(This is part of my new campaign to lower the standards of this forum)

 

 

A little thing I discovered reading Norman Lewis.

 

In 1953 Thailand was under the dictatorship of Mussolini fan Phiboon Songkram, probably the most influencial man in Thai history. Being a fan of Europe he wanted to westernise the country and apart from introducing western dress, cutlery and so on he reaslised the peasant nation was short of a bit of culture. The west had national festivals, intricate marriage ceromonies and so on, Thailand didn't so he fabricated them. (Nowadays the Thai tourist authority pretend these traditions are 300 years older than they really are and tourists come from all over the world to see them).

 

In 1953 Phiboon realised Europe had one more thing Thailand didn't have, stripshows, so decided to introduce them. However worried about the possible effects this potential immorality would have on the country he decided on a subtle and canny method of introducing them .

 

The town of Had Yai, the largest in the south, back then was the most westernised in the country and it was here Phiboon decided to locate his first experiment. The location he chose was in the grounds of a Buddhist Monanstry and the monks were put in charge of overseeing the events to make sure the locals did not become too intoxicated. On top of this such immoral practices such as kite flying and fish fighting banned so they did not promote any immorality. Finally all the wooden houses beside the monastry were pulled down and a row of whiskey bars and seedy hotel opened up. Soon the town aquired the nickname 'Dodge City'.

 

Now not many monastries have their own bar district, erotic dancers and motels but if ever I become a monk....... It's also worth noting Buddhist Monks can't drink alcohol or even make physical contact with a female (even baby), so an interesting daily dilemna. I wonder how many had to do some purification ceremonies? Or if there was a big waiting list to become a monk at that temple?