20/32 WORLD CUP TEAMS COMPLETED
INLAND SURF
The second venue of day 9 of the World Cup is a one of a kind in Bangkok. I'm not sure there are many of these types of venues in the world. It was a craft beer bar overlooking a surfing machine. As we climbed the steps leading to the bar we could hear the splashes of water below. Here in metropolis Bangkok, 2 hours from the nearest beach, were two men in beach shorts, surfing.
ALL THE PRETTY THINGS
We continued on through the big glass doors and into the Korean owned bar. To the left there was a musician playing under a TV being ignored by the crowd thirsty for the upcoming football and beer. To the right there was a couple of "pretties" encouraging customers to play them at beer pong. Pretties are women who are employed by various businesses and organisations to look pretty. Straightforward enough I suppose. Pretties sometimes work at restaurants serving only one type of beer. If you ask for a Singha beer and they are wearing a Heineken dress then you are straight out of luck. It has been know for people to change their choice of beer though. Sometimes marketing works. Fighter was straight over and battling a pretty for the coveted prize. We didn't know what the prize was but we knew he wanted it. After a hard fought game Fighter came from behind and won his prize. Coincidentally he was soon able to use this well-earned bottle opener to open the bucket of beer bottles that the pretties were peddling. Everyone's a winner.
BURN THE MAPS, HIT THE TAPS
The craft beer phenomenon that has swept the world this decade did not skip over Bangkok. Changwon Express looks like many other craft beer bars that you can find from New York to New Delhi. The modern decor of so many of these establishments is steeped in retro. All the newest places have the oldest tables. The world hasn't drunk this much gin since Britian was a global sea power. It is like the world is saying "I'm cool AF but I don't know where I'm going". A generation afraid to step into the future.
There is old fashioned lightbulbs streaking orange glow from the ceiling. The beer glasses are quite bulbous themselves, their over-sized beer belly middle sitting precariously on a dainty stem. There is a sizeable blackboard behind the counter with beers from all over the planet spelled out and numbered in chalk. The numbers come in handy for the customers who tire from rattling off ever more pretentious names for what are essentially a mix of hops, wheat, barley and water. With number 7 in hand I settled in for the game amongst a small group of Koreans.
MEXICAN WAVE
The game went Mexico's way as they scored in both halves. A last minute consolation for South Korea gave us all something to cheer at the end. Even beer can't heal all wounds. I'm not sure it heals any wounds to be honest. But it can taste good. We left the crestfallen Koreans. The night was still not over. The Germans were coming. We set off to find them first.
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