THAILAND

HISTORY OF THAILAND

Officially the Kingdom of Thailand or formerly known as Siam, is a country located at the center of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.

The country is a kingdom, with most recorded reigns in the world. It is a constitutional monarchy with King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who has reigned since 1946, making him the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king is officially titled Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, an Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.

Thailand is the world's 51st largest country in terms of total area (slightly smaller than Yemen and slightly larger than Spain), with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km² (198,000 sq mi), and the 21st most-populous country, with approximately 64 million people. The largest city is Bangkok, the capital, which is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities. About 75% of the population is ethnically Thai, 14% is of Chinese origin, and 3% is ethnically Malay; the rest belong to minority groups including Mons, Khmers and various hill tribes. The country's official language is Thai. The primary religion is Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of all Thais.

Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995 and is a newly industrialized country with tourism, due to well-known tourist destinations such as Ayutthaya, Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, and Ko Samui, and exports contributing significantly to the economy. There are approximately 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand. Thailand has also attracted a number of expatriates from developed countries.

BANGKOK THAILAND

Bangkok is a capital and large city of Thailand. In Thai as known Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. Bangkok is a center of everything such as economic, culture, religion, education, entertainment, transportation, shopping and food. It has evrything for your life. Most restaurants in Bangkok always open 24 hours and lots of restaurant and foods. At night Bangkok became a city of light evrywhere open the light at night and it's so beautiful. Bangkok has a lot of car on the road so its always has . Many people like to use other way like skytrain, subway or ship that they not have a traffic jams for a long time. Bangkok has many interesting place such as temple , China town, Malls. It has lots of visitor come to Bangkok in each year.

FLAG OF THAILAND

The flag of the Kingdom of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white,blue, white and red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four. The design was adopted on 28 September 1917, according to the royal decree about the flag in that year; the Thai name for the flag is ธงไตรรงค์ (Thong Trairong), meaning tricolour flag. The colours are said to stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand,red for the land and people, white for Theravada Buddhism and blue for the monarchy, as having been the auspicious colour of King Rama VI. As the king had declared war on Germany that July, some note the flag now bore the same colours as those of Britain and France.

Emblem of Thailand

The National Emblem (National Symbol) of Thailand features the Garuda, a figure from bothBuddhist and Hindu mythology. In Thailand, this figure is used as a symbol of the royal family and authority. This version of the figure is referred to as Krut Pha, meaning "garuḍa acting as the vehicle (of Vishnu)." The National Emblem is also the Emblem of the King of Thailand.

The Garuda also features in the National Emblem of Indonesia and the city of Ulan Bator (the capital of Mongolia). The coat of arms of Indonesia is different from that of Thailand in one respect, because Emblem of Thailand does not feature a heraldic shield.

THAI MUSIC

Thai music have many kind of Music. Thai Music got influence from Korean and Japanese. Over Asia people can listen Asian songs and like their Artists like Chinese songs , Korean songs or Japanese songs. Many Thai people would like to listen songs and like Asia singles althought they do not know the meaning of that songs.

THAI ART

Traditional Thai art is primarily composed of Buddhist art. Traditional Thaisculpture almost exclusively depicts images of the Buddha. Traditional Thaipaintings usually consist of book illustrations, and painted ornamentation of buildings such as palaces and temples.

THAI CULTURE

The Thai greeting referred to as the Wai .Wai is also common as a way to thank someone or apologise.

Wai as a greeting or farewell often speake the word

" sawatdee" . The Thai greeting is cultural symbols in Thailand.

" Wat " that name call temple in Thailand. There are over 31,200 Buddhist temples spread around Thailand.

They are grouped into two main groups , temples which are permitted to carry out religious functions, and those which are used only for living quarters for monks.

Khon

Amongst the most famous of Thailand's cultural show is the Khon. Khon masked drama evolved in the royal court of Siam, although its roots lies in folk dances of the countryside. Here, performers don elaborate jeweled costumes; men wear masks and women gilded head-dresses. Music accompanies the dance and the dialog and songs are performed by an off-stage chorus.

Shadow Puppet Plays

In the south are the shadow puppet plays known as "Nang Thalung". Nang Thalung is the more popular of the two where puppets crafted from cow hide have strings attached for better character movements. The puppeteers then move these along with the music and comical dialogs.

THAI LITERATURE

Thai literature was traditionally heavily influenced by Indian culture. Thailand's national epic is a version of theRamayana called the Ramakien. A number of versions of the epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. Three versions currently exist: one of these was prepared under the supervision (and partly written by) King Rama I. His son, Rama II, rewrote some parts for khon drama. The main differences from the original are an extended role for the monkey god Hanuman and the addition of a happy ending.

The most important poet in Thai literature was Sunthorn Phu, who is best known for his romantic adventure story Phra Aphai Mani and nine travel pieces called Nirats.

Kings Rama V and Rama VI were also writers, mainly of non-fiction works as part of their programme to combineWestern knowledge with traditional Thai culture.

20th century Thai writers have tended to produce light fiction rather than literature, but the Isan region has produced two notably sociocritical writers in Khamsing Srinawk and Pira Sudham.

Thailand has had a wealth of expatriate writers in the 20th century as well. The Bangkok Writers Group is currently publishing fiction by Indian author G.Y. Gopinath, the fabulist A.D. Thompson, as well as non-fiction by Gary Dale Cearley.

THAI COSTUME

Most Thai people wear clothes similar to Westerners. Particularly in Bangkok and other big cities. In some rural areas you may find older people wearing what would be considered traditional dress. The teachers in the picture on the left are wearing traditional Thai clothes. Some of them would wear this type of clothing on a daily basis, others only on special occasions. Children would almost always wear Western clothing apart from very special occasions.

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Khon dance or the masked dance drama is the highest form of dance drama of the six traditional Thai dance forms. The dance consists of four sets of characters, male, female, monkeys and demons with dancers wearing elaborate Khon masks.

This traditional Thai dance is based on the Thai Ramakien drama which was adapted from the Hindu Ramayana epics which had a profound impact on the cultural development of Thailand and several South East Asian countries.

The Ramayana epic by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki, consists of six books:

• The Book of Youth,
• The Book of Ayodha,
• The Book of Forest,
• The Empire of Holy Monkeys,
• The Book of Beauty,
• and The Book of War

Ramayana or the march of Rama depicts the story of Prince Rama from Ayodha, city of God. He is banished to the forest, where the evil giant Ravana, the demon ruler of the island kingdom of Langka, city of the Demons, abducts his beautiful wife Sita.

Prince Rama goes in search of his wife and seeks the help of the monkey god Hanuman and his army of monkeys. The search ends at the island of Langa, where a final assault is launched on the city and Prince Rama is reunited with Sita.

The tale as told in Khon drama is about the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil.

Originally Khon dance was performed mainly in the royal court. Owing to the huge cast involved and the elaborate masks and costumes, the dance never really caught on with the general public.

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Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Thai: องค์บาก [oŋbaːk]), also known in the United States as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is a 2003 Thai action film. It was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, featured stunt choreography by Panna Rittikrai and starred Tony Jaa. Ong-Bak proved to be Jaa's breakout film, with the actor hailed internationally as the next major martial-arts star. Jaa went on to star in Tom-Yum-Goong (called The Protector in the US and Warrior King in the UK) and directed a sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2.

Plot

In Ban Nong Pradu, a rural village in northeastern Thailand, villagers covered in mud climb a tree. Ting, the village's best athlete, grabs the flag at the top and descends, deftly avoiding the other climbers. A few days before a local celebration, a group arrive from Bangkok and ask the caretaker to sell a statue to them. They are refused.

Ting is appointed by the local monk. Though extremely skilled in muay Thai, as he demonstrates for Mao ("Uncle Drunk" in Thai), he has vowed he will not use it for personal gain. It is a poor village - The village's most prized possession is an ancient Buddha image, named Ong-Bak. During the night, Ting's Uncle stumbles into the temple. He witnesses and yells at intruders but is knocked out with a piece of wood. He awakes to find the statue's head missing. The villagers are worried. Ting promises to recover it. The villagers help pay for his trip to Bangkok, where he is to meet his scumbag cousin Humlae and get help in tracking down the thieves.

In the city, Humlae has dyed his hair blond and calls himself George. He and his friend, Muay Lek, are street-bike racing hustlers who have fallen in with a bad crowd of yaba dealers. They find that they speak the same Isaan dialect.

Humlae is at first reluctant to help Ting, but when he sees the small fortune in coins that Ting has collected from his village, Humlae takes an immediate interest. And, when Ting is in the bathroom, Humlae grabs the sack and heads for a bar on Khaosan Road where an illegal boxing match is going on. Ting tracks Humlae down, but instead of getting his money back, he ends up fighting and being named the new champion - Ting PADIU PIU after one high knee smash waylays the old champ.

Ting (Tony Jaa) is ready for another showdown.

This makes Ting an enemy of Komtuan, a gray-haired, wheelchair-bound crimelord who needs an electrolarynx to speak. He's been watching the fight from his private room, and losing money because Ting keeps beating his fighters. It is discovered that Ong-Bak was actually stolen by one of his henchmen, Don.

Meanwhile, back in Ting's village, there is bad luck indeed. The ground is dusty and full of cracks and all that's left in the village well is muddy water. They need the Buddha's head back for the drought to end and good luck to return to the village.

George keeps working shady deals, with he and Muay Lek working a scam at a baccarat game in an illegal casino. Eventually, the scams catch up with him, and the drug dealer shows up to give George a beating. Ting ignores George's cries for help, but when the drug dealer starts smacking Muay Lek around, Ting takes care of things. But then the drug dealer's friends and the cheated casino boss show up and a footchase through the alleys ensues. Ting helps George escape in exchange for his assistance in helping to find Don.

That night, there is another fight at the bar. Ting is egged on by Big Bear, a vulgar Australian fighter. At first, Big Bear attempts to provoke a fight with Ting by insulting Thai people. But after Big Bear beats another Thai man and assaults a waitress, Ting takes up the fight and easily beats the hulking man. He then must fight Toshiro, a very fast and flexible Japanese fighter. His final opponent is Mad Dog, another farang, who favors the use of such objects as chairs and tables to fight with. The fight takes them up to Komtuan's private booth. Komtuan hands Mad Dog a knife, but Ting quickly disarms him and then throws Mad Dog out of the viewing booth's glass right back onto the battle area. An African man steps into the ring to throw a coin at Ting's feet and at the same time, he gives Ting a thumbs up. This starts loud cheering from everyone who's just seen the fight go on. They also throw coins at Ting, much to the delight of George and Muay Lek.

Muay Lek, meanwhile, has been struggling to keep her older sister Ngek from using drugs. Ngek has fallen in with Don. On the bed, Ngek, following her sister's advice, says she wants to quit drugs. Don, in his anger violently suffocates her and stuffs her mouth with drugs. Muay Lek shows up at Don's apartment with George and Ting to find her struggling sister overdosed and near death. George and Ting take off and chase the boyfriend in tuk-tuks, with several of Don's men joining in. The tuk-tuks take to an elevated expressway, and the scene climaxes with many tuk-tuks driving off the edge of an unfinished portion of the highway.

Ting follows the bad guys and ends up at the port and in the Chao Phraya River, where he discovers a cache of stolen Buddha images. This leads back to the gangster Komtuan, who makes Ting fight one of his bodyguards who is a Burmese boxer and has been treating himself with drugs, making him full of rage and impervious to pain. Ting painfully loses the fight to meet Komtuan's demand for him to throw the fight in exchange for Ong-Bak's head. The following day, George, Ting and Muay Lek are kidnapped by Komtuan's henchmen. After Komtuan leaves and orders the henchmen to kill the three, Ting attacks the men with the assistance of George.

Ting and George follow the gangsters into a cave in a mountain, where the head of a giant Buddha image is being chiseled away. There is a final showdown, with Ting fighting off all of Komtuan's henchmen with George, who tries his hardest to fight them, but is still beaten badly. Komtuan's bodyguard injects himself with several shots of drugs at one time and attacks Ting. The bodyguard is defeated and seemingly killed by Ting. Komtuan then shoots Ting and attempts to crush Ong-Bak's head with a sledgehammer. George covers Ong-Bak's head with his body, taking the beatings from the sledgehammer to save Ong-Bak's head. At that moment, the giant Buddha head falls over, crushing Komtuan to death while George almost rolls away from its path, but he is crushed underneath. Although crushed from the head, Ting and Muay hear his last wish, for Muay Lek to graduate school and for Ting to look after her.

The head of the Ong-Bak Buddha statue is restored in the temple of Ting's village. Ting, now ordained as a monk with shaven head and white robes, arrives into the village in a procession on an elephant's back while the villagers and Muay Lek celebrate his ordination.

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'Ong' refers to the Buddha Image of this village

'Bak' (verb) or 'Roi Bak' (noun) means scar or mark from being cut by sharp weapons: knife or sword.

The person with clear mark from this kind of weapon on the face could be called 'Khon Nhar Bak', this case the Buddha Image is called 'Ong Bak'.

There is a big scar or Roi Bak on the face of Buddha Image http://www.winonlyri...nema/OngBak.jpg

From the legend of this village, this Buddha Image was plundered from the village by Burmese soldiers during the ancient war between Thailand and Burma. Kru Dum (Teacher Dum), the brave Thai man, master of martial art, a great teacher of Muay Thai in this village, risked his life into Burmese troop to bring back the Buddha Image to the village.

'Roi Bak' on the face of Buddha Image was believed to be the miracle of his power to protect Kru Dum, it's the wound from the fight when Burmese soldiers tried to kill Kru Dum with sword but this mark was shown on the face of Buddha Image instead and Kru Dum was safe.