Kanoms, or snacks, are a big part of life here in Thailand. You find them all over, packaged in clear, plastic bags sold for a few baht. My host mother in Suphan Buri was an ace kanom maker and her specialty is kanom kai blah. At school, some of the students learned how to make a different kanom, called kanom dok jok. You can learn too, by checking out the video!
Last year, the staff of Peace Corps Thailand invited Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the former Secretary General of ASEAN and student of Peace Corps volunteers, to come and speak at Group 124’s Mid-Service Conference (MSC). By all accounts, his contributions to their MSC were extremely enriching; the volunteers went on to nominate him for the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award, which is given to someone who grew up in a country served by Peace Corps, was influenced by PCVs and made a contribution to their country and world, which he won and received this month in Nashville.
Having heard about this from my friend in group 124, I was looking forward to who would be invited to speak at our MSC, which took place at the beginning of April. In my conversations with staff before the event, they wouldn’t tell me who it was, but would say they were very excited for who they had invited. Turns out, we volunteers were as well; Khun Mechai Viravaidya is Thailand’s biggest name in development, starting with family planning, branching out into business development, HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness and now running a school that embodies the practices that he so deeply believes in. His life story is extraordinary.
So the dust around the sudden overthrow of the government in Thailand has settled and some things are starting to take shape and become more clear, so I’m going to take some time to lay out what I understand to have happened here in the last two and a half weeks. For some background, on May 22 at 5 p.m. local time General Payuth declared a coup, just two days after establishing martial law. This came out of the lasting conflict between anti-government protests, led by Suthep (a member of the Democrat Party)* who quit his Senate position late last year and began protesting the Puea Thai Party, lead by Yingluck Shinawatra whose brother Thaksin was ousted in the country’s last coup in 2006.
After dissolving the lower parliamentary house and calling elections in February, that were declared void by the Constitutional Court which has consistently ruled against Yingluck, she was tried, convicted and removed from office (along with 9 cabinet members) for impropriety in transferring the chairman of the National Security Council and was due to be impeached for negligence regarding the rice subsidy scheme. Which brings us to the current situation.
Earlier this year I started using this really neat app called One Second Everyday. Basically, it allows you to pick a second of a video or picture of everyday and then you can export them into a longer video. I thought this was super cool and so I’ve been trying to do this throughout the year, similar to my sentence a day for last year. Here’s a video summary of May!
Sports and the culture around them are a bit different in Thailand, as compared to the US. The only real sport that people coalesce around and have favorite teams for is football (soccer). There are a few other sports that people like to play recreationally, like volleyball, dtagraw, and futsal. But perhaps the sport that Thailand is most famous for is muay thai.
Sports are frequently a big part of a culture. They are a way for people to bond and recreate. In Thailand, I’ve encountered a different level of enthusiasm for some sports I’m familiar with, as well as some new and different sports. But what about the world’s most popular sport? Is it also popular here in Thailand? I am of course talking about football, otherwise known to Americans as soccer.
In Thailand, a bpai tiao is a trip of any length. I’ve written about some of my more significant bpai tiaos to tourist destinations here, to be used as travel ideas and tips.
In the 12th century, the Khmer empire dominated what is now know as Southeast Asia. Their main city and capital is the famous Angkor complex, which includes Angkor Wat. However, the empire stretched across Thailand, where they also built other cities and temples. Like Angkor, they are now ruins, and some of them aren’t very well preserved. However, Phanom Rung in Buriram is wonderfully well-kept and an excellent destination for tourists. Check it out!
Here in Thailand, the culture around sports is a little bit different than that in the U.S. Volleyball is really popular, and sports unknown in the U.S., like dtagraw, are too. I’ve also noticed a sport that looks vaguely familiar, but upon closer inspection I realized I knew nothing about: futsal.
Sports in Thailand are a bit different that sports in the United States. The big popular sports in Thailand are either not that popular in the United States, or they aren’t even played there. One sport that isn’t played in the U.S. is dtagraw (ตะกร้อ).
After months of protests, the dissolution of the government, new elections, impeachment and martial law the military recently conducted a coup d’etat. Here’s a video with a short explanation of what’s happened.