Mr. Weys told me this story himself.
He managed to marry his Thai sweetheart. Not sure how, after the “beware of these dodgy foreigners” letter from her father (see blog In memory of Mr. George Weys: 08).
On their way to Japan via Taiwan for his sabbatical, they decided to stop by in Bangkok for the new son-in-law to pay his respects to her parents.
The mother received them in the front living room, but the father remained in his room at the back of the house. Eventually, Mr. Weys went to that room to present himself. The father shook his hand, which Mr. Weys took to be acceptance of him as a new member of the family.
During their stay, the mother-in-law assigned a minder to go everywhere with Mr. Weys whenever he wanted to go out and explore. This was because he couldn’t speak any Thai, didn’t know his way around and, worse, might get cheated when shopping.
Mr. Weys found this a bit too restrictive for his liking so, one day, he left the house much earlier than usual to give the minder the slip.
All day, he wandered around the streets, the markets and the little shops, making purchases here and there. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and felt very pleased about how clever he’d been.
At the end of the day, as soon as he stepped into the house upon his return, his mother-in-law asked,
“So, did that Thai silk shirt stall at the corner of xx street and yy street agree to the price you offered?”,
“Did you bargain the price of that pretty pair of sandals down to half of what they’d started with?”,
“I hope you didn’t pay the outrageous price of zz baht that the jade stallholder had asked for!”, etc.
The minder had been following at a discreet distance, noting down all his movements, and got back home before him, reporting everything to the mother-in-law!
(Bangkok, early 1950s)
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