After a long day on the road, we checked in to our hotel in Pailn—a small town near the border with Thailand—and the first thing I wanted to do was take a shower. So, imagine my surprise when I found two mystery objects on the back of the toilet seat.

On the front of the single use packages was written—”Pop Cowboy UniSex” featuring a cowboy and a cowgirl(?) together with the symbols ♀ and ♂ in pink. The cowboy even had a bandana around his neck in an American flag motif.

Of course at first blush I thought the objects were condoms. Upon closer inspection I was surprised to see, however, the fine print at the bottom: “Perfumed Shampoo, A new formula for normal and dry hair.”  On the back I found the link to the product on the manufacturer’s website, Smilephan LTD in Bangkok, Thailand. The site describes the shampoo as:

POP Cowboy shampoo sachet
A romantic blend of long lasting fragrance and originality, POP cowboy perfumed shampoo makes you feel in the mood. New formula with olive oil, this shampoo is smooth and gentle for use on normal and dry hair.

2 colors available: Sunset for cowboy (W-ss1); Red for mood in love (W-ss2)

The mystery object was a packet of shampoo—sexy shampoo. Besides the mysterious nature of a product like this, I couldn’t help but note the color, nationality and occupation of sex as marketed on the shampoo sachet—white, American and working class. This, on a product made in Thailand for regional consumption.

Not having any other option I used the shampoo to clean my dirty hair. And, I saved the second sachet as Mystery Object #22.