Five minutes after I climbed aboard an almost empty bus to work, a song I know started on the radio.
The bus driver must have liked it, because he turned it up. It was 'Aof' Pongsak's moving Taeng Kang Lang Talu Teung Hua Jai (แทงข้างหลังทะลุถึงหัวใจ).
A boy and a girl aged about 20, with cute snub-nosed Esan features, were sitting on the opposite side from me, one seat behind. They started singing.
This has never happened on my work bus before, but teens are a relaxed lot. The back end of the bus where we were sitting was almost empty, so we had the stage to ourselves.
It is not the kind of song which plays in conventional karaoke joints, or in discos, as it is slow-paced and sad. So where do they normally sing it?
The boy, wearing dark jeans and a T-shirt, was particularly expressive. He seemed to have trouble controlling his lanky arms, as they would not stay still. He did not seem at all shy, and at one point held his arms aloft and swayed them from side to side.
I looked at the pair again. I could see no physical resemblance which suggested they might be brother and sister. If they were siblings, the boy might have been forgiven for carrying on like a girl in his sister's presence, because his sister presumably knows what he is like. But no.
I started singing, too. They noticed, and sang a little louder to accompany me. The song has many high notes, which is when I fall silent, as I can't reach them. The boy, however, was able to get his voice that high, and do it convincingly.
He sang with more feeling than the girl, which was surprising.
A second Thai song came on which we knew. We sang that one, too - not loud enough for everyone else in the bus to hear, but loud enough to attract the attention of the ticket seller, who came down the back end to listen.
How was this mini-concert going to end?
The songs fall into the category of what Thais call 'string' music - easy listening ballads.
After the second number, yet another song which we knew came on: Live and Learn, by Kamala Sukosol and Boyd Kosiyabong (บอย โกสิยพงษ์, กมลา สุโกศล). This one is played on a lush sounding piano.
What an unusual journey. On the way to work, mostly I am subjected to tinny Esan country music, not this modern city stuff. It is even rarer to get a 'silent' bus, as most drivers like to play music to keep them company.
Live and Learn is an older song, and I had trouble remembering the words. I remember first hearing it in on a trip to Pattaya years ago. A gay friend whose mother owns a hotel in Pattaya took my partner and I about in his car.
He sang along as the song played in his CD player. It is so dramatic it could almost be regarded as a gay anthem.
Unlike the other two, this song really was sung by a woman, but the boy behind me knew all the words. I was impressed. Does he know the lyrics to head-banger rock songs as well?
Five minutes later, they reached their stop, and the pair left. The bus fell silent but for the radio, as our little volunteer choir had broken up. We did not exchange a word in all that time. We just sang.
As they walked away, I saw the couple clasping hands, the way boyfriends and girlfriends do.
I guess that's what they are, then, rather than siblings. And presumably the girl does not mind that her boyfriend is as fem as she is.
They sing off the same music sheet - how many girls and boys who are together can boast of that?
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