Temple of consumerism

My old Siemens phone finally died a terrible death last week. Actually, it’s been slowly dying for the last year. It was never the same after being doused by water during Songkran last year. So yesterday I made a pilgrimage to Bangkok’s temple of consumerism, Mahboonkrong, a.k.a. MBK, which has an entire floor devoted to mobile phones.

It really is a site to behold, and you can get anything from my two-year-old Siemens model for $25, up to the latest PDA/phone/camera/whatever for $1,000. I kid you not, they really do have $1,000 phones, and they are especially popular with my rich students. But even high school kids, janitors, and street vendors have expensive phones.

I’m not prone to excesses, but I did want a phone that would work back in America, and that had a camera. Unlike most people, I actually have a use for the camera, though. Now I will always have a camera in my pocket, and will be able to document the crazy stuff I see every day, from the elephants that pester me while I’m eating, to the enormous holes in the sidewalks that will swallow you whole if you’re not careful.

So stay tuned.