I mean, come on -he was wearing an official looking outfit. He had on a polyester short sleeve button-up shirt with matching khaki dress pants. His shirt had little official-looking epaulets on the shoulders. He was wearing a nametag for pete’s sake. But our radar should have gone off. It was straight out of page 173 of the Lonely Planet guide book.
It was our first full day in Bangkok. We were traveling with Julie’s sister and her family and we had got off to a leisurely start that morning. It was already 11:30 by the time our tuk-tuks had dropped us off in front of the Grand Palace. As we approached the entrance, Mr. Epaulets greeted us. He spoke perfect English and was very friendly.
“Oh, the Royal Palace is just now closing for a Parliamentary session. They won’t be done until after the lunch hour. Why don’t you go to the market across the street, shop, and come back?” He was cordially walking us down the sidewalk toward the market.
Oh my. What unfortunate timing on our part. What are the chances that we would show up right when they were closing for a Parliamentary meeting. Sounds important.
By this time, we were 40 meters down the sidewalk. Mr. Epaulets approached another man on the sidewalk and said that this guy would walk us across the street and show us to the market.
Man, lucky for us we got Mr. Epaulets looking out for us. Bangkok sure has the world's friendliest and most helpful government employees.
As he handed us over to his colleague, we thanked Epaulet-man. My brother-in-law gave him a start when he tried to give him a close-fisted knuckle tap. After we explained that it was an American alternative to the high-five, he good-natured laughed and explained that for a second there he thought my brother-in-law going to punch him. We all laughed. Ah, our first new friend in Bangkok. What a great little cross-cultural moment.
After knuckle taps all around, we followed his buddy into the market.
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