The Land of Smile
In Asia, I have been only to Hong Kong except for Thailand, and my impression was that people in Hong Kong didn't smile. (I often felt they were angry ...)
But, my impression about Thailand is that it is a fantastic country with a lot of smiles of the people. That's why the country is called "The Land of Smile".
Against Japanese
I feel Thai people are very familiar and friendly to Japanese, and Thailand is said a pro-Japan country. (I'm very happy about this.) I guess one reason is they like Japanese products and cartoon films
Historically speaking, a Japanese village in Ayuttaya was flourished during Edo era of Japan. The Imperial Family of Japan and the Royal Family of Thailand have had a good and close relationship for a long time.
I'm still sometimes surprised that some people in Thailand speak Japanese words to me, even though they are easy words such as Kon-nichi-wa (Hello) and Arigatoh (Thank you). Is this because a lot of people travel to Japan ?
Becoming a monk
In Thailand, people are devout Buddhists, and men become a monk at least once in their life. (It looks like this depends on their circumstances, though.)
The term of being a monk is one week to about 3 months. This is for themselves and also means a great merit against their parents. Especially, moms can not be a monk and therefore, this also means sons become a monk instead of their moms. It is also believed that if sons become a monk, their parents can go to a heaven.
Military service
They have a military service for two years. (There is no military service in Japan, though.)
When males reach to the birthday at the age of 20, they gather at each place and draw lots (!) if you have to be a soldier or not. (Unbelievable way to decide)
Looks like those who loose shout "Chaiyo" (Wow, I'm lucky !) in great delight. Those who win are divided into each section at that moment; the army, the navy or the air force, and have to have strict practices.
I heard that this is not for all men but can be exempted if you have a class about military service in a certain period.