The Thai movie-going experience is pretty similar to the UK: giant and overpriced cokes, ridiculously cold air-con, queues of squealing girls and their reluctant boyfriends (but maybe that last one's just Twilight) except for one significant difference. At the start of the film, after all the trailers and the ridiculously fast-paced and surreal Thai ads, everyone stands up (it's actually illegal not to!), and they play the national anthem.
Here it is, for those who are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOhfo0MO00
It's accompanied by quite an amazing video in the cinema as well, involving soviet-esque shots of dams and other symbols of progress towards industrialisation, as well as propaganda style scenes of young beautiful women and their adorable chubby babies. And, of course, the King.
There was a photo here, but it now has to be removed, because I want to do another post and it's against the law in Thailand to have a photo of the King lower than a photo of anyone else on a web page. They actually just made a new protect the king cybercrime unit to enforce this too!
Thai people REALLY love the King. In Bangkok we spotted flourescent orange "long live the King!" wristbands, which a few of the other interns are now proudly wearing. There's pictures of the King everywhere - like on the entrance to the airport, on bridges across main roads in Chiang Mai, in pretty much every Thai person's house - doing pretty much anything you can imagine - playing golf, wearing monk robes, getting on planes etc. And in the cinema video, my favourite part was a shot of two small children drawing pictures... of the King and Queen.
The King is on the money here, and it's actually a criminal offence to step on money, because that's stepping on a picture of the King, and stepping on stuff is really offensive in Buddhist cultures because the feet are considered the lowest part of the body, so to put them above or on someone else's body is a massive insult. Even pointing at pictures of the King is quite rude. It's kind of cool though, in a way - I think maybe here the King is an enduring symbol of unity in quite a diverse nation, whereas in the UK, the Queen is a nice old lady who doesn't really do anybody any harm, and the rest of the royal family aren't good for much except Daily Mail feature stories.
But, saying all that, the Thai national anthem (which gets played twice a day on all radio stations), translated, is actually
'Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.
The whole country belongs to the Thai people, maintaining thus far for the Thai.
All Thais intend to unite together.
Thais love peace but do not fear to fight.
They will never let anyone threaten their independence.
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood to contribute to the nation, will serve their country with pride and prestige full of victory.
CHAI YO. [Cheers]."
...No mention of the King whatsoever.
Whereas ours is:
God save our gracious Queen,
God save our noble Queen,
God save the Queen
etc.
...so who am I to talk about being obsessed with the royal family?
I think only one thing remains to be said:
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