Wednesday July 19, 2006: Things that make you go 'hmm'

Daily lab duties, PCRs, etc. Nothing exciting to note.
Todd, Liz, and I went to the mall down the street for dinner. We had Suki and dimsum. Suki is raw food that you cook in a hot pot at your own table. We had pork, chicken, glass noodles, and cabbage. We also had dimsum which comes in little baskets, but it wasn't anything I hadn't tried in Boston's Chinatown before. We then hit the night market on Silom Road for a little shopping. We found a few streets with 'questionable establishments', but all we could see inside were lots of Thai girls wearing next to nothing dancing on platforms with bars extending to the ceiling. I'm not even sure there were patrons inside, there were too many 'dancers'. The men outside held 'menus' of sexually explicit activities with prices provided. There were at least 50 of these places on one street (more or less an alley), the same street where people are shopping with their children at the outdoor market. It was SO raunchy. There was also one alley with lots of neon-type lights advertising "Sexy Boys", "Males Only", etc.
It's amazing that suburban parts of Thailand, namely Bangkok, a predominantly buddhist community is extremely accepting of homosexuality and transgenered individuals. A huge number of people on the streets fall into those two categories. Furthermore, appearingly straight men are very touchy-feely with other men, compared to the US. Similarly, seemingly straight women hold hands or link arms quite frequently in Thailand. I find this interesting considering Thailand's strict dress code and religious beliefs.