I just got back from a conference in Thailand after an oddly long gap of twenty-four years since I last visited the country. That trip in the late 1980s is still vivid in my memory and I recall at the time thinking that Thailand was one of the most distinctively “foreign” countries I had ever visited. It seemed to have its own very particular character as expressed through its history, food and language that distinguished the Thais more emphatically from their neighbours than they did from each other.
On this trip I was struck by how much has changed since those impressions were formed. The country clearly retains its beauty and charm, but this time I was taken aback – and disappointed – by the inexorable process of homogenisation that seems to have rolled over Thailand. Of course a quarter of a century of tourism and extraordinary economic growth have transformed the country but I was still disheartened by the extent to which Thailand now feels a lot like anywhere else.
Siamophiles will no doubt point out that there is still a lot of the country that retains much of its original character and perhaps it is not just Thailand that has felt the effects of globalisation: I have too. In the years since that first visit I have spent a great deal of time travelling to different parts of the world which no doubt has left me de-sensitised to the exotic, even as I try to preserve that more youthful sense of curiosity and wonder about the world.
It has also made me a travel snob: however much I decry the relentless rising tide of Irish pubs, cappuccino bars and pre-packaged culture, I now regard it as a fundamental human right to be able to download the Times crossword on my Ipad each morning.
Familiarity brings risk. As we move from being in awe at the individual nature of countries to wallowing in the easy ubiquity of the modern traveller’s life, it becomes harder to discern what is really happening beneath the surface. Strangely, the more we see and the more of us that see it, the less we know – or the less we seek to find out, assuming that common tastes equals mutual understanding. We assume that if people drink chilled, mocha frappuccinos and so do we, then we must understand how they think.
Thailand is no exception. The last few years have brought millions of tourists to the country and millions more have come to do business in one of the most dynamic of emerging markets. But it is a market that has been beset by on-going social turbulence that often we struggle to fathom. The day I arrived there was a Red Shirt demonstration just outside the airport for reasons that were not immediately clear. But once you settle down with a bottle of the same brand of Thai beer that you can buy in the supermarket at home, it is easy to lose the determination to figure out exactly what it is that brings people out on to the street.
As with many countries, we confuse familiarity with knowledge. And the complexities of Thai politics and the fault lines that run through this society remain as hard a puzzle to unravel as ever.
As it happens, I am living in Thailand, though even if it were some other country I were in, I think I would recognize what you are talking about. People tend to project their preconceptions onto whatever they are dealing with, resulting in the frappuccino fallacy that you cite. The Thais do it too. There is a big drive in Thailand these days to be “modern,” and a lot of the traditional culture that you saw so much of in the 80s is being pushed aside in favor of teevees and smart phones and air conditioning, and anything else they see the West doing. but at the same time, it would be a mistake for anyone– Thai or foreigner– to think that fundamental Thai values have changed in any serious way. The old patron-client networks are still in place. Theravada Buddhism still rules the roost. The country still oscillates between being a maritime and a land-based power. These are the themes that have always governed the country; modernization is just a gloss (albeit a virtually opaque one). http://tinyurl.com/czkhefu
The enduring power of traditional values is not unique to Thailand, and superficial attempts by the locals to set aside traditional values are not unique to it either. I find that the fastest way for an outsider like you or me to get inside a culture is to study not their history, politics, or economics, but their classical literature– their religion and philosophy especially. Those deeply held beliefs about what the world is and what man’s place is in it– that is the stuff that defines a particular culture, and that never changes. That is the stuff that transcends the frappuccino. (By the way, if you want a book that oozes Thai culture, check out “Khun Chang Khun Phaen.” The Chris Baker translation is loaded with helpful footnotes.) I have found that once the culture’s fundamental ideas about reality are understood, the economics and politics come a lot more easily.