Thailand Trivia

[IMA_FARANG]

The story that became the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was based on a novel written by a French author although the movie was made by a British company.

In fact, there never was a Bridge on the River Kawi.....for the simple reason that a "River Kwai" did not actually exist until 1960.

After that movie became popular the Thai government in 1960 renamed a section of another river (where another bridge that was bombed during WWII existed) as the River Kwai.

They did this because tourists keep asking to see the Bridge over the River Kwai.

In the 1940's no River Kwai existed, therefore the bridge that many tourists vist today was NOT the bridge on the River Kwai.

The French author who wrote the original story always said that the story was a work of fiction, patched together from stories he heard from (mainly French) POWs who worked on that Japanese railway and he always insisted that no real Bridge over the River Kwai ever really existed.

He only created that name for the purpose of adding authenticity to his novel.

In fact, he always said, that although the novel was fiction, the inspiration for the prison camp in the novel came from stories he was told of a prison camp over 200 Km North of the actual location of the current Bridge on the River Kwai.

The number of prisoners and workers who died constructing that Japanese "death Railway" to Burma is unknown....but the majority were Asians. Many were from Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Laos, and THAILAND.

The Japanese simply did not keep valid records on what they referred as "local laborers"....meaning Asians.

They only kept records of the European POWs because they hoped to exchange those POWs after they won the war for political purposes....favors.

In the Japanese military mindset of that time real soldiers never surrendered, they fought to the death.

Therefore POWs who surrendered were in fact "cowards" and of no importance....except if they might be useful later.

Edited November 23, 2012 by IMA_FARANG

[SiameseCurios]

could Siam have been colonized centuries earlier?

No

You sure about that?

Yes

Why don't you start a new thread. I don't want to prove you wrong (!!!) by going off-topic on on this thread.

[loong]

Interesting about the Bridge over the River Kwai, thanks IMA.

I didn't realise that there was an actual river Kwai now.

I always thought that the River Kwai was due to mispronunciation of the Thai word

Kwae, which means "tributary, river, stream"

[chiangmaikelly]

Why don't you start a new thread. I don't want to prove you wrong (!!!) by going off-topic on on this thread.

Why me? I am not the anti Thai one here. You brought it up. You start the thread.

[SiameseCurios]

Why don't you start a new thread. I don't want to prove you wrong (!!!) by going off-topic on on this thread.

Why me? I am not the anti Thai one here. You brought it up. You start the thread.

I shy too much. And I think you good man.

Seriously, if you don't start it soon, I will.

[Dancealot]

The US used Thailand as a hub in the 60' s to get into Vietnam which accidentally gave sex tourism a big boost. Thailand never wanted to be part of the war but the US forced their way into LOS all thank to the CIA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_in_Thailand

[Dancealot]

re.

In 1996, two rare “diamond-eyed cats,” Phet and Ploy, were married in a lavish $16,241 Thai wedding

and pics of them are where ?

this little lovely lives in chiang mai

dave2

I found his brother in Krabi

[Dancealot]

I heard somewhere that some scenes in the Bruce Lee movie 'The Big Boss' were filmed in Pak Chong, Korat.

Anybody know about it?

I suppose you don't mean Sonny Chiba? Sonny actually filmed in Thailand on this flick.

Soul of Chiba is also know as Soul of Bruce Lee.

The big Boss AKA Fists of Fury starring Bruce Lee was indeed partially filmed in Thailand.

[Dancealot]

Thailand did not go the way of Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao because it bought off its commies snd killed the rest. Another trivia.point.

None of the countries had a socialist insurgency as Vietnam. In reality though, it was a struggle for Vietnamese nationalism. Quite the opposite of Communism.

Cambo and Lao were just sad neo-Marxist tantrums that if the govenments listened a bit to.the people could have been wholly avoided.

We do not disagree about some points regarding the Thai-Japsnese relationship but again my originsl statements had nothing to do with modern history.

On a similar note - the Japanese landed in Cambodia and within weeks decided the place was hopeless -and left.

Speaking of that I was suprised to learn that the Chinese who were left over from WWII in the North actually killed the commies in the mountains around Phetchabun. I always thought it was the Thais. Another trivia point.

That is very interesting! Can you proof this? While we are at it. How about those Bangkok bombings you mentioned earlier.

Edited November 23, 2012 by Dancealot

[Jeddah Jo]

Phuket had two French governors (René Charbonneau and Sieur de Billy) and Siam had a Greek Prime Minister Constantine Phaulkon approximately 100 years before the American War of Independence had even started.

[Dancealot]

Wow so the US bombed a piece full country in order to put pressure on severing ties with Japan? Not a surprise to learn this happened just before the hiroshima and nagasaki attacks.

[loong]

Earlier posts about the river Kwai, that didn't exist reminded me about the Mekong River.

Full name in Thai is "Mae nam Kohng"

The Thai word for river is Mae nam which means "Mother of water" Full name in Thai is "Mae nam Kohng" so River Kohng

Mae nam can be shortened to Mae, so Mae Kohng.

When we say Mekong River, are we actually saying River Kohng River?

As you are obviously riveted right now I can hear you ask the question "But what does Kohng mean?"

"Kohng " translates to "rancid, stinking"

This means that Mekong is actually translated as "Stinking River"

You have probably all seen the Thai whisky called Mekhong. I have to wonder if a farang whisky would be so popular if they named it "Stinking River Whisky"

[chiangmaikelly]

Wow so the US bombed a piece full country in order to put pressure on severing ties with Japan? Not a surprise to learn this happened just before the hiroshima and nagasaki attacks.

The fact that Thailand declared war on the UK and USA might have had something to do with it. When the US and UK bombed, Thailand was at war with the Allied powers and had invaded Burma with Thai troops and let the Japanese cross Thailand to invade Singapore.

I forgot to mention that the Victory monument was built to celebrate the victory over the French in the Franco/Thai war of 1940.

Edited November 23, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[metisdead]

A number of posts have been removed as not really useless Thailand Trivia related.

OP wrote:

Is there any , perhaps useless but interesting, trivia you know about Thailand?

Let's try to get back on track on that line.

[Payboy]

Thai national anthem was composed by a German - Peter Feit.

[payak]

interesting fact, there are a lot of asians in thailand,

[rene123]

A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants lived in Thailand, with about 20,000 of them untamed. Now, there are about 5,000, with less than half of them wild.

I could swear I saw more than that along the beach in front of Pattaya in 1998, but maybe I was mistaken. They were probably just beached whales.

[payak]

A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants lived in Thailand, with about 20,000 of them untamed. Now, there are about 5,000, with less than half of them wild.

I could swear I saw more than that along the beach in front of Pattaya in 1998, but maybe I was mistaken. They were probably just beached whales.

there commonly known as german tourist

[edwinchester]

The king of thailand has been king since 1946, He's the longest reigning monarch in the world.

.......of those currently alive.

[maxme]

A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants lived in Thailand, with about 20,000 of them untamed. Now, there are about 5,000, with less than half of them wild.

I could swear I saw more than that along the beach in front of Pattaya in 1998, but maybe I was mistaken. They were probably just beached whales.

there commonly known as german tourist

[osiboy]

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

[osiboy]

the french occupied chanthaburi for 12 yrs from 1893, the thais negotiated its return in exchang for cambodian territory, ''chan" also grows over a quarter of the worlds durian fruit . the name chanthaburi means moon city in khmer, chan= moon , buri=city

[elektrified]

Over 2 million people attended the King's mothers funeral at Sanam Luang. = the only time I've ever experienced a people jam.

I wonder how many people were at the King's 80th? Birthday in December 2007 in Bangkok? I went with some friends and it was a people jam to say the least. It was literally a sea of yellow.

[Time Traveller]

The story that became the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was based on a novel written by a French author although the movie was made by a British company.

In fact, there never was a Bridge on the River Kawi.....for the simple reason that a "River Kwai" did not actually exist until 1960.

After that movie became popular the Thai government in 1960 renamed a section of another river (where another bridge that was bombed during WWII existed) as the River Kwai.

They did this because tourists keep asking to see the Bridge over the River Kwai.

In the 1940's no River Kwai existed, therefore the bridge that many tourists vist today was NOT the bridge on the River Kwai.

The French author who wrote the original story always said that the story was a work of fiction, patched together from stories he heard from (mainly French) POWs who worked on that Japanese railway and he always insisted that no real Bridge over the River Kwai ever really existed.

He only created that name for the purpose of adding authenticity to his novel.

In fact, he always said, that although the novel was fiction, the inspiration for the prison camp in the novel came from stories he was told of a prison camp over 200 Km North of the actual location of the current Bridge on the River Kwai.

The number of prisoners and workers who died constructing that Japanese "death Railway" to Burma is unknown....but the majority were Asians. Many were from Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Laos, and THAILAND.

The Japanese simply did not keep valid records on what they referred as "local laborers"....meaning Asians.

They only kept records of the European POWs because they hoped to exchange those POWs after they won the war for political purposes....favors.

In the Japanese military mindset of that time real soldiers never surrendered, they fought to the death.

Therefore POWs who surrendered were in fact "cowards" and of no importance....except if they might be useful later.

Maybe you can tell those misguided allied visitors to the Kanchanaburi war memorials that their POWs were really cowards.

It would be really cowardly of you if you didn't set them straight on "the truth" and all you did it spit out <deleted> on anonymous web forums.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Time Traveller

[ManInSurat]

The most valuable Thai Baht banknotes ever printed were the special edition 500,000 Baht ones issued in the year 2000 to commemorate HM The King and Queen’s 50th wedding anniversary.

Thailand has the world's smallest and (in my opinion most insignificant) aircraft carrier in the world. It can carry a total of 10 aircraft.

HM the King was an Olympic standard yachtsman.

When anyone calls the Maekhong River the Maekhong River, they are actually saying "River Khong River" as "Mae" in this context means river in Thai. I just call it Maekhong.

As alluded to before, there's no place called the River Kwai. It's the River Kwae (pronounced Kway) and there's no reason why it should be called "Buffalo River." It's just a mispronunciation popularized by the famous film starring Sir Alec Guinness

The band "Carabao" get their name from the Filipino word for buffalo. Buffalo in Tagalog is "carabao."

Thai is the second longest alphabet after Khmer.

HM King Mongkut (Rama IV) was the first Asian monarch to be fluent in spoken and written English.

In 1955, it snowed in Chiang Rai.

The word "sawatdee" is Hindu. The Sanskrit word for well-being is "savasti". It's a fabricated saying to replace the more common "kin khao leow yang" (have you eaten yet) greeting and was introduced on purpose.

Suvarnabhumi Int'l Airport was originally called "Nong Ngoo Hao" or "Brother Cobra" and was changed as 1) It was deemed unlucky to have an airport named after a snake and 2) It was unpronounceable for foreigners. (Yeah like Suvarnabhumi is a vast improvement!)

In 1985, HM the King and HM Queen Sirikit saw "The King and I" on Broadway. A film widely known as being banned in Thailand, owing to its perceived negative depiction of the monarchy

The Thai slang word "toot" for male homosexuals (also often used for katoeys too) entered the Thai vernacular owing to the popularity of the 1982 Dustin Hoffman classic "Tootsie".

HM King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) banned the practice of stooping, kneeling or bowing low in the presence royalty and upper classes in the late C19th. The practice was revived in the 1950's.

Between them, HM King Mongkut (Rama IV) - 82, HM King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) - 77, HM King Loertla (Rama II) - 73, HM King Nangklao (Rama III) - 51, and HM King Phutthayotfa (Rama I) - 42 --- Fathered an amazing 325 children, when totalled up.

HM King Bhumibol (Rama IX) and his brother HM King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) conversed exclusively in French.

Oh and "Foo Foo". I won't say anymore about that, so as not to get TV into trouble. I'm sure some searching will reveal this particular gem.

Edited November 25, 2012 by ManInSurat

[ManInSurat]

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

Well according to Wikipedia's list of countries by past population figures, Thailand had a population of approx. 20 million in 1950 and 24 million in 1960. It doesn't even come close to the top in increases in population as a percentage over the last 50 years.

But don't let facts get in the way of your opportunity to make a sly dig at this country.

The actual Thai population in 1968 was approx. 34 million. More than double your original figure.

Edited November 25, 2012 by ManInSurat

[Neeranam]

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

When Meechai Viravaidya(of Cabbages and Condoms fame) did his thing with the condoms from 1970 or so - the average number of children in Thai families decreased from 7 to 1.5 .

[bangkokburning]

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

Well according to Wikipedia's list of countries by past population figures, Thailand had a population of approx. 20 million in 1950 and 24 million in 1960. It doesn't even come close to the top in increases in population as a percentage over the last 50 years.

But don't let facts get in the way of your opportunity to make a sly dig at this country.

The actual Thai population in 1968 was approx. 34 million. More than double your original figure.

I beleive the population now is approaching 75m very rapidly, esp accounting for tribal, migrant and expat populations.

[ManInSurat]

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

Well according to Wikipedia's list of countries by past population figures, Thailand had a population of approx. 20 million in 1950 and 24 million in 1960. It doesn't even come close to the top in increases in population as a percentage over the last 50 years.

But don't let facts get in the way of your opportunity to make a sly dig at this country.

The actual Thai population in 1968 was approx. 34 million. More than double your original figure.

I beleive the population now is approaching 75m very rapidly, esp accounting for tribal, migrant and expat populations.

You can Google any world country population and it gives you the immediate figure. Thailand's is still officially 69.518 million as of today.

You're quite right that taking into account, migrants, refugees and the unregistered would push that up, but when talking population figures, I take the figures given from sources like World Bank/Google/Wiki and not speculative ones that can be anything from 70m - 80m.

Edited November 26, 2012 by ManInSurat

[tingtongtourist]

you must already know this..Thailand is the hub of everything in existence and is the hub of all hubs worldwide, if ever there be a hub anywhere else then that Hub would hub to be stolen from Thailand

i forget to mention also..thailand is also the hub of trivia

Edited November 26, 2012 by tingtongtourist