Abrupt Good Byes

Following a Reminisce article on salutations. I want to mention that in Cambodia, people have a strange habit of giving abrupt good byes. “Leaving so soon?~” crosses my mind when people seem to be getting to know me, but it’s a friendly, abrupt good bye. In the middle of a conversation that seems like a Cambodian and I are having a neater sort of talk, she’ll out of no where say “leah hai”/goodbye. So it felt weird, but must be acceptable, if I did it to Cambodians, although I don’t like the idea. It is very similar in phone etiquette… where they will ask about your day, so on and suddenly say “ban hai” (that’s enough) and end the call.

When I went to a reunion to see my host family again, upon waiting for my taxi, my host mother suddenly told me she needed to buy fish and left me.

However… when it comes to seeing you off at the airport, that’s not so abrut. They’re willing to take the long journey to see you off… and then they’ll show how much they miss you, the very last minute it seems.