About Thailand
Thailand,the third largest country in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Burma, occupies an are 513,115 aquare kilometers. the coutry lies on the north and west shores of the gluf of thailand bordered by Burma on the west and northwest,Lao on the northeast , Cambodia on the southeast, Malaysia on the south, and the Andaman sea on the southwest.
Thailand consists of mainland and a long southern peninsular extension of the Malay pen approximately 4o% of the whole area is mountainous. the rest is a plain.
On the basis of difference in topography and cilmate, Thailand divided onto 6 region are 76 provinces in thailand.
The northern region is mainly a moutainous area with narrow river valleys and low temperatures during the cold season that permit cultivation of temperate fruits such as strawbery plums.the chief town is chiang mai , which is the center for teak trade and a very important plan tourism.
The central Region. the central region may be divided into 2 parts: the upper past an lower past. the upper past has some mountains, the lower past is vast alluvial plain.the chief of region is Bangkok,the capital,chief port, and the major city of the country. the central region is the most fertile rice-growing in the world.
The Easthern Region. this region boarders a sea coast.It has fine beaches and seaside
The Northeastern part or Isan. is a rather semi-arid plateau,but rich in various valua mineral resources. most parts of the area have poor sandy soil and rather long dry season.Most are grown under rain, leading to average low yield of crops comparing to other regions.
The westhern region. Similar to northern region, the western region is mainly mountainous. It is famous for the River Kwai, which is crossed by a railway bridge constructed by prisoners of the World War II.
The Southern Region. The sourthern is an elongated peninsular section of the cauntry fall almost all year round the sea breezes tend to moderate the high temperatures. The chief towns of this region include Phuket, Phangnga, Surat Thani. The sourthern region topography includes mountain flat area, interesting rock formations, forests, island. coves and bays. Fishing, mining and growing rubber are the main occupation for the Thai sourtherner.
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* The Thai People & Thai Language
There are many theories about the origin of thai people. According to some history textbooks,the thai race fled the Chinesse to set up the SuKhothai kingdom.One theory claims that the This have live i the present area since ancient times and that they are the descendants of the Ban chiang people.However,from an anthropologist's viewpoint, a cultural group sharing same anguage can be scattered in several areas,and any one area or one country can have magroups.thus,the thai people are unified by the language they speak and the culture and traditions they maintain then by the area they live in.
The thai language has tonal and monosyllabic characteristics.some words were borrowed from Khmer and then adapted.In the course of development,the thai language also absorbed polys Sanskrit and pali word.this happened as Brahmanism and Buddhism became major influences on thai societ. In addtion,Chinese immigrants had some influence on the thai language.Standard thai is now spoken all over the country,although regionl dialects are still coommonly heard.Standard thai on the Bangkok thai dialects.It?s has 5 difference tones.they are mid-level,low,falling,high,rising.
As a written language,thai is read horizontally from left to right as in an English. It consist of 44 consonat symbols and 21 vowel symbols.the cinsonant,vowel and tone symbols are combine syllabic sounds.Word in a sentence are written without spaces in between,and punctuation is almost never used.While most vocabulary in the thai languge can be use in any situation,some word only with monka and royalty.
* Thai food
The thai style of eating.
The thai feeling for food is a source of amazement to most foreigners.Food is eaten not just for nourishment or to abate hunder,although it is recognized as being necessary for these things. But,food to a thai is much more.It is an art conversation,a source of pleasure,and to enjoy the company of friends and family.It is not unusual for thai to travel great distances an spend freel on certain,desired food always enjoyed in the company of friends.
A thai meal,other then a quik lunch or snack,consists of at least 2 main dishes,usually with soup also served.there are shared amongst the dinners,for of course,there must be other with whom to the food. If there are more than 2 peoples,more dishes will be prepared. the foods are placed in the center in the table,and each person takes a little food from each dish and places it on his plate.
Traditionally, Thai have eatenwith their fingers and many rural people still eat in this manner. But today, we gennerally eat with a spoon.
Thai Culture & Tradition
Characteristics of Thai Culture
* Religion & Beliefs
Buddist is the core of Thai culture. It shapes the way the Thais think, their tradition and their art. However,the Thai are tolerant enough to allow and adopt beliefs and practices of other religion, such as Brahminsism. In addition many of their original animistic beliefs are still maintained, which makes Thai Buddists rather unique. They worship Lord Buddha and at the same time they also worship the spirit of the land and other beings.
* Language
Native Thai words are usually monosyllabic but the tremendous number of loan words, especially from Pali and Sanskrit, has made the Thai language todayquite different from that during the time of King Ram Khamheang. A unique characteristic of the Thai language is the existence of tone and the large number of vowels. Inaccurate pronunciation of tones means change in meaning and can lead to hilarity. In addition, Thai is a language with honorific system. Social status of speakers and listeners determines the kind or style of language to be used. This is even more rigid in the use of language with the royalty. Being a monosyllabic language. Thai allows its speakers to play a language game called ? kham puuan? or twisted words, which is usually employed as a secret code of a group or a mean to share socially unacceptable jokes.
* Art
Sculpture. The Thai style of sculpture is most evident in image of Buddha. Thai artist and craftsmen adopted the art of making Buddha images of the Mons, the Khmers and the Indians. Through integration and modification, they have developed a style which is uniquely Thai.
Architecture. The ?round bell - shape style? of Singhalese stupas, and the ?square columnar style? of the Srivijaya stupas inspired Thai architects to work out the ? lotus bud summit style? of the Sukhothai-period and the ?square base of indented corners style? of the Ayuddhaya and Bangkok periods, which are Thai?s own style. Moreover the prang type of stupa, which was originally the Khmer style, has been elongated by Thai architects, Who also added more decorations, which resulted in the successful Thai ? ization of this style of stupa.
The genuine native Thai architecture can be seen in temple buildings. The superimposed and multi-colored title roofs and the magnificent gable with decorated edges and sharp pointed ends are unique features of Thai temples.
Painting. Mural paintings decorating the interior walls of bots, vihans and gallery of temples in Thailand are very typically Thai. These fresco paintings are unlike any other in the world.
Handicraft. The Thais are very dexterous and marvelous with their hands. They excell in wood carving, inlaying of mother-of-pearl, color-glass decoration, painting of golden design on back or red lacquer background, and inlaying of design on silver and gold.
