Strings on the Wrist

[Sarisin]

I'm sure this topic has come up before on this board. Also, I made a trip a number of years back to Sisaket with my GF at the time and I received a number of strings tied to my write.

 

 

 

Some even had betelnut juice on them compliments of my GF's elderly relatives.

 

 

 

But, I have noticed something with the strings in the gogo bars that is new to me.

 

 

 

Some of my bargirl friends have started placing multi-colored neon strings (some with beads) on my wrist. They are not white or the tie variety like you most often see as I mentioned above.

 

 

 

So far, I have four of the things on my right wrist (they would not put them on the left wrist - of course I was wearing a watch too).

 

 

 

Last night in DC-10 a problem arose when one bargirl who gave me one noted now there were three more new ones there. And, boy, did she lay into me about being a butterfly. For wrist strings.

 

 

 

So, how about it fellas. Have any of you had these strings put on your wrists by bargirls lately?

 

 

 

The other thing is, I don't dare take/cut them off, or Lord knows what will happen next time I enter the bar and run into the BG who put it on my wrist. It could get ridiculous with me having my hand weighted down with neon strings.

 

 

 

Oh well, at least I will glow-in-the-dark real purty.

[Guest]

HI Sarisan , I was the 1 that posted a thread the same a few months ago . Called" Little strings tied on wrists" I think it was if you want to search.

 

 

 

I still have 5 on my wrist from when I was sort of married in Issaan a while ago , some of em are tough to come off!!

 

 

 

The responses I got were that it could be a marriage type thing , or a friendship type thing , the neon thing sounds like a new adaptation . I also got some at Wat Po , yellow ones with knots in them .

 

 

 

I think they are just "remember me" , I like / love you type things , I like them & it allways makes me think of LOS whenever one comes loose , I have 5 around my wrist , though they are the same colour as my skin now , & a yellow one around my ankle .

 

 

 

The other post got quite a few responses from memory & should still me on file .

 

 

 

Take care .

[sayjann]

i hope i am talking about the same thing,i hope any experienced person can help or put me right.

 

i also have many of these 'strings' on my wrist after the girls giving them to me and i think they are about buddism and part of the country they come from.

 

i think each amphong(state,county) has it's own colours regarding the temple.

 

i find that the girls look at the 'strings' and say to me "you have been with lady from bangkok" or udon thani,nong khai etc.

 

i was once on a bus from nong khai to bangkok when as we passed through khon kaen and a complete stranger gave me her wrist band "for good luck".

[Guest]

Yep , your in the club mate!!!

[Guest]

The white ones are usually from a village ceremony. they range anywhere in meaning from "welcome to our village and we hope you come back real soon" to "We are glad you are married into to village and good luck" You'll know the nature of them by the context in which they were presented.

 

 

 

The string usually comes from a major ceremony in a Budhist temple where rolls of string are part of a ceremony and handed out after it has been blessed. I recieved a roll of string along with some tiny bags of blessed rice, blessed earth and blessed seeds at a good luck ceremony attended by over 1,000 people paying 300 Baht to squat in the hot sun for two hours and recieve a good luck blessing for the year. So, I guess I can tie some string on somebodies wrist and mumble a wish, if I get the urge to.

 

 

 

The presenter mumbles something as they are being put on and that is the wish that person has for you. The wishes range anywhere from "Welcome to our village and hope you come back soon" to "I hope you come back with many friends to marry many of the girls in the village so the village, and of course myself, will be wealthy forever".

 

 

 

As I was getting ready to drive 450 kilometers back to Bangkok a couple weeks ago I had a big argument with my wife about, Surprise, money. My mother-in-law who, believe it or not, is usually more on my side than my wifes, tied a white one around my wrist so I would calm down and not drive my car off the road on the way home to Bangkok. Worked fine three weeks ago and I'm still wearing mine (you can never be too careful about this luck stuff)

 

 

 

The colored versions are more informal and have less meaning. They are sold or given out at temples and pop right onto the wrist. some of the girls attend a blessing ceremony at a temple and get several for people they have submitted wishes for and then give them to the wisher.

 

 

 

However, I have noted recently that some of the bar girls are giving the colored wrist bands to customers they only casually know which is sort of a relaxation of the custom, but I guess it acts as a sort of brand if all of the girls start doing this. Good idea if you think about it. Good for the girls that is.

 

 

 

Well, the good news is that it is OK to take the wristbands off after three days and nobody will think the worse of you for it....wearing the string longer is not a sign of greater commitment or anything any more than wearing a wedding dress every day after a wedding is a sign of greater commitment.

 

 

 

The bad news is that it is bad luck to take them off before the three days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Falang]

I have 2 of those strings on my wrist, a white one and a white yellow and blue one. They were tied on my wrist by the head monk at a wat in Patong Beach because I was at the 2 ceremonys for the change of season. The monk tied the string on my wrist and bless me by sprinkling holly water on me.

 

Anyones who know the name in Thai of those strings, I don't remember.

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Strings are called in Thai, Dtai? And in Khmer, Mha!

[rovineye]

Last month my GF in Chiang Mai moved into her newly constructed house. A procession arrived before moving in. The monks tied a long thick string around the house and then around the fence for good luck blessing. It took quite a while as the house is 2 storied and 5 bedrooms. A sooth sayer had to tell her fortune to find out what day she should move into the house. It is now mounted above the alter at the top of her stairs.

 

A month later and the string is still there. She will not remove it but it will eventually rot away.

[Sarisin]

Thanks Top Cat for your explanation. zoot, I think your thread referred more to the white strings like I described in the beginning of my post.

 

 

 

As TC mentioned, this is a relatively new thing in the bars lately with the 'pop-on' wrist strings rather than the tie on versions we have been most familiar with.

 

 

 

The four I have received have all been from bargirls I have known a long time. They did not just throw them on my wrist like a toy. Two of them took one of the strings off their wrists before giving it to me. A couple seemed to be muttering a prayer as they put it on.

 

 

 

Anyway, I will keep them on unless they start causing problems with other girls. These certainly are more durable and look better than the white tie-on variety.

 

 

 

The funny thing about this is that most here know me for my handing out of candy, toys, jewelry, and small trinkets to the girls in the bars. Now, they have been giving me something. I kinda like it really.

[Guest]

In reply to:

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Sarisin schriebt:

 

The funny thing about this is that most here know me for my handing out of candy, toys, jewelry, and small trinkets to the girls in the bars. Now, they have been giving me something. I kinda like it really.

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Hey Sars, you'd better double check those strings you've been getting. I suspect they might be dipped in fake poop or fake vomit--or worse!