It is well known that for many items you wish to purchase in Thailand you have to partake in the inevitable bartering, something I’m not very good at! This also applies to some services including taxi fares.
I’d just like to recount my experience yesterday with a very friendly Thai couple who run their taxi out of Nathon, Koh Samui.
I needed to get from Nathon town back to Maenam and as the skies looked about to unleash yet another heavy downpour I decided to get a taxi instead of the cheaper but more ‘open-air’ songtaew. So, off I went to Nathon pier area in search of said taxi. Now, we all know that the taxis should be metered but they never are and I am also aware of what a realistic/reasonable price should be, by Samui standards anyway!
I came across a husband and wife team and spoke with the very nice lady first and asked about the cost to Maenam (bpai Maenam, tao rai kha), all in my not so fluent but understandable Thai. She was very impressed that I could speak Thai and immediately offered a price of 400 Baht, I had already seen the charge sheet in her hand that said 600 Baht. I thought “OK, 300 Baht would be better but I’m not in the mood to haggle”. I then met her husband to whom I also starting talking in Thai. He responded with lots of laughter and many questions in his limited but understandable English, about where I came from etc.
I decided to practice my Thai on him and answered his questions in Thai and that was it, we talked and talked all the way to my house about where we both came from, how many brothers and sisters we had, how many children we did or didn’t have, were our parents still alive, how long had we both been on Samui etc.
I discovered that he had been on Samui for 8 years, he was 42 years old and was child number 1 of 3. He’d had 3 wives already, a 21 year old son from his first marriage to a lady in Chiang Mai which he decided to get rid of for a younger one (the wife not the son!), an 18 year old son from his second wife (not sure what happened to her) and a 5 year old with his current wife. His parents were both alive and well and living in Chiang Mai.
During this conversation I had to direct him to my house, in Thai of course, all the time hoping that he kept at least one eye on the road as well as frequently checking the rear view mirror for our eye to eye conversation. Basically, we covered just about all of levels 1 & 2 of the Thai course books we use at Mind Your Language. The only thing we didn’t talk about was food and drink.
We finally arrived at my house and he thanked me for trying to learn Thai and said that I spoke Thai ‘geng maak’ or ‘very well’ for those of you who haven’t yet learnt to speak Thai. I was chuffed to bits with his praise, which showed that my Thai lessons at Mind Your Language were absolutely not a waste of time, effort and money. And to top it off he dropped another 100 Baht off the bill, just because I could speak with him in his own language – so I did get the journey for 300 Baht after all and had a very pleasant trip with lots of laughs and the chance to use and improve my Thai further.
It just goes to show that even the most basic conversations and understanding of the Thai language can go along way in your everyday life, here in the Land of Smiles.
So don’t be afraid, just jump in and make the effort and you will find that most Thais really appreciate it and will help you by correcting any mistakes you make in a friendly yet productive manner.
