The Bros: The Story of Six Frat Guys on the Move

Three of "The Bros". It was difficult to get a non-blurry picture because they were always on the move.

This is just a side story that has been of great entertainment to Steph and I the past few days. Not sure how well it translates in blog form, but we've had an uncanny number of run-ins with one particular group of tourists throughout the country. It just so happens that it is a very distinct group of "Bros", meaning a group of 20-somethings frat boys who are always loudly discussing their drinking habits, workout regiments and sexual conquests. They were staying at the same hotel as us in Chiang Mai, but as the timeline of our run-ins below show, the places we ran into them started to get more and more random.

• 11/20 - At the pool. They are not happy the pool is in the shade.
• 11/20 - Happy hour in the hotel lounge. They are very happy about free booze.
• 11/21 - Happy hour in the hotel lounge. They are very happy about free booze.
• 11/22 8:00 am - They're waiting in front of the elevator, but when we approach they decide its taking too long and run down the six flights of stairs instead.
• 11/22 8:01 am - They were running to the breakfast buffet where we were headed. They are unhappy that there is no meat in their omelet.
• 11/22 1:00 pm - They are also at the temple in the mountain, 40 minutes from our hotel.
• 11/22 8:00 pm - We thought we had seen the last of them, but in the hotel lobby minutes before we are picked up by our taxi to go to the airport, they walk in. Glad we got some closure and could say goodbye.
• 11/22 9:00 pm - Walking through the airport near our gate, all six of them are in the airport bar! That is when it started getting weird. They are by far the loudest people in the airport.
• 11/22 9:30 pm - They leave the bar and are now at our gate. Definitely on our flight.
• 11/22 9:50 pm - Not only are they on our flight, but they are all within one row of us. There is limited overhead baggage space, so I have to put my bag in the bin above one of them. A water bottle falls out of my backpack and hits one Bro on the head.
• 11/22 11:30 pm - Now in the Phuket airport, they head for a hotel transfer in a difference city in Phuket. This is definitely the last time we will see them.
• 11/23 9:00 pm - Walking through Patong Beach, we walk past them in line for a Thai Boxing event. Mind officially blown.

Non-blurry artist rendering of one of "The Bros"

Again, maybe this loses in the translation, but every time we thought we had seen the last of them, we would make a joke about how we haven't seen them in awhile, and then literally turn around and see them. Five times in the hotel seemed like a lot, but not crazy. But in a mountain outside of the city was strange. On the exact same flight and nearly identical seats was downright wacky. And then randomly seeing them in a crowded street nearly 1,000 miles from where we shared a hotel was downright mindblowing to us. Now I won't be shocked if they live in LA and we run into them at the supermarket in a couple weeks.