Envoy Davies has adopted an American-style wai

Vint Chavala criticises US ambassador Glyn Davies for performing a wai with his chin up. “Thais never wai anyone while holding their chins high,” Vint says.

In case Vint hasn’t noticed, Davies is not Thai. He’s an American, and his wai is an American wai. As the American ambassador to Thailand, Davies tries to synthesise in his own deportment the best of both cultures. This is the Middle Way, with which Khun Vint must certainly be familiar. The American wai, with palms pressed together but chin held high, is a hybrid gesture that conveys a dual message perfectly suited to an American ambassador to Thailand: respect without servility. It says, “I respect you, but I am maintaining my own integrity and do not wish to appear to grovel.” 

Yankee Doodle