My learnings

Let's dive in!

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NATALIE: สวัสดี (S̄wạs̄dī)...  

REY: Huh? Oh, so you’re Thai now... 

NATALIE: I was thinking about places to go on vacation, Thailand seems to be interesting, I would like to go there. What do you think? There is a variety of places to visit, the dishes are ufff, delicious. The vestment seems to provide good energy. Although, I don’t know what language is spoken, nor how to pay. I don’t know what’s the official currency.  

JENNIFER: Natalie, the language spoken in Thailand is Thai, also known as Siamese. Near the borders of Malaysia, Burma, and Laos, different dialects and minority languages are spoken, so what places could we visit? 

ORAINI: Mmmm, Thailand has a variety of beautiful places, we can visit tourist places such as the Royal Palace, but it has a dress code to enter the temple, and other places like Railay Beach, which is located on a small peninsula west of the city of Krabi, just south of Ao Nang beach. Isolated from everything else by impressive cliffs and lush jungle, it can only be accessed by boat. There are no roads, no cars, no buses, only paradisiacal beaches of fine white sand, escorted by impressive limestone cliffs that hide caves and lagoons.  

DAYANA: Now that you mention the temple, we don’t need to practice Buddhism to enter the temples, because thousands of tourists go to Thailand to make merits, so we can bring food to the monks and offerings to the temples. But I don’t know if we can bring all kinds of food... 

REY: Well, the food that is usually given to monks is typically composed of khao, which is basically rice, especially khao hom mali or jasmine rice, which costs around 150 baht, which is about 20,000 Colombian pesos. By the way, Thai people love spicy food, like Som Tum or papaya salad, which monks also love. 

JENNIFER: Well, if we intend to eat a typical lunch at a street restaurant, we must have 50-150 Thai baht approximately, which is equivalent to less than $5. Well, it’s not that expensive, but it’s not that cheap either, although I can’t imagine how much it will cost in a fancy restaurant.  

NATALIE: Yeah!!! The same cost for a pair of Harem pants, they have a very distinctive elephant design, which is very curious. It’s very hot there, I can’t imagine how Chong Kben o Pha Biang used to wear them before, Thailand with tropical climates surprises me more and more. The Suea Pat, this long-shirt without buttons, tied with laces in the front is common among women from northern Thailand. But I can’t imagine myself wearing such clothes. Dayana, do you think this outfit is still worn for celebrations or festivals? 

DAYANA: I don’t think so, because the traditional Thai attire, known as Chut Thai, is used at formal ceremonies nowadays, contrary to the festivals, where they wear more baggy and comfortable clothes, as in Songkran, the water festival, where people celebrate the Buddhist new year, and they wear colorful clothes.   

ORAINI: It would be great to go to the northern ancient city of Chiang Mai, where one of the biggest Songkran celebrations takes place. Tha Phae Gate, located in the heart of the ancient city, is a center of vibrant activity during Songkran. Perhaps there is a variety of candies, desserts, and typical dishes during the festival, do you think we could find Itim Pad?  

REY: Of course. Itim pad is extremely famous and easy to find. Furthermore, it is an incredible example of Thai street desserts and Thai street food in general, as it is colorful, fun, and showcases the best of the country’s culture. By the way, watching how it is prepared is quite a show that captures people’s attention. 

NATALIE: That’s how it’s! So, let’s prepare the itinerary with the lodging, food, clothes... Is there anything else we need? 

DAYANA: Transportation, darling. I want to take a ride in a tuk-tuk, but will it be very expensive? 

JENNIFER: Going by tuk-tuk is likely to be more expensive than going by cab, especially in Bangkok, since in most cases they take advantage of tourists. The songthaew, like other public, is usually paid according to the route and it is rare that, for a short trip, to pay more than 20 baths. If we want to rent it all for us, it will be necessary to agree on the price previously. An alternative that will give us less headaches is the Grab app, which is the Uber of Southeast Asia and works quite well in Thailand. In addition, we have the option to pay by credit card.  

ORAINI: This idea is super cool, we would have an adventure among friends and why not, we could continue making trips around the world to know, and learn from their cultures, we could also create a blog to record each of these adventures and thus generate more income to continue traveling. 

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Presenter: And with this, we conclude our journey through Thai culture. We hope you have learned something new and that you feel inspired to continue discovering more about this wonderful country. Thank you to my team for this cultural tour and thank you to you for joining us!