Mr. Ting's

Last night brought my best experience with Thai people thus far, at Mr. Ting's. This little hole-in-the-wall shop around the corner from my friends' apartment sells really cheap, well everything. After hitting up a street vendor for some delicious som tam, spicy papaya salad, we were eager to really begin our weekend.

Mr. Ting welcomed us with a "What ya drinkin' tonight?" and his wife with a big smile on her face. Some Thais you meet aren't so fond of foreigners, but those attempting to make a profit couldn't be nicer. As soon as we sat down, Mr. Ting's friends pulled up their seats and immediately started to chat with us. Half of the time you have no idea what Thais are saying, but they think you do because they're speaking English. With strongly accented pronunciation and emphasis being put on all the wrong sounds, a full conversation is a struggle. However, as soon as you connect on the simplest level, even if it's just one word, it's magic to them. It's hilarious to see their faces light up as you finally understand and respond to what they're saying, so they gain a real confidence. After hours of processing their broken English over drinks (a slight variation of what we do all day with our students), they took a liking to us. One of Mr. Ting's friends, Mr. Tang (lol), offered to drive us to our next destination, Nectar. I've only paid for transportation maybe twice out of around a dozen times, so this wasn't new to me, but was to the others. Thais are just so friendly that they'd rather have you converse with them in English than have you go off and pay for a taxi. Mr. Tang even changed the radio station to an English channel for us, which is a rare but very nice touch. Arriving at the club, no cover, no lines and $8 litres of hards, the place was insanely packed and a tireless band was performing on stage. Working our way through the crowds while groovin' to the tunes brought back bittersweet memories of my weekends with the ladies in Victoria. Miss you girls!