Thailand: The Land of Smiles

Street Food Stall Smiles

Dear family and friends,

Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South East Asia. Tourism was jump started in the 1960's during the American-Vietnam War. At that time, the US built a number of bases here, and now millions of tourists and travelers come here every year attracted by great beaches, delicious food, countless beautiful Buddhist Temples (Wats), all wrapped up in an exotic and historical culture.

Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. There can be little doubt as to why. Every meeting, greeting, or leaving is an occasion for a big smile, often accompanied with the familiar palms-together, up-under-the chin, ‘wai’ sign. This genuine cheerfulness is said to have its roots in three Thai concepts, naa (face), sanuk (fun), and phuu yai - phuu nawy (big person - little person).

Like most Asian cultures, Thais believe strongly in ‘saving face’; they try to avoid any confrontation and they would be loath to embarrass themselves or others. I have watched closely, and secretly, to try and catch a Thai showing impatience or anger. I tell you truly, in all the time I have spent here I can really only recall seeing it happen once. In a restaurant I overheard a patron loudly complain that he had not ordered what he was being served (never mind it was not something on the menu, nor did the guy speak Thai, nor the waitress English). When the waitress took the offending plate back to the kitchen, I did see her mouthing what I assume were curses for the man’s next life. It was notable to me, though, that when I commiserated with her after the guy had left, she went out of her way to minimize his rudeness and to dismiss the mix up.

Sanuk is the belief that everything, including hard work, should have an element of fun. Some jobs test this concept thoroughly. Wandering along a sidewalk in Bangkok one day I had to sidestep an open manhole cover, a few workers were standing around looking into the hole. Down below in the sewer stood a man, chest deep in the gray, putrid sewage. When I whipped out my camera to take his picture, he gave me thumbs up and a most cheerful smile. And his mates laughed. Sanuk.

Age, wealth, power, etc determine whether you are a ‘big person’ or ‘little person’. ‘Little people’ are expected to defer to ‘big people’. Most tourists and travelers (assumed to be rich) are generally automatically accorded a fair dollop of phuu yai, thus entitling us to more smiles. For all the naa, sanuk, and phuu yai - phuu nawy, I still can’t get over the smiles.

When I first started traveling many years ago, the tourists I met were almost always from England, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Australia, and the US, with a number of Canadians thrown in. Even four years ago on my first visit to Thailand, that mix seemed to be generally true. What I notice now is how the face of tourism has changed. I am now meeting an increasingly diverse mix of fellow travelers and tourists. I have met people from places that I have never encountered before, Romania, Nepal, Portugal, Hungary, Russia; there are tourists from India, the Philippines, and Mongolia; I see a lot of Africans, more Chinese for sure, and there are many Arabs on the street, the men in their full white thoub, while many of the women are wearing the full black burqa, so complete it has a piece of fabric between the eyes to conceal as much as possible. I can't help but wonder what the person, with those two dark, unrevealing, eyes staring out, thinks when she sees typical young Thai women flouncing along the street, in their low-rise, micro mini skirts, giggling, and flipping open their cell phones.

On my trip to Thailand this year I have revisited a number of places including Phuket, the largest island in Thailand. I expect even those who have never considered a visit here, came to know of Phuket as it was particularly badly hit by the tsunami a year ago, with more than 3,000 people losing their lives. Today it is difficult to find any evidence of the devastation, and the place is booming with new construction everywhere.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

I also visited Kanchanaburi, the site of the bridge made famous in the movie 'Bridge Over the River Kwai’. Although Kanchanaburi can be visited quite easily on a day trip from Bangkok, I spent three days traveling out there and back. Over 16,000 allied troops and up to 100,000 coolies from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos, died in the construction of the 415km ‘Death Railway’ built by the Japanese to connect Thailand with Burma. This bridge, which was but a part of that railway, remains in service today with some of the original spans intact. The bridge itself is not nearly so spectacular as the one depicted in the movie, but a visit to the two allied cemeteries, with the thousands of headstones, row after row, hammers home the price that was paid to build it.

On my way back to Bangkok I made a couple of stops. First, I stopped off in the ancient city of Nakhon Pathom (it dates from 150 BC) to view the tallest Buddhist Stoopa in the world. All Stoopas are roughly conical, shaped quite like the old school bell teachers used to ring; and they are solid, that is, they cannot be entered. This one, Phra Pathom Chedi, certainly the holiest in Thailand, at 127 meters high can also claim the title as the world’s tallest. Covered in gold, it is, to say the least, a very impressive sight.

Phra Pathom Chedi

I also stopped for the night in Damoen Saduak, a small city south west of Bangkok, to visit their floating market in the morning. Although the city is completely unremarkable and a bit grotty, the market proved to be a quite good alternative to the overly touristy one near Bangkok. The canals are filled with small boats bobbing about, all offering up for sale fresh flowers, fruit, vegetables, hot cooked food made on the spot, as well as the expected tourist trinkets and trash.

Damoen Saduak Floating Market

I also spent the best part of one week in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city and gateway to the north. With a backdrop of lush mountains, with over 300 Buddhist Wats (more even than ten times larger Bangkok), and being close to the Myanmar border, Chiang Mai has developed into a very popular tourist destination for those wanting to escape chaotic Bangkok or the raucous resort cities. While in Chiang Mai I rented a Honda Dream motor bike and had several great rides out of the city into the mountains for visits to the Ma Sae Elephant Camp, Sainaphueng Orchid & Butterfly Farm, and a couple of minority Hmong villages. Elephants are; of course, a fixture in Thailand, and the domesticated ones generally seem to be well cared for and highly valued. There were at least fifty odd at the camp I visited and many were put through their paces doing the usual tricks, playing football, dancing, etc., but a number of them also were plunked in front of easels where they all proceeded to paint quite distinctive pictures. My guy, the one in front of me and clearly the best, completed a basic, but I thought quite good, picture of some flowers. Most of the Hmong villages in this area are easily accessible by tourists, but I did visit one a bit more remote where an old woman showed me her little garden including her small plot of opium poppy.

My Elephant's Painting

Hmong Lady With Her Opium Poppies

A great plus to visiting Thailand is the yummy, distinctive, and usually spicy hot, Thai cuisine. There are about 20 main herbs and spices used in special combinations in preparing Thai dishes, and it is these spices that form the basis for Thai cooking. Aside from more common ones like onions, shallots, mint, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, and basil, Thai chefs make extensive use of lime, chilies, black, white, and green peppercorns, ginger, lemon grass, kaffir lime, and, although not a spice or herb, the ubiquitous nam pla (fermented fish sauce). And, chefs are not shy about using any of these; they are all used in large quantities, handfuls at a minimum.

The Best Chicken in Phuket

One of the best dishes for me is the perfectly named Tom Yum Koong. It is prawn (koong) soup with straw mushrooms. This spicy, delicious dish is on all menus and available at most street stalls. I am sure every cook has their own version, but the basics seem to include stock made from shellfish and, for spices, lots of lemon grass, galangal (a particularly pungent ginger), kaffir lime leaves, and of course chili. Sometimes tomatoes will be added, or some onions, but whatever, it is always great. Yum!

Well that’s about it for Thailand. I am again going to try to attach some pictures. I am adding one of a man who can regularly be seen begging on Suhkumvit Road in Bangkok. He is definitely a high producer, stretched out on the dirty sidewalk with his begging cup out front, inching along. I do not want to minimize his difficulties, but I do think there is a bit of sanuk in his method as he gave me a smile and wink when I took his picture. I also have attached a picture of a couple of readily to be seen Thai Lady Boys, all dressed up as only they can. I hope you are all well.


Merv.

Suhkumvit's High Producer

Phuket Lady Boys

Mae Sa Elephant Camp

Orchids at Sainaphueng Orchid Butterfly Farm