Stories from Thailand that just make you smile :-)

[tinom]

1989 in Paï:
I needed a strong coffee... only nescafe at that time... I asked a nescafe with 3 spoons (of instant powder)... I got a clear nescafe with 3 coffee spoons on the plate!

Actually in Cambodia: When my miss wants to play pool 4 people together, she uses "fourgether"

[pgrahmm]

Thought this story worth repeating..........but maybe as my wife says "don't sure"

A few nights ago the wife was doing her exercises using a YouTube dance/workout routine.......this I enjoy as much as she does......

I heard a Sowadekop coming from outside the front gate area and walked out and saw a semi familier happy face.......it was a couple from a Catholic Church I had infrequently attended and they'd seen the car and called out being friendly - of course with an invite to church along the way.....

I knew the wife didn't really want two strangers in the house - especially when exercising - she's a pretty reserved/shy/private individual.....plus I didn't want to get into a church invite session in the house so I suggested we walk and chat.....we walked around the neighborhood having a nice casual chat which I thought I'd handled most diplomatically keeping everyone happy and doing what they wanted to do - only took about a half hour maybe a little more......

Thinking back I'm sure my wife wondered why I was walking away chatting with a nice lookiing/dressed gal and some guy......

I get back and the wife is on the sofa reading her novel - but not happy......she said - where you go????? And I explained that these people wanted me to go to church......she said what????? And I again explained they wanted to see me back in their church - I added she was exercising and I knew she wouldn't want them in the house......I thought I'd done well all things considered......

She got upset and said - why didn;t you just tell them NO....I said I wanted to be polite and walked with them so we could talk and she could still exercise.....she said - I just don't understand you - I just don't understand you why didn't you just tell them NO...she started fuming and fumed the rest of the night - which for her is to get quiet....and left me just ??????????????? .......

I tried all night to explain - no good - we went to bed and the next day started with a big smile and all back to normal.........

About 11 in the morning she says hon????? I said what??????? She said - you have a lot of nice SHIRTS - why didn't you just tell them no???????

[riceyummm]

As a lifelong fisherman I have a lot of fish stories. On occasion I've shared stories with Thai friends.

"We were on the ocean and got into a school of yellowfin tuna, we caught fish this big for hours" while holding my hands out at arms length. Stories like this were always met with skeptical to incredulous looks.

On occasion I've been invited to go fishing, "The fish in that lake are this big" while holding their hands three to five inches apart. I would beg off politely while thinking "Who wants to catch fish three inches long?"

One day FIL came home with some fish from a local pond, one of them a big catfish about two feet long and four inches wide.

My wife said "Wow, that one's this big" while holding her hands four inches apart. Only then I realized that when Thais indicate the size of a fish with their hands they're indicating width, not length!

Ouch!.....all the missed fishing trips and all the Thai guys thinking "What a BS artist!".

[AYJAYDEE]

wife: I think I'll become a Christian

me(horrified): why? you have a perfectly good religion

wife: If I die christian I'll be reborn in the west, if I die Buddhist , I'll be reborn right back where I started from in Thailand!

me: No, if u die christian you'll be reborn in heaven

wife: long pause............... oh, forget it!

[pgrahmm]

Smiling in a different appreciative way.......

Weather good here in CM so met some folks at the ball field and we alternated soft toss hitting the ball into the net/screen to get some timing back and get a good work out......only takes about 100 full bore swings before it's enough.....

The field had been over grown & will take work to get back in shape - as I'm looking out over field I notice my wife down the 1st baseline against a fence that was seriously over grown if not a downright jungle type encroachment.....there she was sorting through and picking plants/greens......

Which we had for a nutritious and good tasting breakfast.......

Being from the US - at that time smallish town but not agro - it amazes me the affinity the Thai people have with the land/flowers/plants and seem to innately have this knowledge & application/usage.....seems completely simple, happy & natural; the way life should be.....and that makes me smile.....

[Crazy chef 1]

few weeks back the missus came excited home and told me about a certain girl she haven't seen for a while.as usual i forgot the name and ask her which one? and she replied:" the girl with the black hair and the brown eyes"...right mama, now i now exactly who you are talking about

[mrwebb8825]

My 2 favorite stories happened back when I had 1st moved here over 12 years ago.

As soon as I moved here I tried to start picking up the language by asking a couple of friends I had met who were Thai and spoke good English. 1 of the few fruit items I like are bananas (I know of you are snickering already) but I asked my friend how to say banana in Thai so I didn't have to just point saying "uh uh". I was sure I had this word down pat and a few days later, the friend that had taught me and I were walking past a market. I stopped and Proudly asked the elderly lady selling fruit Mi Gluy Yai Mai?. My friend nearly chocked he was laughing so hard and the poor old lady just looked really perplexed. I found out later that the word for banana and the word for a man's "Johnson" are incredibly similar and I had in fact asked that poor lady if she had a big Johnson instead of big bananas.

The 2nd was a bit more subtle but still makes me smile. Out eating lunch with the wife and her lady friends from the rajabaht she works at. My wife knows I enjoy eating shells and orders them for me in Thai. Her friends started smiling and giggling when 1 asked me if I really like to eat shells a lot. I said yes to which she replied "Puying mai ging hoi" and they all started having a good laugh. I found out later the secondary meaning for "Hoi" and now it makes for a good joke whenever we go out with "the gang".