Foreigners sit down at Thai funeral thinking it's a street food place. Family of deceased responds

Foreign tourists in southern Thailand, who were looking for a place to sit and have some refreshment, walked into a tented area near a night market where a funeral was being held, thinking that it was an eatery.

After being told that it was not an eating place, they appeared shocked and apologised, before politely asking if they could stay, Thai news site Thairath Online reported. 

The hosts agreed and went on to offer them food and drinks, including Thai iced tea and traditional pastries.

A video of this incident, which happened in the Khanom district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, has been making the rounds online.

It was first posted on Facebook on Jan 31 by Mr Charantorn Chareomkiad, a family member of the deceased.

In the clip, two Caucasian men are seen seated at a table prepared for funeral guests, while a Thai woman serves them drinking water.

Mr Charantorn, who filmed the scene, can be heard joking in the background: “Hey, let’s ask them. Are they thinking that this is a buffet?”

He then laughs and allows his family members to continue serving food to the unsuspecting tourists.

Families of the deceased serving food and drinks to mourners and those attending a funeral is a customary practice in Thailand.

It is meant to be a gesture of appreciation to guests, and a way of making merit on behalf of the deceased, Thai news site Thaiger reported.

A similar misunderstanding happened the next day, when three siblings from the Netherlands entered the same funeral venue and asked to order drinks and frozen cocktails, Thairath Online reported. They had mistaken it for an eating place since there were people seated at tables there. 

They were stunned when told it was a funeral venue, but the hosts once again welcomed them and gave them five plates and bowls of food, including curry.

In the second video on Facebook that Mr Charantorn posted on Monday (Feb 2), the caption read: "Foreigners come again, haha. This is a funeral! They asked us whether it was a restaurant or not. Anyway, we served them food. They were surprised and happy."

Online users who saw the videos found them amusing and said that it was a reflection of Thai hospitality and community spirit, with one remark that read: "Dare to sit, dare to serve."

One Facebook user asked: "Did you have a menu for them?"

Another said: "Yellow curry from Nakhon is delicious. Can foreigners eat it? It's so spicy."

One comment went: "After eating, bag the curry from the event to take home. According to the tradition. Haha."

Some people said that such behaviour by foreigners should not be encouraged, while others defended the hosts, saying that the gesture was consistent with their cultural values of compassion and generosity.

"Thai people are kind," were several of the comments left on the video posts.