Living to serve - that is the slogan given out by the Thai government / monarchy to the people. For ages. So it makes sense that this attitude is still present in everyday life. One of the most noticeable gestures – dating back to the old times – is the way to great other people. Instead of shaking hands, you wai!

even ronald mcdonald wais in thailand

To wai means basically to bring your flat hands together, look down a little and show respect to the person you great. In Thailand you usually wai only once a day per person. So that you do not wai all the time you see somebody. Nevertheless many people thend to look down (if the pass elder people) or to nod at each other as sign of respect.

While it might look a little strange for us Farangs at first, I really started to like this way of saying ‘hello, how are you. nice to see you’. A wai is usually accompanied by a friendly ‘sawadee khrap’. Nevertheless it is totally ok to only wai without saying something.

Even though it is usuall to only wai once a day, it’s not a problem to do it more often. So if you are in doubt whether you already greeted someone, just do it again. It won’t hurt

Whereas it is possible to show different forms of respect while wai-ing, Thais usually do not take it to serious with Farangs. So don’t be afraid of doing anything wrong, they are happy as long as you try.

Thais themselves on the other hand can show, as mentioned, different forms of respect with their way of wai-ing. Are the looking down on the ground, are the hands near the chin or only at the breast, how long, who started the wai….so you see, many ways of expressing your feelings while wai-ing. Just like a strong and confident handshake – only with less body contact

The fun thing about wai-ing and being a teacher: I am not thought to wai back to students. Since teachers see  a lot of students all day long they would wai all the time. So it is usual to simply greet students via smiling & nodding – or not at all (I don’t like this possibility!). Furthermore teachers are handled with a lot of respect over here. As soon as people know you are a teacher, they treat you different. Just to let you know! Wouldn’t be a bad thing back home either….just saying.

But back to the wai! As told you before, right now I like the wai. I think it is a nice way of showing respect – that is something our western society is sometimes missing. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. – Aretha, your turn.

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