What Thailand needs

After my time in Thailand, it feels like home.

Like anyone who feels positive towards where they are, they want to see the place flourish and thrive. I've started to love the country more for what is good, and be saddened by the problems that it has.

Thailand is a middle income country, not a "developing country" (see no more western and developing countries). What this means is that that poverty is becoming less of a concern. Many Thais are starting to be able to buy cars, and even take holidays in places like Korea. They have functioning roads, hospitals, banks and some good universities.

But the country still has a lot to improve.

For one, the country tends to look poorer than it is. If you go to Bangkok or Chiang Mai, the sidewalks are in bad condition, if they are there at all. There is often garbage everywhere. And there are people living in slums (more in Bangkok than up here).

Part of the reason is a lack of community spirit. Most people here tend to think of the problems of themselves, friends and family. Anyone else is considered not their problem. Those that have money will move to a "mu baan" (gated community) and think little of making their city beautiful, clean, or safe.

I think this needs to change. The majority of Thais are generous by nature, but this generosity is not always planned, and usually goes to family and community seniors (such as monks) instead of the common man.

But this I believe will change in time. In fact I'm much more concerned with the Thai attitude to education. And with the ASEAN community in 2015, this will only become more important.

In general, not many Thais tend to value learning as much as other nations in the region. Education is seen as a way of gaining status. Getting the degree is more important than what you learn during your time studying. And there is very little serious commitment to lifelong learning.

I'm not saying that there are not very intelligent Thais working in the country. There are extremely intelligent people here. But often they are marginalized, and unless they come from upper class families, those that would become very well educated are discouraged by society from doing so.

This has lead to the unfortunate stereotype that Thai people are stupid. For the love of this country, it is a stereotype I hope one day will be broken.

Many of Thailand's neighbors such as Cambodia and Vietnam are starting to take education much more seriously. This is not just the government, but the people as well. If Thai people don't change this attitude with the lowering of economic barriers in 2015, the country may lose its high value well paying jobs and revert to low value manufacturing and agriculture.

It's not just education. Thailand has a reputation for some good quality specialized products (such as car components) in south east Asia, but in general there isn't the same attention to detail here that is displayed in countries like Japan and Korea. This combined with a lack of planning for the future makes Thailand reactive, rather than proactive.

The country has the base to be a key country in the region and an important country in the world. But if it wants to grow, it needs to do some things, like:
Celebrate intellectual heroes. Running contests, televised debates, and giving awards for significant academic achievements can give people the social reinforcement they need to educate themselves, if that is their interest.
Develop community spirit. By creating a pride in the quality of ones neighborhood and community, the Thai spirit of generosity could become a very powerful force in tackling many of the social problems in the country.
Become more future focused. While many residents are focused on having fun now, the problem is that many big problems get left until too late. By encouraging people to think a little more into the future they will start to fix problems before they get too big.
Read!. Find ways to get Thai people to enjoy reading more. It doesn't matter what, it can be whatever they are interested in. But more reading leads to more information in the heads of Thai citizens, and to more authors producing original and creative works in the language.

There is a cost to economic development, but in Thailand's current position, I believe many social problems can be positively impacted by economic development. By raising income levels, the incentive to traffic drugs and people decrease. Less expats who come here from the wrong reasons will be able to afford it, improving the quality of the foreigner population here. And more money available can help the government improve its welfare policies like health care and the old age pension, which is currently not sufficient. And, as the other countries around it are growing, Thailand will actually devolve if it remains stagnant.

The Thai culture has some great things to show the world, and I would like to see the people get richer and the country prosper economically, so that internationally people start taking Thailand more seriously.

Greater fear theory: How nations are changed

My last culture post was about Greater Fear Theory. This post extends this idea to nations.

I think we are often concerned with the world around us. Changing ourselves can be scary, so we look at changing our situation so it can avoid setting off our negative triggers, and can set off our positive triggers.

But there are times when changing society can be beneficial. Especially when it is done for the needs of others. (See next post on What Thailand Needs, coming up in 2 weeks)

There's no doubt that sometimes the collective values we hold can cause suffering to others, or even ourselves. Having lived in Thailand for 3 years now, I can attest that the western drive to always be somebody "special" and better than others has led to an erosion of community. It's more unusual for people to be lonely here and much easier to find people to support them and help them. Many people are also happier with a comfortable "average" life leading to less stress and all the problems that go along with it. I think modern countries should do better than dismissing countries like Thailand as "less developed" and try to learn from what is good here.

But in Thailand there are major problems, and part of it comes from an unwillingness to confront the uncomfortable things in life (the Sabai Sabai life). There are 1000s of illegal abortions, domestic abuse cases, drink driving deaths and emotionally based shootings in this country every year. And that's partly to do with the fact that many Thais don't want to be a buzzkill.

No matter what country you are from however, there are problems to face. And sometimes they get avoided because the populace fall into a comfortable complacency. And here greater fear theory works on a national level.

This can be initiated by people, or as "unintentional events".

Often when it is initiated by people (normally politicians), the results are bad. Nazi Germany was founded on the fear of inferior races like Jewish people and tried to eliminate them. World war 2 imperial Japan was founded on the fear of inferior Asian cultures that needed to be cleansed and educated in Japanese ways. In both these cases, the average German or Japanese wouldn't have committed the atrocities they did. But they were afraid.

The USA went to war in WWII and this ended the great depression. It's a tactic that has been used by American presidents ever since. Unfortunately they are starting only now to realize that a war is only stimulates the economy if that economy is based on manufacturing.

People know these events and so rightly are very concerned the use of fear in politics. But can fear be used for good?

In my last post, the death of my mother through cancer was a shock that pushed me into a life where I am now much happier and more joyful than ever. It was not an "intentional" event. Let's look at unintentional outcomes in some nations.

Germany has rebuilt itself on the concept of co-operation rather than dominance. WWII was horrible for German citizens as well as other Europeans. This memory has created a collective fear about centralized political control and propaganda. They now have one of the freest medias in the world and are deeply focused on getting EU members to co-operate.

Japan has recovered from the devastation to become one of the world's leading trading nations. Together with Germany, they are the worlds top advocates for nuclear demilitarization and global peace initiatives.

They do this because the results of war have been real and immediate to them. In the US, the battle ground has always been somewhere far away, and so this hasn't prompted a change in behavior there. We can see the result of the twin towers attack, which while tragic, it was a tiny number of casualties on their soil compared to what happened in Europe or in Asia (the Japanese are believed to have massacred over 20 million people in North Eastern China during WWII).

These have all been events that were never intended. But the reality of them and the immediacy of their results told the population that change needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.

I don't advocate that any of us seek to create some horrible event to initiate change. We have a remarkable gift for imagination that allows us a preview of events without having to "buy the ticket". But it does help understand why some nations don't appear to want to change. They're comfortable.

Many of the nations that have undergone great changes have had some horrible historical events. I believe this is what has kicked people out of their complacency and on a move towards a better future.

Some countries never get out of this change and suffer from repeated atrocities, like ethnic conflicts in some African countries. Which shows that fear is enough to initiate change, but benevolence is needed to use it for good.

Greater fear theory

Sometimes people need a push.

Even when we are in a life situation that's far from ideal, it can grow comfortable, and we become scared of change.

What did if for me was the death of my mother. When I was 23 she passed on, and it left me deeply questioning the purpose of my life. I imagined a list of all the things I wanted to do before I die. I used to imagine myself on my death bed reviewing my life. Up to that point, I felt I had done nothing I had wanted to do with my life.

And it scared me.

I was scared of change also. At that time I had a job that I didn't feel aligned with. But it was a monthly pay packet and I knew everyone. It was comfortable.

But the fear of that image, of having died before I had "lived" was what pushed me into my new life. Since that date in April 2004, here's what I have done with my life:

• Got out of a mortgage I had been in since 19
• Studied kinesiology, massage, myofascial release and craniosacral therapy
• Worked in a travel agency
• Spent a year traveling to North America, Europe and Asia
• Taught English
• Gained fluency in French
• Moved to Thailand and started a business degree
• Lost hair and gained wisdom

Although all the changes have made my life at times more difficult, I don't regret having done any of these things in the slightest. In fact my life is more rewarding than it has ever been. I can imagine that old man on his death bed, and already he can think back on this life with joy, satisfied and proud with what he has done.

But I might not have had this life if it wasn't for the push. Which started me thinking about what I call Greater Fear Theory.

Greater Fear Theory is the idea that to overcome great resistance to change, the fear of the status quo needs to be greater than the fear of change.

For me, the idea of living an unhappy life with a huge mass of unfulfilled dreams was much scarier to me than the fear of the uncertainty of that change in my life.

If you're unhappy with your life but are scared to change, perhaps this can be used for you. From my experience, greater fear theory needs three things:

1. Something fearful about you current situation needs to be found
2. This fear needs to be real and vivid
3. This fear needs to be immediate, or happening now

In an ideal world, we may not need to be motivated by our fears. But often the hardest part about change is breaking the old habit, and starting the new. If you're having difficulty with that, perhaps this can help you as it helped me.

The rise of Asian universities

Asia is changing fast. That's pretty common knowledge.

People who don't live here or don't focus on the region might not realize how much. The idea for some in the west that the region will one day have the purchasing power of western countries seems inconceivable. But at least the idea is in the minds of most people alive today that the region will be important. And an important part of the regions transition is education.

Each year there is about 3 million students classified as international. About 550,000 or just under 20% of these come from Asia alone. With UNESCO quoting an average growth of 12% of international students globally every year, this number only seems likely to grow.

The most popular destinations have traditionally been English speaking countries such as the US, the UK and Australia and some European countries like Germany. Asian destinations like Singapore and Japan were considered second best options, for those who couldn't afford "better education".

In fact, this view is already old. Many countries in the region are starting to see the need to specialize in knowledge. Korea has education specializing in electronics, graphic design and even video game design, Singapore and Hong Kong are highly focused on finance and business education, and even Thailand is developing a good reputation in Asia for robotics and pharmaceutical research.

As the economies and incomes have been growing in the region, so has the desire to import foreign knowledge in the form of teachers and education systems, giving rise to the Asian international education industry.

Both the US and Australia have been capitalizing on this industry for a long time - classified as a service export, like tourism - which brings in approximately US$20 billion a year for each country. In Australia, it is the 3rd biggest industry by value, below coal and iron ore, but above gold.

Asian countries are seeking to entice these students to their countries with cheaper prices, and a more globalized faculty and student body.

Many countries have set aggressive targets:

• In 2007 Singapore announced plans to increase its number of international students from 50,000 a year to 150,000 by 2012
• Malaysia has also set a target of 100,000 for 2012
• In the next 5 years, Japan hopes to increase student numbers from 100,000 to 300,000
• Korea has expressed desire to increase international students by 100,000

For these targets, most countries are targeting other Asian students rather than Americans or Europeans.

One way this is being done is with offshore campuses.

Some American, British, Australian and other European universities are taking the market seriously, creating and operating campuses in Asian locations. Here are just a few:

• Webster University operating in Thailand
• Monash University in Malaysia
• University of Wales et al in Singapore
• John Hopkins University in China

These universities offer the same accreditation and curriculum as their western counterparts. They gain by accessing an increasing market. The local communities gain by having access to established universities academic experience and reputation.

Part of the reason these big universities are taking the region seriously is that domestic homegrown universities are rapidly improving in quality, prestige and research output.

If one can speak English moderately well, there are competent international programs offered in Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan and Korea. Perhaps more.

With growing education prices in the west and an increasing importance of Asia in global affairs, we may well one day be sending western kids to Asian universities.

Why the Thai language needs reform

One of the problems I initially encountered when I came to Chiang Mai wanting to learn Thai was that there was a lack of good material in Thai.

In general, it's fair to say that Thailand is not a literary culture. Apart from books on Buddhism, very few books are written originally in Thai. They are usually translations from other languages.

Book stores and libraries not as big or as popular compared to Japan, Korea or France, although it seems to be improving in Bangkok.

Part of this I believe is that learning (as opposed to having qualifications) is not highly valued by the culture here, and this in my view is the most crucial aspect the country needs to change if it wants progress. But I digress.

I believe the crux of the problem is the Thai writing system.

This is not a post complaining about the difficulties of the Thai alphabet. In fact, if one applies themself, it is not as hard as it first seems. However there are a few things they could do to make it easier for Thais and foreigners alike to read Thai. This would encourage literacy and enjoyment in literature.

The first is a spelling reform.

Many educated words derive from Sanskrit or Pali and contain either rare or otherwise redundant consonants.

For example: "International business" is spelled ธุรกิจนานาชาติ It is pronounced something like dthur-a-git nanachaat, although the spelling would tell us it ends "nanachaadti" but we just learn you don't pronounce that part. It could be spelled ทุรกิดนานาชาด with no change in pronunciation.

The consonants ส ศ and ษ are the exact same consonant and follow the same tone rules, except the latter are only used for certain words. You just have to know which.

By eliminating redundant consonants, the total number of consonants could be reduced by about a third.

Every vowel has a short and long version, often looking very different from each other. For example: ๅ and ะ (aa and a). It may be too revolutionary, but there is already a marker to indicate a short vowel for certain vowels: เอ็ๅ the symbol above "เอๅ". If it was used for all vowels, the number of symbols for vowels could be decreased by almost one half.

Lastly, there are tone markers, but they respond differently depending on which tone group the first consonant of the syllable belongs too. These tone markers could be reused to respond to all consonants the same, and tone groups could be removed entirely, changing the tone reading rules from 13 to 5. This last change would force Thais to relearn some readings so it would encounter resistance. But it would not be a big change and it would be easy to adapt to.

The second, is punctuation and spacing. At a glance, which do you think is easier to read?

To get a feel for what Thai is like to read for a Thai person, I'll continue the post with no punctuation or capitals.

whileitispossibletoreadthaiinthiswayasitisinenglishitisntveryfuninfacteveninthaiitthereisnoindicationoftheendofasentencesoaphrasecanoftenbejustamassiveblockoftextandasistatedearlieritispossibletoreadbyidentifyingwordsandcognitivelyseperatingthemfromtherestofthegroupittakesmoreefforttodosoitisalsopossibletoknowfromcontextwhereasentenceendsandanewonebeginsbutagainitrequiressignificantlymoreeffort

Congratulations if you got through that. Yes it is possible to read and as some Thais I have heard argue that if you get used to it it is no problem. But it requires a lot more mental effort. With spaces between words, commas between thought groups, and punctuation marking sentences and other structural elements we can use our visual processing to aid us. It reduces the cognitive load in reading, and makes it less of a mental workout, and more enjoyable. Hence, encouraging enjoyment in literature.

Even the Japanese and Chinese incorporate some punctuation in modern day literature for this reason. Spelling reforms are possible. Italy and Germany both conducted spelling reforms in schools. The result? An increase in literacy. In fact, the average 15 year old Italian has been quoted as a consistently better speller than their English or French counterpart. Some studies have shown less occurrence of dyslexia in countries with simpler spelling systems, such as Italian as well.

Literacy is perhaps the most important thing a person can learn, as it forms the gateway to almost all forms of explicit learning. So by some simple reforms, the language can be made much more accessible to foreigners and Thais alike, leading to an easier integration for migrants into Thai society, and for Thais into international society.

Hard vs Soft infrastructure

Living in Thailand has its ups and downs.

One of its downs is definitely dealing with administration in Thailand.

I've learned a lot living in Chiang Mai. And an enlightening lesson has been the difference between hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure.

Hard infrastructure refers to the tangible stuff we can see. It's the hospitals, the schools, the highways, the electricity, the communication lines. Thailand is a mid-level developed country now. Sure it's a little dirty sometimes, but there are decent roads throughout the country, some nice hospitals, and electricity works most of the time. Heck, the majority of Chiang Mai even has 3G coverage which is better than some western cities. So hard infrastructure is not lacking.

Where Thailand is lagging behind the world is in soft infrastructure. Soft infrastructure is the policies of governments and organizations, the banking systems, the cultural and social events and education and welfare of the people.

Here's some examples of how soft infrastructure is lacking here in Thailand.

Example 1: My wallet gets pick pocketed in Bangkok. Although I have a Thai bank account, a passport to prove my identity and a police report to confirm the theft, Siam Commercial Bank requires me to go back to the original branch I opened the account (in Chiang Mai) to replace the card or take our money. Why? Because I don't have the bank book.

It is easier to replace my Australian bank card here in Thailand. Unfortunately the banking system is more complex than it needs to be here, and stories like this are not uncommon.

Example 2: Every year to apply for my education visa, I need to go about 1 hour before the immigration office opens to get a ticket. I'll usually be there most of the day. In my application I need to resubmit 2 photographs, a copy of my university application letter (from 2 years ago), up to date academic transcripts of all semesters studied, a personally created letter from the university administration and photocopies of all my past visas and entry stamps.

The process is improving which is good to see, but I still have to ask why they need further copies of things like my university application letter, which hasn't changed, and should be on file.

Example 3: When applying for my drivers licence, I needed to have a medical certificate to test my blood pressure and eye sight. This needs to be less than 30 days old (because apparently in Thailand one's eyes can degrade in the space of 30 days). My certificate of 40 days was not accepted. I spent 5 hours going between government buildings and hospitals.

When I went to renew my licence a year later, I was told that if I renewed before the expiry date, I would only get a one year licence. If I came back after it expired, I would get a 5 year licence. This rule doesn't make any sense to me.

Example 4: In order to study 8 subjects one semester (the normal allowed limit is 7), I had to fill out a form that had to be signed by my advisor, the head of the department, the head of the business school, and by the vice president of the university. This took 3 days.

In fact the time it takes to deal with administration it so well known here that people expect most dealings to take a full day. A business owner I know here says that there is several days a year of "occasion leave" reserved just for dealing with administrative issues.

Not only does it waste a lot of time here, it also encourages people to not try and change anything or do anything new. It is a big resistance to people who want to try and be creative or entrepreneurial.

It has become clear to me living here how soft infrastructure is just as important as hard infrastructure if a society wants to grow.

Why I chose to study at Payap University

I knew I wanted to study in Asia. I just didn't know where it would be.

I was 27 and I had a plan to study abroad. I like the challenge of living in different cultures. It can be frustrating at times, but I feel like I learn something new almost every day.

Perhaps because my first experience in another country was in Korea, I have always had a cultural interest in Asia.

So I applied a process to narrow down my choices of University. My criteria were:

1. Somewhere I could live and study for under AUD10,000 a year after part time work
2. Courses taught in English
3. Part time work no more than 10 hours per week to focus on meditation and study

Initially, South Korea and Japan were obvious choices. There are a few international courses, but it would be very difficult to meet the financial criteria only working 10 hours per week. The language barrier would also be a major issue. Teaching English is not legal there until a person has an undergraduate degree. And I didn't wish to do anything that would jeopardize my studies. So they were out.

China was another option, however I worried about political censorship in general. However at the time there where no international colleges teaching in English, apart from a few American colleges that charged American prices. China was out.

India had the opposite problem. Almost every course was offered in English. I searched for international business colleges and found over 100 of them. That's 100 colleges through the country that I knew nothing about. Also having almost left Thailand after the first 6 months due to culture shock, I'm glad I didn't settle on India. I probably wouldn't have made it. India was out.

Taiwan and Thailand offered the most promising courses. Taiwan had some international programs and as a plus I would be able to learn Chinese there. So I sent off emails to colleges.

Thailand has a half dozen international colleges, but most with good links are in Bangkok. I've been to Thailand, so it was a little familiar and less intimidating, but I freaking hated Bangkok. My last few experiences in the city have confirmed that I still hate it. It really is my least favorite city in the world. However I stumbled upon a university in Chiang Mai that had good links around the world, what sounded like a good program, and met my criteria. I sent them an email.

That college ended up being Payap University.

The university has teachers from all over the world and is exceptionally affordable, compared to most universities. It sounded too good to be true.

In some ways it was. At least in the first few semesters, the teaching standard was not up to my standard. Adding in some cultural shock, and administrative hassles, and I was ready to move or transfer after the first semester.

I don't know why but I stuck it out. And it's gotten a lot better. The senior teachers are usually quite knowledgeable and some have extensive experience (international NGOs, Wharton University, Asian Development Bank). All pretty impressive given the remote location of this University and its financial constraints.

The administrative hassles are still here, but they aren't anything more than the excessive bureaucracy that exists in most universities on top of a Thai love for arbitrary complications. You learn to deal with them. You also learn that in a country like this, the maxim "It's not what you know, but who you know" is even more important than in the west.

While the expectations of students are lower here, and they are not pushed as hard to study or threatened with failing marks as much, there is the same opportunity presented to learn here as in a western university. It's just that here the student needs to motivate themselves to exceed expectations. I find in some ways this is a much better preparation for the real world than having your hand held the whole way.

I will graduate in a years time satisfied that I have made a good choice. I have learned a lot about how to analyze business, I have absorbed a few cultural intricacies and I have matured a lot along the way.

And the Taiwanese universities? They never bothered replying.

Bangkok vs Chiang Mai life

After visiting Bangkok a few times and lived in Chiang Mai a few years, I thought I'd share my experience of the differences between life in the capital and life in Chiang Mai.

Bangkok is more international. It's easier to find a more worldly and diverse social group than in Chiang Mai. It also has more bookstores and better shopping for specialty goods, like training equipment. The extra social clubs would probably make living there long term more interesting. And lastly, it is cheap and convenient to travel to many locations in Asia.

Unfortunately, it is more expensive when compared with Chiang Mai. Food that costs about 30 Baht up here is normally about 45 Baht in Bangkok. Small studios with air con that are about 3,000 Baht a month are around 5,000 in Bangkok.

Another major issue for me in Bangkok is that I can't get out of "Tourist Thailand".

Tourist Thailand is what I call any area where if you see a westerner, they are probably a tourist. In Tourist Thailand, every Thai person assumes I am a tourist as well. This attracts the kinds of Thai people who want to rip me off or steal from me or otherwise make me feel uncomfortable.

In Chiang Mai I live in the suburbs. Here the westerners are either going to the local shopping mall or study at my university. Most people in the local area have seen me before. And nobody reacts surprised or shout "falang!" when they see me. I can just go about my business and enjoy my time here. I like that.

Chiang Mai is a 20 minute city. That is, almost everything is 20 minutes away. If you drive more than that in any direction, you are in the countryside. Or driving in the 1 hour a day there are traffic jams.

Socially, there is not a lot to do in Chiang Mai. And most of it involves drinking. For someone who is practically a non drinker, this is very limiting in terms of entertainment.

In general the city is very laid back. It is so laid back however, that it is hard to find people who are ambitious about anything. I tend to be lazy, but I also have a craving for change. It is for this reason that although my time in Chiang Mai has been good, I will be more than ready to move on when I graduate.

It's Modernization, not Westernization

I frequently hear about people complaining about the "Westernization" of Thailand.

This mostly comes from long-term expats who have seen changes over a number of years. It reminds them of the country they left. And they don't like it.

While it's true that in general Thailand values the material and superficial, I'm not sure that this new. Even if it is a new phenomenon, it's arrogant of us to place our views above the wishes of the people.

If the people of Thailand want to be able to purchase cars, nicer phones, clothes, etc and be proud of them, that's their choice.

However even more arrogant I feel is to refer to the process as "Westernization".

Westernization refers to the process of a country adopting "Western" cultural values, although what is considered Western is not very clearly defined.

In Thailand, many people refer to Westernization as an increasing strictness of rules and regulation and a primary concern for material wellbeing (read: money).

But I think we consider these things Western simply because those cultures got there first.

We forget how much Western culture has changed in the last 100 years alone. Looking back at classic black and white movies shows me a time I can barely imagine.

In fact in many ways, the mentality of Chiang Mai residents often make me think of the TV series "Mad Men". Men were expected to philander and take control of a situation, and women were expected to be accommodating and look after a man. Gender roles were simpler then, and I think thats what many of the old timers seem to like about being in Thailand.

In the series there is even an episode when many of the wives find a single lady weird because she walks for pleasure instead of necessity. In Chiang Mai, nobody walks unless they have to. Outside of running for exercise, a person who walks for pleasure is considered a bit weird.

Western civilization has had hundreds of years of challenging paradigms that many other cultures haven't experienced, at least not to the same degree. Particularly starting with the French revolution, the idea was implanted that it was possible to overthrow a government, if they moved en masse.

America followed with a civil war and the rising of first wave feminism which resulted in the abolition of slavery and gaining women the right to vote, now considered basic human rights. In fact, many countries were ahead of Western countries in terms of human rights at this stage.

World War II had another huge change in terms of labor relations and gender roles. When men went to war, women had to do what were considered mens jobs at home. And when the war was over, women didn't want to give up their jobs. This gave rise to second wave feminism, which dealt with questions on gender roles in family and society.

This was in the 60s and 70s, only about 40 years ago, or a little over one generation. Considering the amount of changes that took place over the past 100 years in the West, places like Thailand are catching up fast.

This of course is not to mention a large period of near poverty for the masses from the beginning of the industrial age until after world war II (with the exception of the roaring 1920s). Economic equality and the emerging middle class hasn't been a phenomenon for most of western societies until about 60 years ago.

Much of this kind of development around the world seems to follow a similar pattern such as increased standard of living, and increased regulation and adherence to rule of law. Thailand is no exception to this.

I don't believe Western culture is superior. But neither is the culture here. They both have good and bad points. The sad thing about Modernization is that most cultures replace all old traditions with new. Some old traditions are good and healthy and should be kept. Some are not good or healthy and should be changed.

In the west we have rapidly gone from a culture of automatic respect to automatic disrespect. We disrespect elders and authority who may (or may not) have more experience than us or something valuable to contribute to society. We are so alert for any injury to our pride that we become unnecessarily aggressive to strangers. Thailand is not like this yet, but it's starting to happen.

I would like to believe that cultural development is like a pendulum. It swings back and forth from one extreme to another, but becomes closer and closer towards a better balance with time.

I believe we are observing in Western cultures a desire to revert back to some traditions of the past. The idea of community and morality is becoming increasingly talked about and I think this is a good sign.

But the west had to go through a period of great material wealth (80s and 90s) to realize that material wealth alone doesn't provide happiness, something else is missing.

Thailand needs to go through its period to realize the same thing. It is only just starting to enter this period.

We are seeing more cultures adopting similar values in their own fashion, especially here in Asia. It's time we stop referring to these cultures as becoming "Westernized" and start thinking of them as becoming "Modernized".

The smiles of the Land of Smiles

Thailand is famous for its smiles. Most people hardly go a day without someone smiling at you for seemingly no reason in this country. I'm so used to it now that it usually goes straight to my filters. I don't even think about it.

Despite the fact that Thailand still suffers from drug trafficking, human trafficking, poverty, high levels of AIDs, and a large number of orphans, it's easy to believe that people here must be much happier.

Of course in some ways they may be (I'll write my thoughts about social development vs. economic development in a later post). But in general, I don't think the average Thai is happier or more miserable than the average citizen of any country.

Unless you've lived here a while you probably don't realize that Thai people smile for many different reasons - and most aren't the "my life is awesome" kind of smile we usually think they are.

Here's a list of 13 known types of smiles in Thailand ("Yim" with a high tone in Thai):



Of the 13 smiles, 5 relate to either avoiding feeling bad or trying not to show others they feel bad. A further 4 come from the pleasure of feeling superior to somebody (Thailand is a very hierarchical society). And then there's the inappropriate smile is a miscellaneous catch all for that-thing-we-find-funny-that-we-shouldn't (same as in the west).

In fact, only 3 smiles (happy, admiration and feigned politeness) are a genuine sign of happiness or politeness.

That's a 15% chance the smile you're getting is what we westerners think is a "real" smile.

Of course you can learn to recognize these smiles. It just takes time. And really, isn't it nicer that the guy showing you attitude is doing it with a smile on his face?

Man made vs natural problems

The suffering of the Japanese people during the Earthquake, Tsunami and following disasters have got me thinking about the two types of suffering we encounter in life; those that occur naturally, or without intervention, and those that we create ourselves.

The Buddha spoke at length about suffering. It is the most central tenet to the practice.

Most people don't really understand what he meant by suffering. In fact the word is a bad translation. It might be better translated as dissatisfaction, unpleasantness, or even imperfection, it depends on circumstance.

The Buddhas most famous description of suffering is the parable of the two arrows.

In brief, he uses the idea of physical pain to convey suffering. If we are shot with a single arrow we feel pain, but beyond the physical, we add mental/emotional pain to it: It's as if we shoot ourselves with a second arrow.

The most important point is that we cannot always prevent the first arrow from being shot. But we are in control of the second arrow. We can learn not to shoot it.

I have observed that most times what works at the level of the individual also works at the level of the collective.

Take the events in Japan at the moment. With the thousands dead and many more who have lost all their material possessions, their suffering is great.

We try to prevent disaster happening. We try to control the dangerous elements of our life. Unfortunately, this was an uncontrollable one. The first arrow has been shot. The best we can do is to bring comfort to those who are suffering, emotionally and materially. Then it is their job to heal. They have to learn to stop shooting themselves with the second arrow. Nobody can do that for them.

In moments like these, we have the opportunity to realize that horrible things sometimes do happen in this world. There is enough suffering that occurs naturally. There are enough first arrows being shot. We don't need to add to it.

But how are we shooting second arrows? Is it the person we shouted at because we were in a bad mood with something else? Or the "white lie" we told in order to get something we want? Or maybe our indifference to the suffering of others?

How are we shooting second arrows? That is the question we should humbly and honestly ask ourselves. None of us are perfect. But by understanding how we create suffering for others, we can learn how to reduce it. Human beings have a remarkable ability to repair and recover, but we don't need to make it harder for them to do their job.

Sabai Sabai culture and the lack of organization

I was at a restaurant in Chiang Mai the other day and when it came time to pay my bill of 100 baht (US$3) with a 1000 baht note (US$30), they didn't have change.

This is not a large bill for a bricks and mortar store, yet moments like these are extremely common. Most small businesses do no planning whatsoever, even when it's something as simple as having enough change.

It's at the heart of sabai sabai, or relaxed, culture.

People come to Thailand for the relaxed attitude to life, where people don't take anything seriously, and always think about having fun, or sanuk.

Except that if you live here long enough, your rosy glasses lose their tint.

While I still love the relaxed attitude in general, it's ugly side means that nothing gets done theway it's supposed to, no one takes responsibility, and you can't get mad about it.

The land of smiles is not the land of service, and I've baffled several otherwise smart business owners with the questions "What is your target market? Who are your customers?". They look at me like I've spoken to them in algebraic code.

Living here has given me a great opportunity to develop patience, but sometimes not being sabai sabai would make life a whole lot easier.

What is a traveling experientialist?

To begin the blog I felt it was appropriate to start with a definition:

Experientialism(n).
The philosophical theory that experience is the source of all knowledge.

Travel(n).
To go from one place to another, as on a trip; journey.

The definition of experientialism is easy. In this blog I hope to share some of my personal observations and the conclusions I draw from them. My history as an Insight meditator, or Vipassana meditator has taught me the value of learning through direct observation.

Traveling is a little more detailed.

As an Australian who has lived in France, currently living in Thailand, and planning to live in South Korea, I meet the definition of "going from one place to another".

But as an experientialist observer, the metaphor is often more real than the literal. To me real travel occurs in the mind, through a change in perception. We gain in experience and our mental landscape changes.

Living abroad gives a person opportunity to observe, should they take it.

This is my attempt.