As John Cleese said in Monty PythonтАЩs тАЬCheese ShopтАЭ skit тАЬIтАЩm one who delights in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean muse!тАЭ and I heartily agree тАУ that тАЬRiverdanceтАЭ silliness being one rare exception тАУ so I was pleasantly surprised to run across a large circle of college-aged men engaged in rhythmically throwing themselves around on the walkway outside the National Stadium BTS stop late one Saturday evening a few weeks ago.

A friend and I had just finished a movie inside MBK mall and were heading out for a late dinner, crossing the elevated walkway area between MBK and the entrance to the BTS (right near the upstairs entrance to the superb тАУ and also free тАУ Bangkok Metropolitan Art and Culture Center, see SmilesтАЩ review and photos at: bangkok-art-cultural-center-t16244.html ) when I heard the sounds of a boombox coming from a large ring of folks, maybe 50 or so, off to our left.

Since the lighting there was brighter than in a club I suppose I was secretly hoping for a group of guys in white bikini briefs (well, if weтАЩre really going to be honest here) but we were both pleased to see what I suppose is a regular gathering of guys taking turns showing off their break dancing moves. One after another, sometimes three or more at a time around the edge of the тАЬmain stageтАЭ area (this was a fairly large area encircled by onlookers) they whirled, spun, hopped and otherwise flung themselves around on the hard walkway. IтАЩm not quite near the age where IтАЩd break like a bag of glass if I tried anything like that myself, but IтАЩd be black & blue and hobbled for a week, at the VERY least.

After watching them for 15 minutes or so I asked my friend if he thought they were just full of тАЬyouthfulтАЭ energy or if perhaps their moves might be enhanced by something in pill form and he agreed that it was probably a combination of the two for some of them, as a few were a bit more wild-eyed and aggressive in their behavior, but most seemed to just be a bunch of young men out having fun on a warm, humid Bangkok Saturday night. The one in the purple shirt seemed to have the best moves, but the shirtless one, who also tended to act the more aggressive of the bunch (note him push away the playful advance of the purple-shirted guy in clip #3) also whirled like a dervish. When I played back a clip for each doing their thing they both laughed and clapped for them.

It was an unexpected and delightful surprise for this old fart тАУ and no check bin, to boot!

IтАЩve posted a few clips to YouTube, with more to follow. By the way, these are HD clips -- so if you have the bandwidth speed you can click on the little тАЬHDтАЭ button in the lower right-hand corner of the viewer while at the actual YouTube page you can see it larger and much sharper. Do a search there for "khunbaobao" to reach my set of clips.

Clip #1
[youtube:33vdw9ap]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWyRX2nuHC8[/youtube:33vdw9ap]

Clip #2
[youtube:33vdw9ap]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeQ5MF5PX2k[/youtube:33vdw9ap]

Clip #3
[youtube:33vdw9ap]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp8t3iT5EKI[/youtube:33vdw9ap]

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