We already mentioned the ‘wai’ as a sign of respect while giving alms or food to the monks.

In Belgium, as in most of the western countries, we are used to shake hands. Not so in Thailand. Only with high ranking people who were used to live and work abroad or with foreigners can one shake hands in Thailand.

Thais greet each other by making a ‘wai’. The palms are joined together as in a prayer, and raised at breast, chin or front level.

The wai is rather complicated indeed, and varies according to the social status and the age of the person greeting and the person greeted.

‘All pigs are created equal, but some are more equal than others’, George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm. This may be true, and very much so in Thailand. Everybody has a distinct social status in this society. Equality is non-existent. Even identical twins are not equal – there is an elder brother or sister, and a younger one, even if the difference is a couple of minutes! The elder is called ‘phi sao’ (older brother or sister), while the younger is called ‘nong sao’ (younger brother/sister).

What has this to do with greeting somebody? In Thailand, everything! In Europe it is of no importance who tends his hand to the other, or at what level hands are shaken. In Thailand, the lower ranking person must greet the higher ranked. He (she) is the one who starts the greeting ceremony and makes a respectful ‘wai’ by joining the palms, bringing them to the required level and lowering the head. For a commoner the wai should be at breast level, for a high ranking person at chin level, for a monk at front level, and only for the king above the head. The older or socially more important person answers the greeting by making the same wai sign, but on a somewhat lower level.

The king doesn’t ‘wai’. Neither do monks. Sometimes, they give a modest nod while being greeted. Apart from them, everybody ‘wais’ everybody in Thailand, and always according to the social status of both persons. A teacher is ‘wai-ed’ by his pupils or students, but on his turn ‘wais’ the school director or rector. A lower ranking civil servant makes the ‘wai’ to the higher ranking official. Children ‘wai’ their parents. Never the other way around, which is considered as an insult!

In a restaurant or a supermarket you can expect to receive a thankful ‘wai’ after paying or while leaving. Don’t ‘wai’ in return. A smile and a word of thanks and goodbye will be highly appreciated, and are sufficient.