One of the main differences between our culture and theirs hinges on what cultural liberties are granted by the status implied by “Farang.” It is not hard to understand how a people who managed to avoid colonialism, whose world-famous cuisine is uniquely their own, who believe you are born good and improve through life, are nationalistic. And the French agreed.Īt some point the word “Farang” appeared in the Thai lexicon, meaning foreigner. When they attempted to add Thailand to their fold, the king of Thailand offered to give away a small section of their southern section if the French would agree to just let them be. In the 19 th and 20 th centuries the French had colonial influence throughout Southeast Asia. They had to struggle to take their country back from Burma, one factor that contributed greatly to the Thai sense of independence. Thai people tend to be independent and proud of what they have and who they are. One of those facts, for me, offered a helpful insight into the Thai way: that in the 1700’s, the Burmese razed and burned this capital.
On a tour to Ayutthaya, a city that was a capital of Thailand before Bangkok, there was a tour guide who spewed facts like tour guides tend to do.
I decided to spend some time gaining familiarity with the phenomena that bring people from all over the world to visit. To do anything less was to appear as just another somebody with cheap stones for sale.Įverything I tried seemed pointless as I wandered aimlessly from dealer to dealer unaware of necessary-to-know culture cues unfamiliar to me in the beginning. I was establishing myself in the gemstone world and needed to have inventory that would make people’s eyes water. The point-word in the last sentence is the adjective “fine.” I met dealers immediately, but they all wanted to show me inky black sapphires or pallid, nearly colorless ones. However, as easy as it was to connect in that world, it was the exact opposite to establish supplier relationships for fine sapphires in Thailand: extremely difficult. A few thousand gem dealers displayed billions of dollars-worth of every gemstone anybody has ever heard of. They were readily available and making connections with the suppliers higher up the food chain was easy to do by simply attending the annual Tucson gem show one time. Jewelers everywhere were selling the types of “semi-precious” gems that I carried. Hence it was business that, magnet-like, pulled me to a Buddhist business culture. If, instead, one chose to stock ruby and/or sapphire, Bangkok was the smartest place to start. If one chose emerald, it would be necessary to explore the gem offices in Cartagena or Bogotá and form a relationship with an important supplier who could make you competitive selling in the American market. In order to firmly establish myself in the gem trade, however, there was a subtle pressure from jewelry store owners to have at least one of the three precious colored gemstones among what I offered for sale: emerald, ruby, sapphire.Ī few years of business had to transpire and profits made in order to be able to afford to inventory one of those three very expensive gems. In the beginning, in order to get started selling colored gemstones without a large bankroll, I had to invest in less expensive gems like amethyst, tourmaline, citrine, peridot, aquamarine, and the like. I switched careers after studying gemology, a fact that caused me to enter the world of gemstones. During the time that passed I graduated from college and became a teacher of Spanish. It was later in life than when I was exposed to Thai culture by my early adulthood friend, more than a decade later. I found myself drifting off into daydreams of Buddhist temples and narrow speedboats on the arterial river of Bangkok as my new friend stoked my imagination with his exotic stories, spinning in those daydreams a fantasy that I would one day travel to the kingdom.Īnd one day I did. In time he made some Thai friends who opened a window for him into the Thai culture.īangkok, where the Ultra Modern meets the Ancient He took tours of temples, the famous Golden Buddha made of solid gold, the towns that were the capitals that came before Bangkok, the hotels along the Chao Phraya River, the cosmopolitan Thai restaurant scene, the beaches, the tourist islands. An abundance of rest and recuperation time in Bangkok allowed him to explore as a tourist at first. In my mid 20’s I met a fellow who had been stationed in Viet Nam during the war and managed to get to Thailand pretty regularly as his military job was demanding and draining.
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