Sunday, August 08, 2010
Old routines 2
With my allergies I have to be careful what I eat. It can be a challenge, especially in a foreign country, to communicate what I don't want. Every now and then, despite speaking in my best Thai, 'mai sai goong, mai sai tooah', when the meal arrives it has prawns and peanuts all over it.
Therefore, to keep life simple, once I know a particular place will serve what I want, I go back again and always order the same thing. At this place it's pad thai, at that one it's pad see eu, at another it's pad pak and so on. The people at each of these places probably think that I only eat one thing. But I don't. It's just that when I want to eat something else I go somewhere else. It works for me.
When I arrived back at Jirapong Apartments I asked myself, 'Where did I eat when I lived here before?' Then I remembered the little place on the other side of Ramintra Road, more or less at the foot of the overpass. But what was it that I used to eat there? I couldn't remember.
I decided to go over and just see what would happen. When I got there the woman who runs the place beamed. She seemed so excited to see me and started rambling on in Thai. I think I managed to understand about 25% of what she was saying. I smiled and nodded and gave an answer when I really did understand. She asked where I'd been and I told her I'd been in Australia. All the time I'm thinking 'And what did I used to eat here?' Eventually, she solved the problem. 'Au pad see eu gai mai ka?' I was able to answer 'Au khap' and the problem was solved.
I'm back in the routine now. I go there for lunch every few days and order my pad see eu gai. Sometimes her father sits down and chats with me and I understand about 10% of what he says. Life is pleasant.
Therefore, to keep life simple, once I know a particular place will serve what I want, I go back again and always order the same thing. At this place it's pad thai, at that one it's pad see eu, at another it's pad pak and so on. The people at each of these places probably think that I only eat one thing. But I don't. It's just that when I want to eat something else I go somewhere else. It works for me.
When I arrived back at Jirapong Apartments I asked myself, 'Where did I eat when I lived here before?' Then I remembered the little place on the other side of Ramintra Road, more or less at the foot of the overpass. But what was it that I used to eat there? I couldn't remember.
I decided to go over and just see what would happen. When I got there the woman who runs the place beamed. She seemed so excited to see me and started rambling on in Thai. I think I managed to understand about 25% of what she was saying. I smiled and nodded and gave an answer when I really did understand. She asked where I'd been and I told her I'd been in Australia. All the time I'm thinking 'And what did I used to eat here?' Eventually, she solved the problem. 'Au pad see eu gai mai ka?' I was able to answer 'Au khap' and the problem was solved.
I'm back in the routine now. I go there for lunch every few days and order my pad see eu gai. Sometimes her father sits down and chats with me and I understand about 10% of what he says. Life is pleasant.
Labels: Asia, thailand, travel
