Thai Lessons with Taxi Drivers
August 19th, 2006 | Published in dispatch, glbt | 5 Comments
Gratuitous last day in Bangkok post with unnecessary videos and pictures
Geng, the taxi driver who doesn’t just take me to Lad Prao Road, through basic Thai 202 (and who eventually gives me a Thai name ââ¬â Narak ââ¬â which is simply embarrassing.)
I can count perfectly up to nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine in Thai, but keep stumbling over eight and seven. In Thai, seven is jed and eight is bpairt, which sounds very close to the Hokkien/Teochew jit and bpoyht ââ¬â my mother tongue ââ¬â so I can’t stop myself from saying them as such.
*With a friend at a girls’ bar*
Someone: “Hurry up with your drink, I want to go look for chocolate.”
Me: “Chocolate? Here? In a bar?”
Someone: “Chocolate, as in… instant gratification. Melts in your mouth but there isn’t mess to deal with in the morning.”
Me: “But I’m here baby, and you want chocolate.”
Someone: “Well, you’re not chocolate, you’re more like candy. Everybody loves candy, we keep on eating it, keep on wanting to eat it, but you know nobody can ever finish candy cane so we just don’t even want to start.”
Me: “Hmmm.”
*Conversations with Thai dees*
B: (Some inexplicable Thai)
Me: “Chan mai kao jai tai!”
Kik: “You, single?”
Me: “Ka.”
B: “You, least-byan?”
Me: “Um. Ka.”
Kik: “What is you name.”
Me: “Adri.”
B.: “A…dro? Adrik? Agro? Ado? Adu? Achu?”
(They spend 15 minutes trying to pronounce my name)
Kik: “Nice meet you. My name, Suttipornchanrangditchankapsongchan.”
Me: “Right. Suttipornchanrangditchankapsongchan. That’s much easier than my name.”
Zeta, on RCA (Bangkok’s entertainment stretch) ââ¬â it’s like Herstory and Two Queens put together, but 7 days a week and with live music from girl bands.
Home, tomorrow, sweet home.
August 19th, 2006 at 10:09 am (#)
hahahha that’s hilarious. anyway, at least you weren’t wandering around the bangkok airport with a friend yelling something that sounds like (i have no idea how to spell it) “chop jaeb jaeb maiiiiii” which erm.. i’ll leave you to find out the meaning of. apparently there are very interesting books in the bangkok airport bookstores.
August 19th, 2006 at 10:31 pm (#)
you look like Bi (Rain) in that picture. at least, from that angle!
August 21st, 2006 at 11:03 am (#)
Well, Narak is certainly a very cute name to describe you. =)
August 21st, 2006 at 12:56 pm (#)
I so missed out! I should have taken up your invitation!
And man you really have a flair for memorising long names.
I will toast to that - when is the picnic?
August 27th, 2006 at 11:40 am (#)
hahaha. nice voice!