A meeting in McD's

Occasionally, unexpected things happen to me.

For instance, today I met Tony Kaplan.

Actually, I just met him. Let me tell you the story.

My tummy was growling, I'd skipped lunch because the buffet breakfasts in Bangkok hotels contain enough pork to feed an army. Being a lazybum, I decided to go to the nearby McD's to grab a bite. Settled myself in with yummy Thai chilly sauce (I love the chilli here) and spicy McWings. I was biting into my yummy wings and enjoying the surroundings.

When I'm alone, I think weird thoughts. Like, plenty of women love to eat McD's in Bangkok - or maybe it's just this outlet on Sukhumvit Road. And Thai women are just Thai women - no Chinese, Indian, Malay, etc. Everyone speaks Thai, and it doesn't matter if you're a bit browner or a bit yellower. No wonder the government's trying unsuccessfully to make all of us speak BM to become 1Malaysia - the concept's good, but unfortunately it's not gonna work as long as there's segregated schools.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was happily enjoying my McValue. An old man walked past with his tray and smiled at me. Okayy, I went back to watching this group of young pretty women giggling and speaking elegantly in Thai - they even sat elegantly okay, crossed ankles and all, in McD's. After I was almost finishing my French fries, that old man came over with his tray and asked "can I sit here?". Okayy.

Then he introduced himself as Tony Kaplan. Said he was a poet. Gave me his namecard. Started rambling on and on about being in Bangkok so far for a week and this being his first proper Western meal, having another 5 weeks to go because he's in town for a week, saying he's been to many countries and he comes to Bangkok every year to get inspiration and write poems. Even took out his handphone to show me his website tracker and where his readers came from - 32 countries I believe.

I'm not very good at conversations with strangers - especially old men who show their hands and say they are "200% single" and ask if I am staying nearby. Maybe he just wanted conversation and more people to visit his website. I'm a very suspicious person, see - paranoia comes naturally to me. As soon as I could, and as politely as I could, I said goodbye and left.

So now I'm sitting here - after having gone thru some of his poems on his website. He particularly recommended "Chinese meal in Peking" (this was quite humorous - Peking duck or Peking dog? haha) and "Who cares if Thai girl is fair" (this was rather sleazy I felt, or maybe I'm just too upright). And I kinda like "I lost my best in Budapest".

His server seems to have worked itself up, I can't seem to load pages on it anymore - odd. Maybe later if I have time I will read somemore. Interesting episode this.