Thai proverbs - a cultural insight

Proverbs are an important source of insights into Thailand’s rich cultural heritage. Many have been used for centuries reflecting a time when Thais lived a rural life facing daily dangers from tigers and crocodiles. Proverbs can serve several purposes in all cultures – they can help us reflect on the nature of reality or they can exhort us to lead a more purposeful life. Some Thai proverbs have direct comparisons in English proving there are many similarities between cultures just as there are differences. This selection of proverbs is designed to demonstrate how Thai people interpret the world around them. It is one more piece in the make-up of Thailand’s culture code. It is another ‘window’ into what makes us the people we are. The one thing you will notice is how easy it is to interpret and understand the intended meaning of these proverbs prompting the view that once you scratch the surface is there really much difference between cultures? Some of these proverbs are centuries old when there was absolutely no communication between East and West but yet we codified our daily lives in very similar ways These are just a few examples – note their connection with food, nature and wild animals demonstrating their origin when Thailand [or Siam as it was called then] was very much a rural and agrarian economy. ‘Garnished with coriander’ - a saying about people who do things to cover up a less attractive reality or to the Thais it is someone who sprinkles coriander on top of a dish they are preparing to hide the fact they have not put much effort in! ‘The snake charmer can die from his own snake’ - means don’t get carried away with your own self- importance. ‘Receding water reveals the tree stumps’- when times are good all kinds of problems can be hidden but when times turn bad things previously hidden come to the surface. ‘A dog guarding his fish bones’ - an exhortation to share your wealth or good fortune. ‘A tiger does not change his stripes’ – same as our leopard one! ‘When entering the land of the Cyclops, be a Cyclops too’ – same as our ‘When in Rome …’! ‘Better a lump of shit than a fart’ – same as our ‘Bird in the hand …’! ‘Those who love you can fit on a leather hide – those who hate you can fit on a rush mat’ – seems we make more enemies than friends wherever we are in the world. ‘Applying gold leaf to the back of the Buddha image’ – A Buddha image is the principal object of worship in the temple. To gain increased merit, Buddhists often apply squares of gold leaf to the statue. Most stick on the forehead for all to see. The point of this proverb is that if a good deed is done with a pure heart does it matter if the act is seen or not. ‘A strand of hair can hide a mountain’ – means we can all suffer from clouded vision and cannot see the obvious. For more examples and insights about Thai proverbs there is an excellent book by Tulaya Pornpiriyakulchai and Jane Vejjajiva – Thai Folk Wisdom – Contemporary takes on Traditional Proverbs.

The iconic Erawan Shrine - Bangkok

One of the most frequented visitor sites in Bangkok is the Erawan Shrine. The story behind the shrine dates back to fairly recent times - the 1950's. During the construction of the Erawan Hotel a series of mysterious and unexplained accidents occurred. Several people labouring on the site were killed. The authorities decided to erect a shrine near the site to prevent these mishaps occurring. I have no evidence to offer on whether it worked or not!

Today, visitors to the Erawan Shrine present gifts of small carved wooden elephants, garlands of flowers and other offerings in the hope of having their wishes granted. Those whose wishes have been granted hire resident dancers to perform in the courtyard to show their gratitude. Unfortunately the shrine has not put a stop to all accidents. Outside, on the busy roads, the area has become a traffic accident blackspot. Drivers, distracted by the goings-on or through taking their hands off the wheel to perform a Wai, have the habit of running into the back of the car in front.

Garrett's 'Must Have' Popcorn!

One of the many things that amazes me about Thailand is their reaction to anything new. Take Garrett's Popcorn for example - a Chicago based quality popcorn manufacturer and retailer.

It opened its first shop in Thailand in Siam Centre - right slap bang in the midst of a political protest site - on 29th January 2014. Within hours queues were stretching for hundreds of yards - so big were the queues they had to be marshalled outside the building and customers marched in under escort, fifteen at a time. I've never witnessed anything like it. Garrett's popcorn is good but it is not going to prolong your life or change your lifestyle, so why the explosion of interest? The answer lies in the Thais reaction to innovation from the West. The same happened when Krispy Kreem doughnuts opened their first shop a couple of years ago. They react with unbridled enthusiasm to anything new. Social media must have been red hot to generate this kind of interest. I'll keep you posted!

Poipet - Wild West type town on Cambodian border

I’d heard from locals and students about Poipet – a seedy Cambodian border town. No one had anything good to say about it. The girls heading towards Angkor Wat were scared witless. My interest in the place was also fuelled by an article by David Eimer in the Sunday Telegraph, April 2013. He placed it as the hub of the massive illegal betting industry and behind a match-fixing pandemic. The place is crowded out with casinos, illegal betting shops and brothels.
Poipet is one of the few places in Cambodia where casino betting is legal. This wealth of gambling opportunities attracts hundreds of thousands of punters every year, some Cambodian and some from Thailand, where betting is also illegal. Many take advantage of free buses from Bangkok laid on by the casinos, which will give each passenger a few complimentary gambling chips. Despite the immense profits generated by the gambling industry, Poipet is lacking in Vegas-style glitz. Separated from Thailand by a rubbish strewn river, its dirty streets coat everyone and everything in yellow dust. Barefoot children beg and prostitutes prowl for customers. The motorbike drivers who act as taxis also sell drugs. ‘It’s a lawless place and scary because of that’ said a local bar owner. ‘There aren’t many police here, so if you have a problem you can’t count on them to solve it.’ It seemed the perfect setting for a chapter in my book The Ekkamai Conspiracy – but I had to see for myself. One Wednesday morning I joined the crowd on platform 6 at Hua Lamphong, Bangkok’s main intercity and international railway station, waiting for the 05:55, third class carriages only, diesel train to Aranyaprathet - a town six miles from the border with Cambodia. All the carriages were full with an eclectic mix of backpackers, smartly dressed western tourists, Thais, Khmers and Malays. The Khmers were heading back home with pay packets to support their families. The Thais were heading for Poipet and the casinos, brothels and plentiful supplies of methamphetamine tablets. What happened next? You’ll have to read the book.

The most feared fruit in the world

When you travel to Thailand, the chances are you will encounter a fruit that is so feared by hotels and offices they have designed a sign, much like a ‘no smoking’ notice, banning it from their premises.

Rumour has it that unsuspecting handlers of the thing have been rendered close to unconsciousness or vomiting. But the Thais just love it - they can’t get enough of them. For them it is a supreme delicacy. They will travel miles to buy one.

Specialist stalls sell nothing but the thing. It is of course the Durian. A dark green rugby shaped object with spikes - perhaps more like a miniature WWII mine with a stalk. The reason for the hostility towards the Durian is its smell. It has been likened to rotting fish, dog shit and over ripe Camembert. The smell lingers, giving rise to suspicious glances. If you can get past the smell and into your mouth it has a buttery almond taste. I, personally, wouldn’t define it like that but then I can neither stand the taste or its texture. You have to try it, if only to say you have encountered and survived the most feared fruit in the world!

Traditional Thai Massage

Like most Westerner’s I struggled to get my mind round this part of Thailand’s cultural code. Why is it that there are thousands of massage parlours throughout the country? Just what is the point of all this bodily manipulation? What went wrong that so many people need straightening out? My first suspicions were way off the mark! My own straightening out process started with Denis Segaller’s excellent books on Thai customs and traditions. Traditional Thai massage is closely linked with traditional Thai medicine. Like many Thai traditions and customs they can be traced back over twenty-five hundred years to India. They predate Buddha. Quoting Denis Segaller, ‘At the Indian town of Taxila a great academy of learning was founded by Rokha Marutin. Kings and rich men sent their sons to learn all kinds of skills such as the martial and fine arts, and medicine which included as two of its branches herbal medicine and massage.’ So there you have it, it was the Indians who started it. Over the centuries these two branches of medicine survived through individual teachers. The first Buddhist monks to reach Thailand brought these skills with them – they are known collectively as ya samunphrai. Slowly, this knowledge spread and both of them became very popular as cures for all kinds of aches and pains. It was the fore-runner of a national health service. Now King Nangklao (Rama III) knew a thing or too and he became concerned this knowledge could die along with its practitioners. He gathered them all together and had this collective store of knowledge inscribed on marble tablets. And this is where I take over the story. I set out to try and find these tablets. Rumour had it they were at Wat Pho – the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. In 36 degrees of searing heat this was no easy task but after two hours searching, the wife discovered them. No signs, none of the guides we asked seemed to be aware of them [but that may have more to do with my pigeon Thai] and only by accident did we locate them in a distant pavilion. I would have thought they deserved better. Take a look.

The whole point of traditional Thai massage is to stimulate blood circulation by the application of hand pressure at certain key points of the body – it can eliminate stiffness, backache, tension and some sickness (and probably a lot more besides). The marble tablets illustrate where the key pressure points are.

Now you know. The one remaining problem with all these massage spas is who trains the staff? It is largely an unregulated business. The genuine practitioners spend up to three years learning the art. It is hard to believe all practitioners devote this amount of time to acquiring the genuine skills – so be warned.

Bangkok Riots - Update 21st February 2014

Politically, Thailand is in a mess. It is a country without a functioning Government. They have a care-taker Prime Minister in Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Anti-government protesters have been rallying (or rioting as some would call it) since November 2013 trying to force Yingluck to resign. They think her departure will pave the way for a People’s Council that will implement reforms of public interest. High up the agenda is the issue of corruption. Yingluck’s administration has refused point blank to step down arguing the need to protect the democratic process. Instead it has imposed a state of emergency and went ahead with an election on 2nd February 2014.

This election was boycotted by many so the stalemate is set to continue. To the Western observer it is hard to make sense of it all. There is almost a festival atmosphere in the protesters camps but this turned nasty on 18th February when the police tried to clear them from the streets. Five were killed and many more injured.

The problem is you are either a democracy or not – there is no half-way house. And this is what Suthep Thanugsuban and his People’s Democratic Reform Committee wants. Somehow he wants a non-political body to engineer change. The photograph below is the place where a hand grenade exploded and killed two children.