[pMJWFoAWD]

Anything not in active transition is dead! I love that, great stuff Peterg. Think of the many lost and extinct civilizations, they are never questioned as to whether or not they are 'real', they are simply lost. Yet the civilizations that are not lost are the one's that people question the purity of.

I think Steve's reply as humorous as it was also applies exactly to what khunlungphudhu said. As much as a mixup Thailand has evolved into, the fact that Khmer, Lao, Viet, Chinese, Burmese, and of course ancient Thai way have sort of formed together and maintained the overall happiness and tranquility --- I think that is the real Thai. As all the cities get more and more foreign owned hotels, international companies, technological overhauls and Western influence the fact that so much of these imported threats are coming in they are all painted with a coat of Thai-ness (ketchup on pizza?) that alone is what makes Thailand.

No matter what happens there is still a Thai flavor over it all. Influence does not always mean that something was taken over and changed as a whole.