27/32 WORLD CUP TEAMS COMPLETED
A THAI-MEX MIX
A Mexican friend of mine once told me that Thailand reminded him of his own country. The hot weather. The hot food. The hot women. The hot everything.
I was thinking about this while being introduced to a group of Mexicans by my friend Pilot. I thought how easy it must be to transition between their country and Thailand while on holiday. We sat down to watch Mexico take on Sweden in an incredibly tight group where any team could go through to the next round or be sent home on the night. Germany were expected to beat South Korea in the other game running simultaneously to this one.
EXPANDING ASIAN ASSETS
The setting for the game was a new bar called Hooters. Yes, that Hooters. The American chain whose unique selling point is cleavage has been expanding its presence in South East Asia in recent years. Bangkok may be famous for temples, traffic and trinkets but it is surely as famous for its trade in titillation. Hooters has set up in one of Bangkok's most famous red light districts; Nana. Some have said that this is like bringing sand to the desert. Why look at what you can touch next door? Whatever the case, this supposedly raunchy American bar made to look puritanical by its neighbours was doing a good trade on the night. Tourists from all over the world were gawping from stools and taking in the brazen show that is red-light-Bangkok at night. A sad mechanical bull stared blankly at the ground as the attention of the bar's clientele moved towards the many TV screens in the bar. The Filipino band reluctantly relinquished the microphones after a rousing rendition of a song we all kind of knew and both games kicked off.
The football on the night was refreshingly unpredictable as group leaders Mexico were trashed by Sweden and Germany were also seen off by a defiant South Korea. A 3-0 defeat for Mexico was still enough to see them through thanks to the heroics of the Koreans. The World Cup holders were dumped out of the competition at the earliest stage.
AWAY AND HOME
As similar as Thailand and Mexico might be there can be no escaping the fact that globalisation is the biggest factor in making it easier and easier for people to feel at home while not at home. The "Hooters Girls" spoke English while serving the table and brought hamburgers, steaks and bottles of Mexican beer to our table. We could have been anywhere.
ARE YOU LOVIN' IT?
There is a watered-down version of many types of culture fed to a global audience which often has its genesis in the United States. The edgy American strip-show is now a family restaurant. The hearty immigrant-German food is now a $2 hamburger. The Mexican food we eat is in fact from Texas. Kentucky Fried Chicken now has more franchises in China than it does in the United States. Globalisation tends towards reliability, uniformity and cleanliness. It detractors would say it leaves us with a boring and sanitised monoculture. As long as we maintain or exceed the technology we currently have then this sort of globalisation is here to stay. We may be approaching the last few generations that think of other cultures as exotic rather than just a slight variation on what we have at home. While the differences still do exist, have it your way.
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Much appreciated.