Every time we have come to Chiang Mai, we have walked past the Ansuran Market Cabaret with the performers all lined up outside enticing us to come in. We’ve never made it in all the weeks and now months that we’ve spent here – so tonight we make a conscious effort to go out to dinner late so we can arrive at the show by 9:00 to get a good seat.
We’re also winding down on our nights left for dinner, so we are strategizing where we want to eat during our last week here. Tonight we return to the Silver Eagle Indian restaurant that we loved so on our first visit. We’ve wanted to return, and as a bonus, it is directly next door to the Cabaret. Perfect!
John, the owner (yeah, his name is actually Liaquat Ali, but he has John in parenthesis on his business card), greats us enthusiastically, and the waiter (who we wave at every day as we pass by him hawking customers on the street) comes over to say hello. (I feel like we’re 
neighbors or something, we see these guys so often!). We do our normal wine and beer, then try to figure out what we want different tonight. We end up with Chicken Samosas for an appetizer (it looks so good, I can’t even wait to take a picture of it before I dig in – oops!), then follow that up with Chicken Butter Masala (never heard of that before and it is every bit as good as Masala or Butter chicken alone!) and Chicken Seekh Kabob (which is like the Greek kabobs but much spicier, I thought it almost tasted like jalapenos in there!). Of course we have Butter Naan and Garlic Naan as accompaniments (no time to diet now – that will come all too soon when we get back home!).
While we eat, there is music playing, but it’s always crazy in the market with music and noise, so I’m not really paying attention to where it is coming from. One song sounds just like Jackson Browne, but with an occasional Thai accent/pronunciation. How do they do that? Is it a recording, I ask? To which Ed replies, no dummy, it’s the live band right over there – and as I turn my head I see an entire band up on the stage at the back of the market area that I obviously, never ever noticed. Sheesh. Ed has decided I’m really blonde, not grey. LOL.
So, dinner over, John gives us a 10% off coupon “for life” – he signed his name to it! – sweet! We then walk the 20 yards over to the Cabaret. We’re early enough to get a really good seat. The show is free if you order drinks (somewhat over priced drinks, but still). Otherwise you are expected to pay 200b for admission. We of course order drinks, but as we pay I realize that I didn’t replenish our funds for the evening. Crap! I only have about 300b left and that’s barely enough for another round. We’ve got a good 2 hours until the show will be over so we need more cash. Bummer!
I ask our waitress where the nearest ATM is located and she shows me! Seriously, she walks me out of the bar, into the back alley (you know, you’d think I would have been a little worried, but nah, I’m just walking through a back alley with a waitress to get to ATM!), out into the little Soi we just found that cuts through to the middle of the market, and out to the corner of the main street where – voila! – there are 2 ATMs. Too sweet.
Cash back in hand, we order more drinks, and sit and watch the show room fill up. 
The show finally begins – and what a show it is. They are all just lip-syncing to the music, but it is fun and the performers are so pretty! It’s amazing – I’ll let the pictures and the videos tell the story….
We particularly love the half guy/half girl!
It was a great evening of fun! And so – have you figured it out? Yep, these are all Ladyboys, or Katoeys, as they are called here. Even the hot Diva chick didn’t start her life as a chick! They are amazing, because they are all so pretty and feminine and so completely accepted here. Most have had implants or surgery, and all take hormones, and even my little ATM escort was a Ladyboy. Fun! So glad we finally did this!
No comments:
Post a Comment