Just dance: A cheerleading flash mob performing in Bangkok.
Writing this book has involved adventures down alleyways, gallons of coffee in cafes, thousands of emails and phone calls and fascinating days spent with professors, experts, artists, musicians, writers, street vendors, waitresses, taxi drivers, businessmen and everyday Thais who make up the eclectic mix of contemporary Thai society.
This project has also, perhaps most importantly, been inspired and motivated by each and every stranger’s smile, a reminder to this English geek of why he wanted to write a book about their country and culture in the first place.
LIVING THE HOLIDAY DREAM
The story of how I came to live in Thailand is quite a common one for those who choose the ‘Land of Smiles’ as their adopted homeland. I came for a holiday, well no, actually, that’s not entirely true.... I came seeking relaxation, to de-stress at the end of a joyless English-teaching contract in Korea. Rather than return to the gray and dreary streets of my hometown of Manchester in the UK, where I would be twiddling my thumbs until my Masters course in journalism began, I went to Thailand at the suggestion of my girlfriend at the time.
I headed straight for the holiday island of Phuket. I think it was on day three, while I was sitting on the sand at Kata beach looking out at the water and the cliffs and peaks and distant green hills, that the hustle and bustle and toil and trouble of my recent time in Korea began to feel like years, not mere days, away.
I stayed in Phuket for a month, writing the odd travel article for a local newsmagazine to help subsidize my English breakfasts, bowls of chicken fried rice and bottles of Singha beer. Being a sun-starved Mancunian, I then decided to do some more beach-hopping and ended up on the more remote and less-developed (at the time) island of Samui. I stayed in the Fishmerman’s Village, a lovely little beachside town with cheap accommodation and a lively selection of bars and foreign and Thai restaurants. I spent my days jogging on the beach and learning shorthand and writing. In the evenings I worked my way through a seemingly never-ending menu of delicious spicy, sour and sweet Thai dishes to the sounds of live music.
I’ve met many interesting people in my time in Thailand. Performance artist and Thailand’s Got Talent contestant Romadon is definitely in my top three.
The time for me to return to the UK, and the responsibilities associated with it, was drawing ever closer. I decided that I should at least make an attempt at seeing another side of Thailand, something different from the idyllic paradise-like corners of the earth. I went to Bangkok, then to Chiang Mai and finally to Ayutthaya. In Bangkok I saw an urban Asian metropolis that straddled modernity and tradition and poverty and wealth like no other capital city I had ever visited. In Chiang Mai I saw a beautiful city surrounded by breathtaking countryside, with wonderful wildlife and awesome architecture, temples and ruins, and in Auutthaya I experienced a glimpse of the Thailand of the past.
I had spent three months in Thailand, a lengthy holiday by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that as soon as I had completed my Masters degree, I looked at ways of returning to Thailand is testament to the attraction of the country, to the fact that everything just seems so dull, so gray, so cold, so non-spicy and so un-Thai in comparison.
Like many expats who choose Thailand as their adopted home, I came for a holiday and stayed for the laid-back lifestyle. I came because I loved something about Thailand, something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. When I left seven years earlier, I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I was determined to find out. So I returned and began to work for the same newsmagazine I had written for during my initial visit. For my first Christmas in Thailand, I bought a Christmas tree, but when January came around I threw the little plastic thing out as I doubted I’d be there when the bells started jingling again. After three more tree-less Christmas festive periods, I admitted to myself that I should probably buy one again. I now live and work in Bangkok.
As with most other expats in Thailand, there have been times when I’ve wanted to tear my hair out with the ‘Thai’ way of doing things, but the anger and incredulity always pass and I remain, with a smile on my face and a Christmas tree and water pistol for Songkran in my cupboard.
CHAPTER 1
THAI HISTORY AND CULTURE
How did ancient Siam come to be the colorful country of contemporary Thailand? Here, we will discover some of the most famous, influential and controversial Thais, both past and present. Religion, Nation, Monarchy are at the heart of Thai culture and are where, as geeks in Thailand, we will begin.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THAILAND
The ancient kingdom of Siam—from the Sanskrit word Syama, meaning ‘dark’ or ‘brown’—was renamed Thailand in 1948.
This was, in fact, the second time the country’s name had changed. Siam was first renamed Thailand in 1939, at the onset of World War II, by then Prime Minister Field Marshal Luang ‘Plaek’ Phibunsongkhram who believed the name change would whip up much-needed ultra-nationalist spirit to unify or at least inform the approximately 50 ethnic groups resident in the country that it was a land for ‘Tais’, the dominant ethnic group at the time.
Although Thailand’s hosting of Japanese forces and perceived alignment with the Japanese in World War II was retrospectively deemed to have been ‘under duress’ as opposed to being ‘allied’ (Thailand was ‘occupied’ by 150,000 Japanese troops), it was decided to revert to the pre-war name Siam at the end of the war, in 1945.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The word Thai in the Thai language means ‘independence’, leading many to believe the choice of name refers to Thailand’s ability to resist attempts at Western colonization, the only Southeast Asian country to successfully do so. Others believe the name refers to those who were to become the country’s most populous and dominant group of people—the Tais. The Tais were initially an ethnic group hailing from southern China, who migrated into the Chao Phraya River valley in central Thailand around AD 1000, an area already inhabited by two main Austro-Asiatic groups speaking Mon and Khmer. Present-day Thais are the product of the assimilation and fusion of these three groups.
In recent years, some Thai scholars, including historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, have called on the country to revert to its original name, Siam. Although the widespread practice of Theravada Buddhism has promoted racial harmony, Charnvit points out that it was only when the country became known as Thailand—’a land for Tais’—that its 50 other ethnic groups currently residing alongside the Tais, including Yuan, Lao, Malayu, Karen, Hmong, Chinese and, most recently, farang (people of European descent), were discriminated against and dissuaded from expressing their customs, dress and language in favor of a unified Thai existence or Thai-ness. Charnvit believes that a return to the name Siam would be the first step in signaling that not only the country’s past but also its present is made up of many different ethnicities and ideologies, and is the only way to bring about reconciliation of its mosaic of peoples and cultures.
Field Marshal Plaek was subsequently forced out of office and put on trial for war crimes, but was acquitted owing to strong Thai public support. In 1947, he led a coup and once again became prime minister. The following year Siam, for the second and final time, became Thailand.
THAILAND’S FOUR KINGDOMS
Thailand has gone through a myriad of changes and been exposed to numerous influences throughout its history. The existence of a number of separate, distinct and often co-existing Thai kingdoms has been largely responsible for the formation of the multifaceted Thailand we know today.
Sukhothai The Sukhothai kingdom of Thailand (1238–1448) is considered to be the ‘Golden Age of Thailand’. As the first independent Thai state following the decline of the Khmer empire in the early 13th century, it is also believed to signal the beginning of modern Thai history.