The Svelte Th
ai Women
And
The “Won Sigh” Foreigner
I c
ame to re
alize e
arly on in my st
ay in this be
autiful country of Th
ail
and, th
at Th
ai women were not only perfectly groomed
and gr
acious, but
they were
absolutely “svelte.” I me
an, how m
any more
attributes do
they get? I felt like Gulliver in
the l
and of
the Lilliputi
ans.
As
a newly-
arrived exp
at in Th
ail
and, I looked forw
ard to seeing everything; from
the Reclining Buddh
a to
the gold-encrusted temples. But first, I told myself, I h
ad some serious shopping to do. With
the temper
ature
at 100 degrees
and
the humidity fighting for top billing, I thought
the best pl
ace to kill two birds with one met
aphoric
al stone would be
at
an
air conditioned shopping m
all. Shopping h
as
alw
ays h
ad
a w
ay of lifting my over-sized spirits. I’d hoped to find
a cutesy little sundress th
at could tr
ansform my 38DD bust line
and my 30 inch w
aist into something th
at looked “svelte.”
But this w
asn’t just for me, this shopping business. No, no. I m
ade it
a prerequisite to
alw
ays help
the loc
al economy. I w
as directed by our hotel’s concierge to try Robinson’s Dep
artment Store in downtown B
angkok. “Very nice clo
thes foh you, M
aD
am.”