F The Thai Pumps

A petrol station in Thailand is known as a Pump. Therefore when you ask for the nearest petrol station in English to Thai people, you most likely get redirected to police station, MRT station, BTS station and whatever that has a station word in it. Shell petrol stations are known as “pump shell”, Jiffy as “pump jet”, PTT as “pump po tor tor (or something)” and so and so forth.



Petrol stations in Thailand are where you sometimes don’t find any petrol. Relying on petrol stations to pump up your flat tire can also be a frustrating experience. For some unknown reasons, 90% of the pumps I go to do not have the pump head attached. Just a hose with what looked like a severed or detached apparatus that lets air out. Could be stolen, could be run over by cars, or maybe the monkey in the jungle beside has taken it. However, if you were to drive your car up to the attendant, he will most likely have a mobile gas tank ready to pump up your tire and of course, you have to tip him after.

Sidetracking a bit to food.. Clams are known as “hoi”. Interestingly, scallops are called “hoi shell”. I guess why the Thais called scallops “hoi shell” is because the shell of the scallop looks like the logo of Shell petrol stations. The other clam species have their own version of very strange Thai callings.