Tourism&Culture: December 2010

Due to too many tourists come to visit the tribes in Chiang Mai, many hill tribes now are suffering from a loss of their culture such as selling souvenirs that had been made some changes according to the tourists’ preferences or demands.

By tradition, the hill tribes are supposed to live on their own without much influence from the outside world. However, today, many hill tribes are open their homes to tourists to attract them so as to earn some income from them. Although it is a good thing that people can exchange knowledge about their cultures, the hill tribes share their cultures hoping something in return such as money from the tourists. This may leave a bad impression on their cultures.

Changes that have been brought about by the growth of tourism in Chiang Mai

Due to an increase in the number of tourists visiting Chiang Mai, better facilities such as route, transportations, accommodation, hospitals were built to cope with the growth of tourism. Hence, facilities such as transportation and hospital not only benefit the tourists, but also benefit the local residents as well. Today, Chiang Mai is well-connected with other countries as well as within Thailand. People can go to Chiang Mai by air, bus or train. It is very accessible to travel to and around Chiang Mai. In addition, more schools were built and English language is also taught in school so that the locals can communicate well with the tourists or they can work in tourism-related jobs.

With the growth of tourism, other tourism-related businesses such as hotels, entertainment such as pubs, and attractions are built or upgrade so as to attract tourists to visit Chiang Mai.

Also, the hill tribes now are more open to tourists to visit them. In the past, they might prefer to live on their own without much disturbance from the outside world or being influence by the tourists. However, after they realise the importance of having tourists to come to their place, spend on food and accommodation etc., they realise that they can earn money from those tourists, which resulted in them having higher income and a better standard of living.

“Disney” in the modern society

Performative labour

Jobs that are related to delivering of customer services are often involved in people “acting” at all time. An example would be air steward. They have to smile at all times to customers no matter how tiring they are, or how unhappy they feel. They have to keep smiling in front of customers. This applies to all countries including Thailand.

Another example is the host of a restaurant etc. the hosts’ responsibility is to bring customers to their seat and answer telephone for table reservation. Thus they are force to memorise the procedure of answering the call and to use the appropriate words to customers. Therefore, it is somehow ‘acting’ as they don’t usually speak or behave the same way but this is part of their job.

Theming

Some festivals in Thailand are also celebrated according to theme yearly. One such example is the Flower Festival. The decoration of the beautiful flowers on the float is according to the theme yearly. As there is competition on the decoration of the float according to the theme stated. On the float, there will be a lady dress in Thai traditional costume and sit on the float.

During celebrations such as Christmas, restaurants, cinemas, shopping, hotels and almost everywhere are decorated in line with Christmas theme. This goes the same as other festivals in Thailand.

Hard Rock hotel in Thailand, Pattaya, is also design according to theme. The hotel is designed to produce a ’rock’ image. This includes the design of the hotel rooms, restaurant and club. All the decoration in the hotel always has music equipment such as guitar, painting of famous musician etc.

Merchandising

Logos such as Amazing Thailand is trying to promote tourism which then increases the number of tourists visiting Thailand.

The Traditions of Chiang Mai

Traditional music

There are two types of Thai music, fork and traditional music. Fork music is performed in various distinctive styles while traditional music is similar to the style display from the early generation but it is still famous among the people today.

Traditional dance

The dance in Thailand is poetry in movement. Performances for classical Thai dance are largely influence by the stories of some religious or older traditions. For performance of the royal courts of Siam, the traditional dance is referring as ‘Fawn Thai’. ‘Fawn Thai’ has five basic styles. They are Fawn Lep (the fingernails dance), Fawn Marn Gumm Ber (the butterfly dance), Fawn Marn Mong Kol (the happy dance), Fawn Tian (the candle dance) and Fawn Ngiew (the scarf dance). Different region in Thailand display different style of Fawn dance, and normally this dance is go together with traditional music. For the fingernail dance, the ladies usually wear six-inch-long fingernails to display the elegant and unique dance.

Traditional costume

For ladies, they wear pha sin, a cloth that is rectangular in shape and wear like a sarong. The material is usually made of silk and it comes with various colours. The sarong is usually worn with long-sleeved silk blouse.

For gentlemen, they wear trousers and a suea phra ratchathan; a shirt with short-sleeve for casual wear or long-sleeve shirt for formal wear. A cummerbund will be tied around the waist for formal wear.

Others

Traditionally, Buddhist families have to send the male sons to be a ‘monk’ for three months when they reach the age of twenty. They have to literally shave their hairs and stay at the temple for three months and experience the life of being a monk. As for women, whenever the monks walk pass them etc. they have to make way for them so that they would not unintentionally have any physical contact with the monk.

Traditional Buddhist marriages required the couples to bow down before a Buddha. In addition, they believe that it is not good for a marriage ceremony to have monk.

The funerals ceremony in Thailand normally last for a week and the families, relatives and friends of the dead are asked not to cry as they believe that if they cry, the soul of the dead would not go peacefully. At the funerals, the monk will chant hymns and after the body had cremated, the ash will be placed in an urn and put in the temple.

The Cultures of Chiang Mai

Greeting

The greeting that the Thai people adopt is known as “Wai”, which means saying “hello” or “Goodbye”. To perform “Wai”, one should join the hands at the palms and raise them together to a position between the forehead and the chest. The position of the hands when Thai people greet is also different depending on whom they greet to. For example, if one is greeting to a close friend, then the hands should be positioned around their chest. If one is greeting to the King, then the hands should be placed above the forehead, kneeling and bow down. If one is greeting to the Buddha images, then the hands should be placed at the forehead while bowing the head. The same greeting is performing to the dead while paying respect to them.

For greeting within the family, children usually perform “wai” by putting the palms together then raise them up to the forehead to indicate respect to their parents as well as being obedient. However, “wai” is not just for saying hello or goodbye, but also to say thank you or sorry to an elder as well. For example, if one did something wrong, he/she can apologize by putting the palms together, position the hands at the chest and bow head to say sorry. The “wai” is performed all over Thailand as it shows a respect to someone.

Muay Thai (Thai Boxing)

Muay Thai is a form of martial art and the most famous spectator sport in Thailand for centuries. The approach to close quarters fighting of Muay Thai is distinctive and fighters are allowed to fight whatever they like so long as the opponent’s face is still can be seen.

The two fighters will dance around the rings as the music play before the match start so as to pay respect to their trainers, religious and families. The dance is known as the ‘Raam Muay’ or ‘Wai Kru’.

The history of Muay Thai started when the Thai tribes who migrated to China, were attacked by many people. Thus, those people learning to self-defenses by using their bodies, hands and legs as their tool to attack back so as to protect themselves. Hence, Muay Thai is famous till today.

Food

Rice is the staple food for most people in Thailand including Chiang Mai. The typical snack that most Thai people like is green papaya salad and tom yam soup. There are many variety of dessert that many people love to eat. One of the desserts is the Thai mango sticky rice. The spices that Thai people love to use are chilies, lemons etc.

Festivals

Festivals are also part of the Thai culture and they are celebrated everywhere in the country including Chiang Mai. There are many festivals that are celebrated yearly, bring joys to the locals as well as tourists. Some examples of festivals are Songkran Festival, The Festivals of Thailand, and Elephant Riding in Thailand.

Type of leisure programmes

Festival

There are many festivals celebrate in Chiang Mai whole year round. The main festival in Chiang Mai is the Flower Festival, Songkran and Loi Kratong.

The Flower Festival is best to watch before the cool season end. There are floats beautified with beautiful flowers that will show the theme chosen. Songkran festival represents the traditional new year of Thailand and the event lasts for three days. Loi Kratong Festival, also refer to as Yi Peng in the north, is the riches in colours. The festival also lasts for three days during November. The people who participate in the festival believe that by letting go of the floats and balloons, they can get rid of bad luck.

Flower Festival

Songkran Festival

Loi Kratong Festival

Entertainment and Nightlife

There are night clubs for locals and tourists to chill themselves at night after a tiring day. Performances such as traditional Thai dance also available for tourists to watch.

There is also night bazaar for tourists and locals to visit.

Sport

With the beautiful valley and mountain, it is an ideal place for playing golf. Thus golf is one of the most common sport activities that people engage when they visit Chiang Mai. As Chiang Mai located near mountain areas, trekking and biking riding are also the favourite sports that the people engage themselves during their leisure time.

Indigenous groups

Hill tribes in Chiang Mai

Northern Thailand is a home to many ethnic minorities known as the hill tribes. The tribes are mostly consisting of poor people, thus they normally welcome tourists to their place; entertain them hoping in return for the money that tourists spend on food, accommodations and buying their arts & craft.

Over the past century, these hill tribes have migrated from Asian interior into the region and maintain their traditional ways of lives which make them a very interesting culture for visitor to understand. The people rather live on their own lifestyles at the remote areas than getting influence by the outside world.

Cultivating opium is the main source of income to earn a living for most hill tribes. The government was successful in trying to stop the people to cultivate opium by giving them alternatives such as growing cash crops like fruits and cabbages.

There are seven groups of hill tribes found in Chiang Mai. They are Karen, Lahu, Hmong, Lisu, Akha, Mien and paduang. Then again, within these groups, there are sub-groups and clans that further divide them. Each hill tribe distinguish themselves by having different languages, costumes, dress and beliefs.

Karen

The population of Karen is approximately 300,000 and they originated from Myanmar. They are the largest group among the minority groups. There are three core sub-groups within the Karen. They are the White Karen or Sgaw, Black Karen or Pgo and Red Karen or Kayah.

The Karen wears woven v-neck tunics of a variety of natural colours and turbans. Women who are still single will wear very unique long white v-neck tunics. The Karen stay at the lowland area thus agriculture will be their main occupations. They are practising crop rotation so as to protect and preserve the forest so that the soil has time to replenish its nutrients for next plantation to occur in a few years’ time. Hence, the Karen is known as the most environmentally conscious tribe in Chiang Mai.

Lahu

The population of Lahu is approximately 73,000 and the people are originated from Yunnan and Myanmar. The Lahu or Musor, mostly found near the border of Bermese, has five sub-groups. They are the Red Lahu, Yellow Lahu, Lahu Sheleh, White Lahu and last but not least, the Black Lahu being the largest sub-group which contribute to nearly 80% of the Lahu population.

The women dress up in a unique black and red jackets and shirts while the men dress up in baggy green or blue pants. They are well-known as good hunters, and the cultivation of vegetables as their main survival with some earnings from the production of opium.

Hmong

The population of Hmong is approximately 124,000 and the people are originated from Yunnan. Hmong, also known as Meo, is the second largest hill tribe in Chiang Mai. They are well-known for their complex embroidery or needlework.

There are two sub-groups: the White Hmong and Green Hmong. In Thailand, the Green Hmong contribute to the most numbers. The women dress up embroidered heavily and pleated skirts while the men dress up in baggy black pants with colourful embroidery along the cuffs and seams.

Lisu

The population of Lisu is approximately 28,000 and the people are originated from Tibet/ Yunnan. The Lisu women are differentiated from other tribes by their colourful tunics, dressed over long pants. The people survive by rearing domestic animals, plant corns and vegetables. The Lisu are allowed to marry people of different tribes.

Akha

The population of Akha is approximately 50,000 and the people are originated from Tibet/Myanmar. The Akha is the poorest among the hill tribes and oppose to blend in into the Thai culture. However, they are the most interesting and colourful among the hill tribes that tourists can visit them easily especially those who live in Chiang Rai. Many of them have turn to become Christian although some people criticise that this has weaken their culture.

The Akha are strong in oral literature tradition which means they can narrate stories about their ancestors back many generations. The Akha womwn distinguish themselves by dressing up very plain indigo died shirts that are decorated with all kinds attractive paraphernalia like coins and beads. Each year, the Akha celebrate their distinctive swing festival.

Mien

The population of Mien is approximately 40,000 and the people originated from the Central China. Mien or Yao is a distant family of the Hmong, thus many Mien of the older age are able to write Chinese. The Mien lives in remote villages near to Chiang Rai and Nan. The Mien women are famous for their long black jackets that are decorated with pom=pom like red trim. They are known for their skilful embroiderers and silversmiths.

Padaung

The population of Padaung is marginal and the people are originated from Thailand. Padaung, being a sub-group of the Shan, speak a dialect that is similar to Thai language known as Thai Yai as it has been blend in into the Thai culture.

Padaung is famous for their long neck women which has attracted many tourists. To increase the number of tourists visiting Padaung, women add brass rings onto their neck to make it long so as to attract tourists. This will help them generate income when tourists visit the place and spent on food, accommodation etc.

Thailand: Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the second largest province in Thailand and is located approximately 310 meters above sea level. As nearly 70% of the areas are surrounded by high mountains, it provides exciting activities with the jungle tour such as bike riding at the mountain, river rafting, riding on elephants and trekking on the mountain. The mountain also act as a source of water for the people in Chiang Mai for their agriculture as there are tributaries and stream that flow down from the mountain to the agriculture areas.

Today, Chiang Mai is well connected with many other countries and attracts many tourists to visit their tribes, natural sites and many other attractions. With the number of increase in tourists’ arrival, better infrastructures and accommodations were also built to cope with the tourists’ demands. Chiang Mai is easily accessible by train, bus which make it more convenience for tourists to explore around the whole city.

Chiang Mai is a home to many minority groups such as the Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Akha, Lisu and Padaung people. These tribes are still leading their own traditional lifestyles. Foreign visitors often visit these tribes so as to understand more of their cultures, traditions and lifestyles.

Languages in Thailand

History of the Thai language

The national language of Thailand is known as Thai. Out of sixty million residents of the South-East Asian country, about eighty percent of them speak Thai. The Thai language is believed to come from the area between the border of Vietnam and China where they believed that was the place of the origin of Thai people. The Thai language is linked to many other languages such as those spoken in eastern Burma, northern Vietnam, Yunnan, and Laos.

The third Sukothai period king, Ramkamhaeng, introduced the written Thai Language in 1283. There was not much changes made since the written system was introduced, thus many modern Thai readers are still able to read the words from Sukothai era.

Regional variation

There are mainly four dialects spoken by the people at the southern, northern, north-eastern, and the central regions of Thailand. The language spoken by the central region known as Bangkok Thai or Central Thai is the one that is understood by all regions of Thailand and is taught in schools. Today, English is one of the most common languages taught in public schools as well. However, there are also other languages that are spoken by minority tribes but are not related to Thai language. This also includes those in the hill tribes in Chiang Mai.

In addition, different languages are used differently in social situation or conditions. For instance, some words are only can be used in the royal family and not by the commoners.

Mode of education in Thailand

Education System

There are four education levels in Thailand. They are pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education. The people can either attend a private education or a public education.

Pre-school education is in the form of childcare where young children are learning the very basic study such as identifying colours, learning how write etc. These processes will stimulate in their thinking as days go by and to prepare them for the next level of education.

Primary education allows learners to learn how to read and write as well as the ability to do mathematics. Primary education is very important as it helps to shape desirable characters in learners as they come across the morals, ethnic and fundamental wisdom.

Secondary education is sub divided into two categories: lower and upper secondary education. For lower secondary education, learners are expected to gain more knowledge, morals more than what they learn from the primary education. By now, learners should be able to know where their interests and what kind of jobs they likely to work in the future. For upper secondary education, learners should be able to make use what they have learnt either to apply to the real world where they work or continue for higher education to expertise and pursue a better career in the future.

Higher education consists of lower than Bachelor’s Degree level, Bachelor’s Degree level and Graduate level. Lower than Bachelor’s Degree level allows further knowledge for learners and professional skills at middle level including private expertise. For Bachelor Degree level, learners are able to apply the expertise not only in their academic, but also their professional jobs. For Graduate level, learners are specialised in their professional skills and knowledge.

Compulsory Education

Children must attend school from the age of six to twelve years old as it is the compulsory education established by the government. However, it is their choice whether to continue schooling after the age of twelve although the government provide 15 years of free education (3 years in preschool and grade 1 to 12) to the population. Nevertheless, the literacy rate is one of the highest in Southeast Asian countries as almost 95% of the population knows how to read and write.

What is Thailand famous for?

Thai Food

Food in Thailand is well-known around the globe. The food ingredients are always a mixer of spicy and sour taste. The very famous local dishes are somtam papaya salad and tom yum goong curry.

Somtam papaya salad

Beaches

Thailand is famous for its beautiful beaches. One of the most famous beaches that attracted many tourists to visit Thailand is found at Phuket, Patong Beach. It is the largest beach on the island with a wide coastline, abundant of hotels, restaurants and shopping near by the beach. Other popular beaches include Railey Beach, Krabi and Hua Hin Beach in Hua Hin.

Temples

Thailand is famous for its temple as most of the Thai’s population are Buddhist. One of the famous temples in Thailand is Phra Kaeo Temple. It is located at the Bangkok thus tourists can visit the temple conveniently while exploring the capital. Phra Kaeo Temple, also refer to as Emerald Buddha, enhanced with a range of colours that are sure to amaze all visitors. Other famous temples are Erawan Temple and Mahathat Temple.

Change Sex

Thailand is one of the most famous countries that have a high number of people changing sexes. People that born to be male change sex to become female while those who born to be female want to become male. The changing of sex is very common to the locals. It is very hard to differentiate if the pretty lady that you see on the road is a male or female.

Shopping

Thailand is also famous for shopping not only among the locals, but also the tourists.

There are many shopping centres all over the country but most shopping centres are located at the central, Bangkok. They have high-end shopping centres target at the rich such as Siam Paragon. All kinds of branded staff are sold there. There are also shopping centres that sell cheap clothes and bags to customers such as Mah Boon Krong (MBK).

Thailand

Another meaning of Thailand is “Free Land”. The Thai’s culture grew and improved for centuries as it was not under European colonial domination like many neighbouring countries.

The population of Thailand is rather homogeneous. At least 85% of the people share the same culture and speak the same dialect. The primary population consist of 33.7% central Thai, 34.2% north-eastern Thai, 18.8% northern Thai and 13.3% southern Thai.

The language that teaches in schools and use in government is the language of the central Thai. Other Thai dialects include Shan, Lue, and Phutai are spoken among the smaller groups of the people in Thailand.

The government of Thailand provide free education to the population for at least up to 15 years (preschool for 3 years and grade 1 to 12). Thus, the literacy rate in Thailand is high as most of the people did attend school.

About 90% of the population in Thailand are Buddhism, which means Theravada Buddhism is their main religion. However, there are also other religious that practice in Thailand which include Muslim, spirit worship/animism and Hindu-Brahmic rituals.