Greg & Ed Discuss Ed's Big Thailand Quiz [S8.E31]

Greg Jorgensen 00:00:05 On this episode, we tear through Ed's recent Big Thailand quiz, discussing the questions and finding the answers.

Ed Knuth 00:00:12 So if you've ever wondered how well you'd do in a general quiz on contemporary Thailand, you'll love this episode of the Bangkok Podcast.

Greg Jorgensen 00:00:37 This is the Bangkok podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 and estimates that I've only tried about 60% of the fruits and vegetables that I see in the average food market, which is a bit of a fail.

Ed Knuth 00:00:50 And I'm Ed Knuth, an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract over 25 years ago, fell in love with convincing myself I'm eating really exotic Thai food when it's really just rice soup, so I never left.

Greg Jorgensen 00:01:04 Ooh, fancy.

Ed Knuth 00:01:05 You know, if something has a foreign name, then it's automatically exotic and cool.

Greg Jorgensen 00:01:10 Yeah, right. I just was just talking about Haagen-Dazs, which doesn't even mean anything.

Ed Knuth 00:01:15 I didn't know that I hadn't. I never heard that before.

Greg Jorgensen 00:01:17 Yeah, it's just a gibberish word that sounds exotic and European.

Greg Jorgensen 00:01:20 So the guy was like, ooh, I can make triple the money on this stuff.

Ed Knuth 00:01:22 So it tastes better.

Greg Jorgensen 00:01:24 Yeah, it is pretty good, though.

Ed Knuth 00:01:27 All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early, behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world. But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, uncensored bonus episode every week where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics on this week's bonus show. We chatted about Greg's latest nerdy craft creation, a very detailed book nook diorama of yagura from a company called an Verein. Some thoughts on my visit to a surprisingly open and laid back debate on my university campus with the candidates for Prime Minister, which was very interesting, but sadly all in Thai, and Greg's visit to a new speakeasy opened by an old friend that just happens to be in the exact same townhouse that I used to live in over 20 years ago on Sukhumvit Soi one, to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff, plus full access to over 800 bonus and regular back episodes.

Ed Knuth 00:02:33 Click the support button at the top of our website.

Greg Jorgensen 00:02:36 Did you ever hide anything in your house, like Behind the Walls or something like a secret compartment? Maybe it's still there.

Ed Knuth 00:02:41 That's a good idea. I got to think about that. Maybe I did do that and then forgot.

Greg Jorgensen 00:02:44 You know, I'm going to tell a totally tangent story here. But years and years ago, when me and my buddy were like, in grade seven, we got some old, like, Playboy magazines and stuff, and we hid them in the roof like he had a drop roof.

Ed Knuth 00:02:55 Genius.

Greg Jorgensen 00:02:56 In the bathroom, and we hid them up inside the roof. And, you know, we were like 14. And then we were like, early into our 20s, like 22, 23 years old, like long in college and moved out like my mom and his mom were friends. And then we were all at the house and we were like, I wonder if those are still there. We went in and sure enough, we pulled out these old like, dusty.

Greg Jorgensen 00:03:18 That's great Playboy magazines. That's classic five years old. Yeah. Our mothers were horrified, but they thought it was hilarious.

Ed Knuth 00:03:24 Genius.

Greg Jorgensen 00:03:25 Yeah. And also, don't forget, if you are out and about in Bangkok and see a Bangkok podcast sticker, take a picture, send us three pictures of three different stickers and we'll send you a gift. Oh, okay. This episode is a spiritual sequel of sorts to a recent episode we did specifically episode 27, where Ed talked about teaching a class to his students called Contemporary Thailand. And in this episode, we linked to a 50 question quiz that Ed gave his students that It covered geography, politics, media, law, finance, civics, and demographics, among many other topics. It was a really great quiz, to be honest, and was quite challenging. Happily, I scored 36 out of 50, which is above what I expected given my academic history, so we thought we'd go through the quiz to discuss the questions, learn the answers, and challenge ourselves to see how much we know about contemporary Thailand.

Greg Jorgensen 00:04:16 Now, like I said, there are 50 questions here, so that's quite a lot. And we are going to go through these like a fat kid, through a bag of Smarties to use an old and old saying for my youth. But so take note if you want to take the quiz first and come back to the episode for the answers. You'll find a link in the show notes. But with that out of the way, Ed, what do you think about me? Just sort of going through the questions. I'll tell you what I guessed, and we can just quickly discuss it as we burn through it.

Ed Knuth 00:04:45 Yeah. For sure. Let's burn through it. you know, I put the quiz together, you know, obviously with the help of AI, I curated it, and like you said, I wanted to make it broad, and I specifically wanted some gimmes in there so we can debate about what was gimme or not a gimme. And then, you know, I wanted the bulk of them to be medium and then with a few hard ones in there.

Ed Knuth 00:05:05 So I think, to be honest, I mean, I don't think a stranger could get 30. You know, it's like you, I, I'm guessing a new a true newbie would probably get 20, maybe using some common sense or if they happen to have some geography knowledge.

Greg Jorgensen 00:05:23 Yeah, I think so.

Ed Knuth 00:05:24 So anything like 30 and above I think is quite respectable. It means you're a tie, a tie file to some extent, and anything over 40 is your you're getting into expertise level. Because a lot of my students, you know, I collect the results of my students, a lot of my students who are Thai but 18 or 19. a lot of them got, 30 to 35. So, I mean, you know. You know, we talked about this a little bit before. You know, when you're a foreigner, if you're a dedicated expat, as we are with the podcast, we might know facts and details even more than Thai people do.

Greg Jorgensen 00:06:05 Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about it before, like there's and I said there's probably Thai people living in Canada that no way more about Canada than I ever will.

Greg Jorgensen 00:06:12 Correct. Right. Just living in a new place. There's a natural curiosity that bubbles up to this.

Ed Knuth 00:06:17 You become an expert on like, oh, here's Charing Cross Road. This is the first road ever, you know, and a Thai person. The Thai press is like, what are you talking about?

Greg Jorgensen 00:06:25 Yeah, exactly. But I thought this was a great quiz. It was a very, very broad. It covered a ton of different areas, and,

Ed Knuth 00:06:32 Well, let's do it.

Greg Jorgensen 00:06:33 Let's start to go through it. And yeah, there's 50 questions, which is a lot. So we're going to tear through these.

Ed Knuth 00:06:37 We're going to blow through this.

Greg Jorgensen 00:06:38 All right. Number one how many sovereign countries share a direct land border with Thailand. I put four.

Ed Knuth 00:06:45 Which is correct. Yeah. So this is a I mean, this one was give me one If you just think about it, you know, it's Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. And I was I was teasing my students and I said in class I was like, you guys don't realize you border China.

Ed Knuth 00:07:01 And my students are like, what? What did you really like? And I was like, no. I was like, no, we know you don't border China.

Greg Jorgensen 00:07:08 That's funny, that's funny. Number two, the world Bank classifies Thailand as which type of economy low income, lower middle income, upper middle income or high income. And I put b lower middle income.

Ed Knuth 00:07:22 Yeah, I think this one is also not too hard. The only thing you have to realize is that Thailand is not really poor. So I think there are some people who think, oh, Thailand is a poor country, so they might pick low income. But as we have also talked about before, compared to the rest of the world, compared to Laos, Cambodia, a lot of other countries in Asia and Africa and some in South America, Thailand is really somewhere in the middle.

Greg Jorgensen 00:07:44 Yeah. That's right, that's right. Yeah. Next one in terms of urban primacy, Bangkok's population is currently estimated to be approximately how many times larger than Thailand's second largest city, two times 5 to 9 times, 15 to 20 times or 40 times.

Greg Jorgensen 00:08:01 Now, I have to be honest, I don't even know what urban primacy means, but I put de 15 to 20 times, and I thought that the second biggest city was probably Chiang Mai.

Ed Knuth 00:08:10 Yeah. So this one is a little bit tricky. And, you know, in a way it's not really a trick question, but it's a little bit tough because, you know, these population questions depend on are you counting the metro area like the league the legal border. But I think the correct answer is supposed to be 5 to 9. And I think again, it does depend on how you define the city. But I think the second biggest city is actually Korat or Nakhon Ratchasima.

Greg Jorgensen 00:08:32 Oh really I didn't.

Ed Knuth 00:08:33 Yeah. That's right. okay. So I so I double check this. Chiang Mai and Korat are very close in size, so it might it might even vary like in a few years. Like so it's possible Chiang Mai was number two like five years ago or something. But, but but the bottom line is Bangkok is.

Ed Knuth 00:08:50 So they gave a range here. Bangkok is. So it's 5 to 9 times bigger. So that gives you like a leeway. It's not 15 or 40 times bigger.

Greg Jorgensen 00:09:01 Well I thought Chiangmai was only like 800,000 people or something like that. And Bangkok is 12 million, so that's why I put that.

Ed Knuth 00:09:07 But yeah. So Korat is bigger than that. so correct answer is 5 to 9.

Greg Jorgensen 00:09:13 Interesting. All right. Next one under the 2017 Constitution, how many seats are there in the House of Representatives? I have no idea. So I guess to be 400.

Ed Knuth 00:09:24 Yeah. The correct answer is 500. I just taught this to my students, and 400 of those are based on districts and 100 come from the political party. But maybe after we get the election results next week, we'll talk more about that.

Greg Jorgensen 00:09:36 Cool. All right. Where does Thailand rank in terms of total population size in the world? Fifth, 20th, 45th or 60th. And I put sea 45th.

Ed Knuth 00:09:47 Yeah. In terms of population, talent is actually a big country, so it's actually around 20th in the world.

Ed Knuth 00:09:52 There's a lot of really small countries, you know, 2 million, 3 million. There's island nations. So 66 million to, you know, 68 million is actually 20th in the world.

Greg Jorgensen 00:10:04 Wow. I didn't know that. I thought it was. I thought there was a lot more of that. Interesting. Okay. which regional dialect spoken by approximately 15 million people in the northeast is linguistically classified as a variant of the Lao language. The options are Thai, Nissan, Kam Muang and Central Thai. Now, you gave me shit about this one because I overthought this a lot.

Ed Knuth 00:10:26 I think you overthought it. Christ.

Greg Jorgensen 00:10:28 Well, well. The what? B is Esan. And I was thinking like, is Esan a a variant of the Lao language or is it a region? And then I started overthinking it. I'm like, well, the original inhabitants of Thailand came down through southern China and they were called Tai Tai. So I guessed a pack tai because I didn't think that Esan was an actual dialect.

Ed Knuth 00:10:51 You thought way too much. Pasa esan. Pasa esan. It's very close to Lao. I don't know if it's literally exactly the same, but Pasa is. And the obvious answer there, Mr. Gregg.

Greg Jorgensen 00:11:02 Well, this is what happens when your brain is as big as mine. That's my forehead. Okay. Next one. Which body was granted the power to participate in the selection of the Prime Minister alongside the House of Representatives under the 2017 Constitution? The options are the Privy Council, the Senate, the Constitutional Court or the Election Commission. And I would be the Senate. I really didn't know.

Ed Knuth 00:11:24 Correct. That is the correct answer. And that's what that's what stopped Peter from becoming prime minister in the last election. But thankfully, since then, the rules have changed. And in the new election, the Senate doesn't get a choice. So hopefully we'll get a different result. But under the original 27 Constitution. The correct answer was the Senate.

Greg Jorgensen 00:11:44 Yeah. All right. Cool. Okay. Historically, Thailand's unemployment rate has been noted by economists for being extremely high, fluctuating wildly, extremely low or higher than the world average.

Greg Jorgensen 00:11:56 And I put C extremely low. Less than 1.5%.

Ed Knuth 00:12:00 Correct. Talent is famous for having very low unemployment, and it's because there's a huge what they just call an informal economy. And it means that there's there's a lot of low level jobs. You've talked about how every girl has an Instagram shop, you know, and then there's a lot of, family work. So if, if a guy, let's say, loses his job in a Bangkok company, he just goes back to his village and works for his cousin. Right, right. So officially, there's very low unemployment.

Greg Jorgensen 00:12:29 Right. And how do you define even being employed? Like, what does that mean? Right. So. Right. Complex question. Yeah. Okay. And what year did Thailand transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. I think anyone who lives here should know this. Give me the. The. The options are 1932, 1945, 1957, 1973. The answer, obviously, is a 1932.

Ed Knuth 00:12:51 This is a good example of, you know, my students got this one right.

Ed Knuth 00:12:54 But but a lot of them, they have to do the math. So so they don't they don't think in 1932. So this is one of the goals of my class is so that they can freely discuss this. So they, you know, now they memorize 1932. But if you if you ask an average person, they would have to stop and do the math first.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:13 Wouldn't they? Think of it in like Buddhist numbers, like 25, whatever or whatever?

Ed Knuth 00:13:16 Yes, that's what I'm saying. So they they would have to think to, to figure this out.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:20 Same strategy I'm using to train you to use Celsius.

Ed Knuth 00:13:23 That's right.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:26 Okay. Which major river serves as a significant portion of the natural border between Thailand and Myanmar to the west? Is it the Mekong, the Chao Phraya, the Salween or the moon? And I put see the Salween.

Ed Knuth 00:13:39 I did not know this, but I guessed and got it right. So I know, I know it wasn't the Mekong or the child prior, right? But I did not know.

Ed Knuth 00:13:46 Like the river to the west. I didn't know it, but but I guess and got it right.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:50 I guess to is it, is it Salween?

Ed Knuth 00:13:53 It is Salween.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:54 Okay, because I've heard of that. Don't know anything about it. Yeah, I've never heard of the Mun, so.

Ed Knuth 00:13:58 Totally, totally guessed.

Greg Jorgensen 00:13:59 Yeah, yeah. Okay. In what year was the current Rattanakosin Kingdom and the Chakri dynasty founded? 1732, 1767, 1782 and 1804. I put see 1782, which I think is correct.

Ed Knuth 00:14:12 That is correct. Yeah. Now this one is you know, again, I wasn't sure whether it was 1767 or 1785, but I think the sacking of Yuta was but was in between those. Right?

Greg Jorgensen 00:14:25 Yeah. It was 1766. The sacking of it. Yeah.

Ed Knuth 00:14:28 Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:14:28 That's right. Yeah. Thailand's ranking in the current human development Index is which category? Low, medium, high or very high and I put be medium.

Ed Knuth 00:14:39 Yeah. So this one. I initially so when I first made this quiz.

Ed Knuth 00:14:45 Thailand had nudged into the very high category, believe it or not. But but but now the correct answer is actually see. Hi. And this this gets back to this whole question of, Thailand is just not as poor or undeveloped as people think relative to truly poor countries. So it's like this whole way to think about this is is relatively speaking. And so relative to again, really poor countries, Thailand is doing pretty well. So the correct answer is see. Hi.

Greg Jorgensen 00:15:18 Interesting. Only throw in there the wealth gap in Thailand. I guess that skews the numbers all over again. But that's a different.

Ed Knuth 00:15:23 That's.

Greg Jorgensen 00:15:24 Right. Yeah. Which Thai Prime Minister is associated with the introduction of the 30 baht universal health care scheme in 2002. Is it Prayut Chan o cha, Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thaksin Shinawatra or Chuan li pi. And the answer, obviously, is Thaksin Shinawatra.

Ed Knuth 00:15:38 Correct? Now, the funny thing about this is that it actually previously was an idea of the Democrats, but it talks and got the credit because he implemented it.

Greg Jorgensen 00:15:47 Classic politician move.

Ed Knuth 00:15:49 There you.

Greg Jorgensen 00:15:49 Go. Yeah. All right. What is Thailand's approximate nominal GDP per capita as of 2024? $3,500, $8,000, $15,000 or $25,000. I guessed put see, $15,000.

Ed Knuth 00:16:04 Correct answer is 8000. And I just knew this because, you know, I had an unfair advantage because I was researching this issue for my class. And so the the tricky thing about Thailand is the GDP per capita is not super high. It's only $8,000 per person, but the purchasing power of that is pretty high. So I think if you correct for what you can buy with the $8,000, it works out to be something closer to about $25,000. So you know. So it's making $8,000 a year here is actually like making 20 to $25,000 in the US. So it's not. So again, it's not quite as bad as it seems. 8000 seems really low. But in terms of what you can buy, it's not as low as it seems.

Greg Jorgensen 00:16:50 More bang for your buck or your. That's right, so to speak.

Greg Jorgensen 00:16:53 Nice. All right. Approximately what percentage of Thailand's population identifies as Buddhist? 65%, 80%. 94% or 99%. And I guessed c 94%. I thought like 5 or 6% was probably made up of Muslim.

Ed Knuth 00:17:07 And.

Greg Jorgensen 00:17:07 Christian minority religions. Christian. That's right.

Ed Knuth 00:17:10 Yeah. That's right. Some people say 99, but that I think there's I think the country of Bhutan is the most Buddhist country in the world where it is something like 99.

Greg Jorgensen 00:17:19 Oh, really? We talked about this, and I thought there was way more Muslims than there are actually.

Ed Knuth 00:17:25 Yeah, there's not there's not as many as you think. Yeah, I think I think Muslims, Christians make up, you know, 5 or 6% something like that, like Christian, Muslim, Sikh. It's only 5 or 6%.

Greg Jorgensen 00:17:34 Okay. This nun. I had no idea. I guessed which judicial body holds the specific authority to rule on whether a prime minister has exceeded the constitutional eight year term limit. The Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the administrative Court or the Privy Council, I guess to be the Constitutional Court.

Greg Jorgensen 00:17:51 No idea.

Ed Knuth 00:17:51 Yeah. Good guess. Yeah. So, I mean, especially since it's the Constitutional Court that's been invalidating people. So. So this one I, you know, was close to a gimme, I think.

Greg Jorgensen 00:18:00 Right, right. Seems to be a trend of late with the highest courts in the land making bizarre proclamations. All right. The Bank of Thailand was officially established as the nation's central bank. During which decade? The 1920s, the 1930s, the 1940s or the 1960s? I put B in the 1930s.

Ed Knuth 00:18:18 I blew this, I assumed it had to be later, but the correct answer is in the 1940s. And I was just thinking, wait, that was the middle of the war. Really? I blew this. Yeah. So I think I said the 1960s, but, the correct answer is the 1940s. And so this is one of these ones that, you know, I, I almost deleted it from the quiz because, you know, who's going to know the history of the central bank.

Ed Knuth 00:18:43 But I want to I wanted to put some hard questions in there. So apparently I think I, I think it was immediately post-World War two. So 46.

Greg Jorgensen 00:18:53 Way earlier than that.

Ed Knuth 00:18:54 Yeah. Right.

Greg Jorgensen 00:18:55 Right, right. The 1997 Constitution is famously referred to by what name? Due to its origins in public consultation, the royal constitution, the military charter, the People's Constitution, or the Reform Act. And I believe for this one. Yeah, I put see the people's Constitution.

Ed Knuth 00:19:11 Correct. Probably the best Constitution talents ever had.

Greg Jorgensen 00:19:14 Really. Is that objective or subjective?

Ed Knuth 00:19:17 Objective? Damn it. My subjectivity is objectivity. Mr..

Greg Jorgensen 00:19:20 Okay. In terms of total land area, where does Thailand rank globally? 10th, 25th, 50th or 75th. I put c 50th.

Ed Knuth 00:19:30 Yeah, it's a good guess. This one's harder than expected. Thailand is not. It's not tiny, but it's not as huge as you think. I think you can. If you take Thailand from top to bottom, it almost fits inside of Texas.

Ed Knuth 00:19:46 So I think I think it stretches like a little bit further. But, you know, the US is gargantuan compared to Thailand. Same with Canada.

Greg Jorgensen 00:19:54 So it's 75th.

Ed Knuth 00:19:56 no no, no, it's it's 50th.

Greg Jorgensen 00:19:58 50th. Sorry.

Ed Knuth 00:19:59 Yeah. Yeah. So the correct answer is C. Yeah, yeah, you got it right. You got it.

Greg Jorgensen 00:20:01 Right. Okay okay I see I see. Yeah. Thailand is about the same size. Same as the same height as my home province in Canada as well. Yeah. Yeah. All right. in the most recent program for international student assessment rankings, Thailand's score in math and science were above the OECD average, below the OECD average, number one in Asean or ranked in the top ten globally. And I put be. They were below the OECD.

Ed Knuth 00:20:28 Yeah. OECD is the like the organization of economically developed countries. And so it's a lot of European countries. And a lot of people assume that, Thailand is really high in math and science, but it's actually not ranked that high.

Ed Knuth 00:20:44 If you look at the whole country, you know, this is this is the classic inequality. If you look at Bangkok schools, the average is pretty high. But if you include the whole country, the average is not great. And so it's not going to be number one. And that's going to be Singapore. It's not going to be it's not going to be in the top ten globally. So correct answer is beat.

Greg Jorgensen 00:21:04 All right. What is the current minimum voting age for Thai citizens in general elections 1718 20 or 21. And I put be 18.

Ed Knuth 00:21:14 Correct. Yeah. So most of my students can vote. I, I was just chatting with one student who he is a freshman but only 17. So he can't vote.

Greg Jorgensen 00:21:22 Sucker. All right. The Eastern Economic Corridor project focuses on industrial development, in which three provinces Chonburi, Rayong and Chachoengsao, Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi, Chiangmai, Lampung and Lampang or Pocket, Krabi and panga and I put a Chonburi ring on Rayong and Chachoengsao.

Ed Knuth 00:21:41 Yeah. If you just know a little bit of geography, it's got to be a.

Greg Jorgensen 00:21:44 Yeah judging store was a guest. Actually, I don't really know exactly where that is, but definitely.

Ed Knuth 00:21:49 It's just to the east.

Greg Jorgensen 00:21:50 Yeah, yeah. How many successful military coups has Thailand experienced since the transition to a constitutional monarchy in 1932?

Ed Knuth 00:21:58 More than you would think. Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:22:00 Five, nine, 13 or 18. And I could see 13 correct.

Ed Knuth 00:22:06 13 successful ones, says goose. Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:22:10 That's crazy. Thailand is often described as being stuck in the middle income trap. What does this primarily refer to? High levels of national debt, stagnating growth before reaching high income status, a lack of natural resources or high inflation rates, and I put be stagnating growth before reaching high income status.

Ed Knuth 00:22:30 Yeah. Again, this is one you could probably guess even if you're not an economist. I just talked about this in my class. Thailand Thailand economically is not doing poorly, but it more or less stopped growing seriously about 20 years ago.

Ed Knuth 00:22:43 So it's kind of a it's this problem where they're stuck in the middle. So they're there. They're not Cambodia, but they're also not South Korea either.

Greg Jorgensen 00:22:52 Yeah. Middle income trap. Yep. Which sector is currently the largest contributor to Thailand's GDP? Agriculture. Mining services including including tourism or manufacturing I put d manufacturing.

Ed Knuth 00:23:05 Yeah, this is tricky. the correct answer is actually services, which includes tourism. But services also includes the entire retail sector. So a lot of people don't realize so that that sector alone is bigger than things like manufacturing. Now when you're talking about the export sector that's different in terms of exports because of the hard drives and electronics is number one.

Greg Jorgensen 00:23:26 That's what I was thinking of hard drives, electronics and cars.

Ed Knuth 00:23:28 Yeah. So this is the this is the GDP in general. So services are the largest single sector.

Greg Jorgensen 00:23:33 Okay. What is the approximate adult literacy rate in Thailand. 7588, 95 or 100%? I put Si 95% or higher.

Ed Knuth 00:23:43 Yeah, that's the best guess. It's not going to be 100, but it's going to be higher than 88.

Greg Jorgensen 00:23:49 Yeah, that's pretty good considering how hard Thai is to read. That's not bad. How many different constitutions and charters has Thailand had since 1932? 1015, 20 or 25 I put B15.

Ed Knuth 00:24:03 Yeah, it's actually 20. So the the current one is the, the 2017 one is the 20th. So 13 successful coups, 20 different constitutions. Yeah. This is the problem that, you know, again just talking to my students about it. So hopefully we can get some, kick some stability.

Greg Jorgensen 00:24:21 Round and round we go. Which region of Thailand is the most populous? The south. The north, the northeast or Esan or the west I put Sison.

Ed Knuth 00:24:30 Yep. That's the basic math that got toxic and elected.

Greg Jorgensen 00:24:34 Yeah. You're right. Yeah. Good call back. All right. Thailand's total fertility rate average births per woman, is currently estimated to be approximately 0.51, 2.1 or 3.5, and I put see 2.1, but I think that was probably wrong.

Ed Knuth 00:24:50 Yeah. So correct answer is one. So Thailand is one of many countries, especially Asian countries, where the birth rate has dropped below the replacement rate.

Ed Knuth 00:24:59 So I think 2.1 which you chose, that's that's the normal rate to keep your population steady.

Greg Jorgensen 00:25:06 Right.

Ed Knuth 00:25:07 And Thailand is below that. But it's not 0.5. Right. So correct answer is correct. Answer is B which is one nice one.

Greg Jorgensen 00:25:14 What is the current median age of the Thai population? 25.5. 32. 41.5 or 50. And I put. Be 32 years.

Ed Knuth 00:25:25 Yeah. So, Craig, this is one that's kind of a rough guess. So Thailand is getting older again. So there's not enough kids but a 50 is not the median yet. so it's 41.5.

Greg Jorgensen 00:25:37 Oh, wow. Okay. Interesting.

Ed Knuth 00:25:39 Yeah. So it's still relative. That's still fairly old.

Greg Jorgensen 00:25:43 still younger than me. Damn it. Yeah. On the Thai national flag. What does the white stripe represent? The nation, religion, the monarchy or peace. And I put b religion.

Ed Knuth 00:25:55 Yeah. So I think this one also is pretty straightforward.

Greg Jorgensen 00:25:59 Yeah. That was also on the Thai citizenship test. Heads up to anyone who does that.

Ed Knuth 00:26:02 There you go.

Greg Jorgensen 00:26:03 Yeah. Thailand's Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality, indicates that the country has the lowest inequality in Asia. Moderate to high income inequality. Perfect wealth distribution. LOL or no measurable inequality. I put be moderate to high income inequality.

Ed Knuth 00:26:21 Yeah, again, the answers made this one a little bit. Pretty easy to guess. it's you know, everyone knows Highland has an inequality problem. So it's definitely not going to be the lowest inequality in Asia. So yeah, it has pretty high income inequality.

Greg Jorgensen 00:26:36 That's good. Although I've heard that phrase Gini coefficient before, but I've never really understood what it meant. Now I do.

Ed Knuth 00:26:41 Yeah. It's just a it's just a formula they use that tries to give one number to explain how unequal the country is.

Greg Jorgensen 00:26:48 Famously developed by Harold Gini. No idea. I'm just making that up. Okay. In 2024, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to pass legislation legalizing nuclear energy, same sex marriage, compulsory military service for women, or cryptocurrency as a sole national currency.

Greg Jorgensen 00:27:05 I put be same sex marriage.

Ed Knuth 00:27:07 Boom, same sex marriage. We got that going for us.

Greg Jorgensen 00:27:09 Yeah. Now we got to combine all those and have nuclear same sex Cryptocurrency.

Ed Knuth 00:27:15 Military compulsory service.

Greg Jorgensen 00:27:17 Let's just be unstoppable. Bangkok is unique in Thailand's administrative structure because it is not a province. But this is a question specifically not dependent. That's federal territory, a military district, a special administrative area, or a sovereign city state. And I would see a special administrative area.

Ed Knuth 00:27:36 Boom, baby. That is correct.

Greg Jorgensen 00:27:37 Yeah. Nice. Okay. Estimates for the number of migrant workers in Thailand usually range between 100 to 500,000. 1 to 2 million. 3 to 5 million. Or 8 to 10 million. I put be 1 to 2 million. It's really difficult to figure that out.

Ed Knuth 00:27:54 Yeah, it's more than that, you know. So this, So since the total population is between 65 and 70 8 to 10 would be absurd. So, like, it can't be that. And then it's it's going to be more than 100,000 to 500,000.

Ed Knuth 00:28:09 So it's basically B versus C. So it's either 1 to 2 million or 3 to five, and according to the data, it's 3 to 5 million, which is a lot. There's just a ton of Burmese and Cambodian workers, right?

Greg Jorgensen 00:28:21 Right. All right. What is the current mandatory number of years for compulsory education in Thailand? Six. Nine. 12 or 15. I put B9 years.

Ed Knuth 00:28:31 That is correct. So it's it's it's a little bit confusing because the Constitution I believe guarantees access to 12 years. So it's kind of it kind of says like you have a right to 12 years of free education, but you're only required to go through ninth grade.

Greg Jorgensen 00:28:51 There's a loophole. Academic research identifies the root cause of the seasonal PM 2.5 air pollution in northern Thailand as coastal salt spray, agricultural and forest burning. Volcanic ash from Indonesia or lack of wind in the Gulf of Thailand. Obviously up would be agricultural and forest burning, despite those bastard volcanoes popping up from time to time.

Ed Knuth 00:29:13 Yeah, we've done shows on this.

Ed Knuth 00:29:14 You know, they're, you know, construction plays a role. And there are other factors, but it's mostly the dam burning.

Greg Jorgensen 00:29:20 Dam burning. Where does Thailand's economy, aka the nominal GDP, rank globally as of the 2024 2025 estimate? 15th, 26th, 42nd or 55th. I put be 42nd or sorry, 26th.

Ed Knuth 00:29:36 Yeah, that is correct. So again, this is a really good lesson that I was just kind of hammering with my students that out of around 190 to 200 countries in the world in terms of the the size of the dichotomy, it's 26. Like that's that's not bad.

Greg Jorgensen 00:29:52 Yeah.

Ed Knuth 00:29:52 Not bad at all. It's not bad.

Greg Jorgensen 00:29:54 The current 2017 constitution places what maximum term limit on the position of prime minister for six, 8 or 12 years. And I put a four years.

Ed Knuth 00:30:05 Yeah, it's actually eight years. But, you know, that became an issue with, that became an issue with pursuit. Like like, you know, whether he could stay on or not. Right.

Ed Knuth 00:30:14 So it's kind of a two term limit. It's kind of copying the US two term limit. Interesting. So it's eight years.

Greg Jorgensen 00:30:20 Okay. In terms of GDP size within the Asean region, Thailand currently ranks first, second, fourth or sixth. I put be second.

Ed Knuth 00:30:29 Yeah that's correct. So I think what did we decide. The first one is Indo I think Indonesia right.

Greg Jorgensen 00:30:34 That was Indonesia Singapore.

Ed Knuth 00:30:36 But now Singapore is has a big GDP for its size. But it's too small.

Greg Jorgensen 00:30:41 Yeah. Yeah okay.

Ed Knuth 00:30:42 So Asia Indonesia is huge.

Greg Jorgensen 00:30:44 Yeah.

Ed Knuth 00:30:45 yeah. So I think I think India is number one in talent number two.

Greg Jorgensen 00:30:48 Yeah. Okay. Global climate indices frequently rank Thailand among the top ten countries in the world most vulnerable to desertification, volcanic eruptions, long term climate change impacts, acid rain or a lack of lab move, which is my favorite. No, I'm just kidding. I made that last one up. I put si long term climate change impacts.

Ed Knuth 00:31:09 Yeah. Again, I think the answer is give this one away.

Ed Knuth 00:31:11 But yeah, we know that Bangkok is sinking in, the river is rising. And that's a that's a bad combination.

Greg Jorgensen 00:31:17 Not good. Which of the following is the highest mountain peak in Thailand? Doi step, Doi Luang, Changzhou doi into nong or Puka dung. And I put si doi into Nan.

Ed Knuth 00:31:27 Correct. I think some people think sou tap. You know, those are the two that people confuse, but it's intent on is the tallest, right?

Greg Jorgensen 00:31:35 Yeah. Years and years ago I was living in Chiang Mai and I wrote a motorcycle up doi intent on just like a little exploration of the area, which was a great solo trip by myself. And I was on my, my on motorcycle and shorts and a t shirt and dude, I got up to the top of doi and and on it, it was freezing cold. Oh, really?

Ed Knuth 00:31:52 I was.

Greg Jorgensen 00:31:52 So cold. There's a, there's a military base on top of there, like a radar station. And the soldiers walking around had like Russian fur hats on, like.

Ed Knuth 00:32:01 Oh, funny. That's great. That's great.

Greg Jorgensen 00:32:03 I almost died. All right. What is the second largest religious group in Thailand. I whiffed this one. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or animism? I put see? Hinduism.

Ed Knuth 00:32:15 Yeah. No, it is Islam, I thought. I thought this one was more of a gimme. Animism is tricky because, it has a big influence on Thai people and Thai culture. But I don't think. I don't think there's really a separate cult or like, a separate. We're animist. We're not Buddhist. I don't think that's a thing. Right. So. So correct answer is Islam is the second.

Greg Jorgensen 00:32:35 I put Hinduism, just because it has such a huge influence on Thai culture and history, I figured there must be a ton of Hindus here still, but I guess they're still fairly small.

Ed Knuth 00:32:43 Not many.

Greg Jorgensen 00:32:44 Yeah, yeah. What does a major red flag economic indicator for Thai households as of 2024? Lack of access to credit. High household to debt to GDP ratio over 90%.

Greg Jorgensen 00:32:56 High personal income tax or low rates of smartphone ownership.

Ed Knuth 00:33:00 It's not the it's not the.

Greg Jorgensen 00:33:02 I would be high household debt to GDP ratio, which I know is correct because.

Ed Knuth 00:33:06 That is.

Greg Jorgensen 00:33:07 Correct.

Ed Knuth 00:33:08 Thai people borrow a lot of money. They got a lot of credit card debt.

Greg Jorgensen 00:33:11 Yeah. Not good debt bad. One of the hardest lessons I've learned.

Ed Knuth 00:33:14 Yeah. Agreed.

Greg Jorgensen 00:33:15 Yeah. What year did Thailand implement its universal health coverage system? 1990, 2002, 2014 or 2020? I put B 2002.

Ed Knuth 00:33:26 That's right. Again, that's what Thaksin got credit for.

Greg Jorgensen 00:33:28 Yeah. That's right. Which of the following is Thailand's largest export category by value? Rice and rubber. Machinery and electronics. Textiles and garments or crude oil. This is a really hard one. I put B machinery and electronics.

Ed Knuth 00:33:42 Yeah that's right. So that's kind of what we were talking about. it's you know, I think a lot of people know about the hard drives. Yeah, but but Thailand also makes some heavy machinery.

Ed Knuth 00:33:54 It's something that I think a lot of people don't know about, but, you know, industrial machines that go into other factories. Thailand manufactures those and and exports a lot of them. So I think the trap answer here is going to be something like rice and rubber. So rice and rubber. Thailand does export a lot but they export more machinery and electronics.

Greg Jorgensen 00:34:17 Oh interesting. Okay. What is the approximate life expectancy at birth in Thailand for 20, 24, 68, 77, 85 or 92? I guessed b 77 years.

Ed Knuth 00:34:28 Yeah, there's correct 85 is just pushing it as the average. Right.

Greg Jorgensen 00:34:31 Yeah.

Ed Knuth 00:34:32 Right. So 77 correct answer okay.

Greg Jorgensen 00:34:34 The labor force participation rate for women in Thailand is approximately 20%, 40%, 60% or 90%. I put c 60%.

Ed Knuth 00:34:44 Good guess. I mean, Thailand famously has high employment of women, but 90 would be kind of absurd. You know, the idea that 90% of women are working so and 20% is too low. So it again is between 40 and 60.

Ed Knuth 00:34:56 So correct answer is c c 60%.

Greg Jorgensen 00:34:58 Yeah. Me. All right. Second to last question. How many Thai provinces have a border with Cambodia five, six, 7 or 8. And I totally guessed on this I put C7.

Ed Knuth 00:35:10 Yeah, this is kind of tricky, man. If you, if you try to. So when I gave this to my students, it was kind of funny because they they were sitting there, you know, counting it off on their fingers like, bam, bam, bam. And it's I don't I know, I know the answer to this from a previous trivia question. So I know the answer is seven. But if you try to name them all, it's kind of hard. No idea.

Greg Jorgensen 00:35:31 You know, not able.

Ed Knuth 00:35:31 To do that. It's like Surin, Ubon Ratchathani. I think Chachoengsao was one of them. I don't think I could name all seven, but the correct answer is seven.

Greg Jorgensen 00:35:40 Oh, cool. Okay, cool. And the last question how many administrative provinces does Thailand currently have? 72, 75, 77 or 81.

Greg Jorgensen 00:35:51 And I put C 77.

Ed Knuth 00:35:53 Yeah, that should be a gimme hopefully. So for listeners out there you got to know 7777.

Greg Jorgensen 00:35:58 That's the magic one. And that's it Man, we we flew through that 41 minutes. We've been recording as of this moment.

Ed Knuth 00:36:05 Yeah. So I guess this was kind of semi academic, but, I, I am an academic, so, that's what you get when you listen to a podcast with, with, someone who's a lecturer. But, again, my students did not crush this. They didn't crush it.

Greg Jorgensen 00:36:21 What was the average from your students?

Ed Knuth 00:36:23 I'd have to look it up, but it. A lot of students got 28, 32, 35, 38. So, I mean, I think you I think that your score is better than the average of my freshman ties.

Greg Jorgensen 00:36:37 Okay.

Ed Knuth 00:36:37 Which which which it kind of should be because we I, I hesitate to call myself an aficionado, but we're, you know, we're into Thailand. We're into Thai stuff.

Ed Knuth 00:36:47 We've been here a long time. We've traveled around the country. Yeah. And and we and we have the podcast. So we we should. I'm not sure. I'm curious. I should, I should give. Okay. This is the interesting thing. I'm going to give this quiz to some of our Thai friends who are closer to you and I in age.

Greg Jorgensen 00:37:03 Right. Yeah, yeah. Like, you were like we were saying, we've been here being interested in Thailand and.

Ed Knuth 00:37:09 Longer than my students have been alive.

Greg Jorgensen 00:37:10 Yeah. And learning about Thailand longer than they've lived here.

Ed Knuth 00:37:13 That's right. You know, I was traveling around Thailand six years before my students were born. So the idea that I would know more about Thailand. It's not. It's not as crazy as it sounds.

Greg Jorgensen 00:37:25 Yeah. It doesn't mean you're smarter. It just means you've been here longer. But still, I'm throwing down. I got 36 out of 50. That's good. If you if you want to click on the show notes, go take the quiz.

Greg Jorgensen 00:37:34 make sure to untick the box and the answer key when you're done. So the next person can do it. Because it's just like a Google doc that you can uncover the answer kind of thing. But. Right. Yeah. Great quiz man. Very broad topics. I really liked it.

Ed 00:37:46 Cool, cool. Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:37:48 All right. Let's get into some love, loathe or live with where one of us picks a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discuss to decide if it's something we love about living here, loathe about living here, or have come to accept as something that we just have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it. And this time. Editor I got a question for you. When you take taxis a lot more than I do, but when you get into a taxi and the driver is wearing flip flops, what's your take on that?

Ed Knuth 00:38:14 Interesting. I'm not sure I would usually notice it, but I am kind of. I am cognizant of how I don't know what the right word is.

Ed Knuth 00:38:26 It's certain taxi drivers have kind of a crazy kind of rough edge to them. That always sets me off. And there's there's certain taxi drivers that that just you just immediately feel like, okay, they're professional and normal and they're going to go the route that I want them to go. They're going to follow traffic laws. And then sometimes you get in and it's just there's just something edgy or or about them where, you know, sometimes I don't get in. interesting.

Greg Jorgensen 00:38:58 But specifically this the flip flops.

Ed Knuth 00:39:01 Would it put me off?

Greg Jorgensen 00:39:06 I'll give you my opinion on it I, I loathe it because I, I've driven with flip flops a few times and I think they're really dangerous like.

Ed Knuth 00:39:14 Yeah you're I understand. Yeah. Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:39:15 You know it's easy to get it caught under the brake or under the gas pedal and between your foot and the flip flop. And it's just I think it's just an accident waiting to happen. So I hate it. I hate I loathe it when they do it.

Ed Knuth 00:39:25 interesting.

Ed Knuth 00:39:26 So I'm going to have to say I'm just to live with. So it's the kind of thing where I might look a little bit askance at it, but I think I judge them. There's something about, kind of how they address me. It's hard to explain. You know, I've taken more than 10,000 cab rides. And for me, a lot of the, a lot of my reaction is how comfortable they look like they are with foreigners. And it's I don't know, I guess it's I focus on mostly on professionalism. And I agree, like flip flops don't they don't scream professionalism.

Greg 00:40:01 Yeah.

Greg Jorgensen 00:40:01 I'd say by the time I came back from Japan one time and we took a few taxis in Japan, and of course, you know, the doors open automatically and the drivers wear gloves and a hat and they're just absolutely pristine. And then I landed in a boom, and I came down to the airport and I got in a taxi, and the guy was wearing he had bare feet.

Greg Jorgensen 00:40:19 Oh, shit. He was wearing like a wife beater and was had a big bag of fried grasshoppers on the console next to him. And he was like, oh, that's great. That is great. I was like, oh my God.

Greg Jorgensen 00:40:30 How to tell you're back in Thailand?

Ed Knuth 00:40:32 That's actually great.

Ed Knuth 00:40:33 Well, I'm gonna have to be honest here. I think I would judge them more by their attitude or maybe other things about their appearance, but I get your point. I'm going to go live.

Greg Jorgensen 00:40:42 A roll of duct tape. Just tape those flip flops to the bottom of their feet.

Ed Knuth 00:40:47 All right, a final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Patrons get a ton of cool perks and the warm, fuzzy feeling, knowing that they're helping and are never ending. Quest for cool content. Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online. Where Bangkok podcast on social media Bangkok podcast. Com on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com.

Ed Knuth 00:41:09 We love hearing from our listeners and always reply to our messages. Unless, of course, you're an agent who sends endless pitch emails on behalf of a client.

Greg Jorgensen 00:41:17 That's right. You can also listen to each episode on YouTube. Send us a voicemail through our website. We'll feature that on the show. I am on blue Sky where I am BKK. Greg. Thank you for listening everyone, and we'll see you back here next week.

Ed Knuth 00:41:28 No doubt.