[arrismVam]

I'm a bit confused about Thai customs. Today we had three Thai friends over for lunch here in the US. They own and run a Thai restaurant in town. This was not the first time they've been over here. While they are in their 30s, my wife and I are much older, their parents age. They came around noon and brought delicious Masaman curry, kao niow mamuang, and a beautifully carved watermelon with flowers and birds. Nuch had been practicing for a rehearsal wedding dinner at the restaurant this week.

Lunch was delicious and we had good conversation afterwards for quite some time. In the past we had watched a Thai movie together, one time we did karaoke and another time we played WII and they stayed a long time afterwards. This time since we are getting ready to move, everything was packed. After about four hours we were getting really tired and they also were yawning. We were hoping they would say it was time to leave but they didn't. Here in the US it is very impolite for a host to end a visit. Since I am much older and also in a wheelchair, I did decide to take initiative and said I needed to rest. They got up immediately and started to take care of the leftovers and the dishes. They then went outside with my wife to look at the garden. She gave them a whole bunch of our mint plants which they were not too shy to ask for. I guess this was because we had given them some of our leftover furniture before and promised them some more as soon as we leave.

We did have a good time and the food was delicious as usual. They are good friends and we will miss them. In retrospect we should have brought up the topic of how to end a visit in Thailand but didn't.

Would appreciate your input. What are good manners and what are bad manners in Thailand. I guess it also depends on how well people know each other and whether they share the same culture or not.