Thailand is a weird place

Living in Thailand is kind of like living on another planet at times. There are occasions when I can't help asking myself: is this place for real?

For instance, last weekend several people decided it would be fun to go to karaoke. I groaned inwardly. Karaoke is not my favorite, but I decided I needed to be more social so I went. I was told we were going to "the" karaoke place in Chiang Mai. This place was not a traditional karaoke bar. Instead, you go there and rent private "booths" with their own tv and sound system and perform for your friends. Well, I'd never heard of that before but I supposed that it made sense.

The karaoke place was located in a mall. With that single word "mall" I have conjured up in your mind a certain image. Scrap it. Well, not all of it. I guess the best way to describe the malls here is "funhouse style." Organization is... lacking. And the logic of the buildings' layouts escapes me. There is generally a plethora of escalators which lead to floors that have a random smattering of shops and occasionally to nothing at all. To get to the karaoke spot we went up a couple rounds of escalators and then took an elevator up a few more floors which I found really disorienting because none of the buildings in Chiang Mai seem that high. Then we went up another flight of stairs that kind of went in a circle and through an empty hallway. It was super sketch. By this point there weren't many other people around except for when we passed some boys doing aerobics. Like I said. Bizarre. Once we were in the hallway it really felt like I was in some sort of carnival maze. Certain areas didn't have any lights on which added to the Twilight Zone creepiness factor.

We finally made it to the spot and were told to choose a room. They all had themes like "outer space," or "night club." We chose "under the sea." The attendant led us to a door which, upon opening, revealed a tiny room decorated with what looked like spray-painted foam to look like it was underwater. "This Love" by Maroon 5 was playing, but with a Thai singer singing the lyrics! (In Thai of course). It took us so off guard that we burst out laughing.

There were two microphones and everyone took turns choosing songs from the playlist to sing. Yes, I sang one song. However they didn't have the greatest selection. Plus every song had a music video playing on the tv along with the lyrics and since we were in the water themed booth our videos often featured women in scandalous bathing suits. It was hilarious but also really awkward.

The most astounding thing about the whole evening to my mind is that absolutely none of us had had anything to drink. I cannot believe we went and did that stone cold sober.

This weekend I got to see the new Harry Potter movie at another mall (or maybe it was the same one) and it was more of the same. We were running late and Anisha was really anxious not to miss the beginning so all I can remember is haring it through this labyrinth of escalators and elevators and deserted hallways painted with weird murals before ending up at this nearly empty theater to watch the movie. Upon leaving it felt like we were emerging from a bomb shelter and were the last humans alive on earth. The mall was completely deserted and dark and we followed the one other family back to the entrance while walking past creepy looking mannequins.

Anyhow, Thai malls? Strange. The new Harry Potter movie? Not my favorite.