In the comedy, What's Up Doc, there is a running gag in the fictional San Fransisco Hotel Bristol that whenever the elevator doors open, pieces of Cole Porter songs float out, piano-muzak style, which lasts only until the doors close again. At times in our Bangkok Hotel, the Royal River, I started to feel like I was part of a similar running gag. They seemed to own one Muzak tape (I'm sure it was a tape, not a CD), for the benefit of their European/American clientele, which had been retired many years ago from faithful service in the U.S., with sweeping string arrangements of popular songs from the 1970s. We would be eating, say BBQ'd prawn, to the piped in sounds of "You Light Up My Life," or "How Deep is Your Love"... ordering mango juice to the tune of "Yesterday"... or waiting for the elevator to the theme from "Love Story." What was even more amusing what that the hotel employed a violinist for dinner entertainment, and he knew all the songs too, and played them when the tape went on break, so that we would not be without our beloved favorites from the Carpenters. I hope they got a good deal on the tape, since I'm sure it was happily offloaded by some company.
Other charming things seen in Bangkok... I am sure you have seen the widely circulated email list of foreign signs slightly mis-translated into English. Here are a couple I jotted in my notebook while we took in the sights in around the city:
--A fancy building on the banks of the Chao Phraya River had it sign translated as the Moral Uplifting for Benefiction Foundation. I'd love to see their annual report.
--At the Temple of the Golden Buddha in Chinatown, on a glass money collection box: "Please Donate For Help the Elephant."
--And in the shoe removal room of the Vinanmek Teak Mansion, advising us to report rude staff: "If a reception of officials are impolited or unimpressived, please give the suggestion by contact Mr. Somboon..."
