Thai

Jack lands at Suvarnabhumi and his friend Tee is waiting with his sister Nam: hello, how are you, fine, thank you, this is my sister, my name is Jack, nice to meet you, let's go.

The taxi from Suvarnabhumi to Bang Rak: where to, Charoen Krung Road, is it far, not far, is Bangkok hot, sorry, I don't understand, speak slowly please, never mind, here, thank you very much.

Near midnight at the noodle stall: Mum, this is Jack, welcome, I'm Aunt Oy, hello Aunt Oy, hungry?, hungry, not hungry, eat first, noodles, delicious, eat a lot.

Tee shows Jack up to his room: your room is upstairs, here's the key, where's the bathroom, downstairs, over there, the fan is here, hot?, a little, good night.

The pier at first light: Dad, this is Jack, hello Uncle Chai, this is the pier, this is my father's boat, very old, old but beautiful, is your room good, very good.

Nam brings Jack in to Grandma: hello Grandma, where are you from, I'm from America, from Seattle, far, very far, Grandma is from Khon Kaen, Isan, far too, sit, sit.

Aunt Oy sends noodles down to the boatmen: how many people, one to six, six people, six bowls, spicy, four spicy and two not, Uncle Chai not spicy, ten minutes, thank you.

The house in the evening: do you have brothers or sisters, I have one older sister, is she in Seattle, I have one older brother, one younger sister, a younger brother?, no, a dog?, no dog, a boat.

The boat shed with Uncle Chai: what's this, a saw, and that, a hammer, nails, what wood is this, teak, old teak, good wood, Thai boats are teak, beautiful, work!

Jack up early: wait, the monks are coming, every day?, every morning; Nui at the mouth of the soi: where are you going, to the pier, work today, and tomorrow, tomorrow the river with Tee, good, every day work.

Tee takes Jack up the river on the orange-flag express boat from Saphan Taksin: where to, Tha Chang, sixteen baht, pier nine, twelve piers, twenty minutes, and the numbers from eleven to twenty.

Jack buys fruit from the cart on Charoen Krung: mango forty baht a kilo, pineapple thirty, a kilo and one pineapple, seventy in all, a hundred-baht note and the change, with the tens up to a hundred.

Aunt Oy lets Jack serve a customer at the stall: pork noodles, one bowl; soup or dry; spicy or not spicy; a glass of cold water; please sit; and Aunt Oy's well done.

Nam takes Jack on the Skytrain from Saphan Taksin to Siam: which line, the Silom line, forty-four baht, which station is this, the recorded voice naming the next one, our station, get off.

Jack asks a passer-by in Yaowarat for Ratchawong pier: excuse me, where is it, straight on, then turn left, near, five minutes, over there, thank you very much, never mind.

Uncle Chai sets the day on the pier: the boat leaves at seven tomorrow morning, up at six, what time is it now, five in the evening, lunch at noon, back at two in the afternoon.

Nam and Jack at a cafe near her studio in Ari: what would you like, an iced coffee please, sweet or not, the same for me, hot or iced, water too please, eighty baht.

Jack at the pharmacy on Charoen Krung: what's wrong, a headache, fever, no fever, a little tired, here is the medicine, how do I take it, after food twice a day, sixty baht.

Tee and Jack at the pier: what day is it today, Thursday, tomorrow Friday, Saturday Chatuchak, a big market, Sunday lunch at Grandma's, every Sunday, the whole family, Monday work.

Paint for the boat at the hardware shop on Charoen Krung with Tee: what would you like, paint, this tin, three hundred and fifty a tin, two tins, seven hundred, a kilo of nails too, eight hundred and fifty in all, a thousand-baht note, the change.

Uncle Chai holds up a plank of the old boat: can you fix it?

A shirt at a Chatuchak stall: how much, two hundred and fifty, too expensive, a little cheaper, one eighty, done, two shirts, cheap: softening a request with a little after the verb, and too after the adjective.

Uncle Chai takes Jack across the river in the family's long-tail boat: where do you want to go, Wat Arun, the river is so big, look, want to go up, water: want to, the word in front of the verb.

Nui on his motorbike at the mouth of the soi: eaten yet?

Saturday in Grandma's kitchen: papaya salad, like it?

The whole family at Grandma's table on Sunday: eat!, everything's delicious, have more, a little more, Jack eats spicy, full?

After Sunday lunch, Grandma asks Jack's age: thirty-two, the same as Tee; Grandma is eighty-four, Uncle Chai sixty-two, Nam twenty-nine; who is the older one and who the younger: how old you are, and why Thais ask.

In the boat shed, Nam repaints the old boat's name: what colour?

Tee at the pier: when do you fly back to Seattle?

The family table on the last evening of the month: the boat needs three more months; stay on, can you?