I want to tell you about a custom that I never read about in any of the Thai travel books or Internet sites. I read that you should never touch anyone on their head and you should not let your feet point at people. However, I was not prepared for the custom of not having a serving spoon for the food. They do offer a serving spoon for the dishes having a broth or sauce and are served in a bowl (rather than on a serving plate). In Thailand, you eat with a spoon and a fork. You don’t need a knife because everything is already cut up, except when you order a whole fish. You shovel the food in your mouth with a spoon and use the fork in the other hand to help push the food onto the spoon. You use this same spoon and fork to help yourself to the food from a serving plate. I discovered this fact shortly after we arrived in Thailand and we got together with a bunch of Lucia's classmates from Chiang Mia Univerisity for dinner. There was lots of food that seemed to keep coming. But there were no serving spoons. I observed that everyone at the table simple served themselves using the spoons and forks they ate with. Americans would view this as disgusting and unsanitary. Not sure what do do at this point, I pondered the dilemma for a few seconds. It dawned on me that there are around 60 million Thais who do this all the time and no one ever died from it (as far as I know). So I just sucked it up, dove in with my own fork and spoon, and started serving myself. It felt uncomfortable the first couple of times but after that, I had no qualms about it. When in Rome, do as the Romans do is my motto (unless, of course, the Romans are killing the Christians). Now that I am back in the US, just watch out if we eat Thai or Chinese food together in a restaurant. I might be tempted to serve myself the Thai way.
Another quaint custom in Thailand is the habit of wiping off your plate and eating utensils with a tissue after you sit down at the table. At first, I really didn’t want to do it because everything looked clean to me. Besides, if we were in the US, I had images of a waiter or waitress rushing over to inquire if there was a problem with the dishes or silverware not being clean. However, in Thailand, wiping everything off is customary. Actually, it is not just customary; rather it is obligatory. After a while, I just accepted the fact that when you sat down at the table, the person closest to the napkins starts handing out one to each person so they can wipe off their plates and utensils. If there are just a few people, that person wipes the plates for everyone. I had read that they don’t have napkins in restaurants. My travel guide said that instead of napkins, there is a roll of toilet paper that is used instead of napkins. I saw toilet paper used in a restaurant only once. Now they have folded napkins but they are not like standard napkins that we use in the US. Instead, they are made out of the same kind of paper they use for toilet paper in Thailand and they are the same size as a single sheet of toilet paper but they are folded in half. Frequently the napkins are made of colored paper. The Thai napkins really don’t work very well in comparison to the napkins found in the US. It’s like toilet paper; you need a bunch of sheets to do the job. (Lucia read this and made the comment that if we Americans didn't have such big asses, we could get by with just a single sheet!! (I think she is pulling my leg). After we got back we ate at Noodle World. I handed Lucia a napkin to wipe off her plate and utensils like they do in Thailand and she immediately looked around as if she was embarrassed and wanted to find out what everyone would think about it. Me, I just went ahead and wiped off everything like they do in Thailand.