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Thai Ways
Denis Segaller

"Thai Ways is an extremely valuable reference book for anyone who has ever been baffled or curious about a particular aspect of Thai culture (and that includes nearly every non-Thai in the realm). No matter how long one has lived here, one is likely to discover something new or gain a more complete understanding of something one thought one already knew well. A first class piece of work." - Steve Van Beek, Bangkok Post

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This is a great little book which gives a valuable insight into some of Thailands customs and traditions. Each chapter is devoted to a different area of Thai culture and then is subdivided further into particular subjects so you can jump ;in anywere you like. Here are the chapters and subsections.

1. Royalty and Nobility
Ranks and Titles in Thailand
King Mongkut of Siam
Rachasap - The royal language

2. Festivals
Loy Krathong
Songkran

3. Ceremonies
The Thai wedding ceremony
Calling Blessings on a new house
Cutting the Topknot
After someone dies
Placing the Bones
Tam Boon at home
Wai Kru - paying respect to teachers
Buat Nahk - entering the monkhood
Phansa - The buddhist Lent
Making Temple Donations
(1) The tod pa-bpa ceremony
(2) Tod Kaithin

4. Customs
Some social Do's and don'ts in Thailand
Khun: an everyday but deep word
Some other social norms
The Wai
More elaborate forms of the Wai
Music - Classical and Western
Worshipping Brahma and other Deites
Lak Muang - The log that helped to found a city
Traditional Thai medicine
Preserving Thailands traditional arts of self defence
telling the time
Lunar Months
The twelve year cycle
When a child is born
When traditions intermingle
Some like it hot

5. Beliefs and superstitions
The spirit in the banyan tree
Curing a sick child
The friendly little Jing Jok
Beleive it or not: never on a Wednsday
Trees and Flowers
Animals

6. Legends
The Ramakien
An episode from the Ramakien "The floating lady"
Chao Mae Sarmmook
The Buddha's Footprint
The story of Manohra
The dog star and the chick star
More local legends

7. Families
How family relationships are expressed in Thai
Family life
Laddawan

8. Thai Fortune Telling
It's in the cards
Your future in your hands
Will your dreams come true?
Thai astrology
(1) Colours of the day
(2) Acharn Boonchuey
(3) Thai and western astrology compared

9. Words and Language
What's in a (Thai) name?
Surnames
The worlds longest place name
Some sayings and proverbs
The versatile Thai Child
Words ancient and modern

10. Miscellaneous
Phra Pathom Chedi
An unexpected English lesson.


As you can see there's something for everyone, I liked the chapter on sayings and proverbs and was surprised at the resemblence to some of our own when translated. Just as a taster see if you can guess these

Escape from a tiger and meet a crocodile
When the cows gone surround the cattle pen.

This book is a mine of information and I cannot recomend it enough. Written by an Englishman who has lived in Thailand for over thirty years.

Hi Danny

Would you say the Thai Wedding Ceremony under section 3 is relatively in depth or not? This caught my eye as I'm going through a traditional Buddhist ceremony myself come September of this year and the most solid information I've found so far is on the excllent Thai culture Web site authored by Gor:

Gor's Wedding

When I read your review and saw that section mentioned I went straight to the DCO Web site to buy a copy but balked at the fact the shipping would cost just about as much as the book itself so am dithering a bit on that count in case there's nothing new to learn (on wedding ceremonies at least - the overall book sounds great regardless : )

Having said that however I can always go look for a copy on the ground when I get back to Thailand shortly - just I'm an impetuous type at times when excited about a 'project'.

Hi Jim Jum

No it's not really in depth as most of these stories were formerly newspaper articles. It basically describes the authors experiences when he accompanied his maid to her neice's wedding and is just over three pages long. (as are most of the articles)

Certainly not worth buying the book for just this article alone. I don't know what part of Thailand your wife to be is from but it is worth bearing in mind that the ceremony differs from region to region. Good Luck

Thanks for the feedback Danny. I probably will pick up the book for the wider content but wait until I'm back in Thailand as I'll probably not learn much more than I have so far about the ceremony. I'm aware yes from another thread on the forum that there are variations from region to region but my wife is Bangkok born and bred (Interesting Freudian slip! My wife to be rather ; ) *grins* and as Gor appears to be from Bangkok also and the wedding detailed on his Web site seems to have all the components we have booked in for ours, I'm feeling relatively confident of knowing what's going to be happening : ) In fact I seem to know a great deal more already than my bride to be and my Thai 'best man' know! Should raise a few eyebrows and hopefully ellicit a few smiles when the foreign groom seems to know what he's meant to do when (massive instantaneous nerve induced memory losses aside!).

Anyway to get my post back on topic I'll reiterate the review sounds good so I'll certainly be checking out the book when I get back there : )