thoughts on Thailand

Before writing a summary of the trip (which takes a while being back at home to settle the mental dust), Thailand needs to be reckoned with.

It was the right country with which to finish; much further developed for tourism - almost cyncial in fact - with beautiful beaches and easy transport options. There are vestiges everywhere of being a more well-to-do country. Decorative street lights (or street lights at all for that matter), School children in clean, brightly coloured uniforms on class trips to cultural spots, Community bike rentals (something we don't even have yet!) ,

and an appreciation of the traditional even in modern convenience, such as space allocated for monks on the metro and Bangkok river boats.

The Thais are extremely proud of their country, despite recognizing considerable problems (border clashes with Cambodia over disputed temple territory, clashes with militant Muslim factions in the south, political instability, the usual Asian financial corruption issues, human and animal rights issues, etc.). We were always being asked - how long have you been in our country? how many times have you been to our country? will you come back next year? what do you think of Thailand?

Another thing Thais love is their King. Queen too, but mostly King. Usually, when one sees large billboards of a leader posted over every street in every village and town, or photos of same in every building and business no matter how small, one imagines it to be a dictatorial country with a megalomaniac leader. No so here. The King has no real political influence (other than a personal influence over the populace) but he is revered by every single citizen in such a way as tears are brought to the eyes when people talk about him. It's quite remarkable. Everyone stops for the national anthem, which is played on loudspeakers at various times throughout the day in every town.

Of course the thing we will remember most about Thailand is the food! But there is also the variety of landscapes, and the gentle friendliness of the people. Everyone does the wai to strangers, and it's a lovely gesture. The wai is the Thai greeting, indicated by pressing your palms together near your chest and bowing. It plays a very important part in showing respect and is central to Thai etiquette. Even Ronald McDonald does it!

We loved the brightly coloured buses and were both amused and sobered by signage:

Thailand also brought about the return of the birds. That may sound weird, but we saw very little evidence of birds in the other three countries (except for the bountiful array of chickens and roosters). We put it down to the fact that most living things there need to be lunch. But in Thailand, we saw sea eagles in the south, wrens in the north, the pristine and delicate white storks that we haven't seen since Vietnam in central fields, and a sort of flashy and striking magpie everywhere.

The flowers and mutli-coloured foliage was gorgeous, and it was a treat to see plants being grown for pure beauty again, not only for sustenance. The Thais also seem to be rather fond of topiary, as many boulevards and parks and hotel grounds are full of animal and bird caricatures made of green shrubs, or of flowering vines trained over a wire form. Most remarkable were huge bourgainvilia elephants (behind Jenny) and a flock of flying birds - the most head scratching were all the reindeer - why reindeer we wondered and why so many of them? (one of them here under King)

Being the larger and more advanced country in the region, Thailand comes off to the other Southeast Asia countries as a bit of an economic bully. Resources from it and neighbouring countries, as diverse as nuts and gems, are gathered in a sort of cartel Thailand manages on the world stage. There is no doubt some envy here - Thailand managed to avoid colonialisation, but not without cost, as it had to give up lands to other countries to avoid being swallowed up itself. But it meant that westernization came earlier and with that came a bit of geographic arrogance. It's the same the world over - the largest (geographically if not economically) country in any given region is the one that inevitably calls the shots in many aspects, for both the benefit and detriment of its neighbours.