In official speeches, at school and in public debate, *khwam pen thai*, 'Thainess', literally 'the fact of being Thai', is taken as self-evident. Yet…
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The flooded paddies that now make up the image of the Thai countryside are not a timeless backdrop. Archaeology shows that the first rice cultivated…
Understand 13 min read
For hundreds of kilometres, the Mekong separates Thailand from Laos. Yet this line of water is no immemorial natural barrier. It was born of a…
Understand 13 min read
From the Khorat Plateau to the Chao Phraya valley, stone sanctuaries are a reminder that between the 11th and 13th centuries much of present-day…
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In Thailand, the year is not divided into months alone. It also follows the moon, the rice harvest, the rainy season and the rhythm of the…
Discover 26 min read
It left no certain capital, no king list and no chronicle of its own. Yet Dvaravati is the name engraved, in the 7th century, on silver medallions…
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On the edge of Lake Nong Han, some twenty kilometres from Sakon Nakhon, a boat-shaped cathedral towers over streets laid out with ruler-straight…
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Every year, at the end of June or the beginning of July, Dan Sai, a small town in Loei province in north-eastern Thailand, fills with round-eyed…
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