It happens to me every time I arrive in this land of silk and smiles. The anticipation is as great now as it was the first time I arrived in Bangkok 15 years ago.   The country cover 514,000 square kilometers – about twice the size of Wyoming. The population is 62 million, compared with 500,000 people who live in the state of Wyoming. The country is 95 per cent Buddhist which explains why you will see so many monks in saffron-colored robes. Something you don’t see in Wyoming.

   The Buddhism they practice here is Theravada Buddhism, an offspring of the ancient Dvarati Buddhism, and it plays a major role in all aspects of Thai life. The country has the Andaman Sea on one side and the Gulf of Thailand on the other. It borders on Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia. Border skirmishes are not unknown but normally only last a few days. Less than four per cent of the population is Muslim and most of that group lives in the south of the country and there have been problems with demonstrations over neglect and lack of understanding by the Bangkok-based government. The problems are not new. There has been unrest for over forty years. To date the fighting has only affected tourism in the far south and the situation is being closely monitored by foreign governments.

   Modern-day tourism got a shot in the arm back in 1974 when part of the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, was filmed on a Thai island named Koh Ping Kan. The shot showed Roger Moore and Christopher Lee dicing with death. Today tourists swarm there to be photographed on the spot where the two men faced each other. The island has been renamed James Bond Island and now boasts 52 souvenir shops. More recently another nearby island was used for the movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Local conservationists are delighted that access to that island is very difficult and as a result tourist vessels stay away. What is the magical magnetism that pulls me back? It has nothing to do with James Bond.

   First it has to be the people. Thais are friendly and proud of their heritage. The country has never been colonized by a foreign power, unlike the neighboring countries. Obviously there has to be a few parasites in paradise but as a nation the folk are friendly and smile genuinely at foreigners. Their from of greeting is called a wai, pronounced why and demonstrated by the young lady on the left. To greet someone you put your hands in the prayer position and bow. Normally a younger person wais an elder person. In the return greeting, the hands come only to chest height where as the full greeting the hands come to the nose. In the full Thai wai to a monk the hands come close to the forehead. Children are taught this greeting at a very early age. Many can perform the greeting before they can utter the words mama or papa.

   During my travels I have been trying to discover what makes the majority of Thais such a smiling and happy group of people. We came up with several answers. The best answer centers on the old adage that a hungry man is an angry man.

   Thai people don’t go hungry. They are blessed with a fertile country that produces the finest fruit and vegetables and the waters that surround the nation are teeming with the full gamut of seafood. Nobody goes hungry. Not the poorest farmer or the large family or the low-paid laborer goes without meals. Another major plus is the fact that the country has no unemployment. The country presently has one million people from adjoining countries doing a lot of jobs that Thais do not want.

   And the final factor has to be their following of Buddhism where they learn to be content with what they have. Envy does not appear to be in the Thai dictionary. Nobody I have met understands the expression about keeping up with the Joneses. Then there is the cuisine. Thai cooking is not just using lemon grass and tiny red bits of fiery pepper but a whole attitude of making eating a memorable experience.