Farang bpai bye bye

It’s interesting now that I know a little Thai to be out in the countryside where we are novelties and people of course talk about us. In some ways it’s good, and some ways it’s annoying, and sometimes in between. Sometimes during our days I wish I hadn’t learned.

For the annoying, when we go to a local restaurant or walk around, you constantly hear people saying “farang” this or “farang” that. It doesn’t happen very often in Chiang Mai, and a few times that it did happen, I then heard another Thai person say in Thai, “some farang from Chiang Mai speak Thai,” and then I wouldn’t hear another “farang” from them. But here, even if I order food or ask directions in Thai (which still is admittedly really basic), farang are still a frequent topic of conversation. I don’t understand enough Thai to get the meaning most of the time, and I assume it’s mostly harmless, but it makes me uncomfortable knowing we’re being talked about right in front of us. Other cycle tourists we’ve met have said the same thing to me about Thailand, so it seems to be a common thing I’ll just have to get used to again.

For the rude, a motorcycle with two women passed us on a quiet country road. They were smiling so I waved back, and one said to the other something that I’m pretty certain was, “ah-ni mai law”, which means, “this one is not handsome.” Well damn, I hope they were just comparing me to Steve because they are right on that one, but it was a bit of a shock to hear.

For the cute, as we rolled out of town this morning, a guy in a park with his kid waved and said, “farang bpai Bye Bye”, a cute Thai-English mashup.

For the funny, I rounded a corner and an old woman gasped and exclaimed, “Ohhhh! Farang man!” I waved, and she said, “Bye bye!” with a curious smile.

For the useful, it is super easy to order food at any restaurant now, though it’s often tricky to convince them to talk in Thai. When they don’t speak English, they see a white face and refuse to say anything in Thai or English. So I need to coax a little so they know I can mostly understand them. Checking in at hotels is the same, and I don’t feel awkward going up to a hotel where the signs are all in Thai. Saving some money too, because these are always cheaper.

Actually finding restaurants is easier too because I can read the signs and menus and decide what we’d like to find before we sit down. There are some places you would never guess are restaurants except for the sign outside that says “noodles” in Thai.

But the best is talking with locals. We ran into a guy at a gas station who also cycles, but only spoke a little English. Between the two of us, we switched back and forth between Thai and English and had a great chat about our tour and his cycling. He then came out and gave us two fresh mangoes, which were perfectly ripe and amazingly tasty.

Overall, it’s taking some getting used to, being in countryside again after a few months in the city. We are looking forward to getting to the coast again, but it’ll be nice to spend time in these super local non-touristy places to get a real feeling for the country.