I rarely have tried a Thai wai and cringe when I see other foriegners giving a wai to every Thai they greet. I have noticed that Thais do not wai foriegners as often as in past years in the places that I visit.

I did travel to Japan on a business trip and there were so many Japanese bowing so often that it became an almost involuntary action to bow back. Hopefully they appreciated that I was ignorant in the correct bowing technique and were used to it after dealing with other foreigners. I can remember that after returning to Australia from Japan for the first couple of days that I was still ocassionally bowing to people upon greeting which probably looked a bit silly but my brain and body had become conditioned to do so after three weeks in Japan.

For the last two and half years I have been travelling between Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, China and return to Australia every four months. I can adjust between the habits and cultural differences between the Asian countries within a day or so although China took a bit longer the first time. After many trips to Asia the biggest culture shock is when I return to Australia.