Thailand is not India

India really is unique. Sometimes in India I just wondered if I’d forgotten what it was like in Thailand. But the ride to Korat – about 2 ½ hours, sometimes at 140 km/hour – was on a beautiful road with yellow lines in the middle and well marked lanes – usually two plus a side line. There were no bicycles, ox carts, camel carts, or slow moving vehicles. No pedestrians.

And the people are …what can I say? Thais have always been among the friendliest and most hospitable I’ve ever met. And after India, those qualities are even more pronounced. That isn’t to say that Indians weren’t friendly and nice, they were incredibly so. But the Thai food stand owners just smile and offer you something and if you smile and nod your head no, they give you back a sincerely warm smile.
On the Rote Song Thaew (pick up truck (Rote) with two (song) benches (thaew)) tonight, first one young man got up for a woman, and then when another women got on, the other young man stood up and gave her his seat. There was no hesitation, just automatic. You don’t see that much anywhere in the world these days. And the first Rot Song Thaew wasn’t going to the hotel, but she said that we needed to be ‘waaaay’ over there and said get in and we’ll drop you off. No charge.

This is not a put down of India. Few places compare well to the friendliness of Thais. And here in a provincial capital – the third largest city in Thailand with about 200,000 people – is a totally different world from Bangkok. Korat was the site of the largest US air force base in Thailand during the Vietnam war, so they had a lot of Americans here then. And we see a number of Vietnam era looking white men with Thai women of about the same age. So I’m guessing they’ve come back, are visiting relatives, or have a second home here.