Berlin Wall Anecdote

The Berlin wall came down 20 years ago, while  I was on vacation in Thailand, staying at a tiny village called Laem Ngop, so I could catch the morning boat to Ko Chang (Elephant Island) where I was going to rent a bungalow on the beach for a few days. I saw the photo on page 1 of one of the national Thai language newspapers, and also saw the news on TV at the local café.

When I got on the boat, two gorgeous German women, about 20 or so years old, had just made it to the dock in time. While we were chatting on the boat I asked them what they thought of the Berlin Wall being torn down. They had not heard the news - they had been on vacation for a couple of weeks and were totally out of touch with what was going on at home - and they thought I was playing a cruel joke on them. They thought I was a real scumbag for telling them this lie, and wouldn't speak to me for two days - which is when a copy of an English-language paper made it to the island with all kinds of articles about the event.

After that we got to be pretty good friends. Which was nice because it was a nude beach.