Bpai Tiao

Thai people love to bpai tiao.  I love to bpai tiao.  I've loved bpai tiao-ing even before I knew what it was.  A couple weekends ago I took a bpai tiao to Bangkok and finally saw some of the amazing sights and temples frequented by tourists.  Last weekend I bpai tiao-ed with a lot of the people from my office to Nong Khai, a province just northeast of me bordering Laos, to see an exhibit about the new/improved train system proposed for Thailand within the next 7 years - or starting in 7 years...I couldn't read anything but everything said 2020, so something is happening in 7 years. And then we bpai tiao-ed.

Are you frustrated yet because you don't know what bpai tiao means? Or did you figure it out relatively easy from context clues? If you did, well then good for you, because it took me a while to figure out what it meant.  In our language classes in PST we were immersed into Thai language for 4 hours every morning.  We weren't allowed to speak English during class, and we used what we were learning to converse back and forth with the few people in our class and our ajaan (teacher).  Our ajaans used a variety of props, pictures, and stick figures to illustrate and act out what we were learning to help us expand our understanding of Thai language. I was beyond frustrated a lot of days, because I didn't know Thai, and I just wanted to learn what each word was in English - and of course the ajaans wouldn't tell me, because they weren't supposed to because I'd learn faster if I stopped asking and just accepted things in Thai.  This made me all the more frustrated and continued to prompt the question of, 'but what does this meeeaaann?'.  I remember the day we learned 'bpai tiao' because I remember being frustrated because I couldn't figure out the exact meaning of it - the clues of my ajaan told me that it wasn't really a vacation, but that's what I wanted it to be (also, looking back now I'm not sure why I was so perplexed by this, but it just didn't work in my brain).  I've since learned, from Thai people, that bpai tiao can be a verb or a noun - bpai tiao can be anything it wants to be, really.  When I'm invited along or taken somewhere that I'm not sure of the destination, and I ask where we're going, a lot of times the answer is just 'bpai tiao'.  I was having a conversation with one of the staff members at the local health station about her family's recent trip to the beach down south.  When I asked her what they did, she answered with 'bpai tiao' in a way that suggested I had asked a rhetorical question with an obvious answer, because what else would you do on a bpai tiao other than bpai tiao?

I associate Thai bpai tiaos with fun, snacks, lots of pictures and a perpetual state of confusion.  To bpai tiao means to go somewhere, take some pictures, eat some food, buy some things, and nap on the bus while listening to obnoxiously loud music. It could be a trip to the next town over for a special meal (yes, pictures are still necessary and they will be taken) or a vacation to the beach for a week. Bpai tiaos are one of my favorite things about Thailand and Thai people, mostly because I love how much they love them and how many hundreds of pictures they take of everything and everyone.

Bpai Tiao Essentials:

• Pictures (probably the most important part of any bpai tiao. Sometimes its the only thing that really happens on a bpai tiao)
• Food (snacks are always necessary)
• Obnoxiously loud music (whether it's karaoke or outdated music videos, it's always at an uncomfortably high volume and always, always playing - even through microphone announcements and especially when you're trying to nap)
• Tacky Thai tour bus (so many colors and full of speakers)
• Shopping (it's necessary to buy treats and/or tacky souvenirs to give people upon your return)

Pictures from the above mentioned recent bpai tiaos:

Bangkok river taxi: cheapest and fastest way through the city

Wat Arun: Temple of the Dawn 

Scarily steep and narrow steps to the top

View from the top of Wat Arun 

Wat Po and the Reclining Buddha 

In and around Wat Pho 

Did you know that the real name for Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit?  Thai people refer to it as 'Krung Thep' (not Bangkok) which roughly translates to the city of angels. 

Bpai Tiao Nong Khai:

Nong Khai: waiting to get in to the train exhibit 

On the beach...the digital one.

"It's not a train, it's the future" 

Waiting in the 'shade' 

After lunch by the Mekong River 

And shopping of course 

It's mid-October, which means schools are out for break, and it's time for more bpai tiaos!  I'll be heading to northern Thailand next week for a couple days before taking a 2 day boat trip into Loas and spending a week and a half bpai tiao-ing around Laos.  I'm looking forward to all of the bpai tiaoing I'll be doing in the next few weeks!

Thai talk

I've never been much for small talk.  I'm not good at it, it's usually not interesting and I just find it full of silly, obvious statements that would be better left unsaid (I'm also just not good with words in general, but that's something for another time).  Of course I've always participated in it with everyone, because that's what you're supposed to do, and it'd be weird if I didn't.  The thing about small talk in Thailand is that there's always three or four questions I know I'm going to be asked by almost everyone I encounter during the day.

Bpai nai - or in Issan dialect: bpai sai or bpai iiyang (where are you going)?  Most of the time I get this question when I'm riding my bike somewhere, so I've perfected my short responses that usually indicate I'm going to a school, the market, home, or just riding for fun/exercise. Once I arrive somewhere it leads to the obvious following question...

Bpai nai maa (where are you coming from)? This can sometimes spur questions about what I did at this place I'm coming from, but instead is usually just followed with another one of the standard questions...

Gin laao ru yang (did you eat already)? Regardless of the answer, I'm usually offered fruit, kanomes, or full meals and everyone insists I eat more.  Or if I did eat already, they'll follow up with the other question...

Gin cow gap arai (what did you eat with your rice)?  It's not a meal unless it's rice, so if you've just eaten a meal then you've eaten something with rice and they want to know what that something was.  In the past month I've stopped eating rice for breakfast and have replaced it with yogurt and oatmeal, so my answer becomes much more confusing to most people and I'm pretty sure they're concerned that I'm not getting sufficient nutrients for my first meal of the day because I'm not eating rice.  

If I said I didn't get a little annoyed sometimes answering these questions over and over and over again every single day, I would be lying.  But instead I've realized that this is part of my life here - like talking about the weather in America - not something that's intellectually stimulating or something I necessarily enjoy, but something that can help cultivate growing relationships and can lead to discussions about things other than what I've already eaten each day.  So if I come back to America and ask you what you ate for breakfast/lunch/dinner, indulge me...then we can move on to the weather.