erin and bobby

Erin, a friend of mine from Baylor, came to visit for a week in February. She is currently teaching in France and figured it would make sense to use her spring break to come to BKK. Christina, Erin and I were actually housemates for a semester when we all got back from studying abroad. I guess the instant connection of international travel has stayed with us. The highlight of the trip was acting as if it were our 10-year reunion while we had drinks and dessert at a rooftop restaurant. Only Erin got married, I became published and Christina had a hot Indian husband. Time shall only tell.

We met an interesting man on the beach while she was here. Bobby, 60-something, American who approached Chris and I on the beach. Conversation as follows:
Christina- look at that man with the hat, he just looks ridiculous
Me- yea, pretty cliché and it doesn’t even fit.
[yes, we do watch and criticize stranger, mainly tourists and his hat looked like one a toddler would ware on the beach in size and shape]
Bobby spots us and approaches – Do you speak English? Where are you from?
Me- Yes, the U.S.
Bobby (speaking in an American/Canadian accent)- Oh, I have never heard of that one. Oh wait, Regan, ah yes. What a good man.

He then proceeds to plop down beside us and lists off his 13 titles, which he has conveniently listed out on a old tattered piece of paper stored in his fanny pack. He is an artist, a writer, a realtor, a dreamer, a father of 3, an ex-husband, a grandfather of 9, a multi-millionaire, a matchmaker, etc, etc. He poses between the titles to give more information. “I have three masters, went to 5 universities and I can predict natural disasters.” He then describes that the one thing most people do not note when trying to predict earthquakes, etc, are the lost and found cats. According to him cats have a lot to say, when they go missing- watch out.

Bobby then got more personal. Stating that he knew 80% about us before he even spoke with us and the other 10% he could gather from a 5-minute conversation. I tried to make him prove it, but failed. He owns property in Mexico and Thailand, which allows him to travel and sit on the beach all day. He also mentioned his matchmaking skills between Asian women and American men in CA, that was when I said “oh like a pimp”. He gave us both more advice then we needed, including how to set the table properly. Suddenly he had to leave to catch the last ferry, he has only come back to find his old beat up Birkenstock which he has left on the beach. “They cost $200 and it cost me $9 to come back.”

Erin come back mid-way through this interaction and is quite confused. Bobby tells her she is different than us, more serious and less trusting (probably a good thing). He gave us laminated business cards with nothing more than a Thai phone number and the name, simply Bobby.