THE PEOPLE & CULTURE
LIFESTYLE
Lifestyle
Individual lifestyles vary according to family background, income and ge-
ography. In many ways Bangkok is its own phenomenon where upper- and
middle-class Thais wake up to an affl uent and increasingly Westernised
world with all the mod cons: smartphones, fast food, K-pop music and fash-
ion addictions. The amount of disposable income in Bangkok is unparalleled
elsewhere in the country and to some degree is a source of contempt for the
rest of the country, which views the capital as excessively materialistic.
The economic boom years of the 2000s aided the ascent of the work-
ing class, some of whom have migrated to commercial and tourism cit-
ies where they could earn enough to pay off debts and catapult their
children from labourers to professionals. Many also thank former prime
minister Thaksin’s populist measures for providing economic relief to
this beleaguered sector of the society.
Young Thais are opportunity migrants, leaving small villages and
small towns for job prospects in the service industry or the big cities.
They form their own urban tribes in their adopted cities and return
home for holidays. Regardless of the job, most Thais send a portion of
their pay home to their parents or to support dependent children left
behind to be raised in the village.
More traditional family units and professions can be found in the
provincial capitals across the country. The civil servants – teachers and
government employees – make up the backbone of the Thai middle class
and live in nuclear families in terrace housing estates outside the city
centre. Some might live in the older in-town neighbourhoods fi lled with
front-yard gardens growing papayas, mangoes and other fruit trees. The
business class lives in the city centre, usually in apartments above shop-
fronts, making for an easy commute but a fairly urban life. In the cool
hours of the day, the wage earners and students head to the nearest park
to jog, play badminton or join in the civic-run aerobics classes.
One of the best places to view the Thai ‘lifestyle’ is at the markets.
Day markets sell kitchen staples as well as local produce and regional
desserts. Night markets are good for dinner and people-watching as few
Thais bother to cook for themselves.
Though fewer people toil in the rice paddies than in the past, the vil-
lages still survive on the outskirts of the urban grid. Here life is set to the
seasons, the fashions are purchased from the market and if the water
buff aloes could talk they’d know all the village gossip.
From a demographic perspective Thailand, like most of Asia, is grey-
ing. Women pursue careers instead of husbands; unmarried women nowSOCK IT TO MESometimes called Siamese football in old English texts, đà·grôr is a homegrown sport
that involves fancy footwork and a woven rattan ball. Players typically stand in a circle
(the size depends on the number of players) and simply try to keep the ball airborne by
kicking it between each other. Points are scored for style, diffi culty and variety of kicking
manoeuvres. This form of the game is often played by friends wherever there’s a little
room: a vacant lot, school playground and sandy beaches.
A popular variation on đà·grôr – and the one used in intramural or international com-
petitions – is played like volleyball, with a net, but with only the feet and head permitted
to touch the ball. It’s amazing to see the players perform aerial pirouettes, spiking the
ball over the net with their feet. Another variation has players kicking the ball into a hoop
4.5m above the ground – basketball with feet, and no backboard!
Ðà·grôr was introduced to the Southeast Asian Games by Thailand, and international
championships tend to alternate between the Thais and Malaysians.The official year
in Thailand is
reckoned from
543 BC, the
beginning of the
Buddhist Era, so
that AD 2011 is
BE 2554, AD 2012
is BE 2555 etc.