I know it's time to end this blabbering, but I just need to tell you about yesterday. Yesterday I really realized how wealthy we are in the US. See, I love slumming it in the street markets etc. and getting everything that's authenitc and cheap. But there's a real luxury circuit here that I'm pretty out of touch with. Like if you want to spend the $15-$20 for a meal that you might spend in NY at Yaffa Cafe, you can eat in some real swanky place equivilent to a $100 meal at home. I just don't bother because I need to SAVE on such a long trip, and the cheap stuff is so great anyway.
Story 1: I had time to kill while some headpieces were being finished, so I cabbed over to "Siam Discover Center" a fancy mall with a young clientelle. "Iron Ladies Part 2" was playing! I'd seen part 1 last year. It's about a gay/drag queen/tranny vollyball team. I was so excited I went right in. It didn't dawn on me right away that I was paying $11, a crazy amount of money for Thailand. Movies are generally about $2.25.
This film was in a special VIP theater! First, you enter into a luxurious bar where you are served a complimentary drink and some fresh baked cookies. Then, you go through some fancy doors into the theater and your jaw hits the floor! It must be based on the look of a 1st class section on a plane, but it's even more cushy. You get a GIANT overstuffed red electric recliner that can recline into a bed. Remember, people in Asia are smaller and this thing was giant to me! Next to you is a cocktail table with a ring to hold a champagne bottle. Included: pillow, blanket, complimentary socks. It must have taken up the space of 6 seats! It was all so surreal. They must have gotten this idea from Japan. It was nice, but if WE had this what would it cost? $60? Would anyone be decadent enough to pay for it? There's a much greater division between the haves and the have nots here, and I think the haves are even MORE showy, attitudy, and label concious that at home. They feel the need to strongly distance themselves from the poor who they see as low class.
Story 2: I've had a sore throat for a week, so I decided to go see a doctor. Well, there's this hospital that all the foreigners go for plastic surgery. It's the most expensive hospital in Bangkok. It's huge and it looks like a luxury hotel, gorgeous lobby, valet parking, etc. It even has a McDonalds and a Starbucks, which, as I've said before, are Western imports and seen as fancy here. Well, I didn't even have to sit down to wait. I escorted in and examined immediately. I was given 3 medications (antibiotic, painkiller, decongestant) in a fancy little giftbag. The price, at the expensive luxury hotel/hospital for an emergency room visit AND three meds: $20. Ladies and gentlemen, we come from a very rich country.