We’ve now had a nice meal, I now have a Thai telephone number, and we have a nice electronic pocket dictionary to aid us in communication. I thought this a pretty good haul for one day’s work, but Gam had other ideas. After all, we both had to eat, the phone was for me, and the electronic dictionary didn’t count, since it was for us both to use. In other words, we are now shopping for Gam.
Fair enough; I’ve enlisted her aid in the expedition and she’s been helpful and charming thus far. And besides, from now on I’m going to become a Bangkok cliche, as Dean Barrett and I laughed about it over dinner a couple of nights later; a scene seen all over Bangkok…find the old guy with the wallet a comfortable chair while the young lady shops.
Inevitably, Gam paraded me past a couple of jewelry stores with sidelong glances in my direction, some batting of the eyes, a little massage of my back, and nods towards the counters. I didn’t fall for it, and Gam abandoned that strategy. We then stopped at a store that sold various and sundry items, with a woman standing out front demonstrating a curling iron. More importantly, this store contained a wonderful, huge, leather, massage chair. Clearly a good place to shop. Although Gam and I have not reached a jewelry anniversary yet in my view, I figure a curling iron ought to be pretty safe.
So the girls spent considerable time chatting away in Thai and curling each others hair, and I considered buying the massage chair some jewelry. In due course, a bargain was struck; it was explained to me that this was a really good deal, and we left with a curling iron for Gam and fond memories of the chair for me.
Where next? Clothing of course. Gam’s strategy improved here. Find me a comfortable chair, and model proposed purchases. Thus we found ourselves at the designer jeans counter. Gam selected several pairs and began to try them on. Of course, they needed to meet with my approval as well. Lets see…they look like they’re painted on, and Gam’s little twirl and wiggle of her ahem… posterior in front of me while showing them to me is a nice touch…I’m all for trying on dozens of pairs. Eventually, the favored pair is selected and then Gam asks, oh so sweetly, ”can hab?”
Well, hell yes.
At this point, time is running out, as Gam is due at Mojos for work in about an hour. So we head for a taxi. My favorite part of the whole outing, though, was Gam’s retelling of her big day to all her friends at work later on in the evening. And that’s a story for another day.
