What a great day I had in Thailand yesterday! It was the day my brother arrived at the Lampang airport to travel with us for five weeks. But what really capped off the day as a winner came about from exchanging $500 into Thai baht at a bank in Central Mall. I wrote about the perils of this activity earlier.  

I used a different approach this time. First, I selected a bank that had their tellers sitting at a desk, with chairs at the desk so the customers could also sit. I've learned this can take a while, so I wanted to be comfortable. They had two customer chairs, so I had Supattra sit down with me. In the past, I had always done this on my own. This time the teller was able to chat with Supattra in Thai, which made it a much more relaxed activity. I mostly maintained a fun playful attitude.   

I had selected five perfect C Notes and put them inside my passport before we even sat down. As we were sitting down, I placed these onto the desk in front of the teller and told her I wanted to "exchange these for Thai baht" with a big smile. She nodded and immediately went into her required routine of carefully examining the front and back of each bill. Of course I had made sure she could find no flaws, so when she finished her inspection, it was obvious we had a done deal. She then went though her required motions: making a copy of my passport, having me sign a few papers, typing details into her computer, printing the transaction voucher & finally counting out the Thai currency. Because she was making quick work of this, I didn't even look for flaws on any of the Thai currency. But I DID count the money she gave me to make sure it matched the voucher she also had given me. I think she counted the five C Notes three or four times while I did this. Finally I asked for an envelope, which she provided and I thanked her in English, as I loaded the dough into the envelope.  

Then The Best Part Ever! I spoke two Thai phrases to her with sincerity, just about the only Thai words I even know. I said "Thank you" and "Goodbye." She looked startled and pleased, nodding while saying much the same back to me and then spoke to Supattra in Thai. She was clearly very happy with how things had gone and so was I. As we made our retreat, I asked Supattra what the teller had said at the end.  

She said, "He speaks really good Thai." This made my day, a really great day for me in Thailand. I started rejoicing, with Paula laughing along with me, as we both know how very little Thai I can speak or even understand!! I had managed to use just about the only Thai language I know just at the right time.