On Nov. 16, the Southeast Asia Club hosted its event “Nightlife in Bangkok” in the Intercultural Center. The event was created and organized by the club’s first year representatives, Amy Schoder ’23 and Long Nguyen ’23, who were inspired to show off the vibrant nightlife of the city of Bangkok,Thailand, with games and authentic dishes from the country. The ICC lounge was decorated with multi-colored flashing lights to emphasize the “nightlife” theme, which was executed beautifully. The glow of the room, from both the lights and the people, created a fun and warm atmosphere. 

  To provide some context for the event, the e-board members of the club began the evening by presenting a slideshow discussing the history of Bangkok with fun facts to engage and interact with the audience. Facts such as, “The full name of the city [Bangkok] is actually the longest city name in the world,” and that “Bangkok is the world’s hottest city,” captivated the audience members. After they were finished with this portion of the night, the games began. To motivate the audience members to participate in the activities, a glow stick was awarded to those who successfully won a game. These glow sticks, then, were traded in for food. The menu included chicken Pad Thai, vegetarian Pad Thai, Tom Yum Soup with shrimp, chicken Satay and Thai Tea. 

  There were three games at the event. The first was “Takro,” a game involving a ball made out of straw in which the player has to kick the ball three times into the air in order to successfully complete the game. The second game, “Pin the Tail on the Elephant,” is the Thai version of the widely popularized game, “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” in which players are blindfolded and attempt to accurately pin the elephant tail on an image of an elephant. The third and final game was “Dern Ka La”, or “Walk on Coconut Shells,” in which a player has to walk on coconut shells towards the finish line without falling off of the shells. However, in this case, the club used buckets instead of coconut shells. Laughter and shouts filled the room as every attendee was assigned a corner of the room where a game was being held. In an interview with the Justice, Zoe Patterson ’21 said “the games were fun and creative. What made the experience even better was the fact that we were able to collect glow sticks after we won a mini-game, thus leaving with a glowing crown of our winnings.” The darkened room quickly filled with brightly lit glow sticks that showcased each individual’s achievements. The glow sticks were a well-thoughtout addition to fully capture and immerse the audience in the brilliance of Bangkok’s nightlife. 

  At the end of the night, the club had a special surprise for everyone: a Spicy Tom Yum Challenge! SEAC asked four volunteers to participate and challenge themselves to a bowl of Tom Yum soup filled with ghost pepper flakes. The goal was to try to drink the most of the soup without reaching for drinks, and whoever was crowned the winner would be the first in line for food. The challenge was a success as members of the audience enthusiastically scrambled to try the spicy soup. 

  In an interview with the Justice, president of SEAC Jonah Nguyen ’21 said, “I am very proud of my freshman representatives for hosting this event. I was happy with how everything went because the games were really fun, a lot of newcomers showed up, and the environment was friendly so people got to talk and hangout. It was a great event to end SEAC’s fall semester, and we can’t wait to see you all next semester.” 

  SEAC’s “Nightlife in Bangkok” was succeeded at bringing Brandeis students from different countries together to experience and indulge in the culture of Thailand. SEAC remains an important aspect to our student life by hosting events which are dedicated to showcase Southeast Asian culture and its beautiful traditions.