Seen on a soft spring night, the luminous spires of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha seem to float over Bangkok scarcely touched by the blare of traffic,the neon slashes of bars and the ragged hurly-burly of mainland Doutheast Asia's largest city. So too does the kingdom of Thailand,proud heir to virtually seven centuries of uninterrupted independence, seem to soar above the rolling troubles of the region all around it: Neighboring Laos is half in Communist hands , Cambodia hapless host Viet Cong, Burma a xenophobia military backwater . The Chinese talons are less than 100 miles away, North Vietnam a bare 20 ministers as the U.S. fighter - bombers fly from their Thai bases. Everywhere on the great peninsula, a militant communism, poverty, misery, illiteracy, misrule and foundering sense of nationhood are the grim order of the Asian day.