So, what is your favorite part of Thailand???

This was the question posed to me by our driver the other day after having been in the country a whole week. Now, my first response I seriously had to filter (thank God my filter was working that day!) because I really just wanted to tell him that I pretty much hated everything. Instead of spilling the beans on that little secret I politely said "oh, the mountains are beautiful so I really like those." This response seemed to make him happy and so the subject was dropped... Thankfully! Because seriously, I'm not sure just how much my poor little "brain to  mouth filter" can take seeing as how I just now learned how to use it at the ripe old age of 30.5.

So, I guess the reason why I am writing this post is to illustrate that there is a stark difference between the Thai people and we Americans. After giving him my filtered answer, the question has haunted me since. I realize that "haunted" is probably too strong a word, but oh well. I was haunted. Anywho, I guess what really bothered me about the question was that if I had told him the truth, that I was truly not happy here, he would have gone out of his way to make me feel at home and tried to show me the beauty of Thailand. Such is the Thai way. They are super friendly people.

Now, had a Thai come to the U.S. and had an American asked said Thai the same question and had gotten the unfiltered response of "nothing, I hate it here", the Americans response would have been quite different.  The American would have surely looked at the poor honest Thai and said "Well, F-U, A-hole. America is great! Go back to where you came from if you don't like it here. And by the way, speak English!". Now come on. You know what I say is true. In fact, I do believe I have heard and seen these exact words said and written before in response to someone saying something negative about being in the U.S or how we Americans should be more tolerant of non English speakers. Americans in general seem much for confrontational and direct then the Thai people. I find this both refreashing and alarming. More so alarming. I guess I have been conditioned to seeing direct-ness as being more honest. I like honest.

So with all of that being said, I now have a mission. I truly want to find that one special thing that I love about living in Thailand. My dear, dear, wonderful and sweet hubby, says that once we move into our new place that things will be more "normal" and that we will soon like living here. Me? I'm not so sure. I'm hopeful however that what he says is in fact true. The mountains really are beautiful by the way.

Well, the hubby is off today so we will be leaving here very soon to start our day. We have a lot of stuff to do before moving day. So, until next time, I hope all is well!
Kristen