Happy New Year from Thailand

If you are visiting Thailand as a tourist these days, you already know that the Songkran festival, the Buddhist new year, is in full swing. Crammed at the back of pick-ups and armed with water guns supplied by huge water tanks, their faces turned white with talcum powder, the happy fighters won't give you a chance! So prepare yourself to get wet, very wet and soaked to the skin! Fortunately the weather is very hot, and this is all for good luck, so you will also get blessed in the process. Don't even think of getting out with your mobile phone or your camera, leave any valuables in your hotel safe, go buy yourself one of those nice Hawaiian shirts and join in the fun. Happy New Year!

Big Nose and Pretty Face

Samak Sundaravej is the current Prime Minister of Thailand and leader of the People Power Party (PPP). Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, is his principal opponent. Deaf people refer to the former by touching their nose, and to the latter by moving their hand around their face and giving a thumbs up. So you could say that in Thai sign language, Abhisit is called Pretty Face (he is indeed good looking) and Samak Big Nose (his nose being indeed a prominent feature of his face). This doesn't please everybody, and a PPP member even asked if deaf people could change the way they refer to their leader.

"This is not to mock or to humiliate him. It's just the sign that deaf people can understand," said the chairman of the Council of Disabled People of Thailand. He also urged the party of the Prime Minister not to interfer in the way deaf people construct and communicate their sign language. But he said that the PPP was welcome to pay for the cost of holding a seminar attended by hundreds of people in a bid to determine how best to refer to Samak with another sign.

Are there any specialists of sign language among our readers? Did this kind of debate already take place in other countries? I can already think of a few signs I could do to refer to some politicians... ;-)

Happy Exotic Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Wherever you are in the world, we hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones.

If Santa Klaus came to Thailand, I guess reindeers would instead be buffalos, and the presents could be found under coconut trees! Viewed from here, you could even say that Christmas is very exotic, with the cold, the snow...

I've got my pink tee-shirt!

I never wore anything pink in my life, as far as I can remember. Or maybe I used to have a pink shirt, but it was very pale, pastel, nothing flashy. Now things are going to change, as I will follow the new trend in Thailand, which is wearing pink polo shirts on Tuesdays. We had the yellow shirts on Monday, the blue shirts on Fridays, now Tuesday will be another day when we don't have to stare at our wardrobe in the morning, wondering what to wear.

Maybe I should explain a little. In Thailand, each day of the week is associated to a color. Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Saturday is purple, Sunday is red, and you already know about the other days. The other thing you should know about Thailand, if you are not familiar with this country, is that the King, His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, is deeply loved and revered by the whole nation. As the King was born on a Monday, Thai people are used to wear yellow shirts on Mondays, to show their love and respect to the King. The Queen was born on a Friday, and you can also see many people wearing blue shirts on Fridays, especially around August 12, which is the date of the Queen's birthday (and also Mother's day).

Anyway, until now, the other days were not important. It all changed when the King had to spend three weeks in hospial in November. When he got out, on a Tuesday, he was wearing a pink blazer. And then it was, pink shirts with the royal emblem instantly became this season's must-have item. So I got one for myself! But I'm not sure I will wear it tomorrow, as the country is actually celebrating the King's 80th birthday. He was born on December 5, and for a few days everybody will be wearing only yellow. So maybe I should wear yellow, what do you think? :-)

It's winter in Thailand

It's cold in Bangkok! These last few days the temperature has dramatically dropped to 20°C (68°F) in the morning, and no more than 25°C (77°F) in the afternoon. It's still OK, we won't see any snow unless we go to Dream World and visit Snow Town, where they have articial snow for children to see what it's like. However, we don't need to turn on the A/C, not even the fans in the house. We don't feel like going to the swimming pool anymore, and of course the Thais are wearing jackets and pretend to be shivering. My friends in Europe, who are really freezing their bums off at the moment, would kill me for saying this, but it's a fact: it's winter in Thailand!

How many books do you read per year?

I've just read an article in the Nation yesterday, which says that Thai people, as an average, only read 2 books a year. As a comparison, they say in Vietnam the average is 60 books a year! I was quite surprised by these figures, as I have never seen Thai people read anything but the occasional newspaper. And 60 in Vietnam, such a high figure! Surely there can't be such a big difference between the two countries, even if they are, indeed, quite different in many aspects. Unfortunately the Nation only mentioned "survey data", without any further precision (great journalistic work).

So I browsed the web and tried to find some statistics about France. I found very different estimations, ranking from one book per year, up to 20 books per year. But nothing around 60. So I don't know how the surveys are conducted, I don't know what exactly they define as a 'book' (does it include magazines? comic books? school books?) but one thing is for sure, the journalists can't just say "according to survey data", if they want to make sense they have to explain where, when and how exactly the survey was conducted. Without any reference or methodology, the data are totally unreliable.

However, if you have a better source of information and if you know of a serious survey, with data that can be trusted, whether it is about Thailand or any other country, please share it with us. Or what about a quick survey here and now: how many books do you read per year, as an average?