Archive-name: thai/Index Soc-culture-thai-archive-name: Index Version: $Id: sctfaq-Index,v 1.5 1994/05/25 16:14:45 trin Exp trin $ This is an index to the "soc.culture.thai Frequently Asked Questions" periodic postings. The current release of these FAQs can be fetched by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (or its mirror sites) under directories: /pub/usenet/news.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.culture.thai or accessed via World-wide Web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/master.html INDEX OF SOC.CULTURE.THAI FAQs GENERAL FAQ General and legal information * General Information G.1) What is soc.culture.thai? G.2) Readership statistics (revised) G.3) Where do I find old articles of soc.culture.thai? G.4) Where can I get the latest news from Thailand? G.5) Thai shortwave radio programs G.6) Units of measurement G.7) Holidays G.8) Resource list (revised) * Legal X.1) Occupations prohibited to aliens CULTURE FAQ History and Culture * History and Culture C.1) An introduction to Thai history and culture C.2) Bangkok's full name C.3) Buddhism and Thai culture C.4) Thai buddhism information (new) C.5) Traditional Thai calandar system C.6) Use of "Khun" LANGUAGE FAQ Language and linguistics information * Language L.1) The de facto Thai transcription scheme for soc.culture.thai L.2) Learning Thai abroad L.3) Learning Thai in Thailand L.4) Poetry L.5) The word "farang" TRAVEL FAQ Tourism and Travel information * Travel information T.1) Royal Thai Embassies T.2) Visa information T.3) Where to get tourist and travel information? T.4) Which credit cards are accepted in Thailand? T.5) Car rental T.6) General observations and recommendations T.7) North T.8) Northeast/Isan T.9) East/Southeast T.10) Alternative accommodation: Bangkok International Airport TECHNICAL FAQ Networking and Software * Networking N.1) Network map N.2) Domestic host count N.3) NSFnet network statistics N.4) Network resources (revised) N.5) Commercial network access * Thai software S.1) Microsoft Windows 3.1 Thai Edition * Business B.1) Domestic computer market NUMERICAL FAQ Numerical data for Thailand * Demography F.1) Census * Economic indicators F.2) Thailand's key economic indicators F.3) State of the economy F.4) Direction of Trade 1992 (million baht) F.5) Four months' top exports F.6) Banks awarded Bangkok International Banking Facilities licenses F.7) Budget allocation F.8) Budget structure F.9) Current megaprojects * Economic forecasts F.10) Economic forecasts F.11) Education levels F.12) Education of the workforce F.13) Growth rate of value added of services at constant 1972 prices F.14) Growth rate of value added of GDP at constant 1972 prices F.15) Growth rate of agricultural added value at constant 1972 prices F.16) Growth rate of industrial value added at constant 1972 prices F.17) Regional GDP (GRP) growth F.18) Population growth rate by gender F.19) Electricity generating capacity for each consumer group F.20) Tourism targets F.21) Tourist forecast * General Information G.1) What is soc.culture.thai? G.2) Readership statistics (revised) G.3) Where do I find old articles of soc.culture.thai? G.4) Where can I get the latest news from Thailand? G.5) Thai shortwave radio programs G.6) Units of measurement G.7) Holidays G.8) Resource list (revised) * Legal X.1) Occupations prohibited to aliens ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION This part outlines information pertaining to the soc.culture.thai newsgroup. ------------------------------ G.1) What is soc.culture.thai? The soc.culture.thai newsgroup was inaugurated on April 28, 1991 on the idea of Ayut Nissapa (ayut@ratree.psu.ac.th) proposed in the soc.culture.asean newsgroup. It was intended to be a forum to discuss information relevant to Thailand, Thai people and their culture. Nittida Nuansri (noi@munnari.oz.au) was the coordinator for CFD and CFV. Soc.culture.thai charter appears in USENET control message to create the newsgroup as: > From tale@rpi.edu Sun Apr 28 17:50:24 1991 > Control: newgroup soc.culture.thai > Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai.ctl > Path: rpi!tale > From: tale@rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) > Subject: newgroup soc.culture.thai > Message-ID: > Sender: tale@cs.rpi.edu > Nntp-Posting-Host: cs.rpi.edu > Date: 28 Apr 91 21:50:11 GMT > Approved: tale@rpi.edu > Lines: 17 > > soc.culture.thai is an unmoderated newsgroup which passed its vote for > creation by 300:27 as reported in news.announce.newgroups on 24 April 1991. > > For your newsgroups file: > soc.culture.thai Thai people and their culture. > > The charter, culled from the call for votes: > > Purposes: - for Thais & any others who are interested in Thai culture > and other aspects such as : > - travel information > - news from Thailand > - political circumstances > - Thai food & recipes > etc. > > Language of discussion is English. ------------------------------ G.2) Readership statistics According to the USENET readership poll results of April 1994, soc.culture.thai has an estimated readers of 80,000 worldwide; 66% of all USENET sites carry this newsgroup; and total monthly traffic is 5044.2 kB. Also in another readership poll conducted for two weeks by Joy Asawalap in February 1994, readership distribution is tabulated as following: Cumulative Cumulative GENDER Frequency Percent Frequency Percent ---------------------------------------------------- F 22 19.0 22 19.0 M 94 81.0 116 100.0 Cumulative Cumulative NATION Frequency Percent Frequency Percent ------------------------------------------------------ Australi 4 3.4 4 3.4 Finnish 1 0.9 5 4.3 German 5 4.3 10 8.6 Netherla 1 0.9 11 9.5 Non-Thai 1 0.9 12 10.3 Norway 1 0.9 13 11.2 Sri Lank 1 0.9 14 12.1 Swedish 2 1.7 16 13.8 Swiss 1 0.9 17 14.7 Thai 75 64.7 92 79.3 Thai-US 6 5.2 98 84.5 UK 4 3.4 102 87.9 UK-Aus 1 0.9 103 88.8 US 13 11.2 116 100.0 Cumulative Cumulative DOMAIN Frequency Percent Frequency Percent ---------------------------------------------------- AU 6 5.2 6 5.2 BE 1 0.9 7 6.0 CA 3 2.6 10 8.6 CH 1 0.9 11 9.5 COM 12 10.3 23 19.8 DE 4 3.4 27 23.3 EDU 61 52.6 88 75.9 FI 1 0.9 89 76.7 GOV 1 0.9 90 77.6 MIL 1 0.9 91 78.4 NL 1 0.9 92 79.3 NZ 3 2.6 95 81.9 ORG 2 1.7 97 83.6 SE 3 2.6 100 86.2 TH 9 7.8 109 94.0 UK 6 5.2 115 99.1 US 1 0.9 116 100.0 ------------------------------ G.3) Where do I find old articles of soc.culture.thai? There is an effort at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) in Bangkok to build an archive for soc.culture.thai. The archive is located at URL: ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/archives/ Send old articles by e-mail to news@nwg.nectec.or.th for inclusion. Duplicates will be automatically sorted out. An experimental archive is available as two WAIS databases on the host nexus.nectec.or.th. The databases have *not* been registered with WAIS respository, hence server name, nexus.nectec.or.th, has to be specified explicitly when searching. The databases are called: soc.culture.thai-1991 soc.culture.thai-1992 soc.culture.thai-1993 and soc.culture.thai-1994 For instance: $ waissearch -h nexus.nectec.or.th -d soc.culture.thai-1992 recipe is to search the 1992 collection for the first 40 articles (waissearch default limit) containing the word 'recipe', or: $ waissearch -h nexus.nectec.or.th -d soc.culture.thai-1993 -m 400 internet is to search the 1993 archive for the first 400 articles containing the word 'internet'. For more information about WAIS, consult the newsgroup comp.infosystems.wais. A large part of the collection came from Linitda Sooksomstarn, linitda@tlaeng.enet.dec.com, of Digital Equipment Corporation (Thailand) for all articles which arrived at their news server between late March 1992 thru mid October 1993. ------------------------------ G.4) Where can I get the latest news from Thailand? Some of the latest news in Thai language from Thai News Agency are available for anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.washington.edu (a.k.a. june) in the directory /pub/thaisys/thainews. To read these news, follow the instructions provided in a README file in that directory. A raw news archive is available on ftp.nectec.or.th:/pub/news. Use InfoZIP's unzip5.0p1 (or later) with a command line switch -a to unpack on non-MSDOS platforms or use PKWARE Inc's PKUNZIP 2.04g (or later) to unpack on MSDOS. News on june.cs.washington.edu are the file all.asc in each zip file. News from the Thai News Agency, Mass Communications Organization of Thailand, is provided as a courtesy service from SysOp of the Datanet BBS in Bangkok, Khun Samart Sririangkana (samart@nwg.nectec.or.th). Besides, news in English is also occasionally posted to soc.culture.thai by volunteer netters in Thailand. Alternatively, news related to Thailand can be found in the newsgroups clari.news.international.gov and bit.listserv.seasia-l (or the SEASIA-L mailing list) ------------------------------ G.5) Thai shortwave radio programs 1. BBC Thai language - Short wave Radio Broadcasting from London, UK. Time is in Bangkok timezone: 7 hours ahead of GMT, no daylight saving. 6.30-7.00 (morning) 6.08 7.16 11.865 MHz 49 41 25 m 19.30-20.00 (night) 7.16 9.605 11.92 21.59 MHz 41 31 25 13 m 23.15-23.30 (midnight) 6.065 7.105 9.605 MHz 49 41 31 m ------------------------------ G.6) Units of measurement THAI UNITS OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES -----++++O++++----- _____________________________________________________________________________ | Approximately equal to: MEASURE OF LENGTH: | | British | Metric |--------------------|--------------------- 1 kabiet | 3/16 inch | 5 millimeters 4 kabiet = 1 nieu | 3/4 inch | 2 centimeters 12 nieu = 1 keub | 10 inches | 25 centimeters 2 keub = 1 sawk | 1 ft. 7 1/2 ins. | 50 centimeters 4 sawk = 1 wah | 6 ft. 6 1/4 ins. | 2 meters 20 wah = 1 sen | 44 yards | 40 meters 400 sen = 1 yote | 10 miles | 16 kilometers __________________________________|____________________|_____________________ | | MEASURE OF SURFACE: | British | Metric |--------------------|--------------------- 1 sq. wah | 4.78 sq.yards | 4 sq. meters 100 sq. wah = 1 ngan | 478 sq. yards | 400 sq. meters 4 ngan = 1 rai(1 sq.sen) | 2/5 acre | 1,600 sq. meters __________________________________|____________________|_____________________ | | MEASURE OF CAPACITY: | British | Metric |--------------------|--------------------- 1 standard tanan | | 1 litre 20 standard tanan=1 standard sat | | 20 litres 50 standard sat = 1 standard ban | | 1,000 litres 2 standard ban=1 standard kwien | | 2,000 litres __________________________________|____________________|_____________________ | | PADDY AND RICE MEASURE: | British | Metric |--------------------|--------------------- 1 coyan = 16 pikuls paddy | 2,133 1/3 lbs. | 968 kilograms 1 coyan = 22 pikuls cargo rice | 1.31 tons | 1,330 kilograms 1 kwien = 23 pikuls white rice | 1.37 tons | 1,391 kilograms The rice miller's kwien is:- | | 82 baskets of 40 lbs. each | | = 24 pikuls | 1.46 tons | 1,488 kilograms __________________________________|____________________|_____________________ | | WEIGHT: | British | Metric |--------------------|--------------------- 1 baht (tical) | 1/2 oz.(AVDP) | 15 grams 4 baht = 1 tamlung | 2 1/10 oz. (AVDP) | 60 grams 20 tamlung = 1 chang (kati) | 2 5/8 lbs. (AVDP) | 1.2 kilograms 50 chang = 1 hap (pikul) | 133 1/3 lbs.(AVDP) | 60 kilograms __________________________________|____________________|_____________________ ------------------------------ G.7) Holidays From: somsak@nwg.nectec.or.th (Somsak Limavongphanee) Date: 31 Dec 1993 18:26:58 +0700 Thailand Holidays 1994 January ======= GB 1 Saturday New Year's Day B 3 Monday Substitution Day February ======== GB 25 Friday Makha Bucha Day April ===== GB 6 Wednesday Chakri Day GB 12-14 Tuesday-Thursday Song-Kran Festival May === B 1 Sunday National Labour Day B 2 Monday Substitution Day GB 5 Thursday Coronation Day G 11 Wednesday Royal Ploughing Ceremony GB 24 Tuesday Wisakha Bucha day July ==== B 1 Friday Midyear Day G 22 Friday Asarnha Bucha Day GB 23 Saturday Buddhist Lent Day B 25 Monday Substitution Day August ======= GB 12 Friday H.M.The Queen's Birthday October ======= GB 23 Sunday Chulalongkorn Day B 24 Monday Substitution Day December ======== GB 5 Monday H.M.The King's Birthday GB 10 Saturday Constitution Day B 12 Monday Substitution Day GB 31 Saturday New Year's Eve ============================================================================= G=For Government Only B=For Bank Only ------------------------------ G.8) Resource (reading) list A compilation of reading lists on various subjects pertaining to Thais, Thai culture and Thailand is accessible from world-wide web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/resource-list.html Original articles are available for anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory /soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/resources. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements The original soc.culture.thai FAQ was proposed, put together and initially maintained by Thanachart Numnonda (thanon@ccu1.auckland.ac.nz). This part of the soc.culture.thai FAQ cannot be completed without information from the following contributors: Alan Dawson (alan.dawson@wov.com) for G.6; C Tantipaibulvut (C.tantipaibulvut@lut.ac.uk) for G.5; Ekkehard Uthke (euthke@siam.muc.de) for X.1; Joy Aswalap (joy@cc1.unt.edu) for G.2 and passing on G.6; Linitda Sooksomstarn (linitda@tlaeng.enet.dec.com) for soc.culture.thai archive in G.3; Somsak Limavongphanee (somsak@nwg.nectec.or.th) for G.7; and Trin Tantsetthi (trin@nwg.nectec.or.th) for G.1, G.2, G.3, G.4 and G.8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive-name: thai/culture Soc-culture-thai-archive-name: culture The "soc.culture.thai Frequently Asked Questions" periodic postings are divided into 6 parts plus an index. Requests for inclusion, correction or update can be made by posting a public message or follow-up to this FAQ. The current release of these FAQs can be fetched by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (or its mirror sites) under directories: /pub/usenet/news.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.culture.thai or accessed via World-wide Web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/master.html The working copy of this FAQ can be accessed by anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory /soc.culture.thai. TABLE OF CONTENTS CULTURE FAQ History and Culture * History and Culture C.1) An introduction to Thai history and culture C.2) Bangkok's full name C.3) Buddhism and Thai culture C.4) Thai buddhism information (new) C.5) Traditional Thai calandar system C.6) Use of "Khun" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CULTURAL INFORMATION (HISTORY/CULTURE) This part provides information on the social sciences fields including history, culture, etc aspects. ------------------------------ C.1) An introduction to Thai history and culture Thai History/Culture at a Glance. -------------------------------- No one really knows when and where the Thai civilization originated. If the current popular theory, that the Thai people have been here in their present location from the very beginning, is correct then the Thai civilization is a very ancient one, as is attested by the various recently unearthed artifacts. The bronze artifacts at Ban Chiang, a small village in Northeastern Thailand for example, have been dated to be as much as 1,000 years older than those of Mesopotamia. Written record of the Thai people started in the 13th Century A.D. when King Ramkamhaeng of Sukhothai Kingdom invented Thai alphabets by an adaptation from Pali, the language used in Buddhist Scriptures. Some scholars, however, contend that a similar script had already been in use in the area long before the supposed invention. Sukhothai's power gradually eroded and was superseded by the Southern principality centering at Sri Ayudhaya. Under the Sri Ayudhaya Kingdom, the Thai people had strengthen their identity both as a unique group of people and as a nation through language, art, culture, trades and warfares with neighboring countries. In 1782, after Sri Ayudhaya was demolished for the second time by the invading Burmese, the capital was relocated briefly at Thonburi and then to Bangkok, where it has survived and prospered up to the present. With the central capital established and the Kingdom's boundary secured from warfare, art, architecture, and culture once again flourish. Trades and contacts with the West also increased dramatically during this period. Thailand's long acquaintance with the West together with her shrewdness in diplomatic maneuvering and her strength had contributed to her being the only country in South/Southeast Asia to have preserved independence through the Colonial Era. Despite her relative small size, Thailand is very diversified. There are many ethnic groups within the country. But in general, there are four major dialects (and hence subcultures) within Thailand: the Central, the North, the Northeast and the South. Thai language in particular is very rich, unique, subtle and poetic. It is no wonder that poem has been an integral part of the Thai culture. Varieties of Thai poems are as many and as tasty as Thai foods. Buddhism has flourished in this area for a long time, as is evidenced by the findings about the Suwannaphumi and the Srivijaya Kingdoms. By the time of the Sukhothai Era, the Thai people had already accepted Theravada Buddhism as their national religion, though sometimes mixed with Hinduistic and animistic beliefs. In the deep South, however, Islam has been the dominant religion. There are roughly 96% Buddhists and 4% Muslims in the Kingdom of Thailand. There has never been an incident of religious or ethnic clash in Thailand, an indication of high toleration among her diversified people. There are about 10% ethnic Chinese in the Kingdom -- The result of years of migration to escape poverty and famines from mainland China. Inter-marriage, similarity in religious beliefs and high toleration on both sides have all contributed to the peaceful co-existence of the Chinese and the mainstream Thais, so much so that both sides seem to completely forget about their differences. It is safe to assume that the second and later generation Chinese think and act like Thais and that they love Thailand and are proud to be Thais. The traditional Thai ways of life have also been modified to some extent by those of the Chinese, especially in the urban area. Absolute Monarchy system was abolished by a bloodless coup d'etat in 1932 and a Constitution Monarchy form of government was established. Since then, Thailand has been struggling with the Western ideal of democracy and economy; many coup d'etats had alternated with elected civilian governments. The past 60 years have seen the Thai people tried to reshape their country to survive and to be respected in the world community. Through all this, the ancient ways of life have still largely been preserved as is attested by: the famous Thai smiles, the serene Buddhist monks walking their alms rounds in early morning, the water-throwing festival in April, the respect for the elderly, the graceful Thai manner, Thai classical music and dances, etc. Let's hope that Thailand will continue to be unique in her evolution path so that she can faithfully do her parts in enhancing lives on this planet earth. ------------------------------ C.2) Full name of Bangkok According to the Committee for Rattanakosin Bicentennial Celebration to Commemorate the Rattanakosin Bicentennial who author the book, Phra^ma^haa+ka'sad' nay-phra^bOO-rom-chak'krii-wong- kab'pra'chaa-chon-, or THE CHAKRI MONARCHS AND THE THAI PEOPLE: A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP, the English title as given by the authors themselves, after King Rama I, took throne on April 6, 1782, his first task was to find the new site for the capital city. He didn't not want to continue using Thon-bu'rii- as the capital citing the fact that as the wall of the city was on jaaw"phra^yaa- River which could be hard to defend in time of war. Besides, Thon-bu'rii- was in the bottom of the River's curve and the land on its bank eroded. The palace itself was constrainted by two wats: wat^a'run- and wat^thaay^ta'laad'. He believed the other side of the River was better as the city would be situated on the top of the curve. The River itself could serve as a natural kuu-muang- on the western side. On the eastern side, a kuu-muang- (man-made water reservoir created to protect the enemy) could be easily dug. The site was at the time occupied by the Chinese who then were relocated to the new site between Kloong-wat^saam+plUm" and Kloong-wat^sam+pheng-. On Sunday of the sixth month, khUn"sip'kam" (the 10th day of the rising moon period), at 15 minutes after midnight, the City's pillar was erected. The date is translated to the western calandar as April 21, 1782. The new city was named by King Rama I as: "...Krung-theb^ma"haa+na"kOOn- bOO-wOOn-rat"ta'na"ko-sin+ ma"hin+tha"raa-yut^tha^yaa- ma"haa+di'lok'pob^ nob^rat^ta'na^raat"cha^thaa-nii-buu-rii-rom- u'dom-raat"cha^ni^weet^ma"haa+sa'thaan+ a'mOOn-maan-a'wa^taan-sa'thid' sak'ka'thad"ti'ya"wid^sa'nu^kam-pra'sit'..." King Rama IV (Kung Mongkut) had the term bOO-wOON- changed to a'mOOn- as the name now appears. King Rama I ordered a canal to be dug connecting to the River at Baang-lam-phuu- on the northern side and at wat^saam+plUm" on the southern side. Then wall was built along the canal inner side for more than 7 kilometers. Along this wall, there were 14 forts. Within this wall, the Grand Palace was constructed. There were many halls and a wat, wat^phra^sii+rad"ta'na^saad'sa'daa-raam- (wat phra^kAAw"). The palace was cosmologically designed to be the center of the new city. From the name one could see the term a'yut^tha^yaa- which was from, as was that of krung-sii-a'yud^tha^yaa-, the former capital, the legendary a'yoo-tha^yaa- where the Rama was born, as appeared in the Ramayana (or Raam-ma"kian- ...its Thai version). The canal is actually two klongs attached to each other in the inland at pOOm^phra^kaan- (phra^kaan- Fort). The northern one is klOOng-baang-lam-phuu- and the southern one is klOOng-ong'aang'. (ibid, pp. 20-27) Speaking about the cosmology of Thai kingship, Tambiah, a Harvard anthropologist, writes a book in which the term "galactic polity" is used to typify the nature of Thai kingship. The king was concieved as the reincarnation of Naa-raay- or Phra^raam- whose duty was to get rid of the evils. The god stays at the top of phra^su'mee-ru". No wonder, the roof of the palace halls often are in mountain-liked shape (with its pointy top). The throns where the king sits is typically characterized by legendary domains, namely oceans (naa-kaa-...big snake), forest (singha...big lion) and sky (krut".. or garuda as called by Indonesian...the half-man-half-bird being). The su'mee-ru" is surrounded by seven oceans, the Himmapan, and high up in the sky. These mythical animals also appears in the royal river procession (kra'buan-pa"yu^ha'yaad^traa-). Thai kingship is regarded as tham-ma^raa-chaa- as compared to thee-wa^raa- chaa- of Khmer. However, architects of the kingship have not been reluctant to add elements that draw the institution closer to the thee-wa^raa-chaa-. For those who are not familiar with these terms, please note that the former one is referred to the system that the king is to balance between being the warrior and the religious figure. The latter is closer to the Brahminism as the king belong to ka'sat' caste and the Brahm belong the the Brahm caste. The ambition to compromise between the warrior (who kills, and hungers for power) and the religious being (who does not kill and less attached to the worldly materials) is not an easy job. The attempt is seen in symbolic form. The King could be regarded as phra^buddha'chaaw"luang+ (King Rama V). At the end of Sukhothai period, the kings leaned toward the notion of tham-ma^raa-chaa-. One of the kings even had his named representing the idea, e.g. phra^tham-ma^raa-chaa-li"thay-. Tambiah argues that unlike thee-wa^raa-chaa-, the tham-ma^raa-chaa- tends to be weak and will finally lost the interest in conquering the world. ------------------------------ C.3) Buddhism and Thai culture Orthodox Buddhism According to Me --------------------------------- Canonical Buddhism has often been explained in terms of the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-fold Noble Path. It can also be explained in terms of The Dependent Origination Theory or the Three Characteristics or other unorthodox ways. I will now summarize basic Buddhism as I know it, using the Three Characteristic approach. Central to buddhism is the concept of Three Characteristics (Trilaxana) which proposes that all composite things (matter or mind, i.e. everything excluding Nirvana) are: 1. Impermanent (anicca) 2. Of suffering/unsatisfactory nature (Dukkha) 3. Without Self entity/Empty (Anatta/Sunyata) (1) is by now almost universal in the scientific world. But sciences only address the materialistic part of things whereas Buddhism claims anicca in the mental world as well. Implicit in this is also that there is no (permanent) soul in Buddhism. (2) is a corollary of (1). If things are changing every moment then they are not as they appear to be (permanent) , thus they are unsatisfactory by nature. Both material and mental entities change continually according to causes and conditions. This is buddhist's objective way of looking at things as they are; it's not pessimistic nor optimistic. If one doesn't see 'sufferings' in all these changing conditions of things then one is not mentally suit to be a buddhist. To see 'sufferings', however, does not mean that one has to feel suffered for that. A true buddhist will enjoy life in a much more objective way than others because s-he realizes that happiness itself is the result of interplays of causes and conditions which are bound to change over time. Suffering will definitely ensue if one does not understand the ever changing nature of causes and conditions of happiness. (3) is unique to Buddhism and is very difficult to understand. There are two types of Emptiness: Ontological and Psychological. Buddhism claims that a thing cannot exist INHERENTLY by its own self. Its existence depends on the existences of other things, ad infinitum. In other words, there is no permanent, pure element as a basis for the existence of anything. Things exist because of the inter-dependency on one another. This is the basic argument behind 'ontological Emptiness'. It should be clear now that Emptiness in Buddhism is not 'nothingness.' In fact, Emptiness means All and Everything being co-dependent, co-arising. On the coarsest level, one can argue that material thing exists only if mind exists first. Material is thus dependent on mind. Mind is also dependent on its own self. Some buddhists refer to the primordial Truth as 'the original mind.' This is simply a mind devoid of all attachments, which is often regarded as the 'core' of a living entity or 'Buddha nature'; but this is just a way of language and should not be confused with Self or Atman in Hinduism for even the Buddha nature is also Empty. It should not be too hard to imagine that this core is interacting with the outside world through the brain, and that it is partially conditioned by the brain itself. To discover the state of the original mind then (certain functions of) the brain must be bypassed initially so that it will be able to correct itself (of wrong views) in the end. Only when certain portions of the brain is bypassed can the mind perform its task OBJECTIVELY to realize the Three Characteristics. [Note: This paragraph is purely author's own speculation.] The second type of Emptiness is psychological; this one is more important than ontological Emptiness and is more relevant to Buddhism. Psychological Emptiness is the state of the mind Empty of all attachments to all dualistic thinkings. In fact, Buddhism asserts that all human's sufferings are due to attachments to dualistic thinking. After all, it is the discriminating mind that tell us that things are impermanent and of suffering nature. An enlightened buddhist is said to not attach even to the Ultimate Truth which s-he attained. To be permanently Empty is to attain buddhist enlightenment (Nibbana, Nirvana). Buddhist values wisdom so much that the pure form of which is said to be the one that drives an enlightened buddhist. The wisdom uses all the dualistic thinking to its advantage without being attached to them in the same manner as the lotus plant deriving its existence from the water in which it embeds , without being wetted by it. To work with an Empty mind should be the most productive and creative way to work. It is the mind who attains Nirvana. Both the mind and Nirvana are Empty. It cannot be said whether a enlightened person exist or not-exist after the physical death, because that state transcends all dualities. For the sake of discussion, Nirvana can be termed 'Cessation Element' (Nirodha Dhatu). Buddhadasa had explained the state of Cessation Element and the rest very succinctly in terms of controllability. He said that all things are uncontrollable because they lack any 'Self' entity to be controlled. The mundane elements are uncontrollable because they change along according to their causes and conditions which also are uncontroll- able. The supreme element (i.e. Cessation Element) is also uncontrollable because it is BEYOND causes and conditions. Some evolved schools of Hinduism (e.g. Vedanta) is now very similar to Buddhism in both the practice and the philosophy; the only major difference seems to lie on this final state. Hinduism claims that the state of purified mind is the enlightenment and that the mind enjoy eternal bliss by becoming one with the Ultimate Reality known by various names such as Param-Atman and Brahman. Buddhism claims no attachment even to this state of bliss. Buddhist does not claim to be attached to the non-attachment state either. As Buddhadasa once said: All the 84,000 discourses of the Buddha can be summarized into one sentence: Do not attach in ANYTHING. There has been a lot of confusions about Kamma (action) and rebirth in Buddhism. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a noted Thai buddhist monk whom many including myself believe to be a buddha, mentioned that Buddha Gotama (the historical Buddha) never taught about physical rebirth. Rebirth in Buddhism means instant mental rebirth due to craving and attachment. The fruit of Kamma (Vibahk or reaction) in Buddhism is also instantaneous , at the same moment as when the Kamma (action) is done. Buddhist should do kammas that will end all kammas so that there will be no 'rebirth' which is the basis for sufferings. We should not be too obsessive with the long-range kammas (especially the after-death ones) for they are at best uncertain and depend on other interfering factors. Instantaneous kammas is exactly action = reaction and is completely relevant to the Buddhist's Art of Living at the present moment. The buddhist way of attaining Nirvana is to 'observe mental phenomena.' We should try to be objective with our own mind and observe how do our mind interacts with the external world and with itself internally to come up with attachment to dualistic thinkings. Bit by bit we will learn to let go of attachments. This process can often be enhanced by right-meditation techniques. Buddhist meditation is nothing but the process of objective observation of the nature of the mind. This process would be efficient only when the mind is calm enough, but not too calm. A naturally calm person thus has no need to go through all the formal technique of meditation. Meditative observation should ideally be done at every opportunity, even when answering the calls of nature. Logical reasoning alone is not good enough but it is the initial kamma needed to develop trust so that more insights can be gained through the practice. Buddhism does not concern itself with metaphysics and cosmology. All Buddhism cares about is how to live a life at the present moment as free from sufferings as much as possible. As such, Buddhism can be regarded as 'The Art of Living.' Buddhism can also be viewed from a short statement by the Buddha: "To avoid evil deeds, To perform good deeds, To purify the mind." To do good deeds alone is not good enough. The mind should also be purified so that it does not attach even to good deeds or whatever. In practice, however, Buddhism is not as pure as it should be. People often 'accumulate' meritorious deeds in a spiritualistically materialistic fashion. This practice is implicitly tolerated so that less spiritually advanced people will not go astray. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hatred is possible only if there is love, and vice versa. ----------------------------------------------------------------tawit ------------------------------ C.4) Thai buddhism information Partial list of Buddhism monasteries in the United States is available for anonymous FTP from: ftp.nectec.or.th:/soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/buddhism The list is maintained by Sorrayut Ratanapojnard (asia@minerva.cis.yale.edu). List of meditation center in Thailand from the DharmaNet International is available for anonymous ftp from: ftp.netcom.com:/pub/dharma/Buddhism/Theravada/thai_93.zip and ftp.nectec.or.th/pub/mirrors/dharma/Buddhism/Theravada/thai_93.zip ------------------------------ C.5) Traditional Thai Calendar System PROLOGUE: This writing came out of a need to understand Thai calendar to explain to a foreigner. I must state that I am not an expert in this matter but it turns out that many Thais that I asked did not know much about their own traditional calendar system either. So this writing may be more beneficial to a Thai than to a foreigner. This material is intended only to introduce the traditional Thai calendar concept to readers. There are many other aspects of temporal information used in Thai language. Many other time keeping terms such as "Moang", "Yam", "Toom", "Tee", or short- term time keeping such as "Yok" (based on coconut water clock) are not covered here because I am not qualified to discuss them in linguistics terms. Please help correct any errors you find, especially in the spellings of Thai and Pali/Sanskrit words. Rom Hiranpruk Department of Computer Science Faculty of Science, Ramkhamhaeng University August 1993 THAI CALENDAR SYSTEM ==================== Rom Hiranpruk compiled and translated from: 1. Siam Almanac 2529, Siam Bann Ltd., Bangkok, 1986. 2. Kloy Songbandhit, One Hundred Year Calendar, Silpabannakarn Publishing, 1960. 3. So Sethaputra, New Model Thai-English Dictionary, So Sethaputra Press, 1965. 4. Royal Academy, Thai Dictionary, Aksorncharoentasana Press, 1988. THAI NAGASATRA (Thai Year Names) There are twelve Year Names in Thai: Chuad (Rat), Chalu (Bull), Khal (Tiger), Toa (Hare), Maroang (Big Snake), Maseng (Little Snake), Mamia (Horse), Mamaae (Goat), Wog (Monkey), Raga (Rooster), Jau (Dog), Goon (Pig). These names cover twelve-year cycle but can be extended to cover one-hundred-and-twenty-year cycle by adding a counter suffix after the name: ek (one), to (two), tri (three), jatawa (four), benja (five), cho (six), satawa (seven), attha (eight), noppa (nine), samriti (ten). Then add the word Sok (year). For example, Pi Chuad To Sok is the second Chuad year in the 120-year cycle. THAI CHANTARAKATI CALENDAR (Lunar Calendar) Chantarakati is the way to keep dates by using the Moon's orbital cycle around the Earth. Each cycle is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes. Chantarakati month is therefore 30 days or 29 days alternately for the whole year. Each month begins on Wan Kuen Nueng Kham (first day of the waxing moon). Wan Kuen Sib Ha Kham (day of the full moon) is the middle of the month. Wan Dub is last day of the month which is either Wan Ram 15 Kham or Wan Ram 14 Kham depending on whether that month has 30 or 29 days. Because each month is 30 or 29 days long, the Lunar-year days will be shorter by about 12 days than the actual time the Earth circles the Sun. To be synchronous with the seasonal changes, every two or three years another month is added to Duen Pad (the Eighth month) and called Duen Pad Lung (the latter Eighth month). Such year with two Duen Pads is called ATHIKAMAS. The Chantarakati months are named from one to twelve: ai (one), yi (two), sam (three), si (four), ha (five), hok (six), jed (seven), pad (eight), kao (nine), sib (ten), sib-ed (eleven), sib-song (twelve). The first month on Prokatimas year (ordinary year) falls in November but in Athikamas year (year with two Duen Pad's) it falls in December. Chantarakati date is stated by the moon-position/lunar-month- name/year-name, for example: Kuen Sib Kham/Duen Sib-ed/Pi Mamia Cho Sok which is 7th October B.E. 2497. If the day is not provided, finding the day in this dating system requires a calendar table. Furthermore, to compensate for the still missing days, every 4 or 5 years another day is added to Duen Jed (the Seventh Month) to make it a 30-day month. This added day is called ATHIKAWARA and cannot occur on Athikamas year. THAI CALENDAR TERMINOLOGY SURIYAKATI: The date system based on solar year which is currently the international date system based on Gregorian Calendar with January 1st as the first day of year. Thailand adopted the solar calendar officially during the reign of King Rama V in B.E. 2431 using April 1 as the first day of year. In B.E. 2483 the government of Field Marshall Pibulsongkram changed the first day of year to January 1, therefore B.E. 2431 and B.E. 2483 are shorter than usual. WAN DUB: Last day of a lunar month which is Wan Ram Sib-ha (15) Kham, or Wan Ram Sib-si (14) kham depending on whether that lunar month has 30 or 29 days. WAN PHEN: Day of the full moon. WAN PHRA: Buddhist holy day which falls on the 8th, 15th, 23rd, and 29th or 30th day of the lunar month. This is a day of special observance of the Sela and contemplation of Dhamma for Buddhists. Wan Phra occurs 4 times a month on: Wan Kuen Pad (8) Kham, Wan Kuen Sib-ha (15) Kham (Full moon), Wan Ram Pad Kham, and Wan Dub (last day of the lunar month). WAN GHONE: Day that monks shave which is one day before each Wan Phra. WAN UBOSOTH: Day of the full moon and last day of the lunar month (Wan Phen and Wan Dub) when monks recite Phra Patimokha and Buddhists laypeople observe Ubosoth Sela (the 8 precepts). SONGKRAN: The day when the sun enters Aries; reckoned according to the Old Indian Solar Calendar to fall on April 13 through 15. WARA: Day of the week named by counting Sunday as 1, Monday as 2, and so on. KANG KUEN: (KUEN) The waxing moon; the period from new moon to full moon. KANG RAM: (RAM) The waning moon; the period from full moon to new moon. PROKATIMAS: Ordinary month, ie. not the extra month (second Duen Pad). Year with Prokatimas has just 12 months. PROKATIWARA: Ordinary day, ie. not the extra day added to Duen Jed. Year with Prokatiwara has 29 days in Duen Jed. PROKATISURATIN: Ordianary February with 28 days. ATHIKAMAS: Extra lunar month added as the second Duen Pad to keep lunar year in synchrony with the solar year. Lunar year with Athikamas has 13 months and occur every 2 or 3 years. ATHIKAWARA: Extra day added to Duen Jed to compensate for the missing hours each year. Lunar year with Athikawara has 30 days in Duen Jed and occur every 4 or 5 years (not in Athikamas year). ATHIKASURATIN: February with 29 days to compensate for the missing hours each year in solar year. Year with Athikasuratin (leap year) occurs every 4 years, except in the last year of the A.D. century that is not divisible by 400, ie. A.D. 2000 would be an Athikasuratin year but A.D.2100 is not. BUDDHIST ERA (B.E.): The year of the passing of Lord Buddha is counted as B.E. 1. Therefore the new year is Wan Ram nueng Kham, Duen hok, the day AFTER Visakapuja Day. King Rama V changed the new year day to April 1 starting after March 31, 2431. Later the new year was changed to January 1 starting after December 31, 2483. ANNO DOMINI (A.D.): The year of the birth of Jesus Christ is counted as A.D. 1. (A.D. is B.E. minus 543) MAHASAKARAJ: A solar calendar that began in the victory year in the reign of an Indian king in the SAKA dynasty. The new year is the day the Sun enter Aries, called Songkran. (Mahasakaraj is B.E. minus 621) JULASAKARAJ: A lunar calendar started by a Burmese king. The new year is on Kuen Nueng Kham, Duen Ha. But the year count is still at Songkran as in Mahasakaraj. (Julasakaraj is B.E. minus 1181) RATANAKOSINSOK: A solar calendar decreed by King Rama V, counting the first year of establishing Bangkok as the Capital as R.S. 1. April 1, is the new year day starting after March 31, 2431. This calendar was abolished by King Rama VI. (Ratanakosinsok is B.E. minus 2324) WESTERN CALENDAR: A solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45.68 seconds. This is the time it takes for the Earth to circle the Sun. This calendar system keeps the season in step with the months. There are two major western calendar developments. JULIAN CALENDAR: Julius Caesar improved the older lunar calendar which has gone three months out of step with the actual season. Julius Caesar decreed a year with 365 days and every 4 years a day is added to February to make it 30 days. This system began in B.E. 497. The new year is on January 1. Each month has alternately 31 and 30 days except February with 29 days. Roman Emperor Augustus further adapted the Egyptian lunar calendar to the Julian calendar and reduce February to 28 days. The removed day is added to the month now called "August" to make it 31 days instead of 30 days. Although Julian calendar is practical, it is not accurate enough with 365.2 days a year. The errors will accumulate to about 1 day every 128 years. GREGORIAN CALENDAR: In B.E. 2125, Pope Gregory 33rd of Rome improved upon the Julian calendar the rule to provide for leap year every four years except at the of the century A.D. that is not divisible by 400. This means that A.D. such as 1600, and 2000 are leap years where 1700 and 2100 is not. This system is a lot more accurate with each year averaging 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds which is only about 23 seconds off per year. It takes 3,323 years to be off by 1 day. Gregorian calendar was used from October 5, B.E. 2125 onward. The date was compensated for past errors to be October 15, B.E. 2125. It is the current internationally accepted calendar system. ------------------------------ C.6) Use of "Khun" From: Samart Srijumnong [...] To me, the word [Khun] could be used in both informal and formal discourse. The term itself does not serve as a device to hint any gesture of attitude, positive or negative about the person addressed to, either. I used this honorific with you for at least one reason. I have not yet known you in details. I don't know if you are older or younger than me. I don't know you social status, nor your education. I don't know what kind of job you have and in what position. All these unknown conditions about you makes it easy for me to use the honorific term. It is safe for me as a speaker. If I am having a direct conversation with someone who I have known for some time, e.g. Khun Tawit, I would not address him as Khun either. Now I am using Khun with his name as a third person referring to by this very discussion. It also depends. If this discussion is of an academic one, I would not need to have any honorific for him. I could simply go ahead referring to him by just his name (first and last in Thai materials). The term Khun is originally a title given to anyone by the court. The person with Khun title will be entitled to hoard land up to a certain rai (500?) Later this usage has changed. It is now given to single woman who is entitled by the court as in the level equivalent to that of Khun Ying+ (probably equivalent as that of Lady of the English Court) except that Khun Ying+ is used with a woman who is married. Khun is used with anybody but if the person is known to have other kind of title, e.g. aa-jaan (a teacher), mOO+ (a doctor), aa-sia' (an affluent and powerful ethnic Chinese merchant), muad' (a police or military man of captain level), such title could be used instead to show a bit specific reference to the person. Many Thais like to use sibling term to call others, e.g. Phii (older brother or sister). Strangely enough, however, nOOng^ (younger brother or sister) is not often used except in the North, it is used with a waiter (or waitress). When the context of kinship arises, to use Khun as an honorific seems to give a hint that the speaker likes to keep distance between him and the intended hearer. I remember my sister, who normally called her husband with phrase like phOO"ai"tung+ (father of Tung, their son), used Khun when they began some fight. Hence, using Khun does not always suggests close relationship. Please note that the above description is of my own interpretation. I have not consulted any linguistic authority which might suggest different connotations for the word. Nonetheless, I believe my usage of the term more or less shares with other Thais. I may be wrong. Anyone? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements The original soc.culture.thai FAQ was proposed, put together and initially maintained by Thanachart Numnonda (thanon@ccu1.auckland.ac.nz). Sincere gratitudes for valuable contributions from: Joy Aswalap (joy@cc1.unt.edu) for passing on C.5; Rom Hirunpruk (rom@ipied.tu.ac.th) for C.5; Samart Srijumnong (ssg9328@ucx.cso.uiuc.edu) for C.1, C.2 and C.6; Tawit Chitsomboon (fstawit@marge.lerc.nasa.gov) for C.1 and C.3; and Trin Tantsetthi (trin@nwg.nectec.or.th) for C.4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj : soc.culture.thai Languag Archive-name: thai/language Soc-culture-thai-archive-name: language The "soc.culture.thai Frequently Asked Questions" periodic postings are divided into 6 parts plus an index. Requests for inclusion, correction or update can be made by posting a public message or follow-up to this FAQ. The current release of these FAQs can be fetched by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (or its mirror sites) under directories: /pub/usenet/news.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.culture.thai or accessed via World-wide Web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/master.html The working copy of this FAQ can be accessed by anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory /soc.culture.thai. TABLE OF CONTENTS LANGUAGE FAQ Language and linguistics information * Language L.1) The de facto Thai transcription scheme for soc.culture.thai L.2) Learning Thai abroad L.3) Learning Thai in Thailand L.4) Poetry L.5) The word "farang" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LANGUAGE FAQ This part describes information on language and linguistics. ------------------------------ L.1) The de facto transcription scheme for soc.culture.thai The transcription scheme was put together by Khun Wirote Aroonmanakun (waroonma@guvax.georgetown.edu) with great input from many SCT folks, notably a consonant table from Khun Rob Reed (rreed@mtwire.es.com) and a vowel table from Khun Parames Laosinchai (CHLBB@CUNYVM.BITNET). 44 CONSONANTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ k kh kh kh kh kh ng j ch ch s ch y d t th th th n d t th th th n b p ph f ph f ph m y r l w s s s h l ? h Final Sounds ~~~~~~~~~~~~ k t p ng n m y w Tone Markers ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - for normal tone / 0 ' for low tone / 1 " for falling tone / 2 ^ for high tone / 3 + for rising tone / 4 Basic.Vowels ~~~~~~~~~~~~ a as in ka' (estimate) aa as in kaa- (crow) i as in ti' (blame) ii as in tii- (hit) U as in ?U' (shit) UU as in mUU- (hand) u as in du' (scold) uu as in duu- (look) e as in te' (kick) ee as in thee- (pour) A as in lA^ (and) AA as in lAA- (look) o as in to^ (table) oo as in to- (big) O as in kO" (island) OO as in rOO- (wait) E as in lE^ (dirty) EE as in rEE- (Belch) Compound Vowels ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ua as in yua^ (angry) uaa as in tuaa- (body) ia as in pria^ (tight) iaa as in miaa- (wife) Ua (no example) Uaa as in rUaa- (ship) Excess Vowels (sa'ra'kEEn-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ay or ai as in nay- or nai- (in) aw or au as in daw- or dau- (guess) ------------------------------ L.2) Learning Thai abroad From: ttabtien@cs.uml.edu (Thinakorn Tabtieng) Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 16:45:30 -0500 Apart from going to Thailand to study thai, you can also study it at University of Washington. I know someone who took an intensive program on Thai language called SEASSI (South East Asian Summer Studies Institute) which was held at U of Washington during the summer. I think the university also offers Thai courses during the regular semesters as well. Anyway, here is some basics about Thai language which you may find useful: The Thai language, or Phasa Thai, basically consists of monosyllable words, whose meanings are complete by themselves. Its alphabet was created by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great in 1283 by modelling it on the ancient Indian alphabets of Sanskrit and Pali through the medium of old Khmer characters. After a history of over 700 years, the Thai alphabet today comprises 44 letters (including 2 obsolete ones), representing 20 consonant phonemes, and 15 vowel signs, denoting 22 vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs. As Thai is a tonal language with five different tones, it often confuses foreigners who are unused to this kind of language. For example, they have difficulty in distinguishing these 3 words from each other -- * Suea (with rising tone) which means tiger in english * Suea (with low tone) which means mat in English * Suea (with falling tone) which means clothes in English Like most languages of the world, the Thai language is a complicated mixture of several sources. Many Thai words used today were derived from Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer, Malayan, English, and Chinese. From: BMF50752@vax1.utulsa.edu (Matt Barney) Date: 20 Dec 1993 17:47:10 -0600 Suwasdee Krap I am going to be attending the South-East Asian Studies Summer (SEASSI) Institue's program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this summer. About SEASSI: * Fellowships are available for both tuition and stipend * Cost to non fellows: $1600.00 U.S. dollars * Dates Held: June 13, 1994 to August 12, 1994. This is intensive study for Thai, and many other S-E Asian languages that equivalealent to 2 full semesters of learning. Teive an application call or write: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4115 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. , Madison, WI 53706; internet: seasian@macc.wisc.edu From: aatzert@mail.sas.upenn.edu (Andrew Atzert) Date: 16 Dec 1993 13:27:16 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania, School of Arts and Sciences There are Thai language tapes produced by the U.S. government (the Foreign Service Institute). They're old, use an outmoded methodology, and don't (I'm told) reflect many changes that have occurred with Thai since the 60's, when the tapes were produced. They also do not cover the Thai writing system, using transcription instead. Nonetheless, I and others have found them useful as a supplement to other means of study. There are two levels available, with about twenty tapes each; they sell for about $140.00 a set. They can be ordered from: The National AudioVisual Center 8700 Edgeworth Drive Capitol Heights, MD 20743-3701 Phone: 800-638-1300 Fax: 301-763-6025 As for the writing system, you might try getting hold of two volumes by William Kuo: "A Workbook for Writing Thai" and (if I remember correctly) "Teaching Grammar of Thai." They're available from: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 From: pbarber@eskimo.com (Putnam Barber) Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 12:53:18 GMT The Seattle Public Library has two 20-cassette sets called "Basic Thai" and created by the Foreign Service Institute. Each comes with a text that reproduces and extends what's on the tapes. Mary Haas, "Thai Reader", is a progressive introduction to written Thai that can be used by a student working alone. It comes from Spoken Language Services, PO Box 783, Ithaca, NY 14850. She is also the author of "Thai-English Student's Dictionary", Stanford. After getting myself to the point where I could pretty much find things in Haas' dictionary (not always a straightforward task, as spelling is sometimes flexible), I got a lot out of struggling with a book on how to learn English that seems to be aimed at a non-academic reader. I won't try to transliterate the title. In English it's "How to Learn English in 75 Hours" by Manit Manitcharoen. An 'hour' turns out to be a chapter, and there are 75 of them.... Using the dictionary, it took me longer than an hour to read through a chapter, but it was useful and interesting to see how familiar quirks of the English language are explained in terms of Thai examples. I suspect it would be a 'challenge' to get this book in North America. It does have an ISBN in it, so you could try: 974 245 413 2. That's just about the only English outside of the examples. Speaking of transliteration, the FSI "Basic Thai" books do not use the Thai written language at all (!). Instead, they depend on a careful transliteration scheme that seems to be all their own and which I found as hard to learn as Thai writing (and +much+ less useful -- they don't publish any newspapers or magazines for the general reader :-) ). There are also numerous publications and tapes from AUA's language school in Bangkok. The copies at the Seattle Public Library were only intermittantly on the shelf, and vol. I was +never+ there for me to sample it to see if I wanted to launch myself on their self-study programs. I have listened to a couple of their tapes (courtesy of the Univ. of Washington language lab); they were very methodical and clear, even without the texts. There are probably many University Thai courses around. I know that UW has one, because there are texts in the bookstore at the start of every semester and lots of tapes available at the lab. I don't know anything about the program. Write for info to UW, Seattle, WA 98195. There are at least two non-profit language training centers in Seattle that offer lessons in Thai in their catalogs. I've never been to one, but it seems like a good idea (and now that I'm heading back to Thailand -- today! -- I wish I had). ------------------------------ L.3) Learning Thai in Thailand From: hopperl@ohsu.edu (Lee Hopper (Portland,OR)) Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 14:38:03 GMT Lonely Planet Thailand Travel/Survival Kit 10/92: "Chulalongkorn U. in Bangkok, the most prestigious university in Thailand, offers an intensive Thai studies course called 'Perspectives on Thailand'. The four-week program includes classes in Thai language, culture, history, politics and economics. Classes meet six hours a day, six days a week and are offered twice a year: January and July. Sutdents who have taken the course say they have found the quality of instructioin excellend. Tuition is US $1000..." Have any readers tried this? Any advice on learning Thai in Thailand? Thanks! From: ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Samart Srijumnong) Date: 2 Mar 1994 05:54:10 GMT [Chiangmai University] has at least two collaborated programs with the US institutions: one is U of Wisconsin via College Year in Thailand Program (CYIT), and, the St.Olaf College, Minnesota. The first one recruits students from any college in the US. The students will stay one year in Chiangmai studying Thai language, history, culture and people. They get some academic credits from that. The latter program takes only on semester. It is designed specially for the St.Olaf College students. In both program, [Chiangmai] faculty members have help them learn Thai via their facilities at the Humanities Faculty there. I don't have any independent source of evaluation to rate them. Faculty of Education, Division of Teaching Thai, had(s?) provided cooperation to a Korean university (....some kind of U of Foreign Affairs) whose Thai-studies students come to stay in Chiangmai for a semester and learn solely Thai language. As far as other provincial universities are concerned, my adviser was in the Thai language program at Kon Kaen University. I don't know much about it. My advisor said it was good. As for Chiangmai, would you want to contact a friend of mine, Khun Steve? He is Ajaan Sompong Witayasakpan, of Thai Department there at [Chiangmai U]. I have heard he helps carry out Thai language programs there. He was also at the East-West Center of U of Hawaii for some time. His email adress is: sompong@cmu.chiangmai.ac.th . In contacting with him tell him also that it's my suggestion. I believe he should provide you the needed information. ------------------------------ L.4) Poetry From: chomchal@baboon.ecn.purdue.edu (Jaray Chomchalao) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 03:21:53 GMT [...] In fact, Thai poetry is nothing I've seen elsewhere. English poetry, French, Chinese poetry seem trivial when compared to the rhyme and rhythm that are required in Thai poetry. For example, most if not all English and Chinese poetry required /sam+pas'nOOk"/, or rhymes between lines. And that's it. Thai, on the other hand. reuires /sam+pas'nai-/ as well as /sam+pas'nOOk"/. This may be because Thai language is richer in choice of words. For example there are at least six ways to say a horse ie, /maa^/, /?aa-cha-/, /?aa-cha-nai-/, /as'sa'dOOn-/, /sin+thop^/, /as'sa-wa^/. The following is an extreme example that best demonstrates the richness of Thai Language. It is a /klOOn 8/ that, when wriiten out in Thai, uses only one syllable to make a meaningful, no-nonesene poem. mUaa"mang"mii-maak"maai-mit^maai+mOOng- mUaa"muaa-mOOng+mit^mOOng-MUaan+Muu+maa+ mUaa"mai"mii-mod'mit^muung"mOOng-maa- mUaa"mOOd"Muuy^mAA^muu+maa+maai"maa-mOOng- (Composed by Unknown) [...] There are five different styles in Thai poetry altogether. You might say six, with the sixth being anything that arenot included in the follwing five: 1) /kloong-/: /kloong-/ is probably one of the most difficult to appreciate, since the rhyme and rhythm are not obvious to beginners. But once you appreciate how difficult to write one, and learn their rhyme and rhythm, they are very beautiful indeed. They come in variety, but with one particular /kloong-/ the most emminent: /kloong-sii'su'paap"/ ex: saai+yud'yud'klin'fung^ yaam-saai+ (/saai+yud'/ [flower] stops its fragance...in late morning) saai+bOO'yud'sa'nee'haai+ haang' saw" ([But] your charm never stops..sad to leave it.) tuk^khUUn-tuk'wan-waai- waang-ta-weet' laa-mAA' ([I'm] Crying the whole night and day through) ta'win+tuk^khuab'kam"chaaw^ yud'daai"chan+dai' ([I] Miss you in the evening, yet in the morning...How could I stop?) (From Lilit Taleng Paai when Maha Upparat was smelling the flowers named /saai+yud'/ and saying that the flowers name means it will stop spreading its scent late in the morning, as opposed to him who never stop thinking of her no matter what time, day or night. He later died fighting against Phra Naresuan, a Thai King. But that's another story.) 2) /chan+/: /chan+/ or /kam-chan+/, or /sa-look'/, is probalby the hiest form of Thai poetry, since besides the common rhyme and rhythm required by all other styles, /chan+/ also requires that words used are in a particular order, such that the particular syllables are accented (/karu^/) and others are non-accented (/lahu'/). There are too many types of /chan+/ to enumerate, but probably the accepted two most beautiful /chan+/'s are /wa^san+ta'di'lok'chan+/ (/chan+/ as beautiful as the blooming season (Spring)) and /in-ta-ra^wi^chian-chan+/ (/chan+/ as beautiful as the Intra's jem: Intra is the most powerful god in the second level of the six-level heaven, the /taaw-wa'ting-sa'/ or /daaw-wa-dUng-/). The following example is my own /chan+/ written in Intrawichian Chan style. Silvery Moon jEd'jan-na^wan-pen- dam-ruu-den'wi^la-wan- (Bright moon on the full moon night...has unique beauty) faa^ngaam-araam'pan' pi^las"ras(sami)^jam-ras'sAAng+ (The sky's suddently beautified...lightened up by the moon shine) naam^khang^kOO"prang"praai- pra^paai-chooy-mi^rooy-rAAng- (Dew dropped sparkingly...as the wind breezingly blew) miang-maan"pra^chan-jAAng" kra'jang'ut'ta^yaan-sruang+ (Peeking face contested those lights in the heavenly park) sak'suung+sa'wet'hong+ duj'ong-rat^cha'nii-duang- (Her sky-high grace...can easily upset the moon) praai-mas"mi^aaj'luang" sup'pa^lak^sa'naa-choom+ (Highly valued gold beauty would not dare to compare hers) yAAm^yim^lAA-prim^pak^ phi^las'lak^khUU-khAA+khoom- (When smiling, her face was brightened up easily matching the moon) yol-yos^la^laan-loom- ra^thuaay-thOOd"rU^thai-thOOn+ (Looking at her beauty only made my body weak, my heart shrunk) yOOb"wan-ta^naa-kaan- wing-waan-rat^cha-nii-kOOn- ([Or I] should knee down, begging this noble woman) oo-phaas"pra'phaa-phOOn- ru^jii-ras^sa'mii+saan+ (saan+=message) (To release her golden and silverly words) saad'sOOng'na^hOOng"hOO+ mi^rang^rOO-hai"luaang"kaan-(time) (Extend to me, at the lonely love place, at this time) jAAng"jaw"ma^tu^maan- ma^na^nAAb"maai+AAb'ai- (....[?]......who had always wanted to be with you) riam-lOOb"ram-luk^nak^ phi^laap"rak^lA'aa-lai- (I had made a lot of thinkings, a lot of sufferring as well) jong-phEEy+pha^jii-khai+ hai"klaay-khOO"thii"khOOng"suaang- (Would you say a word to answer my heart's question?) lUaam-rai^phra^phaai-luaang" raa-trii-jan- ...kra'nan^rUU- ? (.......[?]........................................) 3) /kaab'/: One of the most popular. There are three of them: 3.1 /kaab' cha'bang- 16 (sip'hok')/ because there are 16 syllables in one verse. Ex: khao+suung+phuung+hong+long-riang- rEnag-roong^song^siang+ sam+niang-naa'fang-wang-weng- klaang-pai-kai'khan+ban-leeng- fang-siang+piang-pleeng- sOO-jeng"jam'riang-wiang-wang- yuung-tOOng-rOOng^ka'toong"hong'dang- priang-prong^kloong-ra^khang- trAA-sang+kang-sa'daan-khaan+siang+ (From /muul-la'bot'ban'pa^kit'/, the first Thai book for teaching by Phraya Sri Suntorn Woharn (Noy^ Ajarayangkool)) The rhymes in this example are extreme, since Phraya Noy really demontrated his talent beyond that requires by the Kraab Chanabang structure. 3.2 /kaab' su'raang-ka^naang- 28/. The example I can think of is the one that describes how to compose Surangkanang itself: su'raang-ka^nang- jet'wak^jak'waang- hai"thuuk'wi^thii- wak^nUng'sii'kam- jong-jam-haii"dii- bot'nUng'jUng-mii- yii"sip'pAAd'kam- haak'thang'thOO'pai- sam+pad'throng-nai+ jam-hai"mAAn"yam- kam-thaai^wak^saam+ tid'taam-pra'jam- sam+pad'kab'kam- thaai^bot'thon"lAA- 3.3 /kaab yaanii 11 (sip'et')/: got the name from the fact that there are eleven syllables in one line. The structure, rhyme and rhythm are similar to Intrawichain Chan+ except that there's no accented/unaccented syllabes reuired. The one of the most beautiful Thai Poetry, IMO. Ex: daaw-duaan-kO"luan"lab^ saang+pa'yap^pa'yom-bon- juaan-jAAng"phra^su'ri^yon- ya^yiam"yOOd'yu^khuun-thOOn- som+dej'ha'ri^ya^wong- put^ta^pong-ti^paa-kOOn- sa-dej'long-song+saa+khOOn- kab'phra^lak^a'nu^cha- see+naa-prUd^tha-maat' taam-phra^baat'sdej'kraa- juaan-klaai"ja'thUng+sa+ kha^rees"thii'tha^song+chon- phra^leng-lAA-nEn-saai- thAAb"sUng^saai+cha'lee-yol- Yaw-wa^ruup"a'su'ra^kol- an-klaai-klAAng"pen-sii+daa- ....He further studied the faked Sida. (From Rammakian: when Phra ram saw nang Benjakaai impersonating his wife Sida floating downstream as if drowned) 4) /klOOn-/: There are two major /klOOn-/s around Klon 6 (/klOOn-hok'/) and Klon 8 (/klOOn-pAAd'/) with Klon 8 the most popular form of poetry among all Thai poetry. Ex: 4.1 /klOOn- 6/: So named since there are six syllables in one (what the heck is it called in English) wak^: [....] dAAd'OOn'din-un'krun'klob' tha'la^lob'lom-pAAw'pAAw'naaw+ sod'chUUn"khUUn-wan-naan-yaaw- mUaan+khaaw'kwaam-rak^jak'maa- (By Nawarat Pongpaiboon) 4.2 /klOOn 8/: So named for the same reason: The following example is both beautiful in sound and structure, and elegant in meaning. The guiding light for me, and should be for you as well: The Ultimate Dream kOO+fan+fai'nai-fan+an-lUaa+chUaa' (To dream the impossible dream) kOO+suu"sUk'thuk^mUaa"mai"wan'wai+ (To fight the unfightable foes) kOO+thon-thuk^ruk^room-hoom+kaai-jai- (To bear the unbearable sorrow) kOO+faa'fan-phong+phai-duaay"jai'tanong- (To reach the unreachable far) ja'nAAw"nAA"kAA"khai+nai-sing'pid' (To right the unrightable wrong) ja'rak^chaat"jon-chii-wit^pen-puuy+pong+ (To defend the beloved land till the last breath) ja'yOOm-taai-maai+hai"kiat'dam-rong- (To rather die than to loose dignity) >ja-pid'thOOng-lang+ong-phra^pa'ti'maa- (To do things for others for nothing in return) mai'thOO^thOOy+khOOy-saang"sing'thii"kuaan- (Will not be discouraged but do what should be done) mai'ree-ruaan-pa^waa"pa'wang-khid^kang-kha+ (Will not wasting time doubting) mai'khUang-khAAn^nOOy^jai-nai-chok'cha^taa- (Will not blame anybody for {one's} poor fate) mai'siaa+daai-chii-waa-thaa"sin"pai- (Will not feel bad if life ends) nii'khUU-pa'ni^thaan-thii"haan+mung" (This is my quest) maai+pa'dung-yu^ti'tan-an-sod'sai+ (To establish justice) thUng+thon-thuk^thOO-ra^maan-naan-taw"dai- (Despite on my suffering) yang-man'jai-rak^chaat'ong-aat'khran- (I still persist with pride) look'ma^nut^yOOm'ja'dee-kwaa'nii^nAA" (Then the world would be better than this) prO^mii-puu"mai'yOOm-pAA^mAA^thuuk'yaan+ (As many never give up though being doubted) ja-yUUn-yad'suu"pai-fai'pra'jan' (They have determined to win) yOOm-?a-san+kOO"prO^pOOng....tEd"pOOng+thai-. (And will devote their life for the benefit of other THAIS) (phra^rat'cha^ni^phon- nai-pra^bat'som+dej-phra^ chaaw"yuu'huaa+ phuu-mi'phon-a'dun-ya^dej, rat^cha^kaan-pat'ju'ban-) (Composed by His Majesty The King, King Bhumibhol Adulyadej) Translator's Note: Some sentence above are the recollection of my memory of the song "The Impossible Dream." I have noticed the similarity between the Thai words and those in the song and have come to concluded that though the King composed the song, the person who filled the melody with words was inpired by if not plagiarizing it. I didn't have the whole text of words of the song in hand while attempting this translation. I could only recall some while created my own sentences, the lengthy ones, for the others. 5. /raai"/: Is probably the least structured of all Thai poetry. But don't take that for easy, it's not. I for one never can compose a /raai"/. Too difficult since you have to be a master of Pali and Sanskrit to write one as beautiful as those poets before us did. So maybe this is least structured but the most difficult nonetheless. They come in some variety, with probably the most prominent being /raai"yaaw-/ used to praise the King or a new Capital. One of such well known example is the name of Krung Rattanakosin or Bangkok that many of us got it wrong recently. I'll present another /raai"yaaw-/ praising Ayudthaya, the former Capital of Siam. srii+a'yud^tha'ya-rom-ma'yees- pi^ses'suk'bam-thEEng- sam+rEEng-rat'cha^sa'than+ sam+raan-rat'cha^sa'thit' pi^pit^pok'kha^som+bat' pi^pat^pok'ka^som+buun- phuun-phi^phop^dab'khen+ yen-phi^phop^dab'yuk^ sa'nuk'khan+ta^see+maa- sam'see+naa-nOOb"klaaw" sam'snom+faw"faai'nai- sam'phon-krai-krEEk'haan+ sam'phon-saan+sin+thop- sop'sat'traa-sOOn+plEEng- tha'kEEng-phra^kiat'fung'faa^ rUU-ta'la^lob'lAAng'laa" look'luaan^sdu'dii- ------------------------------ L.5) The word "farang" From: gwyn@ipied.tu.ac.TH (Gwyn Williams) Date: 29 Mar 1994 04:24:21 +1000 ORIGIN OF THE WORD "FARANG" A wide-spread belief in Thailand is that the word "farang" (Caucasian) is derived from the French word "francais". This derivation is implausible on phonetic and historical grounds. It is in fact a popular misconception. It is true, however, that these words have the same ultimate source. The word is attested in various forms in languages in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is clear that the word orginated as "Frank" in Europe and spread eastwards along Muslim trade routes. Thai most likely borrowed the word from influential Muslim Persian or Indian traders in the 17th century or even earlier. The Persian word was "farangg". The term probably was used to refer to early Portuguese traders and subsequently to all Europeans (ie., non-Muslims). It is possible that the Thai word "farangset" ("French") is a blend of the word "farang" and the French word "francais", ie., "farangset" is actually derived from "farang", not vice versa. Certainly, the word "farang" existed prior to, and independently of, "farangset". The following is an edited collection of discussions on the origin of the Thai word "farang". PART 1 includes the initial discussion on soc.culture.thai (PART 1). I forwarded the topic to LINGUIST LIST for information on the word in other languages (PART 2). [Editor's note: Both articles are available for anonymous FTP as files the-word-farang-1.txt and the-word-farang-2.txt from ftp.nectec.or.th from directory /soc.culture.thai/SCTinfo/languages.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements The original soc.culture.thai FAQ was proposed, put together and initially maintained by Thanachart Numnonda (thanon@ccu1.auckland.ac.nz). Sincere appreciations for valuable contributions from: Andrew Atzert (aatzert@mail.sas.upenn.edu) for L.2; Gwyn Williams (gwyn@ipied.tu.ac.th) for L.5; Jaray Chomchalao (chomchal@baboon.ecn.purdue.edu) for L.4; Jessada Jongsukvarakul (jj2k+@andrew.cmu.edu) for correction to L.4; Lee Hopper (hopperl@ohsu.edu) for L.3; Matt Barney (BMF50752@vax1.utulsa.edu) for L.2; Parames Laosinchai (CHLBB@CUNYVM.BITNET) for input to L.1; Putnam Barber (pbarber@eskimo.com) for L.2; Rob Reed (rreed@mtwire.es.com) for input to L.1; Samart Srijumnong (ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) for L.3 and translations of poems in L.4; Thinakorn Tabtieng (ttabtien@cs.uml.edu) for L.2; Unalome Techamuanvivit (cslac2209@bestsd.sdsu.edu) for passing on L.1 and; Wirote Aroonmanakun (waroonma@guvax.georgetown.edu) for L.1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj : soc.culture.thai Travel Archive-name: thai/travel The "soc.culture.thai Frequently Asked Questions" periodic postings are divided into 6 parts plus an index. Requests for inclusion, correction or update can be made by posting a public message or follow-up to this FAQ. The current release of these FAQs can be fetched by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (or its mirror sites) under directories: /pub/usenet/news.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.culture.thai or accessed via World-wide Web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/master.html The working copy of this FAQ can be accessed by anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory /soc.culture.thai. TABLE OF CONTENTS TRAVEL FAQ Tourism and Travel information * Travel information T.1) Royal Thai Embassies T.2) Visa information T.3) Where to get tourist and travel information? T.4) Which credit cards are accepted in Thailand? T.5) Car rental T.6) General observations and recommendations T.7) North T.8) Northeast/Isan T.9) East/Southeast T.10) Alternative accommodation: Bangkok International Airport ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TOURISM AND TRAVEL INFORMATION This part of the soc.culture.thai FAQ outlines information and possible sources of further information pertaining to Thailand tourism and travel information. ------------------------------ T.1) Royal Thai Embassies Below is a list of the Royal Thai Embassies in various countries: Australia 11 Empire Circuit Yarraluma Royal Thai Consulate General Canberra, ACT 2600 3rd Floor, 75-77 Pitt st, Tel (071) 731149 Sydney, NSW 2000 Tel. (071)(02) 241 2542-3 Austria Belgium Weimarer Strasse 68 Square Du Val De La Cambre 2 Vienna 1180, Bruxelles 1050, Tel. (047)(0222) 348361 Tel. (046) 6406810 Canada China 180 Island Park Drive, 40 Guang Hua Lu, Ottawa, Ontario, K1y OA2, Beijing, Tel. (021)(013) 722444 Tel. (085) 5321903 Egypt France 2 E1 Male El Aldal St, 8 Rue Greaze, Zumalet, Cairo, A.R.E. Paris 75116, Tel. (091) 3408356 Tel. (042) 47278079 Germany Botschaft des Koenigreichs Generalkonsulat des Koenigreichs Thailand - Kanzlei Thailand Ubierstr. 65 Podbielskiallee 1 D-53173 Bonn D-14195 Berlin Tel. (0228) 355065/8, 351085 Tel. (030) 8312715, 8314574 Honorargeneralkonsulat des Honorargeneralkonsulat des Koenigreichs Thailand Koenigreichs Thailand Koenigsallee 27 Rossmarkt 14 D-40212 Duesseldorf D-60311 Frankfurt Tel. (0211) 8382247 Tel. (069) 20110 Honorargeneralkonsulat des Honorargeneralkonsulat des Koenigreichs Thailand Koenigreichs Thailand An der ALster 85 Prinzenstr. 13 D-20099 Hamburg D-80639 Muenchen Tel. (040) 24839118 Tel. (089) 1689788 Hongkong India 8 Cotton Tree Dr., 56-N Nyaya Marg, 8th Floor, Fairmont House, Chanakyapuri, Central Hong Kong, New Delhi 110021, Tel. (0802) (5) 216481-5 Tel (081) 605679 Indonesia Japan 74 Jalan Imam Bonjal, 14-6 kami-Osaki, 3-choem, Jarkarta, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141, Tel. (073) 343762 Tel (072) 44-1386 Malaysia New Zealand 206 Jalan Ampany, 2 cook st., Karori, KL 50450, P.O.Box 17-226, Wellington, Tel. (0804)(03)2488222 Tel (074) 768618-9 Netherlands Buitenrustweg 1, Royal Thai Consulate General 2517 KD Den Haag, Emmastraat 40, Tel. (070) 345 2088 1075 HW Amsterdam, Tel (020) 6799916 Norway Saudi Arabia Munkedamsveien 5913, A1 Maa'ther St., 0270 Oslo 2, P.O. Box 94359, Riyadh 11693, Tel. (0495)(01) 4826002 Singapore Sweden 370 Orchard Rd., 5th Floor Sandhamnsgatan 36, Singapore 0923, P.O.Box27065, Stockholm 10251, Tel. (087) 7372158 Tel. (054)(08) 672160 Switzerland UK 3rd Floor, Eigerstrasse 60, 29-30 Queen's Gate, Bern 3007, London, SW 7 5JB, Tel. (045)(031) 462281-2 Tel. (051)(01) 5890173 Switzerland (for french speaking) (for german speaking) Consulat de Thailande Thailaendisches Konsulat R. Jean-Senebier 20 St. Alban-Graben 8 1205 Geneve 4051 Basel Tel. (022) 781 33 66 Tel. (061) 271 68 67 USA 2300 Kalorama Rd, N.W., Royal Thai Consulate General Washington, D.C. 20008, 35 East Wacker Drive, Tel. (0230)(202) 4837200 Suite 1834, Chicago, Tel.(0230)(312) 2362447-8 Royal Thai Consulate General Royal Thai Consulate General 801 N.La Brea Ave., 53 Park Place, Los Angeles, CA 90038, New York, NY 10007, Tel. (0230)(213) 971834-9 Tel. (0230)(212) 7328166-8 Royal Thai Consulate 205 SE Spokane Ave., Suite 350, Portland. OR 97228-5516 Tel. (503) 232-7079 ------------------------------ T.2) Visa information 1. Requirements to obtain visas 1.1 Valid passport. 1.2 One visa application form (duly filled in and signed by applicant). 1.3 Two passport size photographs (color or b&w), 2"X2", front view. 1.4 Visa fees (for each entry) are payable in cash or money order only: Non-Immigrant Visa...................US$ 20, Maximum stay 90 day. Tourist Visa.........................US$ 15, Maximum stay 60 day. Transit Visa.........................US$ 10, Maximum stay 30 day and for transfer to third country only, a photocopy of confirmed onward air ticket must be submitted when applying. 1.5 The following applicants should call the Thai Embassy for additional requirements: a) Holders of US passport or Re-Entry Permits and were born in Cambodia, Vietnam or Loas b) Holders of passport: -People of Republic of China -Middle East Countries -New Zealand and Sweden -Other communist countries 2. Validity of visa for entering Thailand 2.1 Visa will be utilized upon arrival at port of entry 2.2 Visa must be utilized within 90 days from the date of issuance; 6 months in case of 2 or more entries. Note: Do not apply for visa more than 3 months before your visit. 3. Long stay: more than 90 days Applicant must obtain an approval from the Immigration Division in Bangkok, Thailand. Procedures for such a visa can be carried out in 2 ways: a) Applicant may submit the applications through the Royal Thai Embassy or consulate abroad. b) Company and firm in Thailand where alien wishes to work may represent an alien by applying directly to the Immigration Division in Bangkok, Thailand. 4. Exchange control a) To take out foreign notes or coins exceeding US $10,000 in value is permissible provided that the exceeding amount has been declared in writing to the Custom Officer at the time of entry. b) To bring more than Baht 2,000 in Thai currency into the country and to take more than Baht 500 out of the country requires prior approval from the Bank of Thailand. 5. Citizens of the following countries are exempt from paying visa fees Denmark, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden, Singapore and Tunisia 6. Entering Thailand without a visa; no extension will be granted Holder of valid passports from 41 countries listed below with a proof of confirmed onward ticket may enter and stay in Thailand within 15 days without visa Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Burma, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Hellenic Republic, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, U.K., U.S.A., Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Yugoslavia. ------------------------------ T.3) Where to get tourist and travel information? Two Gopher servers are now offering travel information. Gopher.chiangmai.ac.th offers travel information related to northern provinces as well as recent weather forecasts. Gopher.kku.ac.th offers travel information for northeastern (Isan) provinces. In the USA, write to: Thailand (USA,CA) Tourism Authority of Thailand 3440 Wilshire Blvd #1101 Los Angeles, CA 90010 213-382-2353;; FAX 213-389-7544 Thailand (USA,IL) Tourism Authority of Thailand 303 E. Wacker Dr #400 Chicago, IL 60601 312-819-3990;; FAX 312-565-0355 Thailand (USA,NY) Tourism Authority of Thailand 5 World Trade Center #3443 New York, NY 10048 212-432-0433;; FAX 212-912-0920 ------------------------------ T.4) Which credit cards are accepted in Thailand? Here's brief information about the system in Thailand ATM Plus, Star and Cirrus system cards work. It is also possible to get money from Visa, MC, AmEx, JCB, Diners at exchange booths and banks with a fee. Credit Cards Visa, MC, AmEx, JCB, DC at most of the large retail establishments, restaurants, hotels and travel agents. A surcharge of between 3 and 5 percent (sometimes more) is almost universally applied. Traveler's Cheques There is a fee (7 Baht per cheque) and a tax (3 Baht per cheque). Money exchange booths with competitive rates are open at all hours, everywhere. Change money Money exchange booths with competitive rates are open at all hours, everywhere. Every major currency is accepted. Most will not exchange Baht for other currencies. Banks will, but only during regular banking hours. Some banks have an exchange window that is open at other hours. POSTCHEQUES (This info. is kindly provided by Khun Ralf Von Gunten) With POSTCHEQUES one can get money in every post office. With one POSTCHEQUE, one can get up to 5,000 Baths, which is much enough for a while. I used successfully POSTCHEQUES (February 92 and July 92) in small places like Khun Yuam (near Mae Hong Son) and Si Chiang Mai (near Vientiane, Laos). All the small banks there didn't accept my VISA Card or something else. What's better, with POSTCHEQUES: It's free of any charge and the exchange rate is often more favourable. People who wants to use POSTCHEQUES should ask the closest post office. ------------------------------ T.5) Car rental From: goletz@netcom.com (Eddie Goletz) Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 03:15:06 GMT I rented a car when I went to Thailand last September and I used it to drive around the provinces. Car rental is a little expensive, but it is fun and it gives you a great deal of freedom. I think having a car also impressed some of the people I met there. I don't think there were any rental places at the Bangkok airport. I rented through Hertz, and they delivered the car to the airport for me, for a 400 Baht charge. Avis was another company that rents cars there. I made my reservations through their toll free number while in the US. I checked the prices with both Hertz and Avis, and found their prices to be comparable. Rates from the Hertz brochure are: +----------------------------------+ | Self Drive | Self Drive | | Economy Rates | Unlimited Km | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Car Group | Make & Model | Daily | Plus | Daily | | | | per Km | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Super Economy | Mitsubishi Champ 1.3 | 800 | 4 | 1200 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Economy | Toyota Corolla 1.3 | 1000 | 4 | 1400 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Luxury Economy | Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 | 1100 | 4 | 1500 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Medium | Toyota Corona 1.6 | 1200 | 5 | 1600 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------| Luxury Medium | Toyota Corona 2.0 | 1500 | 6 | 2000 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------+ There are also Executive, Super Luxury, Touring and Truck Car Groups and Chauffeur rates as well. [........] Collision Damage Waiver insurance is 150 Baht/day and Personal Accident Insurance is 100 Baht/day. A friend read in a guide book about some rental places that were very cheap, around 500 Baht/day, but that the cars are so old that you spend all your time worrying about the car breaking down. My Hertz brochure states that drivers must be between ages 23 and 60 and have at least one years driving experience, hold a valid driving licence and an international driving permit if the licence is not in English. I read in some guide books that the international driving permit is always required. I don't know if any insurance is required, but I highly recommend it. I found out that the automatic insurance that goes with those gold credit cards is not valid in Thailand. I haven't visited the places you mentioned. I know from experience that in general Thai drivers are comfortable with, shall we say, a lower margin of safety in driving that people in America are used to. I was involved in or close to what looked to me like some close calls. However, I never saw any collisions or even cars with dents in them. I don't remember the rates, but I recall [gasoline rates] were very reasonable, on par with US prices. Manual transmission are the norm. If you want an automatic, be sure to state that this is a requirement when you make your reservation. No maps came with my car, and the airport shop did not have any road maps. I did purchase a road map at a museum on my second day. It was a road map atlas of all of Thailand, written in both English and Thai, published by the Roads Association of Thailand. It cost 150 Baht. The ISBN is 974-7653-31-1. This map was very helpful to me. It also made asking directions much easier because the maps were bilingual. Perhaps you could buy one of these maps by mail before you go. The address and phone number is: Roads Association of Thailand Department of Highways HQ. Si Ayutthaya Rd., Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400 Tel.(02) 246-1971, (02) 246-1122 Ext. 2276 Many of the road signs are in Thai only. Also, the roads are not marked as as well as I am used to here in the US. Highway driving, however, is generally pretty easy. You just can't go very fast. ------------------------------ T.6) General observations and recommendations Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 08:59:01 -0800 (PST) From: Putnam Barber > What's the local currency converted to US dollars? Thai baht are stable at a little over 25 to the US$. > What's the normal price to pay for a room? In Thailand, rooms can range from 60 baht to several thousand. The key variables are (1) air-con or not, (2) bathroom (and style thereof) or not. We have had the best luck staying in 20+ year-old poured concrete hotels near the centers of towns and taking the non-air-con room with a private bath. These usually cost 150 to 250 baht per night (outside of Bangkok) with one bottle of water, two towels (thin) and a roll of toilet paper, maybe the tiniest bar of soap you ever saw. You sometimes need to ask for one or another of these 'amenities'. The "Lonely Planet Travel Survival Guide - Thailand" lists one or more of this style hotel in nearly every city. > How's the food? Good/bad, expensive/cheap? There's every imaginable choice. Sold from carts. Sold from open-air storefronts. Sold in outdoor garden restaurants. Sold in air-con restaurants with menus in English, Chinese and Thai. When you feel brave, go to the open-storefront restaurant where police, military or bank people are eating. When you feel cautious, look for a food court in a department store -- they serve basically the same food, but in a place with much more visible surface sanitation and (usually) air conditioning. The food courts I saw worked with coupons. You buy them at the door and pay the food vendor (there are usually several). Any unused coupons can be redeemed where you bought them (I think). Air-con restaurants are cold, and usually quite expensive, and a nice break from the hustle of the street. The street vendors specialize. Noodles _or_ rice, seldom both. One kind of meat or fish, sometimes two. You make your selection by choosing which cart to go to depending on the food you prefer. I recommend chicken with noodles in a thin soup and banana fritters. Most things to eat in Thailand are quite inexpensive. A signal exception is beer, which costs 45 baht a (large) bottle in small stores and can be up to 100 baht ($4) in restaurants. I'm amused to say that in my notes from our recent trip there are many days where beer is nearly half of our total day's expenses -- :-) . > Any nice places to stop by on the way? Lots. There are too many wonderful places to have much fun trying to cover 'all' the territory in a short time. It depends what you like. I suggest the "Lonely Planet" (or another detailed) guide as a good pre-trip read. And best is choosing one or two places to stay for 2-3 nights and days before moving on if you have to. I love wandering the streets and markets of Thai cities -- each has a different character which takes a while to see under the bustle, the 'coke' signs, and the crowds of minibikes and pickups. The countryside is harder, there aren't very many places to stay, transport takes flexibility and creativity (sometimes something close to courage, too). The distances can be quite surprisingly long. There are though lots and lots of buses and wonderful helpful people. Plus taxis are surprisingly cheap and people sometimes use them for very long trips (I saw one from Bangkok with a couple in the back a few kilos outside Buriram, nearly 500 K from 'home'!). Of course, some people go to Thailand to spend time on beautiful beaches at relatively low prices. That's a very sensible thing to to do. The beaches are beautiful. The prices are relatively low. After some time there, though, I've come to enjoy the communities more and more. I guess I'd encourage everyone to save a little time for exploring one of the cities outside of Bangkok. From: Alan Cooper (alan@care.ac.lk) Date: Unknown South: I recommend avoiding resort/tourist areas during holidays. We visited Phuket, Phi Phi, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan last month during the New Year holiday. It was *very* crowded and difficult to find lodging, transportation (plane, train, bus or boat). Prices (especially in Phuket) were inflated 2-3X. At the dock in Surat tourists were being warned not to go to the islands (Koh Samui & Phangan) if they didn't have prearranged lodging. On the other hand, holidays are a good time to tour Bangkok. Fewer people and less traffic. Something I've seen no mention of on SCT is drug use in resort areas. I realize that this is part of the attraction for some but others are looking for places to take families. They should be advised that this sort of thing goes on. At the resort where we stayed on Koh Phangan an employee was openly selling marijuana to mostly young foreign guests. These guests would then smoke it every chance they got including in the restaurant during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Other Thai and foreign families staying there agreed that this made it a not very desirable place for a family holiday and would not come back. The owner was aware that there was more profit to be had from vacationing families vs. young foreigners, but apparently did not see the connection between their promotion of marijuana use and discouraging family vacations. I wish they would have at least advised discretion and not allowed marijiuana smoking in the restaurant. Only once did I see someone suggest to a tourist that they put out their joint. A waiter at a dockside restaurant on Koh Phangan pointed out to a table of tourists that a policeman was nearby and smoking marijuana was inadvisable. The tourists got the message. Isan: Towns along he Mekong river between Ubon and Nong Khai have always been favorites of mine. Mukdahan has a thriving riverfront tourist market with lots of goods from from Laos, China and Vietnam. The (rebuilt) temple at That Phanom has a well organized museum with many signs in English as well as Thai. I don't remember there being any museum when I first visited That in 1973. Nakhon Phanom remains relatively untouched by tourism. There is a new tourist-class hotel, the Mae Nam Kong Grand View which may mark the beginning of change, but Nakhon Phanom remains a great place to sit and watch the river. ------------------------------ T.7) North General travel information on Thailand northern provinces is available on a Gopher server at gopher.chiangmai.ac.th. The URL http://www.nectec.or.th/nectec.html consolidates all known references to information related to Thailand including the above gopher. From: ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Samart Srijumnong) Date: 12 Jan 1994 01:47:13 GMT First of all, one weekend would not be enough for hill tribe village tour. The shortest trek tour takes four days. Chiangmai and other areas close by along should comfortably fill the whole two-day/two-night trip. As MBA students, they may want to look for some "selling points" from the things they see, e.g. local arts, tourist attractions, people's attitude and tastes. If this is the case, it would not matter much where they go anyway. Concerning the place to stay, here are the places listed by Joe Cummings, in his tourist guide...THAILAND, (1990), under "top end" category. Chiang Inn Hotel, downtown, from 920B Chiang Mai Hill, 18 Huay Kaew Rd., from 726B Chiang Mai Orchid, 100 Huay Kaew Rd., from 1210B Chiang Mai Plaza, 92 Si Donchai Rd., from 950B Chiang Mai President, 226 Vitchyanon Rd., from 847B Dusit Inn, downtown, from 1000B Poy Luang, 146 Superhighway, from 886 Rincome Hotel, 301 Huay Kaew, from 1331B Suriwong Hotel, downtown, from 1089B The followings have some rooms with airconditioning (middle class?) Anodart Hotel, Ratchamankha Rd., 280-480B Bualuang Hotel, 16 Huay Kaew Rd., from 350B Chang Phuak Hotel, 133 Chotana Rd., 250-400B Chiang COme Hotel, 7/35 Suthep Rd., 300-500B CHiang Mai Phucome, 21 Huay Kaew Rd., 550-880B Diamond Hotel, 33/10 Charoen Prathed Rd., 400-930B Iyara Hotel, 126 Chotana Rd., 450-550B Little Duck Hotel, 99/9 Huay Kaew Rd., 400-500B Muang Mai Hotel, 502 Huay Kaew Rd, from 420-480B Nantana Pension, 72/76 Tipanet Rd., 250-350B New Asia Hotel, 55 Rachwong Rd., 220-1200B I also mentioned YMCA in other posting. The price is quite reasonable there. I have not given the phone as you may only want to use the number to estimate the trip cost. When you are in Bangkok, you can acquire their number and contact them. To book room for big group like this should get some discount which sometime up to 50%. ------------------------------ T.8) Northeast/Isan General travel information on Thailand northeastern provinces are available on a Gopher server at gopher.kku.ac.th. The URL http://www.nectec.or.th/nectec.html consolidate all known references to information related to Thailand including the above gopher. Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 09:04:27 -0800 (PST) From: Putnam Barber Northeast Thailand (Isan) The roads to northeast Thailand climb through spectacular scenery on their way to the plateau. Often the unusual geological features on these steep climbs have been the focus of temples and parks -- Wat Thep Pitak Punnaram on route 2 east of Saraburi is one example, the mountain with a hole through it at Khao Chagan on route 317 south of Sra Kaeo is another. Issan itself is largely flat, with an occasional isolated mountain rising through the plain. At Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung, southwest of Buriram off route 24, a spectacular 1000+ year old temple complex has been extensively restored on the top of one of these mountains, with views across the flat rice-growing plain in every direction for great distances. It's a spectacular, fascinating and beautiful place. Many Thai people visit Phanom Rung. There is a large parking lot with many vendors offering food and souvenirs near the entrance to the temple complex, which is managed by the Department of Fine Arts. There is also a hotel complex with nice looking units across the road from the entrance, but I have no information on how to book rooms or what the rates are. The Lonely Planet guide has a good introduction to the features of the temple and recommends buying "The Sanctuary Phanomrung" by Dr. Sorajet Woragamvijya from one of the vendors outside the gate (20 baht?). The museum 'shop' inside the complex has a disappointing selection of books about other Thai landmarks; there is very limited signage, almost none in English. This ancient and fascinating place is well worth the journey to its out-of-the way location. Northeast of Nakorn Ratchasima (Korat) is Prasat Hin Phi Mai, much more accessible than Phanom Rung but not on top of a mountain. The new museum nearby has good exhibits and informative labels that place the temple complex in the context of what is known about the history of Issan and the construction of these Khmer monuments. There is also a beautiful book of color photos (240 baht) available from the museum book counter; its text is in Thai but there are captions in English that are very helpful. Prasat Hin Phi Mai is an easy day-trip by public bus from Korat; the 'ordinary' bus leaves every half hour from the bus terminal -- it and the one to Bangkok are both labeled in English. It stops for a long time at a small market east of the north city gate -- just south of the city moat. It's certainly more efficient to catch it there than to make your way to the bus station only to be driven back to town to wait while vendors offer all sorts of goodies and the local people fill the rest of the seats. Korat has several fascinating (newer) temple complexes right in the city, plus the active Thao Suranari Memorial near the east city gate (which is actually near the center of the present-day town). Khun Ying Mo is seen as a patron by many Thais, especially women, and people with special requests bring them to her all day and well into the night. Plus, when these requests are successful, people hire groups of singers to perform near the statue as a token of appreciation, which makes for a lively scene for other on-lookers as well. They make several distinctive snack foods in this area that are not easily available (as far as I could tell) in Bangkok. One, Khao Deng ('red rice') is a tasty cracker-like food originally made from rice that stuck to the pan while making other dishes. It comes in a square celo bag about the size of a brick, is yellow-orange in color and quite delicious. Another is a flat cake of 'puffed' rice, sesame seeds, and sugar-syrup -- vaguely reminiscent of cracker-jacks but no-where near as overwhelmingly sweet. Both are sold, along with many other treats, by roadside vendors and small shops near the busstops and elsewhere. ------------------------------ T.9) East/Southeast Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 09:03:13 -0800 (PST) From: Putnam Barber Southeast Thailand The main route to everywhere south of Pattya -- route 3 -- is under construction for much of the way to Chantaburi. It's a strong argument for taking the air-con bus if any part of the journey will be on that road. Offshore from Sri Rachaa is the fascinating island Koh Si Chang. The town on the island, where the ferry docks, has accomodations of all sorts, including a new luxury hotel. We stayed in Benz Bungalows, closest accomodations to the site of the former palace at the south end of town, and particularly enjoyed the food at Wichaira Seafood, just a short walk up the main road. (Dispite what the Lonely Planet Guide says, there is no "ring road" on the island -- many town streets, a single route north and south on the east side, through town, and an unpaved road across to the beaches on the west.) The tuk tuk drivers will offer a tour of the island, with time to visit all the attractions, for 150 baht. We didn't take it, preferring to walk. But there are definitely a lot of interesting places to go, and the swimming from Hat Sai on the west side is wonderful -- take the dirt road to the right heading south from town just after an auto repair business and before the entrance to the research station at the palace site, go up the steep hill to the second right turn, and across the island through the mango plantation. When the road turns to the north (after passing a sharp turn to the left) watch for paths to the left that lead down to the beach. Exploring the fields and rock formations at the end of the road is also fun -- especially before a swim. Still on Koh Si Chang, there are monkeys that live in the pavillion housing the Buddha footprint at the top of the Chinese- style temple at the north end of town -- another reason, in addition to the spectacular view, for climbing the long flights of concrete steps leading to it. And be sure to save energy for exploring the many shrines in caves throughout the temple grounds. Lastly, the newly created gardens in honor of Princess Sirikit's birthday (just a little way west of this temple, at the top of a saddle through which a path leads to the sea on the west, but not beach) are peaceful and very beautiful. Both Rayong and Chantaburi have streets of wonderful older urban buildings, lively markets, and lots of good food from street vendors and noodle shops. Chantaburi also offers the "largest Christian church in Thailand" -- an imposing building at the end of a footbridge across from the heart of town -- and the glamour of being surrounded by an active trade in sapphires and rubies. If you know what you're doing, you can probably do some wonderful trading yourself -- everyone in town is ready to deal! There's a little antique store, with a great collection of Victorian clocks from all around the world, on Tessaban 3 Road near the intersection with Sroisuwan[sp?] Road (three blocks from the market). I mention it because it's the only antique store I saw anywhere in Thailand outside of Bangkok. Downhill from the antique store on Tessaban 3 Road a couple of blocks are two or three airconditioned restaurants that aren't mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide. They obviously have broader menus than the streetside vendors can provide. Further south, offshore from Trat in the Gulf of Thailand is Koh Chang which is well worth the difficulty of getting to it. There is direct mini-bus service from Bangkok, which we didn't use (and which is described in guidebooks). Otherwise, the route is bus to Trat, song thaew to Laem Ngop, and ferry to your beach of choice from the pier. We stayed at Hat Sai Khao (White Sand Beach) in the Sun-Sai Bungalows -- very well kept and friendly. They have bungalows on the beach and across the road on a hilside. We paid 200 baht for one with a hong nam but away from the beach. There are many other accomodations at widely varying prices on that beach and others. People who had been there before complimented the resorts along Hat Sai Khao for their daily diligence in clearing away any trash and it certainly showed. Less developed beaches, ironically, had more plastic bags and pop cans drifting around because there's no-one to take responsibility for policing the area. Phlu waterfall, down the road a piece and up the river by a track and jungle trail, is a wonderful excursion and a great place to swim in fresh water. Just outside the gates to the national park there is the Waterfall Resort, an unlikely place with bungalows far from any other attraction, and the Waterfall Restaurant, where I had a very nice meal in short order when I was the only customer in sight. No need to carry a picnic. The island itself is so beautiful and exotic that's it's hard not to see it as the set for a movie, instead of what it really is -- the place the set designers study in the faint hope of catching its special quality. But a really, really long trip from Bangkok! From: chomchal@baboon.ecn.purdue.edu (Jaray Chomchalao) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 21:59:13 GMT The transportation to the East Coast is provided by "BOO- KhOO+ SOO+ at Ekamai. The fare six yrs ago from BKK to Chantaburi (about 300 kilometers (200 mi) was B40. You can also take an airconded-bus costing B150 six yrs agao. There are at least four air-conded bus lines to choose from. Pick the one with the best looking hostess and you won't regret it:=) K. Putnam said Chantaburi and Trat are too far from BKK. Well, 4 hrs to Chantaburi, 6 hrs to Trat, provided that you take the air conded bus which travels by the "Saai+ mai' road (the new route), or the BKS buses that use the new route. Make sure that you get on the BKS bus that use "Saai+ mai'" road if you don't want to spend another two hours detouring to Sattahip. Chantaburi and Trat: Watch out when dealing jewelry in Chantaburi. Take my words for it (I'm from Chantaburi and Trat and Chonburi, my three homes), even professionals who deal with ruby every day sometimes fail to distinghish natural from man-made ruby! Ruby is very expensive. If you buy a cheap ruby, you are "tuun+"ed definitely. Buying them at the jewelry stores in Chantaburi is safer. Don't ever buy from a jewelry market! Chantaburi is best visited around April-July. In April, mangoes are very abundant and in variety. Ripe mangoes and cooked sticky rice with coconut milk is what a taster must not miss. After April, mangoes are gone. Then in Mid June a variety of NgO' (rambutans) and Durians are ripe and appear in the markets everywhere. Those who can stand the strong smell of durians will enjoy the fruit, eaten with or without sweet-coconuted milked sticky rice. Chantaburi is famous for its rambutans and durians. Especially, during that time, many orchads will offer a "all you can eat" walk thru event, where you pay a small sum and are allowed to walk thru the orchads, picking the best rambutans from the tree and eat all you like, provided that you take none with you when you leave. The roadside view during that time is also very pleasant since the trees are full of colorful fruits, and the fruit trades are everywhere on the roadsides. The Phlu waterfall is in Chantaburi, about 30 kilometers from the City along the way to Trat. The description above could very well fit the attribues of Chantaburi's Phlu waterfall, but I think Put nam meant to say Thanmayom waterfall on Ko Chang since he's talking about the island. ------------------------------ T.10) Alternative accommodation: Bangkok International Airport From: gwyn@ipied.tu.ac.th (Gwyn Williams) Date: 2 Feb 1994 02:17:39 +1100 Anyone wanting a hotel near Bangkok's airport, but not wanting to be gouged at the Airport Hotel, then a friend has recommended TK PALACE on Chaeng Wattana. Cost 800 baht a night. Tel: 574-1588 From: johpa@aol.com (Johpa) Date: 14 Mar 1994 02:34:10 -0500 A brief update on [...] the Airport Hotel: Thai/Chinese price is 1,900 baht, white price is 4,000 baht and the food in the coffee shop is expensive and lousy. [...] The Comfort Inn near the airport can be booked thru the 800 number in the USA. [Email update on Mon, 14 Mar 94 10:59:57 EST] There are also suggestions for alternatives: the Golden Dragon Hotel, great for kids with a McDonalds and shopping center across the street but heavy traffic during the day; and my old standby, the Cadena Palace, now the Nice Palace off of Sutthisan Rd with easy access to Don Muang but don't reccommend any of the bars on Sutthisan if travelling alone! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements The original soc.culture.thai FAQ was proposed, put together and initially maintained by Thanachart Numnonda (thanon@ccu1.auckland.ac.nz). This part of the soc.culture.thai FAQ cannot be completed without information from the following contributors: Alan Cooper (alan@care.ac.lk) for T.6; Eddie Goletz (goletz@netcom.com) for T.5; Ekkehard Uthke (euthke@siam.muc.de) for T.1 update; Gwyn Williams (gwyn@ipied.tu.ac.th) for T.10; Jaray Chomchalao (chomchal@baboon.ecn.purdue.edu) for T.9; johpa@aol.com for T.10; Putnam Barber (pbarber@eskimo.com) for T.6, T.8 and T.9; Ralf Von Gunten (VONGUNTENR@EZINFO.vmsmail.ethz.ch) for the postcheques part of T.4; Samart Srijumnong (ssg9328@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) for T.7; Thinakorn Tabtieng (tabtiength@woods.ulowell.edu) for T.2; and Sincere thanks also go to those who contributed to T.1, T.3 and T.4 whose names were not recorded in the previous versions of the FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive-name: thai/technical The "soc.culture.thai Frequently Asked Questions" periodic postings are divided into 6 parts plus an index. Requests for inclusion, correction or update can be made by posting a public message or follow-up to this FAQ. The current release of these FAQs can be fetched by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (or its mirror sites) under directories: /pub/usenet/news.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.answers/thai /pub/usenet/soc.culture.thai or accessed via World-wide Web at URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/soc.culture.thai/master.html The working copy of this FAQ can be accessed by anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory /soc.culture.thai. TABLE OF CONTENTS TECHNICAL FAQ Networking and Software * Networking N.1) Network map N.2) Domestic host count N.3) NSFnet network statistics N.4) Network resources (revised) N.5) Commercial network access * Thai software S.1) Microsoft Windows 3.1 Thai Edition * Business B.1) Domestic computer market ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL INFOTMATION This part describes technical aspects of Thailand particularly Information Technology and Science and Technology Development activities. ------------------------------ N.1) Network map Domestic IP network topology NIDA TU-----TU | KKU Rangsit `\ | SUT / STOU TIAC `\ MOPH| | /' RU /' `\_`\ | | | /'_/'__/' UUNET/Alternet------------N E C T E C---------KMITNB | | |`\`\`------MUA AIT KMITL | `\ `\`-----KMITT | | PSU `\ UUNET---------Chula-------+ `\ `---KU /' | `\ PSU Chiangmai | `Mahidol Pattani AU Legends ------- IP link AIT Asian Institute of Technology {Pathumthani} AU Assumption Univiersity, formerly known as Assumption Business Administration College -- ABAC Chiangmai Chiangmai University {Chiangmai} Chula Chulalongkorn University KKU Khon Kaen University {Khon Kaen} KMITL King Mongkut Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang Campus KMITNB King Mongkut Institute of Technology, North Bangkok Campus {Nonthaburi} KMITT King Mongkut Institute of Technology, Thonburi Campus KU Kasetsart University, Bangkhen Campus Mahidol Mahidol University, Ramathibodi Campus MOPH Ministry of Public Health MUA Ministry of University Affairs NECTEC National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Ministry of Science Technology and Environment (MoSTE) NIDA National Institute for Development Administration PSU Prince of Songkhla University, Haad Yai Campus {Songkhla} PSU Pattani Prince of Songkhla University, Pattani Campus {Pattani} RU Ramkhamhaeng University, Huamark Campus STOU Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University {Nonthaburi} SUT Suranaree University of Technology {Nakornratchasima} TIAC Technical Information Access Center, NSTDA, MoSTE TU Thammasat University, Thaprachan Campus TU Rangsit Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus {Pathumthani} ------------------------------ N.2) Domestic host count As of May 6 1994, Thailand has: Found 0 hosts within th Found 0 hosts within or.th Found 41 hosts within nectec.or.th Found 3 gateway hosts within nectec.or.th Found 0 hosts within go.th Found 1 host within moph.go.th Found 1 host within mua.go.th Found 0 hosts within ac.th Found 1 host within ru.ac.th Found 3 hosts within nida.ac.th Found 7 hosts within kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within arch.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within grad.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within sci.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within rector.kmitl.ac.th Found 16 hosts within crsc.kmitl.ac.th Found 2 gateway hosts within crsc.kmitl.ac.th Found 31 hosts within lcad.crsc.kmitl.ac.th Found 58 hosts within ce.kmitl.ac.th Found 2 gateway hosts within ce.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within inded.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within lib.kmitl.ac.th Found 43 hosts within net.kmitl.ac.th Found 12 gateway hosts within net.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within it.kmitl.ac.th Found 0 hosts within agri.kmitl.ac.th Found 2 hosts within eng.kmitl.ac.th Found 13 hosts within ait.ac.th Found 3 hosts within gridbkk.ait.ac.th Found 17 hosts within cs.ait.ac.th Found 1 host within staff_lan.ait.ac.th Found 8 hosts within chiangmai.ac.th Found 1 host within kmitnb.ac.th Found 5 hosts within tu.ac.th Found 13 hosts within chula.ac.th Found 2 extrazone hosts within chula.ac.th Found 5 hosts within acc.chula.ac.th Found 5 hosts within cuuc.chula.ac.th Found 5 hosts within csc.chula.ac.th Found 4 hosts within car.chula.ac.th Found 1 host within md.chula.ac.th Found 2 hosts within atccu.chula.ac.th Found 2 hosts within eng.chula.ac.th Found 5 hosts within mahidol.ac.th Found 2 hosts within stou.ac.th Found 13 hosts within au.ac.th Found 1 host within sut.ac.th Found 1 host within kmitt.ac.th Found 6 hosts within psu.ac.th Found 6 hosts within kku.ac.th Found 6 hosts within ku.ac.th Found 1 gateway host within ku.ac.th Found 30 hosts within cpc.ku.ac.th Found 2 duplicate hosts within cpc.ku.ac.th Found 5 hosts within rdi.ku.ac.th Found 2 duplicate hosts within rdi.ku.ac.th Found 3 hosts within lib.ku.ac.th Found 54 hosts within cpe.ku.ac.th Found 1 gateway host within cpe.ku.ac.th Encountered 421 hosts in 50 domains within th Encountered 4 duplicate hosts in 50 domains within th ------------------------------ N.3) NSFnet traffic NSF Backbone Service Traffic from/to Thailand. Bytes Bytes Percentages No. In To Out From In Out Nets Backbone Backbone (%all traffic) ===================================================================== 93 Jan 3 110086100 291218500 0.00 0.01 Feb 11 153774900 450993850 0.00 0.01 Mar 12 232535800 637034800 0.00 0.01 Apr 11 157441200 596281150 0.00 0.01 May 13 173862850 724595250 0.00 0.01 Jun 13 258465250 883010950 0.00 0.01 Jul 15 275098400 1433567400 0.00 0.02 Aug 16 378205950 2042966200 0.01 0.03 Sep 16 441728700 2253084200 0.01 0.03 Oct 17 473182400 2694364850 0.00 0.03 Nov 17 596610450 4087475000 0.01 0.04 Dec 18 610994800 4037458900 0.01 0.04 94 Jan 21 972252150 4711328550 0.01 0.05 Feb 25 2244173700 4127016300 0.02 0.04 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: derived from data at nic.merit.edu ------------------------------ N.4) Network resources FTP servers ftp.cs.washington.edu /pub/thaisys/BBS Selected files from BBSes in Thailand. .../info Files from NECTEC /pub/info/... .../software Files from NECTEC /pub/pc/... and Kent State's /pub/Thai/Software. .../thainews Decoded daily news from Thai News Agency available at NECTEC /pub/news. Updated regularly. zadar.cca.vu.nl /pub/pics/Thailand GIF and JPEG pictures of Thailand. asia.lcs.mit.edu /pub/thai/gif GIF pictures. chulkn.chula.ac.th /pub/cuword Home of cuword ftp.nectec.or.th /pub/info/... Information -- Text files. .../gna Global Network Academy -- list of courses/ degrees of which class attendance is not required and the Internet and its facilities can be used to stimulate classroom environment. .../netinfo Forms/procedures related to Internet registration .../royal-speeches Transcriptions of Royal Speeches on various occations. Thai. TIS 620-2533 character set. .../soc.culture.thai-faq Working copy of soc.culture.thai FAQ. .../thai-language Thai word list, Thai word parser, etc. .../thailand-education Information on local education. .../thailand-figures Economic indicators and forecasts. .../thailand-gis+maps GIS data and maps. .../thailand-networking Domestic networking. .../thailand-travel Travel. /pub/mirrors/... Mirror archives of various software and specifications. Update automatically. .../dharma DharmaNet Electronic File Archive (DEFA). .../games U Mass Lowell's games archive. .../internet-drafts Internet drafts. .../gnu GNU archive from MIT. .../lpf Leagues for Programming Freedom archive. .../microsoft MS technical specifications. .../msdos Simtel/Oak Repository archive. .../rfc Internet RFC's. .../win3 Indiana CICA's Win3 archive. /pub/news Daily news from Thai News Agency. Thai. TIS 620-2533 character set. Updated daily. /pub/pc/cu-writer The renowned CU-Writer (a.k.a. CU Word). Developed at Chulalongkorn. Thai. .../lao Lao software -- now only the Lao version of CU Writer 1.5. Developed by the International Relations of Chulalongkorn and the Lao PDR's Ministry of Science and Technology. .../mm-may92 MS Windows multimedia application of the 'middle-class uprising' May 1992 chronicle. Developed at AIT. Thai. .../thai-lib C programming library to facilitate the development of Thai language applications. Developed at KMIT-T. Thai. /soc.culture.thai Shortcut to /pub/info/soc.culture.thai-faq/. .../Index Current soc.culture.thai Index. .../general Current soc.culture.thai General FAQ. .../culture Current soc.culture.thai Culture FAQ. .../language Current soc.culture.thai Language FAQ. .../travel Current soc.culture.thai Travel FAQ. .../technical Current soc.culture.thai Technical FAQ. .../numerical Current soc.culture.thai Numerical FAQ. .../Archives Soc.culture.thai archives. .../Posted Old releases of soc.culture.thai FAQs. .../SCTinfo Supplemental information to soc.culture.thai. /thailand-info Shortcut to /pub/info/ ftp2.nectec.or.th /pub/mirrors/... Mirror archives of various software. Update on a daily basis. .../faq USENET Frequently Asked Questions .../mac Macintosh archive from Stanford. Telnet server md1.md.chula.ac.th Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn. Index of Thai Medical Journals. Login as CUML; no password. OpenVMS. microCDS/ISIS package. rccvax.ait.ac.th Regional Computing Center, AIT. Online library catalogue. Login as LIBRARY; no password. OpenVMS. microCDS/ISIS pkg. Gopher servers emailhost.ait.ac.th Regional and domestic information from ESCAP, UNESCO, University of Maryland and many others. Great source of info. chulkn.chula.ac.th ** Experimental server ** Internet Service Office. gopher.chiangmai.ac.th ** Experimental server ** Information center for Northern Thailand. Travel information. Recent country-wide weather forecast. gopher.kku.ac.th ** Experimental server ** Information center for Northeastern Thailand. gopher.mahidol.ac.th ** Experimental server ** Computer Center, Mahidol. WWW servers emailhost.ait.ac.th Offers similar sets as AIT gopher plus the richness of the global web. Home page: http://emailhost.ait.ac.th/ www.nectec.or.th A world-wide web server to access all known domestic information mentioned above. Access to NECTEC mirror archives (RFCs, draft RFCs, GNU, SimTel/Oak MSDOS, UML Games, D.E.F.A. Buddhism online files, CICA Win3, Microsoft technical specs, League for programming freedom, Linux and Macintosh). Various collections of handy network utilities. Global Network Navigator. Global Network Academy. Australia/Thailand Higher Education Information Exchange. ANU Coombs archives Thai-Yunnan Project Newsletters. soc.culture.thai FAQs. Home page is URL: http://www.nectec.or.th/ www.cs.rochester.edu A variant of consolidated Thailand network resources. Home page at URL: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/users/grads/edyamp/thai.html Updated on 1994-05-06. ------------------------------ N.5) Commercial network access From: mbarnes@finally.East.Sun.COM (Mike Barnes) Date: 14 Feb 1994 20:42:08 GMT Contacts for Compuserve in Thailand: PTT CONTACT INFORMATION IN THAILAND Commercial Service: Director, Commercial Division Communications Authority of Thailand Bangkok 10501 Thailand Telephone: (662) 234-7242 or 233-1050, ext. 2217 or 2521 Telex: (788) 70021 or 80013 Administrative Matters: Dr. Kittin Udomkiat Telex: (788) 80006 Technical Matters: Mr. Manit Saikeaw Telex: (788) 70046 From: fyta@chula.ac.th (Yunyong Teng-amnuay) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 08:45:16 +0700 (BKK) THAIPAK is the X.25 service offered by CAT (Communications Authority of Thailand). It allows connection to other X.25 node (server) via simple RS232 async port (?9600? bps). There are minimum charge and traffic charge by the byte. At the moment there is no "commercial Internet service" in Thailand. So people can't just walk in with money to get an account for Internet access. The current connections (started by Chulalongkorn University since September 1992 and later on by NECTEC) are under constraints by the CAT to be used only for education and research purposes. That is by such organizations or their members. If you can find some justification (such as affiliation with Chulalongkorn) then you should be entitled to a temporary account. [...] Commercial service for the Internet access may come in a year or so but even then it will still be expensive. I would say 1,000 baht a month at the minimum. ------------------------------ S.1) Microsoft Windows 3.1 Thai Edition From: PANU@vm.acs.unt.edu (Panu Sittiwong) Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 12:32:26 CST Since my previous post on Windows 3.1 Thai Edition, I have received several info. about the product. So I decide to post it in SCT to everyone. Here is the info. 22 Soi Somkid, Ploenchit Rd. Bangkok 10330 Tel. 66-2-254-7088 Fax. 66-2-256-0310 I don't know that you can get it in the U.S. I got my copy in Bangkok by trading in my English version of Windows 3.1. The upgrade price is 1250 Bath plus 7% VAT. You will need to bring all the diskettes of the English version for the upgrade. The software comes in 8 diskettes and a Thai manual. I have been using it since last August without any problem and the Thai characters look real nice. From: Randall Jones (rjones@igc.apc.org) Date: 24 Jan 94 12:24 PST I've just ordered the Thai version of Windows 3.1. I ordered the full package, not the upgrade. It cost $190.00. (I haven't received it yet but I'm looking forward to trying it out.) I ordered from THE IDEA in California (Los Angeles, I think). Their phone number is (213) 628-2801. This was the only vendor MicroSoft Help could suggest for the Thai Windows in the U.S. ------------------------------ B.1) Domestic computer market Data compiled from Prachachart Thurakit, Siam Post and Bangkok Post. October 1993. Market size ========================================================================= 1990 1991 1992 1993 --------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- Value Value Growth Value Growth Value Growth M Baht M Baht % M Baht % M Baht % ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mainframe 1,675.0 2,000.0 19.40 4,624.0 131.20 3,788.0 (18.08) Hardware 2,312.0 1,994.0 SW/Svcs 2,312.0 1,794.0 Minicomputer 2,300.0 2,500.0 8.70 2,883.0 15.32 5,629.4 92.26 Hardware 1,730.0 2,786.6 SW/Svcs 1,153.0 2,842.8 Workstation 70.0 180.0 157.40 504.0 180.00 1,110.1 39.19 Hardware 252.0 385.1 SW/Svcs 252.0 725.0 PC 4,855.3 5,914.3 21.81 8,302.0 40.37 11,472.6 38.19 Hardware 7,728.0 10,236.4 SW/Svcs 564.0 1,236.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 8,900.3 10,594.3 19.03 16,313.0 53.98 22,000.1 34.86 Hardware 12,032.0 15,402.1 SW/Svcs 4,281.0 6,598.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources: Computer Association of Thailand -- Vendor Group (CATVG) and Association of Thai Computer Industry (ATCI) Random predictions ATCI: 1993 market breakdown Unit Value Sold M Baht Mainframe 35 1,533 Minicomputer 778 2,537.6 Workstation 517 377.41 PC 6,384 Brand (imported) 81000 4,008 No brand (local made) 69000 2,376 486dx 50.8 % 486sx 35.0 % 386dx 7.6 % 386sx 6.7 % Hard disk 120000 1,230 Monitor 70000 552 B&W 18.6 % Color 81.4 % Software and Services 6,598 Software 59.7 % Network 8.1 % Installation/MIS 31.5 % DP/Service Bureau 0.7 % Total market 22,000.11 Mainframe & Info Services 3,788 Minicomputer & Info Services 5,629.4 Workstation 1,110.11 PC 11,472.6 IBM Thailand: 1993 market breakdown - Total market: 22,000 million Baht - Growth over 1992: 35% - 46% of total market is minicomputer x Enjoys 47% growth rate x Average prices: 1992 1.7 million Baht 1993H1 1.4 million Baht 1993H2 2.3 million Baht - PC and peripherals: 11,000 million Baht Datamat: 1993 software and services market - Software and services (S&S) has 30% share from the total market - Anticipated at 54% share by the year 2000 - S&S sales will jump from 6 billion Baht this year to 23 billion by 2000 A.D. - Software alone is 2.6 billion now and 16 billion in the year 2000 - S&S : Hardware ratio is 30:70 - In the year 2000, the ratio will be 40:60 Microsoft Thailand: PC market - Predict more offerings on services, training and after-sales support - Regional market size Singapore 89,000 units Hong Kong 105,000 Thailand 150,000 Taiwan 570,000 Korea 860,000 ============================================================================== Acknowledgements Thanks for contributions from: John. A. Brubaker (staff@emailhost.ait.ac.th) for N.3; Mike Barnes (mbarnes@finally.East.Sun.COM) for N.5; Panu Sittiwong (PANU@vm.acs.unt.edu) for S.1; Randall Jones (rjones@igc.apc.org) for S.1; Trin Tantsetthi (trin@nwg.nectec.or.th) for N.1, N.2, N.3, N.4 and B.1; Yunyong Teng-amnuay (fyta@chula.ac.th) for N.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------