Ask Us In Thailand

Searching the internet for different types of holidays in Thailand I found an article by Dan Eldridge inviting you to meditate with monks in a monastery, added to this offer is a lemon juice fast. He says the Spiritually inclined will be spoiled, as every year thousand of tourists visit Thailand for an encounter of the Buddhist spirituality and liberal open-mindedness.

Reading this article was a pleasant surprise, as I had no idea you may visit the monasteries to meditate and partake in the rituals with the monks. Most travel sites offer the tourist the more sensational attractions.

Maybe one day I will visit Thailand to be touched by these enlightened ones.

The good news today is that I have decided to keep my love of history to myself even though bragging that I know Thailand was first Siam until 1939 and then they changed the name to Thailand but it did not remain Thailand.  In 1945 it went back to the name Siam but later that same year they renamed it Thailand again.  I wonder why, I still have to get to that chapter.  Whatever the reason I have decided you only want to visit the country not adopt it, so I am going to have a look what is on offer for the tourist.

For your convenience, Thailand has an official tourism organization, which after you have clicked 2 million sites who offer every thing from plane tickets to bike rides was refreshing. 

This organization offers you information, ideas and even warnings.

Go take a look at tourismthailand.org

I did look up “Land of the Free” it turns out to be the national anthem of Berlize

Back to the Story of Thailand

As with everything, the European Countries such as the French and the British started their interfering into Thailand as early as the 16^th Centenary but Thailand was the only Southeast Asian country to never be a colony of a European country. The rulers of Thailand were too strong and too intelligent to fall into that trap.  In fact, the rulers during the 1800’s exploited the rivalry between Britain and France. Thailand remained a bulwark state between parts of the Southeast Asian countries that were colonies of these two powers.

Despite  not yielding to the colonization of their country the Thais did come under the influence of the West and in the 19^th centenary many reforms were implemented and most important special considerations were made which lead to the loss of large pieces of territory on the east side of the Mekong to the French. 

The systematic amalgamation by the British of Shan States lead to the formation of these territories which is now located in Myanmar and Malaysia.  These losses primarily included Penang and Tumasik and eventually ended in the loss of the three predominantly ethnic Malay southern provinces, which became Malaysia’s three northern states after the acceptance of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909.

I do not have much knowledge of this country and so I had to take a walk down to my library for a few books, I started with the history of Thailand.  I love history.  So for the next few posts I will be writing about the history of this lovely country.       The Kingdom of Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia. To its east lie Laos and Cambodia; to its south, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia. To its west, the Andaman Sea and Myanmar. Its capital and largest city is Bangkok.     The country’s official name was Siam: origin unknown until 24 June 1939,when it was changed to Thailand. I remember the movie “The King of Siam” had no idea it was Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam between 1945 and 11 May 1949. After which the name Thailand was once again adopted.  The word Thai is not, as commonly believed to be, derived from the word Tai meaning “free” in the Thai language; it is, however, the name of an ethnic group from the central plains the Thai people.  

A famous Thai scholar (whose name I sadly forget, sorry) argued that Tai simply means “people” or “human being” since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word “Tai” was used instead of the usual Thai word “khon” for people. With that in mind the locals seemed to have also accepted the alternative meaning and will verbally state that it means “Land of the free”. This might be due to language barriers and the avoidance of long difficult explanations

Maybe the phrase “Land of the Free” was a good intention PR phrase by some tourist organizer to sell tours to Thailand before it became a tourist Mecca.

To be perfectly honest I do not enjoy the thought of travelling to places where English is not the spoken or chosen language, I always feel like an idiot when I have to use fingers and gestures to make my thoughts known.  I admit that most of my thoughts cannot be legible in finger or mouthing language.

That set aside I do wonder about countries such as Thailand, not knowing much about it except their strict laws against smuggling drugs and their prisons which are often aired on my favourite programme Crime and Investigation.

Recently I had to go to a travel agency to find out about my planned trip to the USA, I found myself enquiring about Thailand and the offers. It seems a holiday to Thailand is for a South African almost affordable, they have the usual requirements for the, ‘would be traveller’.

Most of the offers were exotic and enticing, the entertainment was more than alluring as the brochures the agent presented to me, proved the Thai’s are definitely a very colourful people.  English and extreme heat aside, I think I would enjoy visiting Thailand one day….

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