Drive-By Blessings and Paparazzi Prostitutes

We spend almost ten hours a week walking the dog on the streets of Bangkok. So we get to see a lot of … interesting stuff.

Recently we were walking in our neighborhood when we were gently splashed from behind. We turned our heads to see a pickup truck drive past. Sitting in the back was an elderly Buddhist monk with a bowl of holy water and a mischievous grin. He giggled and waved as they drove off, leaving us to contemplate the karma of drive-by blessings.

Even more recently we walked out of our apartment building at 6:00am and got no more than 50 feet down the street before we heard:

"Oh! Oooh-ooh!" [excited foreign language, followed by kissy-kissy noises]

We live between the Playboy and Penthouse hotels, so you'd think we'd be used to hearing this sort of thing. As it turns out, though, it was directed at us. And by "us," we mean Sarawat.

Across the street, walking in our direction, came two vaguely Eastern European-looking women, wearing alarmingly heavy makeup and alarmingly tight clothing. We nodded, smiled, and started to move on, but then we heard:

"Excuse me? What is name?"

We stopped again. "Sarawat," Patrick said.

"Oh, Sarawat! Sarawat, Sarawat! Sarawat, Sarawat, Sarawat!"

Eventually they came across the street to pet the dog and pose for a few mobile phone pictures with her. It was fun, but also a little sad. We're sure those women don't really enjoy what they do, and maybe seeing our little white dog after a long night was just what they needed.