So in my last post I mentioned briefly the rising Yen, and the fact that the Japanese government is not very happy about it. This seems counter-intuitive in the sense that you would think a strong currency equates to a strong economy, but this isn’t true. Here’s a perfect example of why their strong currency hurts them so bad, and why they have to do something about it, as soon as possible.

Let’s take the example of Toyota. Toyota has been a stronghold for the Japanese economy for years. Ever since their inception in 1933, they have been one of the most visible and productive of all Japanese firms. Only until now have they decided that financially, producing in Japan maybe isn’t their best option. In their recent earnings report, CFO, Satoshi Ozawa, threatened that Toyota would have to look to produce their cars elsewhere if the Yen continues appreciating. This makes sense. Let’s say, just for example, that Toyota used to be able to sell 1 million cars, at an average price of $15,000 and a $/Y exchange rate of 90 (i.e. 1$ can get you 90 Yen). Now, at an exchange rate of $/Y of 80 (i.e. you can now get less Yen for your dollar), that means that they are making less money, even if they are producing the same amount. If the Yen continues to increase, that only continues to cut into their profit margin, leading to a bad business strategy to not look for cheaper markets for production.

So if the Yen continues to appreciate, Toyota leaves. Presumably others follow. If you’re the Japanese government, how do you not try to devalue your currency? If you’re Germany, for example, and you see Japan devaluing their currency, how do you not try to push for the same for the Euro? As you can see, once one country adamantly starts this cycle, it will only lead to a domino effect to other countries. But then again, if you’re Japan, what else do you do?

Here’s an article talking about it on FT: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23b466de-e8af-11df-a383-00144feab49a.html#axzz14QHX9OIO

So I realize that I never officially put an end to my adventure of teaching in Thailand. I officially left Thailand on June 24th and have been in Los Angeles ever since. The last month and a half of my time in Bangkok was an unbelievable whirl-wind with the protests, finishing work, traveling Singapore and Indonesia, and eventually, leaving Thailand. I wanted to give a last, final blog post when I got back to America, but there was too much going on and too many thoughts in order to put them all in order and articulate a “last” blog post. Now, about a month and a half since I left Thailand, the whole picture seems much clearer. I could probably write for days about my last thoughts, but I figure I’d shorten it down to 3 final thoughts.

1) I can’t say I liked every detail about living in Thailand, but I can say that I liked about 80%. I think one of the toughest parts of living in Thailand was making a true, genuine connection with the people. Don’t get me wrong, Thai people are some of the nicest, kindest people I have met, ever. But with that being said, there’s a difference between being kind and friendly and being a genuine friend. I think that the cultural differences, the language barriers, and the just generally different life perspectives made it difficult to establish any real relationships, outside of the expat community.

I realize also that this could largely be my fault and it’s possible that I should have devoted more time, effort, and energy into assimilating into Thai society. But whether an increase in effort was the problem or not, at the end of the day, you’re still an outsider, and Thai culture is still a hard egg to break into to.

2) I loved teaching, kinda. For me personally, teaching was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, but it came with it’s frustrations. I’m pretty sure that this is largely due to the school that I worked at, but it could be a general teaching thing as well. My loves: meeting new people, hearing different people’s stories and backgrounds, and (hopefully) making an impact on their future. The dislikes and frustrations: teaching gets repetitive, the students blend together, and boredom becomes a serious hurdle. I know now that I definitely want to continue having teaching as a part of my life, but I also know now that I definitely don’t want to only be a teacher. Personally, I just need bigger challenges.

3) Words can’t describe traveling in Thailand. It’s simply amazing. The mountains in the North. The beaches in the South. The food. The people. The cost. The lifestyle. The adventures. The stories. The travelers. The nightlife. From a travelers perspective, Thailand is one of the best places in the world to travel, and I without a doubt will recommend it highly to anyone that asks.

There is a lot more to say, and as I continue to grow and mature personally more thoughts will come from Thailand’s impact on my life, but for the sake of space, those were my main three thoughts from my time in Thailand. 

I now continue on my journey with a year living and studying in Bologna, Italy. I will be entering a master’s program in International Relations and will continue blogging at pepstein.tumblr.com. If anyone comes across this blog and has questions about teaching English, living in Thailand, or anything else, please e-mail me at pepstein11@gmail.com.

Sawadeekop Thailand!!!

Things escalated to a whole nother level today. This morning, at the crack of dawn, army troops in armored tanks entered one end of the rally site in order to clear out the protesters. There were some violent clashes, with at least 4 people dead and over 50 people injured - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/178397/troops-armoured-vehicles-converge-on-silom. Following this, 7 top red-shirt leaders turned themselves into the authorities, while a handful of other leaders fleed the area, and maybe even the country. This happened at about 1pm this afternoon - http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/05/19/politics/Rajprasong-rally-ends-30129764.html. Red shirt protesters, believing that their leaders were forced by the government to surrender, took the streets. It’s at this point that things turned bad, really bad.

At this point, 12 buildings have been listed as burnt - http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/05/19/headlines/Major-arson-attacks-at-12-locations-around-Bangkok-30129795.html. Central World, which is one of the biggest malls in Asia, was set on fire and authorities believe that it might collapse. The Channel 3 tv station building, one of the largest networks in Thailand, The Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority headquarters were also hit. 4 Bangkok Bank branches were burnt. The Bangkok Post building was also burnt. Newspapers haven’t reported the amount of casualties and injuries throughout the day. The smoke from the fires was visible from almost any vantage point in the city, essentially putting the entire city under smoke. If companies and businesses hadn’t closed yet, they now officially are. The entire city is pretty much on lockdown.

Due to this, the government declared a city-wide curfew starting at 8pm and ending at 6am. The scene the couples hours before curfew was one of an oncoming storm or natural disaster. 711’s, supermarkets, and family mart’s were raided for the essentials - beer, rice, and chips. All stores fronts were closed down. All streets were emptied. Everyone was tense and nervous, waiting for what will happen next.

I will keep updating as things change. As of now, I’m still safe. I will most likely be leaving the city tomorrow, but that could change.

Protests in pictures from BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10125452.stm

Unfortunately, my prediction on Thursday night - http://teachinginthailand.tumblr.com/post/595200038/the-calm-before-the-storm#disqus_thread - turned out to be quite accurate. After a few weeks of relative calm following the clashes on April 10, things have again gotten bad very quickly here in Bangkok. One area has even been listed as live-fire zones and all civilians have been restricted from this particular area. Although this is definitely true, the area, given in scope of how big Bangkok is, is rather small. It is a very important area, but a small area nonetheless. The red shirts, or anti-government protesters as international media likes to refer to them, are holding their ground and are refusing to end protests. They have essentially created their own city within the grounds of Bangkok - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/37419/inside-the-red-city.

Over the past 3 days, army soldiers and police officers have surrounded the area in order to cut off all water and food supplies. A lot of the clashes and violence that have occurred - 24 reported dead (although red shirts claim that number is higher) and over 200 injured - have been in regards to red shirts trying to get these supplies into their protest site. Contrary to popular belief, the army has not invaded the protest site, at least as of now. If this does happen though, the violence and the blood shed will skyrocket. Everything that is occurring now are small skirmishes and clashes on the outside, as the police and army are literally directly outside the protest site.

The effects of this are rampant. The BTS and the MRT, two of the main forms of public transportation besides buses, are completely shut down. The school system that was initially scheduled to begin tomorrow has been postponed for at least another week. Even if the clashes end quickly, the nicest and most posh area of Bangkok will have been trashed. High-end restaurants, shopping malls, and hotels have all been shut down for nearly a month. Smaller, family-run stores and restaurants have also been shut down in the area.

I hope, for the sake of Thailand and for the Thai people, that the clashes end shortly, and that a positive outcome is reached, but at this point that hope is seemingly improbable. I have personally been staying out of trouble, as I luckily live and work on the outside of the city. I will keep updating more regularly as the situation is going to change continually over the next couple days.

There have been some interesting changes of events over the past couple days in regards to the Thai political situation. Early this week, Abhisit offered what seemed to be an appropriate peace offer to the red shirts. It involved a dissolution of the parliament in September, with new elections following in November. After some deliberation, the red shirts fired back with their own peace offer, asking for Abhisit, the Prime Minister, and his Deputy Prime Minister to be charged with the violent events of April 10. They also said that they wouldn’t stop the protests until Abhisit stepped down as Prime Minister. These new demands propelled Abhisit to say that enough is enough and pull back all peace offers. On Wednesday, Abhisit said that the area that the red shirts are currently occupying will be cut off from water, food supplies, and electricity, in order to suppress the protests. Today, he announced that the area would be blocked off and all BTS and subway stations will not run through that area after 6pm.

Now, considering that some good shopping areas are still open and me being the optimist that I am, I decided to do a little shopping in the area today. I figured no problem, they shut the BTS stations down at 6, I can easily shop and get out of there by then. There were no problems and I got my shopping done but by about 5pm, everything was shut. I mean EVERYTHING. I have been down to this area a couple times over the past couple weeks and although some things have shut, some have still remained open. But today, everything was closed. Even Mcdondalds, Starbucks, KFC, and 711 were shut (and they NEVER shut). The vibe in the area was one of high tension, and it was visibly noticeable in the reactions of the stores and the people in the surrounding area. By 6, everyone was scrambling to grab any taxi, moto, tuk-tuk, or whatever else they could find. After that, an eerie silence seemed to hang over the whole area.

Driving away in a taxi, I saw army troops and police officers gathering forces about 5-10 minutes. Some were chatting, some were smoking, and others were resting and relaxing. It seemed like they were just waiting for the call. Who knows what will happen tonight and over the next couple days, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that hour or so of silence will be some of the only silence heard in that area tonight.

I keep reading articles from this website – Project Syndicate – that continue to bring new ideas and perspectives to the mind. The articles discuss many things from economics to culture to national security and identity. It’s really interesting and I’m slightly disappointed that I have only recently found it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend it.

A recent article discussed the all-American male adventure. The author, Naomi Wolf, is a social and pop culture critic that has written some interesting stories in the past. In this article, she says that what used to propel America into the eyes of people around the world is no longer the dominant case. In film, Hollywood is being challenged by Bollywood, while in music, South Korea and Japan produce as many wannabe pop stars as America. The one thing that still has America at the top without any other contenders is the adventure-epic. She lists a handful, but think movies / books like The Hangover, Into the Wild, or Bringing Down the House (21) - The stories of a man, or a group of men, taking on the world, or some sort of mission, and the problems that they face along the way. I’m no expert on international pop-culture and I have no idea to the validity of this fact, but it still raises some interesting points.

I found it intriguing for a couple reasons. The first, at least in my mind, is pretty obvious - the fact that, well, I am an American male on my own personal adventure in Thailand. The second, is that it made me think about how many people I know that have had or that want to have that same adventure. Whether it’s on a soul-searching mission to India, or the ridiculous, all-night, black-outness that happens when a group of men gather in Vegas, this article says that the bottom line is still the same. It’s an infatuation with the unknown. The belief that one can deal with whatever challenges come across them. It doesn’t matter what the situation, or what the circumstances, but a true man, a true American can deal with these problems.

This almost irresponsible sense of masculinity can be said to be one of America’s greatest and worst assets, all at the same time. In some ways, it’s what has propelled America to be the international power that it is now. Whether literally or figuratively, the limits can and always be pushed. People aren’t content to just be content. They push for more. They strive for excellence. And they want to be the best. But at what cost has all of this come?

It’s this same mentality that has had Americans also being projected as arrogant and cocky. It’s what makes Americans seem like they don’t care about anything at all because they are only focused on themselves. Their own adventures. Their own dreams. From an international perspective, it makes Americans seem as if they aren’t able to look at what they have and what they know because they are always so focused on what else is possible, on what they don’t have, and on how they can get there.

Who knows whether it’s true or not, or even if it’s good or bad, but it’s definitely an interesting perspective either way.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about an article that discussed the future of Asia. Considering that I am currently in Thailand, it only made sense to follow that up with a discussion on what the future of Thailand looks like. Of course, that is definitely easier said than done. After all, anyone that has paid attention to the current political situation in Thailand realizes that the future of Thailand is as predictable as the stock market, earthquakes, or, well, women (just kidding). But then again, it never hurts to try.

Why does Thailand matter?

In the last post I discussed whether Asia really is the future, but let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that the future of the world rides on the coattails of Asia’s success. If this is true or not, I’m not sure, but let’s just say that it is. As mentioned in the previous post, a crucial factor for the future of Asia will be equalizing the tremendous disparity of wealth across the region.

There are many ways to depict this, but a clear indication can be seen through GDP. China (2), Japan (3), and South Korea (12) are clearly the leaders in Asia with GDP’s (according to the IMF) of $8.77 trillion, $4.16 trillion, and $1.36 trillion, respectively. The high-middle group includes countries such as (15) Indonesia (962 billion), (19) Taiwan (736 billion), and (24) Thailand (546 billion), while the low-middle group includes countries such as (30) Malaysia (384 billion), (36) Philippines (320 billion), (44) Vietnam (240 billion), and (45) Singapore (238 billion). 

The bottom then drops significantly with (78) Burma (68 billion), (103) Cambodia (28 billion), and (129) Laos (13 billion).

These 3 countries are not only some of the poorest in Asia, but also in the entire world. It comes with little surprise then that each of these countries has been riddled with their own internal issues, and it will take a lot of time, support, and international assistance in order for them to get back on their feet. Instable governments, corrupt economics, and lack of basic infrastructure are only the beginning. Burma is still under military rule, Cambodia is still feeling the immense backlash from the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, and Laos is a communist nation, with nearly zero growth over the past 20 years.

Ok, but what do Burma, Cambodia, and Laos have to do with Thailand? Geographically, these three countries are the three bordering countries of Thailand - Cambodia to the West, Burma to the East, and Laos to the North. Their economies are intrinsically linked to the development of Thailand - as Thailand grows, so do they. Contrarily, as Thailand falters, so do they. So if there needs to be larger equality throughout the countries for Asia to succeed, and if Thailand is a major key for the success of the 3 poorest countries in the region, then it therefore could be said that Thailand is crucial to the development of the Southeast Asia.

But what about Thailand itself?

Thailand is currently in the midst of a very intense political crisis. My own opinions on the situation aside, the fact still remains that the issue has been a crucial hit to their future success. They have a plethora of their own issues to deal with before they can even potentially start to think about the future of their neighbors. In my opinion, there are two main ways that the future of Thailand can go. 

The optimist

The feel throughout Bangkok is that the protests are unnecessary and that they are ruining the economy and Thailand’s international reputation. Although these might be true, the saying still goes that the sky is darkest before the dawn. These tough times for Thailand could truly bring a bright future. If political issues are resolved, and a happy medium can be found, then Thailand can begin to focus on some other internal issues, and even international issues. Of course, that’s a huge if. The question then is what is the best way for the political issues to be resolved. Many pundits say many different things ranging from military crackdown to parliament dissolution, but, personally, either extreme isn’t the right answer. Looking towards the future, the answer is to give the people a voice. A means in which to state their opinion and their beliefs without the need to resort to political demonstrations. The solution shouldn’t be something that only ends this conflict, but it should be something that could prevent conflicts in the future as well. If this solution is enacted, then the future of Thailand will be bright – leading to an increase in both foreign investment and an increase in internal development.

The pessimist

There is no doubt that the current situation is as high-pressured as can be, but individuals on both sides need to look past their present differences and look towards the future (I realize that this is highly idealistic). The solution that comes from this protest shouldn’t be a solution to only this protest, but should be something that can be instilled so as to prevent this situation from reoccurring again in the future. If this doesn’t happen, political tension will continue to daunt investors from investing in Thailand. It’s already happening that investors and businesses are pulling out and investing elsewhere for fear that tensions won’t cease anytime soon. Vietnam, for example, has experienced a large influx of investors due to this situation. It is certainly plausible for Thailand to stagnate, while Vietnam attracts investors from Japan, Korea, and China, as well as investing in Cambodia and Laos. This is certainly a far way away, but it could perceivably lead Vietnam to eventually emerge as the dominant power within Southeast Asia.

The conclusion

It is hard to tell which situation is most likely. Either can be seen as valid, while both certainly still have their flaws. It does seem though that either direction might be determined through the outcome of the current political situation. A fix of the problem, and the problem reappears in a year, or two, or five. A fix of the cause, and the problem mollifies. 

Anyone that has been reading the news over the past couple weeks has probably realized that things in Thailand took a turn for the worst almost two weeks ago. I haven’t had a chance to write about it (back to back trips to the beaches and then to the mountains), but I figure it’s better late than never.  The events of the night have been chronicled in news reports around the world, but the exact step-by-step of what happened is still largely unknown. The quick rundown is as follows:

1)      On Wednesday, April 7, red shirt protesters stormed the parliament building hoping to force dissolution of the house. - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/35746/protesters-storm-parliament

2)      That same evening, in response, Prime Minister Abhisit declared a state of emergency.

3)      On Friday, April 9, Abhisit issued arrest warrants for 17 of the red shirt leaders – the largest impact of the state of emergency so far. - http://www.mcot.net/cfcustom/cache_page/42827.cfm

4)      On Saturday, April 10, the government enforced a solution to remove the red shirts from the area that they were staying.

It is after this that reports get unclear and hazy. The government suggests that red shirts initiated the violence, while the red shirts insist that the army forced the violence upon them. The red shirts say the army used live-rounds and guns, while the army says the red shirts had machine guns, and bombs. There have also been reports of rogue terrorists that were acting on their own behalf that contributed to much of the violence. Even two weeks later, it is hard to tell who is telling the truth and who isn’t.  It is known that the government used rubber bullets and tear gas to clear out the crowds, while the red shirts were known to have used sticks and rocks. Whoever the initiator, the consequences of that event have been substantial  - over 800 injured and 25 dead. And that doesn’t include the billions of baht lost in potential revenues. Or the billions of baht that it will cost to clean up the mess that was left behind.

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2787859

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8612783.stm

http://www.globalnational.com/world/Bangkok+worst+political+violence+years+leaves+dead+troops+protestors+clash/2787859/story.html

The week after, which many people thought would bring on more violence, was the week of Songkran – the Thai New Year. It’s a celebration that can only be described as a massive, country-wide water fight. There is no better way to put it. Literally everyone. From the rich to the poor. From the Northeast mountains to the Southern beaches. From the rural countryside to the heart of Bangkok. Water, water, and more water. It was a week where protests, rhetoric, and politics were put on hold. Red shirts, yellow shirts, no-shirts, and every other color in between put their differences aside and focused on their similarities – their Thai nationality. It was a beautiful (and ridiculously fun) event to be a part of.

Since then, though, things have again started to escalate. There is now a large group of protesters that are protesting against the protesters. The ruling yellow party is also protesting now that the government needs to take more control of the situation. The army is now in control of security, and they have been allowed the use of live ammunition.  And the red shirts are more determined, more courageous, more persistent, but also more vigilant then ever before. Two weeks ago, they were a small force that government officials hoped could be eradicated over time. Now, it seems that everyone realizes that the red shirts aren’t going anywhere soon. After the events of April 10, the red shirts have only grown stronger, angrier, and more united. But then again, so has the government. At this point, another showdown is almost certain. The only question that remains is this: will the showdown take place on the streets, or in the back, negotiating room? I hope for the latter but I guess that it will be the former.

Either way, the area of town that I am in is safe. There have been no repercussions whatsoever, except that almost every conversation revolves somehow around the political situation. But, besides that, work is still busy, traffic is still abundant, and the weather is still hot, really, really hot.

I will continue to write more about the consequences of the situation, as well as keep this blog up to date as the situation unfolds over the next couple weeks.

Is Asia the future? As we know, it’s hard to read an international newspaper or media source that discusses economics or politics without some mention of Asia within it. Whether it is about China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, or one of the other Asian countries, there is no doubt that Asia is a prominent force in international media. The question then becomes, how big of a force is it really? Will Asia take over the Western world? Will it come to the point that the Western world becomes obsolete? Honestly, that’s highly doubtful. The plethora of issues that still plague Asia are abundant and will not disappear anytime soon. On the other hand, the fact that Asia will be a dominant force of influence in the future is undeniable.

I recently read an article by a man named Guy Sorman, a French economist, that discusses the future of Asia - http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/1239. Instead of writing about the promising future of Asia, Sorman gives some very important facts as to why this won’t be a completely dominated Asian century. First, there is too much political turmoil and unrest, both internally and between different countries. Specifically, in the regions surrounding Pakistan and Malaysia, the political animosity amongst nations is high.  Internal unrest, in Thailand for example, can also not be overlooked. Second, there are different underlying economic systems. The system that has enabled China to grow exponentially is different from Korea’s and Japan’s growth, and even further different from the growth in Singapore or India. Third, many of these countries are still riddled with immense poverty. Although the major cities are fully developed, much of the countryside, especially in China and India, has some of the highest rates of poverty in the world. Before they are able to start tackling international economic and political issues, they must first fix the problems that plague their own respective nations. And lastly, there is no governing organization, like NATO or the EU, which can combine all f their future endeavors together into one unified voice. It is hard to tell if this is as pertinent an issue as the others, but the fact still remains that without one singular unified voice, Asia will continue to be different nations, with different views and different goals.

I believe, for the most part, that Sorman is correct, but I do think that he is being too cynical of Asian development. I don’t think that the turn from Western to Eastern leadership will happen in the next 5 or 10 years, but 20 to 30 years from now, that is not so unimaginable. Within that time, those issues can be diffused, and other problems can be squashed. After all, 30 years ago, Asia wasn’t even on the discussion board yet when it came to development. The question then is, what other countries will give Asia a run for it’s money? Will Africa turn around? Will South America also overcome crime and poverty to challenge Asia for future world leadership? Or is the more plausible answer, that there will no longer be a world leader? Will Western ideology and philosophy will be matched hand for hand by ideology from Asia, South America, or Africa? And in a world that every thought is challenged from different perspectives, how can progress be created? In that sense, maybe we need a world leader? Maybe their needs to be a dominant force that is able to influence economic and political decision making? I know that I don’t know these answers, but I do know that these are the questions that will continue to be asked as the world that we live in transforms into this new century.

The other night, while sitting outside a bar, I look over to my left at the parking lot and saw a shiny, brand-new, lime-green Lamborghini. It belonged to non-other than Thai Tennis superstar, Paradorn Srichaphan. It made me think about other famous Thai icons and publicized individuals. In class, although they are sometimes mentioned, we usually focus more on either western popular culture, or on Korean pop (K pop) or Japanese pop (J pop) stars. My own curiosity intrigued me to formulate a list of the most popular names in Thai media today. I tried to vary the names so these individuals range from sports players to singers to politicians - this list is in no particular order.

Bhumibol Adulyadej – Also known as King Rama IX, he has been the King of Thailand since June 9, 1946. He is the longest reigning monarch in the world, and easily the most famous person in Thailand.

Paradorn Srichaphan – Paradorn is a famous Thai tennis player. He has been ranked as high as #9 in the World Tennis rankings. He currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand and is married to Natalie Glebova, a Russian supermodel that was Miss Universe in 2005.

Khemanit “Pancake” Jamikorn – Pancake is a famous Thai supermodel. She was Thai Supermodel, Model of the World in 2004 and she currently is on the face of many Thai advertisements.

Thongchai “Bird” McIntyre - Bird is the most successful and probably most famous singer in Thai music history. Although he is currently 51, he is still in the studio working on releasing new albums.

Bodyslam (band) – This is one of the most famous Thai pop-rock bands. They have been successfully producing new albums since the early 2000s. Their songs can be heard on the radio all day, every day.

Tony Jaa - Tony Jaa is a badass. He is a Muay Thai fighter, an action movie star, and a stunt man. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his break through into American movies in the next couple years.

Tata Young - Tata is currently one of the most famous singers not only in Thailand, but in all of Asia as well. She has been in the media light since she was a young actress, and she will most likely continue to be publicized for years to come.

Thaksin Shinawatra – Thaksin is the former Prime Minister of Thailand, and has been of large media conversation ever since he was ousted in 2006. It is hard to read a newspaper, or an online article, without a story about Thaksin in there somewhere.

Abhisit Vejjajiva – Abhisit is the current Prime Minister of Thailand. He has been PM since he was nominated to power in the end of 2008, and he hasn’t really had much peace and quiet since then.

Theeradej “Ken” Wongpuapan - Ken is Thailand’s most famous actor. He studied at the Brooks Institute in California, and he has been in many of Thailand’s most popular films and tv-shows.

Although this surely isn’t an extensive list of all famous people in Thailand, it covers some of the major name and faces that are seen everyday in Thai media.