Queen of Silom Soi 2

Today, my mother and I had the pleasure of going out to lunch with my dear aunt Pah Maliwan and her friend Pah Naruhnee. I have known Pah Naruhnee ever since I was little as she has been best friends with my aunt for decades and I have always known that she was the landlord of a small commercial area in central Bangkok but it was always very vague to me. We dined at Grand San Yord, which is famous in Bangkok for its tender and sweet roast duck, and being the Ah Mahs that they are, both aunties told me to finish the last prawn dumpling.

Pah Naruhnee said 'Eat this and you'll end up with a beautiful wife', to which I replied 'But I don't want a beautiful wife'. Without missing a beat, Pah Maliwan said 'Eat this and you'll end up with a handsome husband'. While I have never really discussed my sexuality with older relatives so much, it has been an open secret for a while now but in that moment, for my mother's elder sister, a woman that I have always been very fond of, to acknowledge, without making a big deal out of it, this part of my identity...well, it really moved me. It confirmed what I have long believed to be true; that my relatives in Bangkok love and accept me unconditionally, just as I am.

After lunch, my mother and I dropped off both aunties. Pah Maliwan was going to her Private Members Club to meet up with my cousins while Pah Naruhnee was heading home. My mother drove us to Silom and as we went past Bangkok's infamous Patpong district, I realised that we were approaching the hub of gay nightlife in Bangkok, Silom Soi 2-4, which turned out to be Pah Naruhnee's turf! She is the landlady for all the bars and clubs patronized by any gay person who has ever lived in or visited Bangkok, locals and expats. As we pulled away, I commented to my mother and aunt that these two alleys owned by their friend are full of bars and clubs. Both of them casually replied, that's correct, gay bars! Good times! Think I might have to visit Pah Naruhnee's hood before I leave Bangkok in a few days. It won't be my first time there and certainly won't be my last!

Madonna goes Gangnam!

Oh, my lord - can Psy's 'Gangnam Style' get any bigger? The answer is yes, apparently! Jumping on the dance pop sensation's bandwagon a few months after it became a viral sensation (the tally for views of the official music video currently stands at over 722 million views and rising!), Madonna had the K-Pop phenom make a surprise appearance at last night's performance of her 'MDNA' tour at Madison Square Garden and it was fucking awesome! Man, all we got at the London Hyde Park show that I went to four months ago was a bit of rain and one half of LMFAO...shaaaaaaaame!!!

Allahu Akbar - Obama wins re-election!!!

I woke up in the middle of the night to check the latest news on the US presidential election. This outcome is so sweet, especially after such a tight race in the popular vote. What is disturbing, but not surprising, to me is that Romney even won as many Electoral College votes as he did! Do the majority of the people who voted for him not realise that he will not look out for their interests? To reference and paraphrase James Carville's strategy for Bill Clinton's campaign back in 1992, 'It's the economy, stupid' and the only economic interests that a victorious Mitt Romney would have served are those of people like himself, the so-called 1 percent. All of these Republicans talking a lot of ignorant bullshit about how they are worried about the state of the economy, unemployment, Obama's 'communist' values (like they know what communism truly is) need to wake the fuck up and re-educate themselves...but that can wait until tomorrow; tonight is the night for all to unite and celebrate the democratic process!