Dumb things overheard in a bar

Since we were both off on Wednesday, Rie and I paid a Tuesday evening visit to the Dubliner, one of our semi-regular haunts in Shinjuku. The next table over from ours was populated by three white male expat English teachers (middle-American, judging from their accents) - a dime a dozen in many parts of Japan.

Anyway, Guy1 disinterestedly to Guy2, "... So I hear you're going to Laos in a few weeks." Guy2 snickers and responds, "Yeah, but I don't think we'll be visiting any beaches."

I'm sure Guy2 was just trying to make light of the earthquake and tsunamis that hit countries ringing the Indian Ocean last Sunday morning, leaving over 100,000 dead, half a million injured and some three to five million people displaced from their devastated homes and towns. After all, on Tuesday the death count was still measurable in only a handful or two of 9/11s.
What I'm not so sure about is that Guy2 realizes Laos is landlocked.

The ensuing commentary on the tragedy didn't last 30 seconds, nor did Guy1's fascination with Guy2's vacation. Guy1 had more important beefs on his mind. Said he: "This place has the worst service in town, I tell ya. The one in Ikebukuro..." Five minutes later he produced a flask from his hip pocket and was pouring 15-year scotch into the three water glasses they had drained.

Guy1 is obviously the Alpha male of this bunch. As we were donning our coats to leave, he was leading his table in a spritited discussion on global domination by the Freemasons.