And Now for Something Completely Unexpected

There's no shortage of good stories you get when you travel abroad.  I realized today that, although I mentioned before how I went to my company's National Sales Meeting in Pattaya, Thailand, I didn't elaborate much beyond that.

So picture this: I'm sitting on a bus full of my Indian coworkers, driving to Pattaya in the custody of a Thai tour group.  We had just taken the "overnight" flight between Delhi and Bangkok, which was only four hours long and which definitely did not constitute an entire night's sleep.  We were hot, exhausted, underfed, and ready to relax in our hotel before heading into three days of meetings.

As we're nearing our resort, the tour guide comes on the microphone to give us a briefing.  "Tonight," she says, "We are going to take you to the world-famous ... Alcazar ... transvestite show!"

Before I had time to react, she adds, "And by the way, it is very important you listen to me, because I won't get a chance to tell you later:  When you are out on Walking Street at night, and you are out walking, and you see a beautiful girl, be careful!  She may not be a girl, she may be a man."

She then cheerfully turned off the microphone and we carried on to the hotel.

Now, I had no idea what to do.  I had never heard of Thai lady-boys, and I had no idea transvestite shows were a common, accepted tourist attraction in Thailand (and not at all tasteless or obscene).  My first instinct was to laugh at the sheer randomness of our chosen entertainment, but I quickly stopped myself.

No one else was laughing.

I looked around me. No one else was laughing?  Was this for real? Was I really going to calmly sit through a transvestite show next to . . . my boss?  My marketing team?  Where was I?

Later, some Indian editors and I finally were able to giggle about it in the privacy of our hotel rooms.  "I had to put my hand over my mouth!" someone said.  "I thought they were joking!" said another.  I knew I hadn't been the only one on that bus feeling a little confused.

Then, at the show itself, at one point the dancers performed a Bollywood number.  I got it on video, and you can hear two full rows of Indian editors in the background just erupting into applause.  The poor dancers onstage probably had no idea why we were all so excited.


The next number, as any Yankee could have seen coming, was Lady Gaga.  I immediately gave a big cheer.  The same two rows of people turned their heads to wonder, ". . . What's gotten into her?"


It's just one of those things I wouldn't have believed if it hadn't happened to me.  There's nothing in the world quite like getting culture-shocked right by the side of people who are still culture-shocking you!