Hard to find a good man in Bangkok

I found an article of interest on a local western news site written by an European woman living here.  Her theme was to ask why it was hard for a farang woman in Bangkok to find a good farang man.  Well, my Bangkok is full of crazy people and bizarre daily happenings from all sides.  I find that if I ever wonder about Thais in the mix of my day, I just turn my attention to some of the crazy farangs here and think then how much sense Thais make in their world. 

'Farang' is the local word for westerners.  You go down the street and you can hear little children saying out loudly in wonderment - "Farang! Farang!"  You sit on the bus and you can hear someone talking about the farang and then you realise - hey, that is me!  Farang is sometimes used as a term of derision but it is mainly about expressing amazement or bewilderment.  So that is us and I assure you that farangs in Bangkok can be quite amazing or bewildering at times. 

One such time, happened last Friday. It is a simple but classic example of how everyday life can be turned on its head into a dramatic scene by bizarre people acting bizarrely.  One of my western circle is due to return home and so two friends wanted to meet him for a farewell drink.  Simple enough!  Innocent enough!  Well, not to be so in my Bangkok.  As it often does in this my wide friendship group, the story went sour when the one leaving took offence at an email and decided for good reason not to go.  Trouble was that he did not bother to communicate this.  So his two friends were waiting at the bar as arranged.  After waiting an hour, one of these two rang me to find out what was happening.  By chance, I was able to say that their friend was not going.  This  started the farang at the other end of the phone to rave on in a rage - not about their friend standing them up but about their being stuck in a bar that lacked good, draught beer.  After all, they only chose that bar because of their 'no show' friend.   

I wondered what was going on.  This was a scene from a TV comedy.  The huge verbal upset focused on the beer and the three never talked with each other about their failed appointment but with me who was not even going.  All I can say is that my Bangkok can be bizarre and has more than its share of western men who are really boys.