability of the number. Some numbers cost thousands of baht. Gam studied the list carefully, pointing out different numbers to me that she fancied and getting my opinion. Of course, my opinion was “that one’s fine” since I didn’t have a clue. This went on for some time, as various numbers were considered and then rejected. Finally, the selection was made, and Gam was satisfied that I had a good number. It is, by the way, 0844993886. Apparently, the repetition…44…99…88 is desirable, as is the relation between the 3 and the 6. The 08 prefix is common to all numbers. When Gam put her number in my phone, I learned her number has the 99 combination repeated twice, so our numbers have something in common.
With that transaction completed, and me now reachable in the world of Thai girls, it was time to move on to…more shopping. Gam, of course, had previously noted that I hadn’t brought her back a present from Dhaka, and it was time for me to pay the price for that faux paus.
At dinner, we had discussed an idea that I was in favor of, which was getting a Thai-English Dictionary to help us communicate. I was thinking we needed to find a bookstore. Silly me. Gam promptly marched us to an electronics store, and we went straight to the “talking dictionary” counter.
If we could have a discussion at dinner, you might wonder why we need this device. Well, let me assure you, I’m using the word “discussion” very liberally. Our discussions involve single word sentences, pointing, miming, weird facial contortions, and some frustration. Gam tries mightily though, I’ll give her that. She’s got my first name down pretty good, provided my first name was hedge. She prefers, since that’s very hard for her to say, to call me Brown. However, she’s managed to find three syllables in Brown, no mean feat given that none of the syllables include the letter “r.”
As a result, colorful doesn’t even begin to describe our conversations.
Meanwhile, back at the talking dictionary counter, a selection has been made and an American Express card produced. Remember that card, it’s not the last time you’ll hear of it before we reach the end of this tale.
So what’s next? Why, more shopping of course. Which we’ll talk about in Part 3.
