Last night I went to meet a friend, Ae, at Emporium for sushi. Will and Kitty showed up after watching a movie and Will, Ae and I went to the Japanese soi because we had nothing to do.

The bar we chose turned out to be, of course, a karaoke bar. It was tiny but felt somehow homely. The songs were blaring out of the sound system, and much to our surprise we were warmly welcomed by the Thai hostess. We sat at the bar and Will was handed a book of English songs. He made his choice and we watched the remainder of the offbeat videos accompanying the Japanese songs (those videos were fantastic).

Lots of clapping ensued at regular intervals, and at one point the hostess got out a tambourine. Everything seemed normal… until:

Mr. Vain by Culture Beat started roaring out of the speakers.

Much to my surprise, Will had carefully selected one of the most well-known monstrosities (which I do own a copy of) from the early-nineties Euro-rave revolution. Will took lead vocals and I backed him up with occasional noises. Ae did some dancing.

The waitresses started to dance and the Japanese people started to leave. It was surreal, to say the least. The applause when the song finished seemed to come more from relief than appreciation.

Even though it cost us more than 400 baht each for the privilege of one beer, some dried peas, a bar of chocolate, and one song, I think we’ll be back next week. I won’t say exactly where it is because I don’t want anyone else to go there.

I haven’t really blogged much over the past seven days. I’m actually quite happy this week as there are a number of things going on at the moment that are making my life interesting. Work seems to be flowing in and I’m saving money, and the possibility of moving to Australia took an unexpected twist this week. Ah, but there is also another job that I may or may not be formally offered in Bangkok. What’s a boy to do? So that’s work, life and money (of which I’m owed a lot) dealt with to an extent. As for girls, well, the way things were this weekend was actually really positive, so I hope things stay exactly like that.

I’m happy without complications.

Techno’ tags: Karaoke, Bangkok