Culture

I went to the largest floating market in the world today.   A lot of thatched huts linked together by bridges on top of a large muddy pond.

It had as much to do with thai culture as an Applebees has to do with American culture.  It’s all synthesized and shrunk and commodotized and made kitsch.  It’s not even a real lake, it’s a pit filled with muddy water.  There is a big windmill made to look old.  It turns a water wheel.  Why would you use one power source to turn another?

I don’t really know what traditional Thai culture is, but it sure isn’t little wooden elephants, cheap handbags, and neon flags with tigers painted on them.

This made me wonder.  What is traditional  American culture?   Would we send foreign tourists to go buy furniture from the Amish?  Do we feel any attachment to the souveneir shops that show up all around the country?  Is that traditional?

When the Thai people try to sum up Traditional American culture, they take cowboys and San Francisco and put them together into some weird mismash.  They also listen exclusively to pop music.  Everyone was a fan of the Backstreet Boys.   I imagine that’s what the floating market looks like to them.  Some sort of John Wayne Backstreet Boys Californication soup.

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The area where Thailand now rests was settled by various peoples from around the turn of the first century.  People speaking Thai first migrated from China around 1100.  Ayutthaya (Ayudhya, Ayothaya, etc..) was founded as the capital of Siam in about 1350 and brought about what eventually became Thailand.  The point of all this is to show that this country is not all that old, not as nations are concerned.

Thailand is unique, but the things that make it unique don’t come from the incredibly storied histories that you find in China, Japan, or Europe.   It’s more about the modern culture like you would find in the US or Australia.  Thais today have hobbies like backpacking, playing the guitar, and surfing the Internet.  At least, those are the hobbies I see people put on resumes.