I lived in Thailand for two years and three months, from 2013 to 2015, where I worked as a Primary Teacher Trainer as a Peace Corps volunteer. You’ll find Thailand travel tips, culture explainers and my personal experiences in these posts.
Thailand is famous for fabrics, specifically its silk. In the video I made showing the process of making silk from the silkworm to the loom, you can see one woman weaving a somewhat intricate pattern. Traditionally, there are some main patterns that are used in Thai fabrics.
I recently had the chance to go to the Jim Thompson Farm, where they cultivate silk worms to produce Thailand’s famous silk. It was really cool to peak into every step of the process that goes into making silk. Check out the video!
Of all the textiles that are made in Thailand, silk is far and away the most well known. The visibility and reputation of Thai silk was carefully curated by both Queen Sirikit and Jim Thompson. But how is Thai silk made? Where does it come from?
When I went back to the U.S. for the Top Bloggers’ Tour, one of the things I did was give 15 minute presentations to elementary school students about Thailand. With such a short amount of time, I decided to tell the kids about one aspect of Thailand that it is famous for: its textiles and fabrics, and so I passed around examples of different kinds of scarfs and gave them an opportunity to dress up in some of the Thai clothes that I have. There is a lot going on in the textile, fabric and fashion world here in Thailand.
สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sa-wat-dii bpii mai) or Happy New Year to you and yours! Like most everywhere, here in Thailand we celebrated the turning of a calendar year with countdowns, fireworks and lots of people getting together. However January 1st is not the only New Year in Thailand, we have a couple of celebrations for that; three of them in fact.
I’m on vacation, but my fellow volunteer and friend Carly just wrote this amazing post about Thai weddings with some stunning pictures and videos. I haven’t had a chance to attend a wedding and probably won’t in the next three months, so please click through to read more about Thai weddings.
Back in July, I went to my first Thai wedding! Since I’ve attended many Thai funerals during my service, this was a very welcome change. Wedding ceremonies differ quite a bit from those back home in America, so it was a fascinating experience! Especially considering I didn’t know what was happening, or why, the majority of the time. However, thanks to some discussions with my counterparts and neighbors after the events, I was able to understand some of the traditions and customs of a traditional Northeast Thailand, a region known as Isaan, wedding ceremony. Also, if you want to read more about Thai wedding traditions from a Thai perspective, check out this fantastic blog! It was a big help in piecing together the missing parts of the puzzle.
Last year, for Christmas, I went to my friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer Jill’s site. She held a great Christmas camp for the students at her school and I decided I wanted to do something at my school. So this year, I enlisted the help of the teachers at my school and planned out some Christmas festivities. One of the lessons was learning Christmas carols, which you can see here!
While for most people that I know, today is a day to relax and enjoy the afterglow from the previous days’ festivities, here in Thailand and across Southeast and Southern Asia it is a day of remembrance. Ten years ago today, the most destructive tsunami in modern history tore through the Indian Ocean and took the lives of over 227,000 people, with more than 5,000 confirmed in Thailand, alone. To this day, there are around 3,000 people who are still missing.
A quick scroll through the Peace Corps Couchsurfing Facebook group will easily turn up a handful of posts from other volunteers who are coming to Thailand, either to get away from the cold of their country of service or to celebrate with a Close of Service vacation. Bangkok is also the medical hub for the Europe, Mediterranean and Asia region, and often the islands in the Pacific as well. I met a couple in Cambodia, whose response to me telling them I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand was, “I didn’t know we still had Peace Corps in Thailand.”
The infrastructure – paved roads, running water, consistent electricity. The amenities – 3G Internet, a wide variety of Western and ethnic food choices in multiple cities, washing machines. These things have earned Peace Corps Thailand the somewhat derogatory title of “Posh Corps” in the Peace Corps community. And Thailand is not the only one.
Returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV) Alan Toth served in South Africa, another country that has the Posh Corps label attached to it, and made a documentary about volunteers in South Africa exploring what it means to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer and touches on serving in a more developed country.
Northeastern Thailand, known as Isaan, is a little bit different than the rest of the country. Here, they are known particularly for eating sticky rice. Sticky rice is different than normal rice and is made differently, too. Check out this video, from friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer Dan, where grandpa makes some sticky rice!