For the love of paper towels and hand soap

Last night we were taken out to dinner by a Thai Berkeley alum at the Royal Orchid Sheraton, a large luxury hotel located on the river in Bangkok.

Seeing that our entire studio is based on the idea that international hotel chains are the devil, we sort of felt like sell-outs to some extent. But after the extravagant buffet meal, the drinks, the show with "traditional Thai dance and music", and more drinks at the plush lounge afterwards, a consensus was reached that international hotel chains provide good, needed services in main urban centers. Furthermore, it is only when these hotels start showing up in more remote, rural areas do they reveal their unsavory affects on the landscape and resident culture.

But it still comes down to the simple pleasures in life: we were most impressed by the fact that the Sheraton restrooms all had sit-down style toilets, toilet paper, handsoap, AND paper towels. Most of the restroom facilities in Thailand have none of these amenities.

The evening's highlights did not end at the Sheraton, however. Our professor pushed us to take him to a bar where a Thai cover band did a pretty good job singing a few Whitney Houston, Barry White and Gloria Estefan songs. When he started to dance with us it got a little weird, but that's what happens when 5 people buy a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bucket of ice from the bar.