Buddha footprint in Buriram
The metric
system was officially introduced by a law passed on December
17, 1923. However, old Thai units are still in common use, especially
for measurements of land. The traditional units convert into metric
units as follows: 1 picul = 60 kg; 1 catty = 600
grams (100 catty = 1 picul); 1 baht (named like the currency,
used to weigh gold) = 15.16 grams; 1 carat = 20 centigrams
(5 carat = 1 gram); 1 sen = 40 meters; 1 wah = 2
meters (20 wah = 1 sen); 1 sauk (¼ wah) = 0.50 meter; 1
keup (½ sauk) = 0.25 meter; 1 rai (1 sq sen) = 1,600
sq meters; 1 ngan (¼ rai) = 400 sq meters; 1 sq wah
= 4 sq meters (100 sq wah = 1 ngan); 1 kwien = 2,000 liters;
1 ban = 1,000 liters (2 ban = 1 kwien); 1 sat = 20 liters
(50 sat = 1 ban); 1 tannan = 1 liter (20 tannan = 1 sat).
In 1940, Thailand
moved its New Year's Day from April 13 to January 1
to bring the country in line with most of the world. Until today,
the old New Year's Day (Songkran) is a holiday, and festivities
are at least as exalted as on December 31 and January 1.
While a solar
calendar has been used for a long time to count years, a lunar
calendar is in use until today to set the dates of religious
holidays (as it is the case with Easter in the Christian religion).
And while Thailand switches to a new year at the same day as Christian
countries, the years are still counted as Buddhist Era
(B.E.) and not as Anno Domini (A.D.). 2484 B.E. was set
as 1941 A.D.
The Buddhist
Era started 543 years earlier than the Christian Era. Therefore
1957 A.D. was the year 2500 B.E.; 1993 A.D. is 2536 B.E. and the
year 2000 A.D. will be 2543 B.E. While postal stamping indicates
Buddhist Era, bank matters are usually conducted in accordance
to the Christian count.
The time
zone of Thailand is GMT + 7 hours.
Additional
information on country and people:
Regions
Climate
People
State and Monarchy
National Flag
National Anthem
Conduct
Religion
Language
History
Additional information on Thailand:
Travel
Information
Bangkok
Central
Thailand
North
Thailand
South
Thailand
Cosmetic surgery in Bangkok
The emerging irrelevance of aging
The other “eternal“ life (1.2)
German: Das andere “ewige“ Leben (1.1)
Italian L' Altra Vita "Eterna" (1.1)
