Lost in translation part 1

Hey! Ok, so it's quite late here, like 2am here. I tend to work better at night when I have just my thoughts and my laptop. I'm going to grab some V8 and I'll be right back.

I've been drinking nothing but V8 juice for the past two weeks so I can "cleanse". Hahahaha who are we kidding, I just love the food here too much to ever do something as silly as that. Today I had some really good Cashew Chicken and vegetarian Lasagna at what was called a "Thai Oldies" restaurant. It was ironic because the restaurant had all kinds of Asian cuisine but yet it was styled as an old diner such as one you'd see in the movies or at a modern "old style diner" you'd see in the US.

I know the title is Lost in Translation but I wanted to fill you in on my day today. After dinner, Sacha and I met up with Hong to go to "Health Land Spa" to get an authentic Thai massage. This was just amazing. We literally went to this really nice spa-esque building and had a full 2 hour massage for the equivalent of:

350.00 THB Thailand Baht = $11.4814 CAD

Yup, you got it, $11.48 after conversion. This is kind of expensive actually because we only get 30 baht per dollar and we used to get around 33 0r 34. I was stretched and bent into all kinds of shapes and the best part is when they twist your back around them and you hear your entire back cracking, I burst out laughing because it literally sounded like it would in the movies, where the guy bends his head to the side and you hear the cracking (which is totally fake by the way) however in my case my back really cracked and all 30 vertebrae or whatever cracked within a second. Haha too funny.

Ok onto my lost in translation depiction. This is to illustrate the attempts at possible Thai to English translation and what it really comes out as.

It's interesting to see some of the billboards and displays and advertisements out in Thailand. Ones such as "I'm cool because I speak 'Wall Street English'". I mean you just wouldn't see a sign that would blatantly tell you that you'd be cool if you spoke "Wall Street English". I mean sure North American Media will forever tell us that wearing sunless tanner will make us beautiful, however it doesn't do so by directly saying that in writing, it tries to brainwash us with imagery. Why use imagery when you can just get to the point and say that you would be cool only if you spoke "Wall Street English". Sorry no picture for that one.

Ok so the next item speaks for itself. This isn't a very good example I know but it's funny to read this stuff on a daily basis.

Or how about this one. Do you think this would entice me to "stop by" and see the sale?

I don't even understand what they're trying to get across. "Imagine very sales". To provide some context for this ad, behind the sign is a huge outlaying of various music CD's that people seemed determined to purchase.

Ok, this next image is above a payphone. It's offering a way to dial international calls and "save money".

"The Extremely Save International Call by 007". 007 is the prefix you'd dial. I guess what they're trying to say is that if I use this service, I'll save extremely? Interesting...

Ok I know that was lame, I guess I thought it was funny but my examples are limited as I don't always have my camera with me for the moment of the hilarious billboard ad. I'll practice due diligence on my part to have a camera with me more often to capture those shots. Luckily my phone has a camera.