In the Know: A Few Deep Cut Reasons to Love Expat Life in Bangkok [S8.E51]

Greg 00:00:05 On this episode, we look at the tiny, idiosyncratic winds that make life in Bangkok enjoyable.

Ed 00:00:11 So if you've ever made a list of the small but meaningful things that make you smile in Thailand, you'll dig this episode of the Bangkok Podcast.

Greg 00:00:36 Sawa and welcome to the Bangkok Podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 to avoid the companies who obsess over hockey games, only to find the world is full of companies who obsess over football.

Ed 00:00:52 Sometimes I'm not sure that's an American word.

Greg 00:00:55 No, that's a UK word. We can thank our friend Scott the pennant for that. All right inspired me when we worked together at a Goda.

Ed 00:01:01 And I met Knuth, an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract over 25 years ago, fell in love with every four years pretending I'm into the World Cup so I can join the community of nations. So I never left.

Greg 00:01:15 So you're just pretending to be an empty.

Ed 00:01:18 Well, yeah. That's right.

Ed 00:01:19 Yeah, maybe that's my defense. I'm not really like, whatever. Whatever that word is. I'm not really that.

Greg 00:01:25 Yeah, it's it's sometimes hard to explain. I'll never forget that. I'm sure I've told this story, but I'll never forget the taxi ride I was taking years ago. And the guy was trying to strike up a conversation with me, and he goes, you like, foot bun? My job. You're like, oh, basket bun. No thinking golf? No. He's like, he looks in his rearview mirror. He goes, you like lady?

Ed 00:01:51 Yeah. I was going to say like, yeah, that's classic bro culture.

Ed 00:01:59 All right. We want to give a quick thank you to one of our patrons, Christine, who supports us at the show shout out level. Stick around after we're done talking about some deep cut Bangkok. Loves to hear why Christine needs to buy a white handkerchief on her next visit to Bangkok. We also want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show.

Ed 00:02:19 Patrons get every episode a day early behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world. But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, uncensored bonus episode every week where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics. And this week's bonus show. We chatted about riding motorbikes in the rain, not in a romantic way, the PR quagmire that Australia is dealing with. After a very bad week in the Thai news and discussions about the World Cup, including my light involvement in the event and Greg's near-total ignorance of the entire rigamarole to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff, plus full access to over 800 bonus and regular back episodes. Click this board button at the top of our website.

Greg 00:03:15 That's right. And don't forget, if you are out and about in Bangkok and see a Bangkok Podcast sticker, take a picture. Send us three pictures of three different stickers and we will send you a gift.

Greg 00:03:24 I've been putting a few up around the city over the past couple of weeks. Not a lot, but here and there dotted around. No, I, I like I said, my firm stance is that I am a civic improver. I see a little bit of color to the city. All right. On this episode, Ed and I are both in a pretty good mood this week, so we wanted the show to reflect that. Now, we were talking a little bit about some of the small wins that you get to celebrate as an expat in Bangkok, so we thought it would be fun to focus on a few of the more esoteric, idiosyncratic, and generally lesser known facets of life in Bangkok that give your existence here a little bit of a boost. Some of these are very small and personal, while some are much more broad and would probably apply to anyone who lives overseas. So it's a pretty random grab bag of stuff, but I think it's going to be a fun discussion.

Greg 00:04:14 And these little wins are important. I think sometimes after so many years here, you can feel a little bit down, a little bit isolated, lonely, blue. So these little, little wins are important to celebrate, I think.

Ed 00:04:27 Yeah, in a way, I think of this idea as almost unexpected joys of living here. There's certain there's certain obvious things we've talked about many times about why we like being here. But I feel like this show is almost a it's almost kind of a confessional because there's some, some of the things that I have to admit I enjoy. I'm a little bit embarrassed. I enjoy them, you know, it's.

Ed 00:04:51 It's kind of like when you, you know, when you like a movie that everyone knows sucks, but you're like, well, it's it's a guilty pleasure.

Greg 00:05:00 Kind of like when I say how awesome the shirtless volleyball scene and Top Gun is. Everyone makes fun of me, but I'll die on that hill. That's awesome.

Ed 00:05:08 Yeah. So these are just, you know, maybe unexpected joys. It's just small little things that, put a smile on my face.

Greg 00:05:17 Yeah, I agree, so I got a couple, there's some overlap here, and, like. And I said to each other when we were, we were putting the show together. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. but, you know, just a little fun conversation of some of these. So we're just going to go through the list. you want to go first with one thread we'll discuss.

Ed 00:05:34 All right. Okay. So one of my things that I just to be honest, I'm a little bit surprised, like, like how, how often I get a kick out of this has to do with my job. So I teach at a Thai university. I'm a proper professor, And I guess that's.

Ed 00:05:51 Fairly rare. Obviously Thai people look up to John's right. And you know, I know I know a lot of foreign agents, but I guess in the in out of the 12 million people in Bangkok, obviously there's not that many foreign agents.

Ed 00:06:04 Right. Yeah. And so I get a kick out of, telling people I teach, and then they immediately say, oh, sone sone pasa on grid, so. Oh, you're an English teacher. And I gotta admit, I just get I get a kick out of saying no, I'm. I'm an Ajahn at a university, and and they're always they always think there's a miscommunication and they'll usually repeat. They'll usually repeat. Oh, English teacher Tammy.

Ed 00:06:37 And, you know, and then I get to bust out, you know, you know, my Thai is not very good, but the word for government or political science in Thais, it's I'm sure I'm mispronouncing, but it's like. It's like. Ratatat. Ratatat. Okay, so I say. I say my choice on sound. Ratatat and that and that that, like, kind of blows their mind, you know?

Ed 00:06:59 And it's so. It's so dumb. It's like it's not.

Ed 00:07:01 It's not like it's a big deal to teach government. It's not like it's not some prestigious thing.

Ed 00:07:09 I got to admit, I just it happens all the time. I mean, I should count. I feel like it happens a couple times a month, you know, because. Because taxi drivers especially, are riding taxis constantly. And they, they like to ask what you do. Sure. It's a common thing. And, and as soon as I say, like if I say I'm an agent, they, they will assume that I don't know really what an odd John is like. They'll assume, oh, you're just an English teacher. Like so. So the the proper Thai word for that would actually be crew. You know.

Ed 00:07:46 Be the right word, but even though I. Even though I say I'm an ajarn, they they assume I don't know what an agent is.

Greg 00:07:52 So what? What you need to do is then find the tie equivalent that carries not only the the translation of, but context of "Well ahhhh...ctually.

Ed 00:08:04 Well, it's funny because, I got nothing. There's nothing wrong with being an English teacher. It's like I if I was an English teacher, I would have no problem saying that.

Greg 00:08:11 Yeah, right.

Ed 00:08:11 But, the the truth is, it's it's their reaction. It's like they think it's a big deal. And then to throw to throw it in, like if I mentioned the university that I teach at, it's supposed to be one of the better universities. And so, it, you know, again, it's a cheap thrill, like I shouldn't get a kick out of this. But they, they think it's a big deal. So I'm just taking the.

Ed 00:08:38 The free love you know.

Greg 00:08:39 Yeah sure. Why not? It's like saying someone. What do you do? I'm a pilot. Oh. What kind of planes do you fly? The space shuttle. You know.

Ed 00:08:45 Great. Oh, no, that would be.

Ed 00:08:48 That would be actually cool. That would be actually cool. Teaching. Teaching political science at Italian university. I'm not sure that that qualifies as cool in any in any culture at any time.

Greg 00:08:58 Well, I'm sure that the astronaut and the, the university professor can both enjoy the little wave of love that flows over them.

Ed 00:09:10 Well, what do you got?

Greg 00:09:11 Well, my first one is, is something that that I sort of get a little kick out of when I'm walking along the sidewalk, or I get a mysterious phone call, and you and I have discussed this on the show before, something that we call, reverse racism or positive racism and. Right, right. You know, obviously, racism is a monstrously complex topic, and we're not going to try and decode that here. But sometimes when we say racist is sort of sort of overlaps with racial profiling, and that can actually kind of work in your favor sometimes. So for instance, when I'm walking down the sidewalk and there's someone standing there and they're handing out annoying pamphlets to everyone who comes by.

Greg 00:09:50 And they see me and they're like, oh, he's not gonna get anything out of this. And so. Oh, they. That's right.

Ed 00:09:55 You get opted out.

Greg 00:09:56 I get opted out.

Ed 00:09:57 No that is a deep cut. I mean it's it's it's it's it's it is a small thing, but I totally understand what you're saying because at my university, there are a bunch of formal rituals. You know, it's a I work for the Thai government. So there are these Thai ritual things that the Thai adjuncts have to go to. And then the foreign agents, we just ignore it. Yeah. You know, we're just we just ignore it and they ignore us. And so we just we just get to opt out.

Greg 00:10:28 Just convenient little ignorance.

Ed 00:10:31 We just get the we just get like the exception card. Yeah. And and it's usually like it's some horrific thing, you know, it's like meet at 8 a.m. before class and be blessed by these monks on this auspicious day.

Greg 00:10:43 Sit to sit on the floor in a non air conditioned room for an hour. Sounds awesome.

Ed 00:10:47 Yeah, so it's great. It's. It's great to just be foreign, to be outside the bubble.

Greg 00:10:53 I also get the equivalent of when someone calls me and it's usually a bank or some bullshit like that. And then like hello, I call somebody cap and they go dah, dah. And I go, yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. And they and you can hear them go, oh, all right.

Greg 00:11:08 "Solly, Solly" and then click. And what I hope is that they get on their little computer system because I used to do telemarketing too. So I know they've all got, they got a record each call and they mark down like farang. Do not call useless waste of time to contact this person.

Ed 00:11:22 Oh, that would be great. That would be I wish, I wish.

Greg 00:11:25 Yeah, yeah. What do you got?

Ed 00:11:27 All right.

Ed 00:11:28 My next thing is it's a little bit dark in a way. It's, How do I explain this? I'll see if I can do this quickly. Back in the day. a buddy of mine's dad. Told us how it told us about his brother. My buddy's uncle who had serious mental health problems. And so my buddy's dad had to take care of his brother his whole life.

Ed 00:11:54 But the lesson that my buddy's dad was trying to to to teach us, he he he said he feels good every time he leaves. And or if he knows he doesn't have to deal with his brother like he. He basically was saying like, it's okay to be selfish. And and so he was saying something like, we like when I forget the details, it was like when his sister's in town or whatever, he kind of has this joy of like, oh, cool. I just don't have to deal with my brother now.

Ed 00:12:27 You know? And so he was kind of saying, like, you know, do the right thing, but it's okay to be a little bit selfish and just put yourself first.

Ed 00:12:36 And so this is a little bit like this. So right now there's a whole bunch of family drama going on in my life back back in the States, which obviously I can't talk with in detail. And I really I really should be there or I should be participating. This is like important family stuff going on. And like by all rights, I, I, I, I, I have a seat at the table and I should be there, but I just get to play the Thailand card, I just get to put on the table like.

Greg 00:13:11 Oh.

Ed 00:13:12 I'm sorry. Oh it's too bad I live 10,000 miles or the 12 hour time. Oh, this is I just can't, you know.

Greg 00:13:18 What I mean? I wish I could be up at 3 a.m. on the phone call, but.

Ed 00:13:21 But but the truth is, I should be. But my guilty admission is, I'm kind of glad I'm. I'm not. I'm not there.

Greg 00:13:29 No, I get it, man. I have the same thing.

Greg 00:13:31 There's there's a fair amount of family drama going on back at home too. But and this actually could be maybe a conversation, a whole new conversation, perhaps a conversation with my therapist or something. But like, it's very, very easy to say, sorry, I don't have time to deal with this right now. I got bigger things to worry about. Like I got a family in Thailand. I got a life in Thailand. That's my focus. I'm out. Right. And, you know, I sometimes wrestle with this myself. And I'm getting kind of serious here, but it's, you know, am I being a quitter? Am I leaving my family in a lurch? Am I not, you know, pulling my weight? But at the same time, it really is true. I've got a family here and that's my focus. That's got to be my priority. And so it is. It is kind of a relief when you can sort of skip out on all that crap back home and deal with what your main priority is, which is my life in Thailand.

Ed 00:14:23 Yeah. so normally the, the simple truth is I miss both my family and friends and and wish I could go back more. So this is, you know, on my list of improving my life is I. I want to go back more often because, I like it when I go back, I really do. And, so hopefully I'll have more time or more money and I will be able to go back more. So normally, normally that's how I feel. But with all the, with all the drama going on, I'm, I'm kind of I'm like, I'm kind of feeling happy. I'm sequestered, you know, I'm over here and I get to opt out. I get to opt out, you know?

Greg 00:15:00 Right. So like, I really wish I could be back there, but I have to go back to Thailand. He.

Ed 00:15:05 Right, right, right.

Greg 00:15:09 So, my next one is, of course, related to a movie or is inspired by a movie. You remember that awesome 80s movie called They Live with Rowdy Roddy Piper?

Ed 00:15:19 Yeah, yeah, sure.

Greg 00:15:20 Keith David about the alien invasion. And he finds some magic sunglasses that he puts on, and he sees the real world as it is. You know, I kind of think that as expats in Thailand are probably in many places, we sort of have these invisible glasses on, and they've also got little extensions that go into our ears. And I've kind of touched on this on shows before, but it's very easy for us to sort of have this shield around us, almost this bubble where it's so easy for us to block out the visual and audio noise of Thai language, Thai advertising, Thai media. You know, I've talked about sitting in a Starbucks and it's just sort of wah.

Greg 00:16:02 Like, it's very easy to tune people out. And that also extends to like billboards and television advertisements and radio. And it's just like, you've got this shield up where it's so easy to not let it bombard you. Whereas if you go back home, like when I was last in Canada, I could hear everything, I could understand everything.

Greg 00:16:22 I could read everything totally.

Ed 00:16:23 I mean, I.

Greg 00:16:24 Overload.

Ed 00:16:24 I agree with, I agree with you 100% 100%. when I was just back home. it it it just feels totally different. And it's like you said, it's just because I understand everything going on around me. And I suppose, I suppose if I exerted a lot of effort, I could block it out. But it's basically impossible because it's if you if you hear it and it's your native language, you understand it. Yeah. But here we just have an automatic filter. So it's like so in this case I only understand Ty if I focus.

Greg 00:16:59 Right. If you choose to be involved. Right. That yeah that communication.

Ed 00:17:04 And I got to admit it's it's kind of peaceful being and being in the, in the, the zone of ignorance.

Greg 00:17:10 Yeah. Exactly. I love it. And in Canada, like I can't turn it off. I'm just automatically understand everything around me. But here so easy to sort of be a little bubble.

Greg 00:17:18 Yeah, I love it.

Ed 00:17:19 I agree 100%. All right I got another one. I got another one. Again. I'm feeling a little bit guilty about this one as well.

Greg 00:17:28 But the confessional show.

Ed 00:17:30 That's right. It's very odd, but I don't want to say a lot, but a significant number of Thai people are for some reason just impressed that I'm American. That's it. They're just like America. Law. America, law. America, gang. America is good. And it's just. That's it. It's like they're, you know, they're, you know, that's it. It's like I deserve nothing like I do. I'm one of like, 300. And, you know, I'm one of 330 million people. I didn't earn it. I didn't earn being American. I was just born there. But like the cab driver I had today, the guy who I told the story on the bonus, he he completely screwed up my. He took the wrong turn, and I was, like, 45 minutes late to go to the World Cup this morning.

Ed 00:18:17 this guy who screwed me up. He he he was like, oh, you're American. Oh my God. Like, you know. America. Good America, great America gang. And it's not it's not a rare thing. It's it's it's not rare where they just think maybe, I guess because America is a superpower or they think I had something to do with it or something. You know.

Greg 00:18:40 I, I, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to play devil's advocate on this one a little bit, and it'd just be I mean, maybe I think in a lot of places in the world. Where are you from? America. They might be like, oh, yeah, I've heard of that shit. No. You assholes.

Ed 00:18:53 You assholes. Right.

Greg 00:18:56 So, yeah, I think I think you should probably appreciate this even more, because I think when you get a maybe more worldly or more well-traveled or more informed person, they might be like, oh, right, man, you guys are going through some stuff.

Ed 00:19:12 That's right. No, I mean, you're probably right. I should I should take it while I can get it.

Greg 00:19:15 Yeah. That's right, that's good. the next one I got is, Now, this might also be because of the shape of my head and the general look of my face. But it's really nice when people remember you without you really putting much effort into being the one who was remembered because.

Ed 00:19:38 Oh yeah.

Greg 00:19:39 As like an expat, as a foreigner, you stand out, and maybe you stand out more if you're six foot two and bald and £250 kind of thing, but but like I went today to, to Starbucks, my local Starbucks and the, the girl behind the counter, I wasn't really paying attention to her and she, she said, are you gonna pay with a Starbucks card today? And I've only used a Starbucks card once in the past, like ten years. And it was last week at the same Starbucks. So she remembered me from this one visit a week ago.

Greg 00:20:13 Right. And she's like, are you gonna need these?

Ed 00:20:15 Really are these really are deep cards. Because this, this exact thing has happened to me It's just as the truth is, as white people, we just were just more memorable.

Greg 00:20:26 Yeah, yeah. And I was like, I didn't do anything special. I didn't joke or talk or make a joke, you know, I didn't. I just sort of was there and I used a card and I said, thank you and got my coffee and left. And then today she was like, are you going to use the card again? And I'm like, oh, no, actually, I'm just going to scan today. But thanks for asking. You know, and that's funny. I didn't do anything special to deserve this little, this little unique recognition that she gave me. This. I can relate us. Yeah, I like it.

Ed 00:20:54 All right. Well, my, my my last one. You're going to appreciate it. It's almost it's almost exactly the same thing.

Ed 00:20:59 But maybe in this case you and I have quote unquote earned this. A lot of Thai people are fairly blown away when I tell them how long I've been here. Like, it's just not in a way. In a way. It's like the English teacher thing. They assume they assume that you're going to tell them, oh, I've been here six months or one year. They assume I'm going to tell them I'm an English teacher, you know. That's their frame of mind. That's what they see most of the time. Right. So when I say, you know, when I say I've been here 25 years. Like a lot of them, they can't even process it. Especially if they're young. Yeah. When I tell my students, you know, when I tell my students, you know, I'll be I'll be starting a freshman class in a in a in about a six weeks. I'll have another freshman class when I tell them I've been in Thailand 25 years. They're there. Their minds are blown.

Ed 00:21:49 They're kind of like, wait, that means you got here before I was born?

Greg 00:21:53 Yeah. You see, when I tell someone that I. I feel a little bit self-conscious because I know they're thinking this guy's Thai. Must be excellent.

Ed 00:22:01 Oh, well. That's another. Yeah, well, that's a that's one of the that's one of the downsides to it. Yeah. But again, I, I don't, I, I feel guilty, but it's, the bottom line is like we've talked about it before. That's why we've talked about merit badges and all the stuff we've done. We have survived here, like both you and I are, are are successful in our own ways. You know, we've made a life here.

Greg 00:22:26 Yeah, totally. Yeah. That's something to be proud of. Not everyone can do it.

Ed 00:22:30 Yeah. And, for some reason, a lot of Thai people are. They seem to be impressed, you know, you know, I guess the, you know, I guess the major caveat I should say, for all of this stuff is Thai people are so sweet and nice, who knows what they're really thinking? Like, all I know is they.

Ed 00:22:46 All I know is they act, you know, they act impressed or shocked when I tell them these things, right?

Greg 00:22:52 Well, part of that comes with the sort of veil of impressiveness around it. But when you pierce below the bubble, like they think, wow, like you must have had this great strategy. Like what a great plan you've outlined for yourself. And it's like, no, no, I just showed up and then I stayed for a month, and then I stayed for a year, and then I stayed for another year. I have no plan. And then I met a guy.

Ed 00:23:12 Right then I met a girl and that was it.

Greg 00:23:14 I'm just. I'm just here and I have never been anywhere else. That's the limit of my strategy for life in Thailand.

Ed 00:23:21 That's right.

Greg 00:23:21 That's right. All right, well, my last one is something that I mean, this this can fall under the extremely broad umbrella of confused or ignorant foreigner. I think you already mentioned that earlier. there's a lot of get out of jail free cards, and they've each got their own little flavor that you can pull out of this.

Greg 00:23:39 But this is where I have to give credit, where credit is due to the skis, balls, the the sort of yucky meringues that are drawn like moths to Pattaya and to like the sort of ski gear parts of Bangkok, because I love going outside and not having to worry about how I look now. Part of it.

Ed 00:24:01 Oh.

Greg 00:24:02 Part of it can be because I'm old and married and bald and fat and, you know, it's not like I'm trying to pick up young girls anymore. It's like, hey lady.

Ed 00:24:11 You're not fat, you're not fat, you're pleasantly plump.

Greg 00:24:15 Hey, ladies, do you like bald, pleasantly plump married men? No, it's not a huge pool or anything like that. But I put on like a ratty pair of shorts and an old t shirt and no socks and some flip flops and go outside, and I know I look like a bum, but I'm sort of riding coattails on the sort of skeevy foreigner that looks like that. And the. And if people see me there, they're not going to be like, oh, what's wrong with that guy? They're just going to go, oh, he must be one of those squeezy foreigners.

Greg 00:24:43 And that's fine. If they want to think that about me, that's no problem. But, I like being able to get away with that.

Ed 00:24:51 Well, I think I'm. I think I'm in the same boat as you. I when I was home, I, I was thinking I was, I was being self-conscious because I think I was actually dressing better when I was home. Yeah. Not just that not just that formal stuff, but I noticed, like, I threw on some jeans and a polo shirt, which I hear I do wear polo shirts, but only if I go out to a nice restaurant. So I feel like I was dressing up a little bit when I was home. Totally. And, and certainly, like, you know, that I live right next to a Foodland. I almost walk in there naked.

Greg 00:25:26 Like, I'm.

Ed 00:25:27 I basically have, I basically have, like, boxers on and a t shirt. Right, right. It's it's basically my it's basically my kitchen more or less.

Greg 00:25:35 Yeah. But but if I go home, I want to look nice for my family. I want to look nice for my friends. I haven't seen the whole time over here. I'm just like, who am I trying to impress at the villa that I go to, I don't care. So it's not something to be proud of, but it's something that I enjoy being able to get away with.

Ed 00:25:51 Well, you're we're being honest. This is this is an honesty show.

Greg 00:25:54 Yeah, exactly.

Ed 00:25:56 And we're in the truth. We're in the truth tree.

Greg 00:25:58 I'm saying that now I got I got some I got took a few days vacation here, so I haven't shaved my goatee needs a trim, and I haven't shaved in a couple of days. You know what? I'm not gonna do it. I'm just gonna keep keep riding until I have to go back to work.

Ed 00:26:10 That's great.

Greg 00:26:11 Anyway, that was just a quick list that Ed and I came up with. These sorts of small wins. The little bright spots, the the the the, the minor little facets.

Greg 00:26:21 Guilty pleasures of life as an expat in Thailand that give you a little boost and that sometimes we all need to focus on. So fun list. Good conversation.

Ed 00:26:28 So as we mentioned at the beginning of the show, we'd like to say thank you to Christine for lending us her support at the show shadow level. Greg, what did you find out about Christine?

Greg 00:26:38 Well, we got a very lovely letter from Christine. She found our show, and she says she has listened to a lot of it because her and her husband loved coming to Thailand and check this out. And she is from Luxembourg, which is wild. Yeah. It's we don't don't know a lot of people from Luxembourg, although I do have to say that I did have an ex-girlfriend from Luxembourg, and that was a very.

Ed 00:26:58 Hot she was smoking.

Greg 00:26:59 A very important relationship in my early Bangkok days. So I have fond impressions in my mind of Luxembourgian people. So,

Ed 00:27:08 Now I wonder what. I wonder what Thai people say when she said she's from Luxembourg.

Greg 00:27:13 I don't know, do you think most Thai. Do you think a lot of Thai people know where Luxembourg is?

Ed 00:27:17 That's what I'm saying. I that's a good question. I don't know what reaction you get.

Greg 00:27:21 I remember when I was in grade seven or each each class had its own country as its house. So you had like Denmark and, you know, Austria. And my class was Liechtenstein. We were like, oh really? What the hell?

Ed 00:27:35 Anyway, so are you a world expert on Liechtenstein now?

Greg 00:27:38 Apparently, yeah. Yeah. But, it's great to hear from Christine. And then I said, I said, I said, well, tell us a little bit about yourself. And then she made me laugh. She said, there's not a lot of gossip material. I'm from Luxembourg. I love traveling, especially to Thailand. I over plan trips and then still end up doing random things. I'm a huge proponent of that. I think it's the best way to to to experience Bangkok, do random things and get lost.

Ed 00:27:58 Sure.

Greg 00:27:59 and she also said, I work in insurance, so I'm probably not helping the gossip expectations very much lol. I guess insurance people are not known for their cutting edge daredevil lifestyles, but she did say something funny though. She said one random thing every single time I leave a 7-Eleven or a restaurant in Thailand or just want to say goodbye to someone, I say lock on. I pronounce it more like lock on ka. So she says, people always look at me in a very, very strange way and then boom, they always start laughing and saying it back. But it means goodbye, doesn't it? Now, editor, do you know this word? Have you used this word before?

Ed 00:28:31 I know the word.

Ed 00:28:33 But I.

Ed 00:28:34 Feel that.

Ed 00:28:34 It's.

Ed 00:28:34 Just not that common. What do you think?

Greg 00:28:36 No it's not. And it's funny because, like my first year in Thailand, my friend came to visit me, and he was he was like, I going to try and learn Thai.

Greg 00:28:45 The easiest way to learn Thai is like to start saying it whenever you can. And we left a store and he said, lock on. And they laughed and looked at him and was like, okay, lock on.

Ed 00:28:55 So yeah.

Greg 00:28:56 I asked my wife actually, and she said like, it's it's not like buy it. It's more like the context means like farewell. And what I imagined was like a woman standing on a dock, waving a white handkerchief at her husband on a ship who's leaving? Right? Like it's. That's right. It's sort of a more like, long.

Ed 00:29:18 Term, like.

Ed 00:29:19 Farewell. That's a good translation.

Greg 00:29:21 Yeah. Fare thee well or have a great trip or something like that. So it's not. It's not a casual goodbye. So that might be why they're laughing.

Ed 00:29:30 It's not it's not common.

Greg 00:29:32 That's right. So, Christine, when you and your husband are here and we go out for our inevitable beer, I'll bring a white handkerchief to our meeting. And, when you leave a 7-Eleven, you can be, like, lock on car and then wave the handkerchief, and it'll be real nice.

Ed 00:29:44 That's great.

Greg 00:29:45 But thank you, Christine. Very thankful for your support and hope to see you when you're in town next.

Ed 00:29:49 For sure.

Ed 00:29:50 Thank you. Christine. Alrighty, a final thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get a ton of cool perks and the warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping and are never ending. Quest for cool content. Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online. We're Bangkok podcast on social media Bangkok podcast. Com on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at AL.com. We love hearing from our listeners and always reply to our messages. Unless of course, you're a PR agent who pitches clients who have no connection to Bangkok.

Greg 00:30:26 That's right, and you can listen to each episode on YouTube. Send us a voicemail through our website. We'll feature that on the show. Hit me up on blue Sky at Greg. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we'll see you back here next week, no doubt.