It is very easy to say: Thailand is everybody's favorite in South East Asia or even in whole Asia, and it belongs to the top of the list of every traveller. And it is easy explainable: the country is safe, easy to travel to and to travel in, cheap accomodation and restaurants, has a wide variety in landscape, has a large number of sights, is exotic, has a world famous kitchen, a world famous religion, a fine eye for beauty, a latent pride, and a population that is simply very nice. The land of smiles really deserves that name. As a visitor, it is possible to look behind that smile and discover some very common attributes.
Notable cities in Thailand are Bangkok, Nakorn Rachasima, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Songkla-Hat Yai, Nakorn Sawan, Udon Thani, Phitsanuloke, Nakorn si Thammarat, Ubon Ratchatani, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai. Also listed here is Khonburi, and a tour along Khmer temples in (the southern part of) North East Thailand.
Brief History of Thailand
The area that is now called Thailand used to be inhibited by other peoples, like the Mon, Bamar of the Pegu empire, Khmer from the Khmer empire. Scholars found out that the Thai peoples migrated south from China and settled in the valleys of the rivers Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan, that all flow into the Chao Praya river debouching in the Gulf of Thailand. They founded city-states and gradually expanded their territory south. The official Thai history lessons report of a first true Thai state from 1180 and on called Sukhothai. Proof is the stele of Ramkamhaeng, now displayed in the National Museum in Bangkok - but since 2003 a controversy about this has appeared (1).
The Sukhothai empire was eventually overshaowed by that of Ayutthaya, a strong, wealthy regional power, expanding at the cost of Mon, Bamar and Khmer. It was at this time that merchant-ships from Europe started to arrive, leading to many trade contacts and even exchange of embassadors. Ayutthaya gave a final blow to the Khmer empire, occupying Angkor and taking many prisoners as well as singers, dancers and artisians to its own court. The Mon population was largely assimilated into the Thai population. Hostile contacts with the Bamar peoples from Burma led to many wars, in which either side lost and won. Eventually, the strong Burmese king of Hsinbyushin (who fought 4 wars with China and won all!) laid a siege on Ayutthaya in 1767 and conquered the city, destroying it, melting gold off of the Buddha images, and applicated it to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. He too brought dancers, singers, musicians and other artsman to his own court.
The destruction of Ayuttaya was a bitter blow to the Thai from which even today traces are visible. From the ashes and ruins, a viable new kingom arose with general Thaksin, who liberated Siam from the Burmese (who were busy with the Chinese armies at their northern border) but was eventually replaced by the founder of the Chakri - dynasty, the present royal dynasty, later to be called Rama I. He founded Rattanakosin, now belonging to Bangkok.He and his two followers Rama II and Rama III restored Thai rule over much of the South East Asian area, and led the foundation for the territory presently occupied by Thailand. Rama IV or king Mongkut had to deal with very strong and aggresive foreign powers like England and France, but his widom acquired when he was a monk proved of good help. He was fairly progressive, but needed all his diplomatic skills to prevent Siam, as the land was then called, to be absorbed in either the British or French empire. His son, Rama V or Chulalongkorn, was nothing less than a genius. He typically was a leader that a country maybe once in a hundred years has, modernizing the country to Western ideas. He surrounded himself with very capable people, had enough power to abolish slavery yet not alienating the noble class, set up a modern bureaucratic system, set up a primary education system, ordered his subjects not to floor themselves while adressing him, forbade polygamy, had himself photographed while cooking, walked in disguise between ordinary people in order to find out about their lives, sorrows and lttle things. He ordered railways to be laid out into every corner of the country, bringing them under control of his, and this was new too, centralized government. Staying in power as an absolute king, he truly was a very special man, succeeded in keeping colonial powers out (at the expense of large territories) and thus culminating in the fact that Siam was never ruled by a foreign power. His followers, Rama VI and VII consolidated his policies succesfully, but the latter abdicated after a bloodless coup-d'etat in 1932 after which a civilian government was installed. Siam became a parliamentary monarchy with a constitution. Modernization was finally complete.
The second World War was something that shows Thai behaviour that was used succesfully in the past, and would be in the future: lean to the power who is strongest, and do not resist to powers that are invincible. Thus, Siam accepted a Japanese invasion in the south, and its leader, general Phibun, saw an opportunity to regain territory that was lost to the French under king Chulalongkorn's rule after France was defeated by nazi-Germany in 1940. He started a war by invading French IndoChina, defeating French armies and occupying Cambodian territory. His declartion of war to the United States never reached the State Department, since the Siamese governor refused to offer this letter to the Secretary of State. Eventually, Japan lost the war, Siam returned territories to France, and with England and the United States they wished Siam to be punished. The cold war persuaded the United States to keep Siam in their camp.
Once again, Siam leaned towards the power of the strongest nation, in this case, the United States. Stability returned with the crowning of king Rama IX, Phumipon Adunyadet, but the ongoing conflict in Vietnam influenced Siamese politics. The country had its name changed from Siam into Thailand by marchal Phibun, who began a "tradition" of many coup-d'etats, establishing a military government. He was followed by Sarit Thanarat and Thanom Kittikachorn whos main foreign policy was the prevention of Thailand falling for Communism. Despite their conservative, paternalistic rule, they had many talented technocrats appointed and installed many beneficial institutions, gradually leading the Thai economy and standard of living to higher standards. King Phumipon played an important role by visiting foreign countries and cultivating lots of goodwill for Thailand. His pretty queen, Sirikit, always wore Thai silk and was admirated for her beauty and grace. The royal couple's power grew, the king could afford himself to stand above the military and powers in society. He played a vital role in the 1973 uprising against military power, culminating in a unique, typically 1970's experimental government. Under this government, the large American air- and navy bases were shut down since they were no longer needed after the retreat (and, in fact, defeat) of the Unites States out of the Vietnam war. This governments policies were very much against the will of the army, who tried to deregulate it, and eventually took power in yet another coup-d'etat in 1976. Again, king Phumipon played an important role, concluding that the civilian government had failed largely and judged the army to be a better match to face the dangers both from abroad (Laos and Vietnam both Sovjet-communist, Cambodia Mao-communist under the horrible Khmer Rouge) and at home: the provinces Nan, Phetchabun, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Phanom contained strongholds of the Communist Party of Thailand. With the ruling of general Prem Tinsulanond from 1980 onwards, a policy of both reconciliation and amnesty as well as military action paralysed the CPT, and international diplomacy broke the CPT definitely. Thailand made a deal with China: Thailand supported delvery of waepons to the Khmer Rouge, as long as China stopped its support of the CPT. Relations between president Prem en king Phumipon were excellent, and this couple provide more and more stability.
After 8 years, eternity to Thai standards, Prem was succeeded by Chatichai Choonhavan who reached out to Vietnam and improved mutual relations dramatically using the statement "turning a battlefield into a marketplace", meaning the whole of South East Asia. His policies were visionary, but he was also known as "mister no problem" because that was his standard answer to the press. And, yet, he faced another coup d'etat in 1991 with the main reason being widespread corruption. His succesor, Anand, was a puppett until Suchinda Kraprayoon, leader of the coup, took power himself in 1992. During protests on his accesion as prime minister, students were shot in the streets of Bangkok in May 1992, while it was televized to the whole world - a new phenomenon for Thailand. Also on every screen was the scene of Suchinda an Chamlong, leader of the protests, on their knees in front of king Phumipon. Like a fatherly figure addressing his sons, he ordered a halt to violence and summoned the two to set up a viable government. At this stage, king Phumipon was at the height of his power. Anand returned to power, and at the next elections, Chuan Leekpai emerged as the new prime minister. Being a pure technocrat, his government consolidated and did not experiment much. His succesors, Barharn Silpa-Archa and Chavalit Yongchayut were a lot more loose in their policies, and traces of a faulty economy started to appear, with the banking system as a key player, the building frenzy, and the national craziness called gambling (illegal in Thailand, including cards-play !) did the rest: the Asian crises in 1997. Too much money was borrowed for too many building projects with too many Thais trying to get rich in a very short time. The crises hit other countries hard, like South Korea as a wealthy state, but also Cambodia as a poor state.
The good news from 1997 was that Thailand got a new, groundbreaking constitution that was a huge improvement to the ones before, securing "accidents" like just happened using more checks-and balances, granting more power to a civilian government than ever before (and thus keeping the military further away !), legislative reforms like securing rights of the working class, better handling of corruption, and much more attention to human rights. Chuan Leekpai was appointed to clear up the mess, which he did quite well to Western standards, but he faced much opposition in his home country. Especially the burden that the International Monetery Fund placed on Thailand was consliderd as a "sell-out of Thailand" - a striking parallel with Greece in 2015.
His impopular goverment paved the road for Thaksin Shinawatra, who was elected with populist policies. Yet, he delivered all he had promised, he was the first prime minister to complete his 4-year term and while starting his goverment with huge national debts, at the end of his turn, Thailand had a positive balance. He proclaimed "to rule the country as a company", and since he had a wealth of expierience in leading his telecom imperium, he did well for the country as well. OTOP, One Tambon One Product, became a mainstream idea propelling huge activity in every neighbourhood (tambon). He made it easy to borrow small amounts of money, leading to many new companies. He afforded many new taxis on the streets of every city, especially Bangkok, so relative poor boys from the North and North East finally got a chance, and Toyota Thailand had its production soaring. He afforded cheap health care with a starting tariffe of just 15 baht (now 30 baht, about 60 dollar-cents or 50 Euro-cents), causing hospitals to recruite much new staff, extending their buildings and searching for a way to compensate the cheap healthcare by promoting health-care tourism form Europe, Japan and the USA by setting up state-of-the-art well equipped and properly licensed hospitals. Thaksin made a personal crusade of his "war on drugs", trying to eliminate the infamous "yabaa" , meaning methamphetamine. Many innocent bystanders or killings by mistakes were taken for granted nationally, but gave him bad press internationally. Under his government, division in society became apparent and would lead to huge trouble and almost civil war. Ordinary people loved him, educated people saw his real intentions: creating more business opportunities for him own companies. Uneducated people voted for him blindly in the next election in 2005, and even some scholars joined his ever lasting success. Nevertheless, conservative groups in society saw power shifting away from them, and saw the Thailand that they always had under their control, slip away from them. They saw young people loosening attitude, they saw Thaksin getting more and more powerfull, the saw him making a remark about the king - which is extremely sensitive in Thailand. From a foreign view, he said nothing wrong, but even king Phumipon turned away from him, joining the conservative side and not standing above all parties anymore. Thaksin finally overplayed his hand by a (forced) sale of his telecom assets (to Temasek, a Singapore company, declared as the sale of national telecom space to a foreign country) but without paying tax since he had altered the tax law just before the sale. The election of 2005 was declared void, but held again in June 2006, bringing him landslide victory again. A military coup-d'etat followed in September 2007.
Thaksin would be brought to justice, he knew, so he fled the country. The military wrote a new constitution, replaced several judges, and promised new elections. Finally, in 2008 Samak Sundaravej became president, leader of the Peoples Power Party, erected after Thaksin own Thai Rak Thai party was forbidden. The populist agenda from Thaksin was continued, and when Samak had to step down he was succeeded by Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother in law. The military gnashed their teeth, conservatives took action with airport blockades, the country was in disarray and lost much international prestige. King Phumipon was too ill to act, but approved a military grab of power. The overplaying of power by the Peoples Power Party and the national chaos came to a halt when leader of the opposition Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed prime minister by a court ruling. He hopelessly tried a populist agenda while still keeping the educated and conservative classes satisfied. During his government, tensions between Thaksin supporters (red shirts) and pro-military and pro-king supporters (yellow shirt) became violent in 2010. It appeared that Thailand was at the brink of civil war. Abhisit failed at the election of August 2011, when Thaksins sister, Yingluck, was elected. Her populist policies, like an enormously expensive rice-buying programme, brought her much support, but led to rice being stored uselessly in large silos, only to be sold to China for rediculously low prices. Thailand had to borrow money form the international monetary system, creating a huge gap in the national budget. Her proposed law for a national reconciliation between yellow shirts and red shirts was explained as a way to create a general pardon for all those involved, including her brother Thaksin, who lived in exile in Dubai. This was the last straw to break the camels back: the military took power again in May 2014 with Prayut Chan-o-cha as strong man. He took power firm in his hands, conducted a (very) conservative programme, and literally spoke of re-educating people. Another reason for the military to grab power was the ever increasing deteriorating health of king Phumipon; his death would certainly spur deep grief, possibly causing unrest because his son, crown prince Vajiralongkorn, was not popular. Thailand without monarchy is unthinkable, especially in the eyes of the conservative class including the military.
King Phumipon died on October 13, 2016 at the age of 88. The country and its people were in shock, Thais living abroad were in shock, and the Thai government organized a more than worthy ceremony upon his death. The body of the king was preserved so that every Thai who wished for could sign the condoleance register and walk by his coffin until September 30, 2017. Thailand lost not only a king and a head of state, but also a part of its identity. Together with the Buddhist religion, king Phumipon provided the only stable factor since 1946. His son, Vajiralongkorn, will succeed him, but declared to need some time for preparation. It is unclear if this is to his own will, or that military leader Prayut has a say in this. Nevertheless, impopular or not, he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Bearing low expectations, he might just turn out to be a fine king and good head of state.
Following her impeachment, Yingluck fled the country in August 2017, preventing a humiliating treatment in the courthouse. Following this, Thailand is, politically, back to where is was in 1977: a conservative government after a progressive experiment. However, ordinary people have seen politicians really do something for them, and this will not be forgotten easy. To Prayut the task to, finally, write out elections and thereby leaving populists no chance. Or simply stay in power...
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Khamhaeng#The_Ramkhamhaeng_stele
further reading:
Charles F. Keyes, Thailand, Buddhist kingdom as modern nation-state, Editions Duang Kamol, Bangkok 1989, ISBN 0865311382
Niels Mulder, Everyday life in Thailand, an interpretation, Editions Duang Kamol 1985, ISBN 9742102961
Pasuk Phonpaichit and Chris Baker, Thailands boom and bust, Silk Worm Books, Chiang Mai, 1998, ISBN9747100576
Duncan McCargo and Ukrist Pathmanand, The Thakninization of Thailand, Nias Press, 2005, ISBN 8781114482
Pasuk Phonpaichit and Chris Baker, Thaksin, the business of politics in Thailand, Silk Worm Books, Chiang Mai, 2004, ISBN 9749575555
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, Our wars with the Burmese, White Lotus, Bangkok, 2001, ISBN 9747534584 - translation into English from an original publication in 1917
Vasit Dejkunjorn, In his Majesty's footsteps - a personal memoir, Heaven Lake Press, 2006, ISBN 9749412583