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Samlor: Kham Mueang from a Jaran Manopetch Song
Samlor (Sam Lo, "Three Wheels") is a Kham Mueang (Northern Thai) song by Jaran Manopetch. Its title is a word every Chiang Mai local knows: samlor (สามฯลํอฯ, Kham Mueang reading sam lo). The dictionary defines it as "a three-wheeled bicycle (human-powered) for hire", a pedal taxi that you can still see in Chiang Mai today.
This article is part of the series Kham Mueang through songs and literature. The song is still under copyright, and we have not yet found its lyrics in two independent sources that we can check against each other, so we do not print any of its wording here and we do not retell the story of the song. Instead we learn from what we can verify: the words around the title, taken from the dictionary, and the life of the samlor in Chiang Mai. Then we invite you to listen to the song from the official audio.
Listen to the song first
According to the list of Jaran's works on Wikipedia, Samlor is track 8 on the album Folk Song Kham Mueang Luk Khao Nueng (1981) and track 3 on the compilation Khit Thueng Jaran… Racha Folk Song Kham Mueang ("Missing Jaran… King of Kham Mueang Folk Songs", 2001). The record database Discogs, which lists a 2018 reissue of the album Luk Khao Nueng, also has Samlor on side B and credits Jaran with the words and music of the album. The official audio on YouTube was delivered through AnyMind Music for the rights holder RMS (℗ RMS), and YouTube made it into the channel "Jaran Manopetch – Topic", dated 24 December 2020.
The audio comes from the Jaran Manopetch – Topic channel, which is built from songs submitted by the rights holder. Listen once, write down the words you hear, and then compare them with the tables in this article. Hearing real words in a melody helps you remember them far longer than reading alone.
Samlor in the dictionary: four different kinds
The Moradok Lanna dictionary does not list only the word samlor. It lists four words, which shows that people in the North knew several kinds of three-wheeler.
| Kham Mueang | Script | Reading | Dictionary meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| samlor | สามฯลํอฯ | sam lo | a three-wheeled bicycle (human-powered) for hire |
| samlor daeng | สามฯลํอฯแดงฯ | sam lo daeng | a human-powered three-wheeled bicycle with a cargo box in front of the rider, mostly red |
| samlor ong | สามฯลํอฯอ้อฯง | sam lo ong | a three-wheeled bicycle with a side car |
| samlor khueang | สามฯลํอฯเระฯคิ่อฯง | sam lo khueang | a three-wheeled motor vehicle for hire |
The most interesting word is khueang, which in Kham Mueang means "engine" (Thai khrueang). So samlor khueang is a samlor with a motor, compared with khi rot khueang, which the dictionary translates as "to ride a motorcycle". The ordinary samlor has no khueang: it runs on human legs.
As for samlor ong, the dictionary gives the whole meaning as a three-wheeled bicycle with a "side car". The word ong is not listed here as a separate entry, so we do not guess where it comes from.
Rot thip, rot song wong and waen: words for wheels
A pedal samlor is a bicycle (rot thip) built into three wheels. Here are the bicycle words in the dictionary.
| Kham Mueang | Script | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| rot | ร฿ถฯ | a vehicle with wheels for moving along |
| rot thip | ร฿ถฯถีปฯ | a two-wheeled bicycle (also called lot song wong) |
| rot song wong | ร฿ถฯสอฯงว฿งฯ | a two-wheeled bicycle (also called lot thip) |
| rot phu | ร฿ถฯพู้ | a man's two-wheeled bicycle |
| rot mae | ร฿ถฯแม่ | a woman's two-wheeled bicycle |
| waen rot thip | แห้วฯรร฿ถฯถีปฯ | a bicycle wheel |
The word wong (ว฿งฯ) is used in the dictionary for things that are rings, so rot song wong can be read as "the vehicle with two rings", meaning two wheels (that reading is our own). Rot phu is the man's bicycle and rot mae the woman's, using the pair of words phu and mae in the same way as chang phu (a tusker, male elephant) and chang mae (a female elephant).
Thip, pan, khi, nang: verbs for travellers
The dictionary has three groups of verbs for riding a bicycle.
- thip (ถีปฯ) means to kick, to drive, to dash forward, to hurry, and thip rot (ถีปฯร฿ถฯ) means to pedal a bicycle.
- khi rot thip (ขี่ร฿ถฯถีบ) means to ride a bicycle, and pan rot thip (ปั่นฯร฿ถฯถีปฯ) means to cycle. For this last word the dictionary quotes a line from Jaran's song Sao Motorcycle as its example.
- khi (ขี่) in the dictionary means to sit astride (khi ma, to ride a horse; khi chang, to ride an elephant) and also "to travel as a passenger". Nang (นั่งฯ) means to sit with the bottom resting on the floor or a seat.
So the samlor driver "thip rot" and the passenger "nang" in the vehicle, and the dictionary also writes that khi can mean travelling as a passenger, for example khi rot ma is to travel by horse carriage. Read more about the horse carriages of Lampang at Lampang, Khelang Nakhon.
Chang, mao, ka, yom ka: words for the fare
Hiring a samlor is a matter of "chang", and these are the money words that go with it.
- chang (จ้างฯ) means to have something done in return for payment in money or goods. The dictionary's meaning of samlor itself already includes "for hire".
- mao (เหัมฯา) means to count as a lump sum, everything all together. The dictionary's example is mao kosang (a building job at one fixed price), so you can settle on a single price in the same way.
- ka (ค่าฯ) is in the dictionary (Thai writes it kha) meaning price, or the worth of a person, animal or thing. When we talk about a samlor fare, it is this "ka".
- yom ka (ย่อฯมค่าฯ) means to lower the price (also lot ka), and yom (ย่อฯม), when used of prices, means lighter, lower, as in yom hue 5 bat (to take 5 baht off the price).
The money you hear at the market is the baht (บาฯทฯ), which the dictionary says is 100 satang or 4 salueng (สึๆลฯง), where a salueng is 25 satang. To practise bargaining and counting like a Northerner, read Bargaining like a Khon Mueang.
The figures the news report mentions in the next section are 30 to 50 baht and 200 to 300 baht. Type those numbers into the tool below to see how they are said in Kham Mueang.
Samlor in Chiang Mai today
Thai PBS reported on 19 February 2023 that only 28 pedal samlors were left waiting for passengers around Kad Luang (กาดฯ, Kham Mueang reading kat, a market) in the city of Chiang Mai. The drivers were about 60 to 85 years old, and some 6 to 7 years earlier there had been 60 of them. The drivers said that most of their customers were regulars and that no younger generation had come to take over the work.
The report gives two kinds of fare.
| Use | Reported price |
|---|---|
| A group of tourists riding from Kad Luang to a temple in the city | 200 to 300 baht per trip |
| A market vendor hiring a samlor to carry goods | 30 to 50 baht per trip |
These are figures from 2023, as told by the drivers, and not fixed rates. The real price depends on the distance and is agreed before you get on, as the words yom ka and mao above explain. The report also says that the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai's samlor project has supported the vehicles for about 7 to 8 years, with repairs, cleaning, new uniforms and simple language training so that the drivers can talk to tourists.
Roads in town and the routes a samlor takes
These words for roads in the dictionary are useful the moment you give directions to a samlor driver.
- soi (ซอฯยฯ) a lane, a small road
- tang sum (ทาฯงฯสุม) a place where several roads meet
- tang khwai (ทาฯงฯไข่วฯ) a crossing, a crossroads (also written tang khwai with a different spelling)
- kat the market. The dictionary has kat kom (a small market), kat nat, kat laeng and kat mua (a fresh market open all day). Read more at Going to the Market Like a Khon Mueang.
How to listen to this song
Because we have not quoted the lyrics, here is a way of listening that works for any Kham Mueang song.
- Listen once without looking at any text, and write down the words that you recognise as Kham Mueang.
- Listen a second time, paying attention to words about vehicles, people and money, and compare them with the tables in this article.
- Look up any word you do not know in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai).
If you have a reliable copy of the lyrics and would like us to add a lesson on the song's own words, let us know. We will always check them against the dictionary first.
Summary
- Samlor is a human-powered three-wheeled bicycle for hire. The dictionary lists four kinds: samlor, samlor daeng, samlor ong and samlor khueang (a motorised samlor).
- Words for wheels: rot thip, rot song wong, rot phu, rot mae, waen, and the verbs thip, pan, khi and nang.
- Words for the fare: chang, mao, ka, yom ka, baht and salueng.
- A 2023 Thai PBS report says Chiang Mai had 28 pedal samlors left, charging 30 to 50 baht (carrying goods) and 200 to 300 baht (tourists).
Look up more words about vehicles and travel in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai). Read more of Jaran's songs about city life at Sao Motorcycle and Sao Chiang Mai, or see the whole series at Kham Mueang through songs and literature (in Thai).
Sources
- Moradok Lanna dictionary (dict2), entries สามล้อ, สามล้อแดง, สามล้ออ้อง, สามล้อเคื่อง, รถถีบ, รถสองวง, รถปู๊, รถแม่, แหว้นรถถีบ, ล้อ, ถีบ, ปั่นรถถีบ, ขี่, จ้าง, เหมา, ก้า, ย่อมก้า, บาท, สะหลึง, ตางสุม, ตางไขว่, ซอย, กาด and the other words in this article. In Thai.
- วิกิพีเดีย [Wikipedia]. จรัล มโนเพ็ชร [Jaran Manopetch] (used for a first check of the album list). In Thai.
- Discogs. จรัล มโนเพ็ชร – สุนทรี เวชานนท์ – โฟล์คซองคำเมือง "ลูกข้าวนึ่ง" (2018 reissue: track list and credits).
- จรัล มโนเพ็ชร – Topic [Jaran Manopetch – Topic]. สามล้อ [Samlor]. YouTube (℗ RMS, released 24 December 2020).
- ไทยพีบีเอส [Thai PBS]. (19 February 2023). “สามล้อถีบ” ไร้คนรุ่นใหม่สืบทอด นับถอยหลังสู่ตำนาน ["Pedal samlor" with no young successors: counting down to legend]. In Thai.
- Lanner News. ก๊อนเก๊าเล่าล้านนา: เรื่องเล่าของ “ตาพัน มานพ ยาระณะ” จากชายถีบสามล้อสู่ศิลปินแห่งชาติ [Kon Kao Lao Lanna: the story of "Ta Phan Manop Yarana", from samlor rider to National Artist]. In Thai.
Practise the words from this article
Flip through 29 flashcards of the Lanna words used in this article.
