Visit to Thailand: Life by river

Culturally different from India and China, the general academic level in Thailand doesn’t compare well with these other Asian countries. Those who live on the river depend on tourism to put food on the table.


The Thai have their own script, language and speech pattern, despite some connections of mythology and philosophy with India.

English is not usually a strong point, and in speaking it, they tend to mix-up consonants like ‘r’ and ‘l’. Rose, our local travel agent, for instance, is most often called ‘LOse’! [This is quite as the Chinese are said to do, though the Thai say they’re distinct to them as well.]

The general academic level in Thailand doesn’t appear to compare well with these other Asian countries. Possibly higher education is not as heavily stressed here as elsewhere because of differing values and outlooks.

Almost everywhere we look, tourism drives the local economy. We wonder how ordinary people cope, since language is the obvious handicap to interacting with people of other lands.



We do see attempts by some to overcome knowledge and communication barriers. For example, our taxi-driver Feiy always has at hand his pocket electronic dictionary for help in translating to English from Thai and vice versa to facilitate lights of understanding and pronunciation.

Bangkok from Chao Phraya

We take a boat ride on the Chao Phraya river for a new experience of the indigenous. This river irrigates the plains – the major fruit and rice producing areas. It covers a distance of 372 kilometres meandering to its destination in the Gulf of Thailand.


In Bangkok city, canals form a network of interconnected waterways. The view from the river is a study of contrasts. On one hand, there are the imposing façades of modern architecture, palaces, temples and other important institutions.

On the other hand, while navigating through narrow byways, we see parts of the capital that clearly faces hard times in making ends meet.

River transports

Those living by the river, live by it. They depend on tourism to put food on the table.

Thus skiffs, motorboats, barges, cruisers, floating markets and restaurants are constantly on the move, plying busily up and down the river.

Backwater entrepreneurs

Chao Phraya is one of the main rivers of the country and the trade route for individual entrepreneurs of the backwaters also.

Their vocabulary is limited, but to push their souvenir sales, they have a smile and the numbers ready as they hail encouragingly – only 100 baht, Madame!

Boatman Tek – I, driver, he introduces – skilfully steers the boat, pointing out sights that we might otherwise have missed. We surprise many a water monitor going about its daily business.


Temples that line the riverbanks are almost mandatory stops for the boats. The monastery inmates greet visitors with bags of bread loaves priced 20 bahts (the proceeds are help for the organization).


They toss the loaves beyond the boat, and suddenly there is frenzied activity in the water, as shoals of catfish surface to chase after the prize!


A few moments later, the unexpected show subsides, and once again calm prevails as the boats move on. Life, we've heard said, is a great river...

Cont’d 2…life by sea

Visit to Thailand: Place of pleasure

Thailand's road to modernity includes a marvellous infrastructure. But human resource development seems to lag behind the imported technology and lifestyle.

Thailand presents a neat appearance even from the air. The tall buildings have flat tops but the smaller structures look with sloping roofs of red or blue.

The country set on the road to modernity 50 years ago, with the present monarch, Rama IX, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. His working philosophy is that he "...must change with the country, but at the same time keep the spirit of the country".

The planned cities

Progress has included a marvellous infrastructure. Factories, manufacturing and production units fall outside the city limits, but connectivity is excellent.

Networking roadways criss-cross the country as multi-lane motorways, highways, expressways, skyways, the works, and gives the impression of a very meticulously planned westernised set-up.

People’s progress

Skyscrapers at the centre of the cities form hubs of business and retail shopping complexes. Women perhaps labour more than the men do, but in globalisation, jobs of key responsibilities may be difficult to come by for many, since higher education seems not to be widespread.

Work attitudes then tend to be rule-bound and bureaucratic, following familiar set patterns. Besides, the language barrier is still a severe constraint, although oddly enough, Western fashions are avidly adopted.

The skills hierarchy would restrict the locals to junior or subordinate levels in corporate houses headed by multinationals. The problem could be that human resource development lags behind the imported technology and lifestyle.

The sources of revenue

Tourism fuels the revenue stream. The spectacular scenic beauty of the country, its wildlife parks, grand palaces and temples attract those inclined to communion with Nature, spirituality and cultural history.

But many more tourists prefer the abundant hospitality of spas, massage parlours, and bars. Catered to mainly by young women and men, ‘pleasure’ has become a huge draw to the region over the years.

In the equation, the big-money spenders buy the opportunities of rest & recreation denied them back home; their hosts/hostesses sustain families on their earnings.

The passive acceptance


When we believe that women in other parts of the continent are on the march to self-reliance, this gendercentric approach appears a setback for the Asian feminine perspective.

By their socio-cultural heritage, the people have a passive acceptance of life. They generally are law-abiding, quiet and unquestioning. Even political unrest is taken in stride as “things that happen”.

The slow realization

Looking in from the outside, one feels a mismatch in aspects of development. Until we perceive that a change in the collective outlook is coming, though slowly.

Many ageing hospitality workers now hope for a different reality, and for their children to escape the legacy of exploitation. Perhaps television and Internet is forcing the realization here, as in sister nations of Asia, that education especially for girls, is key to a people keeping up with the rest of the world.

We see women gyrate in shop windows or parade the streets holding little placards written in English to attract moneyed tourists. But we also sense a growing self-esteem in some others as they work hard to utilize the available technology to educate themselves, and build a more stable and harmonious future in a new direction.

Comments/opinions, anyone??

Visit to Thailand: The aesthetic harmony

Thailand is a nation of amazing stability, and harmony with the environment. Traditions are of personal liberation and the attainment of nirvana...but not as one of Asia's leaders.


We knew of course that Thailand is a country in Asia, sharing borders with Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia. We were aware that Paradorn Srichaphan (recently more in the news for marrying a former Miss Universe than for playing tennis!) hails from there.

Shoppers paradise

And we anticipated being afflicted by the ‘shop till you drop’ syndrome at branded (or fake) retail outlets at Bangkok, or elsewhere in makeshift marketplaces mushrooming three days a week in parking lots, where bargaining on prices is a part of the fun…

Juxtaposing old and new

But until we decided to visit this month, we didn’t know that the currency, called baht, converts to about 1.30 INR, and 0.03 USD. Or that Thailand is a nation of amazing stability, and harmony with the environment.


Ten million years old stone remnants of the ancient world, temple spires and modern-day landscaping juxtapose aesthetically. No surprise perhaps that Sa-nga Kulkobkiat, the Master of Feng Shui finds a place of honour at the (Chinese) Temple of Tao.

The Big Buddha

The majority religion is Buddhism. The Theravada traditions of personal liberation and the attainment of nirvana follow Gautama Buddha’s original path of enlightenment.

The laser carving on the rock-faced hillock in Khao Chee Chan province commemorates this belief as it does the people’s faith in the constitutional monarchy that holds the nation together.

Living co-existence


The Thai are a hardworking people generally. They keep on without obvious supervision at repetitive tasks to ensure that the aesthetically pleasing ‘clean, clean, clean’ image of Nature is maintained everywhere.


The inclusiveness is cultivated with living and apparently non-living beings in the air, on land, and in the watery depths.


Creatures small and large are remembered and nurtured in their own living space. Visitors are included in various activities like feeding bottled milk to tiger cubs, or in the sale of t-shirts painted by elephants.

The crocodile eggs breaking festival is held annually, and is growing in popularity. The event last year set a new record of over 86 thousand hatchings that keeps the numerous reptile farms busy!

We were, of course, amply impressed with the surroundings in Thailand. The question then arising is why the country is not spoken of as one of Asia’s leaders?

Cont’d 2…place of pleasure