Black belt in Karaoke!

Like most people, I hate publicly humiliating myself, so consequently, I hate karaoke. I'm not much of a singer and after watching a video of my high school musical a while ago, I am convinced that the world does not need to hear me sing. This can be a bit of a problem in Asia as most people love karaoke.

On the team's last night in Thailand, everyone was keen to head to a local bar for some drinks and karaoke. With around 20 people there, I figured I could just hide in the masses and let everyone else do the singing. There was one small problem. The bar was owned by a European gentleman who had a large collection of English and Thai speaking karaoke songs. For some, this meant that there was very little to choose from. First up was one of the team managers who sang a duet in her native tongue of Chinese.

With no one in the team able to speak Thai, this meant we were left with English songs only so I slunk into my chair aloing with the other Australian, hoping that no one would ask us to sing. Unfortunately, this was not going to happen. As Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' began to play the microphone was pushed into my face. I batted it away and claimed that I didn't know the words as I contemplated what my next move was. I didn't have a choice. I was going to have to sing.

As others attempted to sing songs in English, I went straight to the bar. If I was going to sing in public, I needed some courage. I ordered a bottle of rum and some coke (a bottle of rum in Thailand is only AU$3.50 so it wasn't an expensive evening).
 

After one glass, I searched the karaoke machine for a song that didn't really require a good voice, then drank another glass. One song and another rum and coke later, my song came on and with a lot of encouragement, I belted out the best rendition of Queen's 'Bohemien Rhapsody' that anyone had ever heard.

Eventually, the social lubrication kicked in and I sang around a half a dozen songs. I can't remember what they all were but apparently I was okay. I just hope that there is no video evidence floating around out there!!

And by the way... the other Aussie was too embarrassed to sing a song so he just sat there and refused!! I should have taken that approach.