Thailand Suits

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For my first day in Bangkok I had unambitious plans. Basically, I was planning to walk around and maybe wander into a couple of the more famous temples in the city. The whole morning and beginning of the afternoon were spent wandering around the backstreets and along the canals of Bangkok. At one point I stumbled upon Wat Pho, which is the famous temple that houses the giant “Reclining Buddha.” The Buddha is reclining because he is entering Nirvana. It was an interesting sight, but short-lived. To fill some more time I decided that I would go to the Grand Palace. Using my map I thought that I had located it. I began to walk up to an armed guard outside of the walled off compound that I thought was the Grand Palace. But before I reached the guard a man intercepted me and said that I couldn’t go in there. I paid him no attention and kept walking towards the gate. But this man persisted and asked me where I wanted to go. The reason I was weary of this person is because most of the time people that are eager to “help” tourists are really looking to make some money on the tourist’s ignorance. In fact, just ten minutes earlier I had been approached by a man claiming that What Pho was closed. Of course, he volunteered to take me to another place “which would be much better.” I knew enough to blow him off and walk into the temple. So when this other fellow approached and was eager to help I was going to have none of it. Scowling at him I turned again to the soldier and what I thought was the gate to the Grand Palace. “You are not allowed in there, it will be dangerous for you to go,” the stranger ran after me. I turned to him icily saying, “isn’t this the Grand Palace?” The stranger laughed, “the Grand Palace is very far away, you need to take a Tuk Tuk.” Ah Ha! I thought, here it comes. He is probably commissioned to get unsuspecting tourists like me to hop into a Tuk Tuk which will then proceed to take me on an involuntary shopping excursion. But despite my skepticism, I didn’t turn away from him and let him talk. Eventually, he took my map and marked four points of interest and said I should visit these places in a Tuk Tuk. Before I knew it he had hailed a Tuk Tuk and was instructing the driver where I would be going. For my benefit, he ended the conversation in English saying, “this is my friend, so only charge him 40 Baht!” I was weary, but the sense of adventure in the situation grabbed hold of me. I got in the Tuk Tuk and away we rode.

The driver was 26, a very polite man who spoke very little English. He did speak enough for us to talk a little.
“You are from US?” he asked.
“Yes I am. Are you from Thailand?”
“I am from Bangkok. You are welcome to Thailand!”
Then the man asked a question which at first was quite perplexing. “Are you smelly?” “What?” I couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“Are you smelly?” he repeated .
“Am I smelly?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I don’t think I understand your question?” There was silence and then he tried again. “Are you smelly?”
“I hope not.”
“Oh.”
“I am smelly for one year.”
“Oh,” I said finally realizing what he meant, “you are married.”
“Yes,” he said smiling broadly, “I am smelly.”
“Congratulations,” I said “do you have a baby?”
“No, No! Next Year!” He laughed.
“I am not married, but maybe someday I will be. I have a girlfriend right now.”
“That is very good.” Said my encouraging friend.

The Tuk Tuk pulled up to the first stop. It was the temple of the smiling Buddha. I took off my shoes and went inside. The fragrance of incense and flowers brought me to my seat in the lotus position. I stayed there for about a half hour, smiling up at the smiling Buddha. I watched as a woman in front of me repeatedly genuflecting and lighting incense while reciting prayers. A young family came in with a bucket of offerings and gave them to a saffron clad monk next to the shrine. I watched as the monk chanted and the family prayed. I felt a bit like an intruder and tried to remain inconspicuous. As I watched the monk I thought about his life. I was curious how he came to choose his particular vocation. What his day to day life consisted of. Most of all I envied his saffron robe which had to be so much more comfortable in the stifling Thai heat than the slacks I was wearing. My meditation was broken by a whistle coming from outside the temple. I turned to see my friend the Tuk Tuk driver waiving at me and pointing to the sky. I ascertained that he was warning me that it was going to rain soon. I left the temple, the family in prayer, the incense, the flowers, the smiling Buddha, the saffron monk and emerged from the temple and back into the noise of Bangkok.

I was waiting in the back of the Tuk Tuk for my friend the driver to use the bathroom, when I man seated on the steps nearby asked me where I was from.
“I am from the USA” I replied.
“Where from” he asked.
“Iowa.”
“Oh, Iowa, I am from UK” he said “I am originally Thai and am back here to take care of my father.” “I see, that’s good that your father has you in his old age.” “I am here to say goodbye to my brother. He is the monk inside. Maybe you saw him?”
“I did” I said “what do you do in the UK?”
“I am a tax lawyer in London. I have come to say goodbye to my brother before I go home, I am only outside because I can’t smoke inside,” he said taking a puff on his cigarette. “Why did you come to this temple?” he asked, “it is not one that many foreigners know about.
“I had a friend recommend it to me,” I said thinking of the stranger who had helped me.
“That is very good,” said the man “where will you go next?”
“Well,” I said sighing, “I don’t know. That friend of mine recommended that I go to the Thai Exchange to shop, but I’m not really interested in shopping.”
The man smiled, “You must have read the paper this morning, or did you watch the news?” “Neither” I said, “why?” “You don’t know about the Thai exchange?”
“No.”
“It is a very special time this week for foreigners to shop there” the man explained. “Normally the only people that can shop there are Thai citizens. But this is the last day of a seven day promotion where the government has opened it to foreigners.”
“Oh,” I said.
“What do you think they sell?” the man asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you know what Thailand is famous for?”
“Silk?”
“Yes,” he said “Thailand produces many fine fabrics. Do you know where the Armani factory is?”
“Thailand?”
“Yes.” “Do you know where the Versace factory is?”
“Thailand?”
“Exactly.” “Do you know why these companies want to put their factories in Asia?” “Cheap labor?” I guessed.
“That is true,” he responded, “but it is not the most important reason. It is because the tax is so low. You see, I am a tax lawyer and that’s why I know.”
“Oh, interesting,” I said.
The man continued, “do you know how much an Armani suit costs in America?” I hadn’t the slightest clue. “It costs about a thousand Pounds in UK. But can you guess what that same suit costs before it leaves Thailand?”
“$700?”
“Lower,” he said.
“$500?”
“Lower.”
“$300?”
“That’s right” he said nodding.
“Wow,” I said.
“The quality of the suit is Armani, but they don’t put the label on here, they put it on in Italy and that is when the price goes up.”
“Is that right?”
The man continued, “So we Thais can buy these suits at the Thai exchange and they are much less expensive because they don’t have the label in them yet. But we don’t care about the label, we care about the quality. That is why I asked how you knew to go to the Thai Exchange, because most foreigners don’t know about it and it was just announced last night on the news and in the papers.” I hadn’t a clue about it until the man told me I should go there. Come to think of it, he did mention something about going there because it was the last day of some promotion. The man continued to tell me that as a part of the promotion they are offering a special deal in which if you buy the first two suits you get the third one for free. Also just for this week foreigners can become lifetime members and order from abroad at the same prices, plus a thirty percent discount on all future suit purchases.

When my friend the driver returned I asked if he would please go to the Thai exchange next. I thanked the man for his advice and off we rode. I entered the store just as the rain began. I was welcomed by a man who took me to the fitting room. It was there that I showed how little I knew about suits. When he asked me my profession I said “I am an anthropologist.” “Oh, is the work environment requiring serious or casual suits.” I laughed and thought about asking if he had ever seen Indiana Jones. Two hours later I emerged and my friend the Tuk Tuk driver was waiting there for me. I was the proud owner of three new suits and the newest lifetime member of Voglee Tailor Shop in Bangkok, Thailand.

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