A Trip to Bangkok
August 3, 2015
There need to be good reasons to make the twenty hours journey each way to Bangkok, Thailand. For most these reasons will revolve around seeing the wonderful temples and palaces of Bangkok or using the capital as a stopover before relaxing on a Thai beach. My reason for a recent trip to Thailand was different. I was lucky to go for the purpose of attending a lavish, traditional Thai wedding.
My invitation was from a close family friend who I first met on a vacation while he was attending Tufts University. Our families have been connected ever since my mother met his mother during their freshman year at Vassar College. Despite the distance between Atlanta and Bangkok, the family friendship has remained strong for forty years. Back in December, we received the good news of my friend’s engagement and I knew I was in for an extraordinary experience. The ceremony was tastefully ornate and steeped in Thai tradition. We crossed the Chao Phraya River by boat to and from the ceremony, nine Buddhist monks bestowed their blessings, and elders lined up to pour perfumed water over the newly married couples’ hands.
My friend’s family is what you might call “high society” in Bangkok. In fact, Thailand’s current king gave the family a surname for my friend’s grandfather’s service during World War II. Their family has three live-in servants: Long, who has been with the family 19 years and is highly trusted, Yao, who is the “number two”, and a 19 year old in training. Seeing this team of three in operation was a step back in time; disconcertingly, they literally knelt beside the table as we had dinner, focused and at attention. For them, living in a comfortable Bangkok condominium to clean, cook, and assist is a far better life than working in a field or factory. Long has worked hard so that her two children can gain better educations and now both have more middle class jobs and lifestyles in Bangkok.
The country has produced many headlines over recent years. Behind these headlines there is an older, gentler, and somewhat archaic society, which incidentally has a GDP 50% greater than that of Greece. Since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932 there have been 19 military coups in Thailand. In 2007 the government returned to democratic civilian control, but was overtaken again in the spring of 2014 by the military. Political unrest and conflict between rural and urban voters have led to increased perceptions of corruption and an unsteady investment climate.
About 40 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture, but a thriving manufacturing sector contributes significantly to the economy. Between 1985 and 1995 Thailand experienced rapid economic growth, becoming a newly industrialized country and a major exporter. More recently, the country’s five-year growth of GDP has been 2.9% annually with inflation steady at 2.2%. In 2014 Thailand’s GDP per capita was $3,451 compared to Japan and the U.S. at $37,595 and $46,405 respectively.
Relations between Thailand and the United States are not good, in fact considered historically dark by some. The Thais are upset by several U.S. policies and the fact that there has been no U.S. Ambassador to Thailand since November 2014. Thirty years ago, most Thais favored the U.S. over China but now this preference has reversed almost completely.
Adam Stimpert
