Books about Scandinavian history in Thailand

Scandinavians in Siam

This book is a “must” for any Scandinavian working or living in Thailand! The book was first produced in 1980 by the Scandinavian Society Siam to celebrate its 60 years anniversary. It was quickly sold out and so in 2000 the Scandinavian Society Siam decided to reproduce the old book extended with an image gallery of highlights from the 20 years in between.

The book is also an excellent gift to customers and suppliers in Thailand as well as in Scandinavia. The book covers the early years of Scandinavian – Thai relationship including the “golden era” around the turn of the century during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. The extension part covers year by year from 1980 to 2000 the big and small developments in photos and extended captions of the Scandinavian community in Thailand.

From the Time of the Crocs

This book is a selection of some of the best historical articles written by by Flemming Winther Nielsen and published in ScandAsia over four years, edited and presented as a complete book.

The book presents a realistic picture of the lives and achievements of the Danes. The glamour and the medals are peeled away and we are constantly reminded of the backdrop for their achievements, the unhealthy living conditions in Bangkok at a time when “you might have dinner with a man tonight and attend his funeral tomorrow”.

We learn about Marqvard Jensen, the brave young Danish soldier who saved the North of Thailand from British colonisation; about Jenny Nielsen from Aalborg whose husband, the American Medical Doctor Thomas Heyward Hays, built the “The Neilson Hays Library” in her memory; about the impressive Danish Consul Frederik Carl Christian Købke without whose influence the Danes would probably never have played such a prominent role in Siam, and of course the most influential of them all, Vice-Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the Siamese Navy, Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu, and H.N. Andersen, the founder of the East Asiatic Company. And many more outstanding personalities.

In Memory of the Tsunami in Thailand

This book was published by Scandinavian Society Siam in November 2006 – two years after the Tsunami – and distributed as a commemorative gift to its members.

“In Memory of the Tsunami in Thailand” remains the only record of the efforts of the local Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Finns living in Thailand to help fellow countrymen hit by the Tsunami in 2004. Many got at the time in various ways involved in the humanitarian work related to helping their fellow Scandinavians who were directly hit by the tragedy.

Scandinavian Society Siam gave in 2010 a number of copies of this book to Scand-Media which we are pleased to be able to offer people with an interest in the recent history of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland in Thailand.

ฮันส์ คริสเตียน แอนเดอร์เซน
(Hans Christian Andersen)

This booklet is a Thai language introduction to the life and works of Hans Christian Andersen produced in 2005 as a catalog for an exhibition held at Siam Society to mark the occasion of the 200 Year Jubilee of Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday.Although the images from the exhibition are not there, the booklet is valuable as one of the few authorized sources of information in Thai language about Hans Christian Andersen.

Det Kongelige Siamesiske Provinsgendarmeri og dets danske Officerer
สำนักงานตำรวจภูธรและเจ้าหน้าที่เดนมาร์ก

The Royal Siamese Gendarmerie, Thailand’s provincial military police force was established in 1897 by the Danish Major Gustav Schau. In this book written in Danish language by one of its prominent officers, Major Erik Seidenfaden, tells the story of the Gendarmerie and portrays its many Danish officers.

It took 50 years after it was written before it is now finally published, edited by Peder Jorgensen. Language: Danish.

Master Key to Thailand

Master Key to Thailand has been written by Kenno Simonsen and covers culture, communication and management, and was the subject of his thesis on cross-cultural psychology.

What author Simonsen has done, is to use his many interviews with people in Thailand, both Thai and Danish, which formed the nucleus of his masters degree, to put together what should be termed a ‘resource’ book on living and working in Thailand.

The book is divided into four main parts:

1. Facts about Thailand and Thai family structure, standards, rules of conduct and even a sub-section on the different Thai smiles.
2. Theories, both anthropological and psychological approaches.
3. Communication and management.
4. Advice and hints at establishing in Thailand.

Simonsen has found many truisms during his research, such as “It is easier to change the culture of your own company/department than it is to change the culture of a whole nation.” Initially this can be put down to Thais are living in Thailand, so the cultural norms are stronger than edicts attempted to be forced upon the workforce by foreign management. However, it is just as difficult to get the Thais to accept any deviations from their own culture, even when living in a foreign country!

Simonsen looks at the all-pervading influence of Theravada Buddhism on the local culture and explores the differences in cultural mores as regards time keeping, safety, dreams, ghosts and death.

Simonsen has done well not to degenerate into a ‘Them and Us’ debate, but calmly shows why there are so many inherent differences between the native Thai and the expat westerner.

An example of this is shown in the section called Time Management, where it is pointed out that a watch is an item of adornment, and not a device to be used to make appointments ‘on time’. In fact at the end of that chapter he states, “If an disagreement should end up in court, one has to remember that the judges are Thais as well. They are brought up in the Thai culture and therefore have a Thai approach to time management. In addition, one must take into consideration that corruption, as well as nepotism are powerful factors in the Thai society.”

Important items such as work permits for foreigners, purchase of real estate, applications to the Board of Investment and how to get around the thorny path of ‘kraeng jai’ are covered, and the advice is excellent.

Despite the fact that English is not his native tongue, author Kenno Simonsen has a good command of the language.

The book does have a legitimate place in the “living in Thailand genre”. The preponderance of Danish data does not take away from the overall value of the publication. His explanations make good sense of situations where conventional western thinking is at odds with the Thai reality.