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Thailand’s cultural heralds to crack down… on planking?!

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Tue, Jun 21, 2011 6:10PM UTC 0 Comment

By Saksith Saiyasombut Thailand’s National Knee-Jerk Outrage Machine (“กลไกสร้างปฏิกิริยาอย่างไร้ความยั้งคิดแห่งประเทศไทย”*), also known as the self-proclaimed cultural heralds of everything ‘Thainess’, have struck again! After clamping down on farang chefs, topless Songkran dancers, religious tattoos on infidel skin, they are now targeting another absolutely inappropriate, un-Thai abomination: planking!!! Yes, the craze, where everyone lies face down in the most...

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Thai Culture Minister’s anti-religious-tattoo-on-foreigners-gate redux

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Fri, Jun 03, 2011 11:00AM UTC 11 Comments

A man showing his back tattooed with ancient scripts at Wat Bang Phra Temple in Nakhon Chaisri, Thailand. The sacred, Buddhist movties are said to grant supernatural powers to it's bearers. (Image by Flickr user "kPluto", licsenced under CC)

By Saksith Saiyasombut Yesterday’s post on the Thai Ministry of Culture’s declaration of intent to stop foreign tourists from getting religious tattoos has created quite a buzz around the net. No wonder, since this is a) a story affecting a lot of tourists, and b) quite honestly yet another stupid idea by the self-proclaimed heralds...

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Thai Culture Ministry to crack down on religious tattoos on foreign skin

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Tue, May 31, 2011 11:26PM UTC 0 Comment

By Saksith Saiyasombut Tattoos have a very special place in Thailand. They’re more than just permanent fashion statements, not unlike amulets they are regarded as spiritual guardians. Tattoos with religious or spiritual motives, called Yantra tattoos, are yet another sign that Thais take their beliefs skin-deep. Philip Cornwel-Smith dedicated a whole chapter in his excellent book “Very Thai”...

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Thailand: Pressure mounts to amend lese majeste law

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Thu, May 26, 2011 9:00AM UTC 0 Comment

By Saksith Saiyasombut The debate about Thailand’s draconian lèse majesté law, Article 112 of the Criminal Code, gains more traction with several groups either discussing or demanding to at least amend the law, which forbids any discussion about the royal family and can be punished with up to 15 years in prison – and there’s at...

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“Only taboo when it’s inconvenient!” – Interview with Thai author Kaewmala on the outrage at topless Songkran dancers

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Tue, Apr 19, 2011 9:30AM UTC 0 Comment

By Saksith Saiyasombut Traditionalists and other self-proclaimed heralds of the ‘true’ Thai culture are having a tough time these days. Especially in the most recent Songkran (the Thai Lunar New Year) festivities they bemoan that it essentially has been reduced to almost a week full of excessive water fights and heavy drinking, that lead to...

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