Bangkok, Thailand - December 5, 2003
Today was the King of Thailand's Birthday. The main effect is that most employees (outside of the retail market), have today off as a National Holiday. In addition, alcohol is forbidden from being bought or sold, and the bars and discos or anything too alcohol related is therefore closed. Restaurants and other places do remain open though, and we were able to find a few places that did serve drinks. Later in the evening we discovered a few hotel disco bars which never close as its almost entirely all foreigners there.
The interesting aspect about today in particular, is I just happened to go to see a Thai movie today. It wasn't actually planned, it just kind of worked out that way. One thing before I have to mention though. Before seeing this movie, I went to another earlier in the week. During the preview session, there is one homage to the King where everyone stands and shows their respect and observance. During this other film, I sat in front of everyone else, and being the first film I ever saw in Thailand, had no idea about this custom. So I sat there wondering what kind of preview this was, when I started having things being thrown at me. I couldn't quite figured it out, but the third one made me turn around to see the person doing it, and I ended up seeing absolutely everyone standing up behind me. I was the only one sitting down. I stood up quickly to honor the King of Thailand as well. So this film, I was sure to do this beforehand, particularly on the King's Birthday.
The movie I was watching this day was called 'Beautiful Boxer' and was based on a true story. It was also in English subtitles, so I figured it would be worth watching since the timing and everything else was just right. Little did I know it turned out to be based on Muay Thai Boxer who later had a sex change to become a woman. Oddly, it seemed to typical of Thai culture, as there did seem to be an excessive amount of 'lady-boys' all over this country, and particularly Bangkok.
The movie started out in a small village and the boy was always getting caught wearing lipstick in particular. I don't know why, but he seemed to be obsessed about makeup more than anything else. He'd also steal his mother and sister's makeup kits on a regular basis as well. Oddly, his parents found it odd, but not too odd. He also seemed to be scared of everything, or so it projected as so on film. Somehow he also became quite interested in Muay Thai boxing at the same time. Quite interesting.
To continue the story, basically he became famous for wearing makeup and other female accessories in the ring while fighting. He became extremely famous and made everyone happy and made them very attracted to the Sport of Thai Boxing once again. He also became a celebrity and was even invited to fight in Tokyo against Japanese wrestlers as some publicity stunt or some type. Once he had enough money from winning so much, he permantly retired, and spent all of his money on a sex change to make him become a permanent woman. That was the end of the story, and he has been very famous in Thailand ever since.
Next Journal Entry in Thailand:
December 6, 2003
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Wintermoon2@yahoo.com