This is on the grounds of Wat Phra Mahatat in NST, way down south in Thailand. This is a mother and her son, in front of a boat that represents their boat trip to the area from India about eight hundred years ago. I'm not sure what they accomplished to become so famous, and for so long.
The remote history of the area, like going back almost two thousand years, includes trade migrations from India, Vietnam, Malaysia and China, with lots of cultural remnants along the way. It's really a fascinating place. Lots of Mosques, museums full of evidence of a vigorous ceramic trade, a Hindu temple or two, and the usual diversity-friendly Thai Buddhism.
2 comments:
How far is this city from the 3 most southern provinces where the daily attacks happen? Do you think Thai people realize they have multi-cultural origins?
Love, Ann of wonderingland
Going south, it's quite a ways from NST to the three troublesome provinces. They are not so much multicultural as culturally Malaysian. Everywhere else in Thailand, Muslims fit in very well and seem to be accepted as Thais.
Your second question is a good one. I think Thais are aware of it, but the shared culture of Thailand is so strong that they don't feel multicultural at all. It was all fused together a long time ago, after all.
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