Southeast Asia: Burma and Thailand

[Music] Burma and Thailand are similar in their geography and in the ways of life of their people most burmes are rice Farmers they tend to use old traditional methods of farming and irrigating their fields after rice farming fishing is the most common occupation among burmes there is not much industry so there are not many industrial workers and not many people are at work extracting the natural resources of the country although there are rich oil fields rangon the capital is modern looking but old traditions guide much of the life of the people of Burma tradition is also very important to the people of Thailand there are many similarities between the lives of the taies and their Burmese Neighbors ties are mainly rice farmers and fishermen industry is not important here some ties work at mining tin Thailand's most important mineral [Music] resource and Bangkok Thailand's capital city has the same modern look that Burma's Capital does so in many ways these two countries of Southeast Asia are similar the similarities begin with their geography the Northern parts of both countries are covered with mountains rivers dominate life in both Nations the iroad in Burma the chiao pra in Thailand both like the chiao priia flow Southward through the central areas of the two Nations both Nations share part of the melee Peninsula lying between the bay of Bengal and the Gulf of cyan burmes fish in the Bay of Bengal on the west and ties fish in the Gulf of cam on the East the capitals of both countries rangon and Bangkok are both River Cities and major ports rangon Burma is on the irowa Bangkok Thailand is on the chiao pra in both countries these Rivers have many [Music] uses T wood logs from Mountain forests of both countries are floated Downstream to Lumber Mills motorized boats carry passengers upstream and downstream [Music] the Burmese and Tai shop at floating markets and bring their goods to Market by [Music] boat School boats carry children to and from [Music] school the rivers are stages for elaborate and colorful festivals and there're also local laundries and bathtubs [Music] too the rivers are also important for food their Waters irrigate the farmer rice [Music] fields and burmes and ties dip their Nets into the shallow parts of their rivers and harvest them for [Music] fish fish and rice are the most common foods in Bur and [Music] Thailand most of the people of both countries also follow the same sect of Buddhism hinana Buddhism Buddhism has influenced not just the lives of the people but also their music art and architecture every young man who is a Buddhist in Burma and Thailand is expected to spend at least 3 months living as a monk they depend on the people for their [Music] food sharing food with the monks is a daily morning [Music] ritual this is the Temple of the emerald Buddha in Bangkok there are very many Buddhist temples in shrines in this part of the world [Music] and so the people and their two countries are very much alike but of course not exactly alike Burma has more natural resources than Thailand it has deposits of Jade and other precious stones [Music] there are large deposits of tin and oil Burmese have built dams to put the water power of Burma's rivers to use for generating electricity even though this electricity is used for operating machines and factories most of the work in Burma's factories is done by hand Burma's industry is still geared to handcrafts like making gold [Music] leaf and weaving silk another d difference between Burma and Thailand is in their people Burma's population of more than 25 million is made up of several large distinct ethnic groups only about 2/3 of the Burmese are burmans other ethnic groups have different languages and different customs [Music] because the Burmese population is made up of many different kinds of people who maintain their independence from each other it's difficult for Burma to be a strongly United Nation once part of the British Commonwealth Burma has been an independent Nation since 1948 but the government has been unstable Thailand has fewer natural resources than Burma tin is mined hydraulically and is an important export so is rice rubber antique one Manufacturing in Thailand as in Burma is still on a small scale with factories putting out handcrafted products like hand painted [Music] umbrellas and lacquer trays but Industrial Development is being encouraged in this Factory in Bangkok Auto mobiles are being put together from Parts made in Japan tinor is smelted at this plant in fuet small amounts of cement are made for use in Thailand's Economic Development plans irrigation canals have been built as part of these plans as well as many miles of highways in spite of the emphasis that Thailand is putting on economic development approximately nine out of 10 ties still work at producing food for Thailand like Burma is an agricultural Nation Thailand's people though are not as mixed as Buras 80% of its 30 million people are of Thai stock the rest are Hill tribesmen [Music] Vietnamese melees and Chinese the largest minority in Thailand one of the results of having such a large majority of its people of Tai stock has been a comparatively stable government for many years a constitutional monarchy with the king the chief of [Music] state and the prime minister the head of [Music] government one of the government's problems is to bring to the isolated Hill people in the north the same Services most ties have available the government provides Medical [Music] Services agricultural information helps the farmers improve the yield of their crops and the quality of their farm animals the government has built schools and trained teachers it's built dams and irrigation projects and it's building roads to help tie the people in the more isolated regions to the rest of the country of [Music] Thailand Burma and Thailand Neighbors on the melee peninsula of Southeast Asia [Music]