Facebook Founder Spotted In Bangkok Bar Last Night

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From The Nation

No it wasn't Guess Bar!

Mark Zuckerberg, famous for founding the Facebook networking website, was spotted chilling out with mates at a Thong Lor bar on Monday night.

Nattawat Samattadol, a friend of the owner of Enchanted Bar in the trendy J Avenue retail centre, said he did not recognise Zuckerberg at first, but became certain it was him after googling the young billionaire's name and checking his photos.

He said Zuckerberg arrived in a casual outfit - T-shirt and black slippers - which looked like the same style as in the movie "The Social Network".

Nattawat said a group of friends stood in front of the bar talking about their favourite movie - "The Social Network" - and Facebook. Nattawat thought one of them looked a lot like Zuckerberg, and mentioned it to his friends. They agreed, but were dubious that Time magazine's Person of the Year would be in Enchanted Bar.

So they asked him directly: "Are you Mark Zuckerberg?" He answered: "Yes," adding: "Why is the place so full?"

Nattawat told him: "We have the Room 39 band tonight."

Then a woman returned from the seat-reservation counter and took Zuckerberg out of the pub.

"She had asked for seats but reservation staff told her that the place was fully reserved, with no seats left for walk-ins, as tonight there was a performance by Room 39," Nattawat said.

"We did not realise that we should take a photo of him because all conversations between us happened very fast, within only one minute."

Zuckerberg came to Thailand to attend the wedding of Chris Cox, a vice president of Facebook and a long-time friend. Cox's wedding to a Thai woman will take place at a restaurant in the Sukhumvit area tonight.

No journalist here has had a chance to meet with Zuckerberg. However, his presence in Bangkok is becoming the talk of Thailand among the country's social-network community. Thai media are also investigating his visit in the hope of coming up with a good story.

Yet many people still doubt that Zuckerberg is really here, suspecting it is just a rumour, as nobody seemed to know he was coming.