That's right! The Thai calendar is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian one. Wake up every morning in the year 2551 when it's still only 2008 for your friends and family back home in the west! The more you look around, the more you'll see this system in use throughout The Kingdom. Once you start teaching in Thailand, you'll probably even notice your students filling in forms and writing journal entries with '51 for the year instead of '08. If you ask them which year they were born in English, you'll see a slight hesitation as they subtract 543 years from their B.E. (Buddhist Era) year of birth.