Pictured above are Amy, 27, and Luis, 35, model and investment banker, respectively, of Bangkok. We're sitting at a coffee shop in MBK, where I'm trying to understand why every "young" professional I've met here carries two cell phones. In the down time as we wait for our drinks, Luis starts juggling numbers between his two (still a tedious process, infrared might as well not exist) and Amy is taking calls between lines. It's not as if these Southeast Asian urbanites simply carry two cellular telephones at all times- they actually use them both, all the time.

"If I take this one out," Amy says, holding up her silver camera phone with a perplexed look, "then why wouldn't I take the other?"

"Of course," Luis confirms. "If we're going out, why wouldn't we take our mobile phones?" It makes sense to have one mobile for work purposes and the other for personal business (I've seen it enough in the States), but in this Bangkok crowd, their tandem occupancy as attached to the mobile body is entirely taken for granted.  ¶ Permalink 7/01/2003 11:47:00 PM