Thursday, April 10, 2008

I'm practically Thai

Some exciting news - today I was able to:

  • Say good afternoon to the couple who run my local rice shack
  • Order two fried rice meals with chicken, vegetables and no (extra) chilli
  • Negotiate the price for the meal
  • Thank the cook and her offsider for the meal
....all in Thai!!!

Later I'll go down and say 'ardoi' - Thai for 'delicious'.

A seemingly small, but significant victory!

8 comments:

Mum said...

way to go! Just chatting to a friend yest and she had a family member who lived in Thailand for 3 years. Got to speak the language really well BUT forgot how to cook as there were no kitchen facilities in their apartment. So I guess, we will have to try and whip you into gear whenever you're on Aust shores, just to keep you in practice.

Belly said...

Thanks Mum...rest assured, I'm headed up to Chang Mai this weekend where Clare and I will be undertaking a multi-day cooking course!

libby oconnor said...

i love your turn of phrase and humour.
libby

Mum said...

you lucky dabs, wish I could go too.

Edwina said...

belly... i don't think the words shack and negotiate the price should go together. Did you leave a tip!?!?

Edwina said...

belly... i don't think the words shack and negotiate the price should go together. Did you leave a tip!?!?

Edwina said...

belly... i don't think the words shack and negotiate the price should go together. Did you leave a tip!?!?

Belly said...

hehe - there is much negotiation of the prices here in Bangkok...in ALL facets, if you catch my drift!

And re the tipping, the custom here is if you're a tourist, you tip. If you're a local, you don't. If you're somewhere in between (like me!), then you leave any coinage change left over to basically say that you're not an ultimate tight-ass farang. Most western-style places already impose a mandatory 10% service charge, so there is no obligation to tip there.

In the case of the rice 'shack', I'm too much of a tight-ass to tip, but they don't seem to care. I keep coming back for more cow pat gai!!