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An expat slapped by a monk on a train in Thailand wants to put the incident behind him, saying he is 'sabai' (fine) about it, after video of the bizarre assault went viral.

The video shows the English teacher being struck across the face by the Buddhist monk after an apparent misunderstanding over seats.

The man, wearing a pink shirt and three quarter-length shorts, appears to speak with an Australian accent, claiming he was hit 'three times' by the monk.

Thai monk SLAPS English-speaking man on a train 'three times'

A man known as 'Jeff' is slapped across the face by a Buddhist monk on a train in Thailand

A police officer soon arrived and removed the monk from the carriage to end the incident, which took place on December 7 on a train travelling from Bangkok to Phitsanulok, according to the Bangkok Post.

'Jeff', as he was later named in a video statement posted to Facebook by his neighbour Noojeab Kuntao, said he was 'sabai, sabai' meaning he was fine.

'To me sabai, sabi,' he says. 'Thailand is Thailand, I love living in Thailand.'

Smartphone video footage shows 'Jeff' claiming to have been hit 'three times' as a police office arrives

'I love Thailand very much. Many people supported me over the Internet. I appreciate it. Everything is OK," said Jeff, who was described as a tourist in local reports.

It later emerged that Jeff was attempting to solve a delicate situation on the train by offering his double seat to two women and sitting next to the monk himself. 

The angry monk stares at the man, who lives in Thailand, before the monk is taken away by police

The Facebook user who posted the video on the internet, Pui Pupriew, wrote that after the monk took exception to his sitting down, Jeff said 'Fine, fine' in a bid to diffuse the situation.

However, it seems the monk misinterpreted the words as 'kwai, kwai', a deeply offensive term in Thai slang meaning buffalo.

'I gave the seats to the ladies, I sat next to the Thai monk, he wasn't happy and I got slapped,' Jeff says in his explanation. 'Sabai, sabai, enough.'