Same same… but different!

Same same, but different. We had seen people walking around with t-shirts saying “same same” in the front and “but different” in the back at Bangkok and we seriously had been wondering what it was, and it took us quite some time to find out, but now that we know, we completely, absolutely agree to it: it is very funny! :-)

As an example of “same same but different” we could talk about the foot massage we had yesterdag evening here in Chiang Mai: done by professionnaly trained people, finding every little nerve of our body by carefully scrutinizing shape and form… because they are blind! You see? Same same, but different!

Or maybe we can talk about the cultural treasures that can be visited in Thailand: the beautiful temple ruins in Ayuthaya and Sukhotai. They ressemble old Roman or Greek ruins in a way, but with beautiful colourful trees in bloom around, they could also be some mysterious retreat for the more dreamy people, imagining oneself wandering through a scenario of “Anna and the King”… Maybe we could compare the temple-town of Lopburi with its famous monkey-gang (making the streets unsafe) to the monkey-temple in Kathmandu. Could be. But cannot. Same same, but different…

Or the Thai food: in a way it ressembles a bit the Chinese food, with a lot of rice and noodles. Or maybe the Indian food with its curries. One could even think (but one has to have a lot of imagination) that it ressembles American fastfood as they prepare it so fast! Yeah, it all seems to be the same… Same same, but different! :-)

But maybe most importantly, we could talk about the Thai use of English: most people speak English, but they pronounce and formulate it in a funny way. Like for “it’s the same” they will say “same same” but when they want to say “seems similar but different in some ways” they will say “same same, but different”. :-)

You see? It’s as easy as that! Sounds like fun, isn’t it?

Thailand: Same same, but different!

Vera & Jean-Christophe

3 Comments

  1. marie-annick
    Posted January 3, 2008 at 11:01 | Permalink

    tout à fait compris. Pour nous , musiciens: les mêmes notes mais pas la même appellation: do, ré, mi,….pour nous et A, B, C….pour d’autres. Mais le son est toujours identique : same, same, but different!!!Yes. Kises.

  2. Posted January 6, 2008 at 15:46 | Permalink

    Hallo Vera en Jean-Christophe,
    Alsnog de beste wensen voor 2008. Vandaag is het Drie koningen en volgens gebruik mogen we vanaag nog nieuwjaarswensen overbrengen. En uiteraard vandaag ook de boon zoeken.
    We zijn gisteren teruggekomen ut de Dolomiten. Same Same zijn de pistes en de sneeuw….alleen een beetje anders, maar toch….
    Groet Giel en Paul

  3. Vera
    Posted January 6, 2008 at 15:54 | Permalink

    @Marie-Annick & Giel: Both your comments are excellent and made us laugh a lot! :-)