All About Thailand - Elaine Russell

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down the ripest coconuts. After graduation, they work on plantations. Some can pick 1,000 coconuts a day. Now that’s worth a banana or two! Most of their diet is made up of fruit, nuts and seeds, but they also eat small animals.

      Thailand has 14 kinds of monkeys and apes (apes, such as gibbons, are larger than monkeys and don’t have tails). Who can resist a Dusky Leaf Monkey (Spectacled Languar)?

      Look, No Hands!

      Sepak Takro—Thailand’s Favorite Sport

      All over Thailand people love to play sepak takro—including me! This is a combination of soccer and volleyball. The court is like a volleyball court and there are three players on each side. Players hit a woven rattan* ball like the one in the photo (below right), over the net using only their feet, knees, chest or head. No hands or arms allowed!

      To play, one team member throws the ball to the server who kicks it over the net. A team scores when the other team drops the ball, knocks it out of the court, or touches it with their hands. A set is 15 or 21 points, and a team must win two sets. Players make spectacular jumps to hit the ball. It’s pretty exciting to watch—and even more exciting to play!

      *Rattan is thin strips from a palm tree.

      Some people think the game started in Malaysia while others say Indonesia. But Thailand adopted rules for sepak takro in 1829 and it’s been a favorite sport ever since. Kids also play soccer with takro balls and hoop takro, where you have to kick the ball into a basketball hoop. Now that’s tough!

      Other Sports Kids Like Other Sports Kids Like

      Soccer: Lots of kids play soccer in Thailand, only we call it football.

      Muai Thai Kickboxing: This is a martial art that combines boxing and kicking. It helps kids learn self-defense and discipline. Kickboxing has been around a long time in Southeast Asia. You can watch professional kickboxing matches. There is even a special dance performed by kickboxers to show off their skills!

      The ram muay dance

      Special Thai Crafts

      Silk Weaving, Lacquer Ware, Jewelry and...Umbrellas?

      Thailand produces beautiful handmade crafts that are sold around the world (this is what Tawan’s mother does). Many crafts are made in small villages like mine. Artists learn to make them at home from their family or neighbors.

      Silk Cloth

      I love to watch my grandmother weave silk cloth on her big wooden loom. Her beautiful fabric is sold in stores in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Grandmother made me a silk outfit that I wear for Songkran (see page 28) and other special celebrations. Grandmother is teaching me to weave, but it’s hard. I hope someday I can be as good as she is!

      Step 1:

      I help Grandmother raise thousands of little, squiggly silk-worms that eat mulberry leaves and berries. After three to four weeks the worms spin their thick cocoons. It takes about 1,000 cocoons to make one silk shirt. That's a lot of worms!

      Step 2:

      We boil the cocoons (the poor worms are no more) to separate the fibers.

      Step 3:

      Grandmother unwinds tiny strands of silk from the cocoons and spins them into long threads. It takes 40 hours to make one small spindle of silk thread. Next, we soak the thread in cold water before dying the threads with bright colors made from plants growing near our village.

      Lacquer Boxes and Figures

      My grandfather is also an artist. He carves lovely boxes and figures, such as elephants and monkeys, from mango wood or teak wood. Then he paints them with many layers of lacquer, made from the sap of a mango tree. He etches patterns in the lacquer and fills the patterns with black or dark blue paint. Grandfather made me a beautiful elephant figure, since he knows I love elephants!

      Gold and Silver Jewelry

      In the mountains of northern Thailand peoples like the Hmong and Karen are known for their handmade gold and silver jewelry. They make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and beads with special traditional designs. They sell their jewelry in the night markets in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. My friend Moua, who is Hmong, gave me a silver bracelet her father made with (can you guess?) an elephant!

      Mulberry Paper

      Mulberry trees are useful for more than just feeding silkworms. My aunt collects the tree bark and soaks it in water. Then she beats it into a paste that she makes into paper. You can find picture frames, books, and other things made from Mulberry paper in stores in Thailand.

      Painted Umbrellas

      Thailand is hot most of the year. Everywhere you go you’ll see people walking with umbrellas to stay out of the hot sun. Near Chiang Mai, villagers made hand-painted paper umbrellas in beautiful colors, painted with flowers, birds and other pictures.

      Speak Thai with Me!

      Learning a Few Words of Thai is Easy!

      Our language is called Thai. It can be written in script (it might look like scribbles and curlicues if you’re not used to it) or with the same letters used in English. Thai is spoken using five tones of the voice—high, medium, low, rising or falling. So you can say the same word using different tones and it has five different meanings! It can get confusing when you first start but once you get the hang of it, it’s like music.

      Try speaking some Thai words (you can hear these words spoken and find a pronunciation guide on this book’s page at www.tuttlepublishing.com)

      Little Mali Has a Cat

      Nu Mali Mi Luk Maeo Miao

      This song shows how many Thai words sound similar. Nu Mali Mi Luk Maeo Miao mean “Little Mali has a little cat.” The word for cat is based on the “meow” sound the cat makes.

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