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| Land of Smiles? |
Many people refer to Thailand the Land of Smiles. It's a cute moniker and even the locals have adopted it their mythology. But everywhere I went Thais were smiling more than the Polish, but no more than Americans. A Thai might flash a warm smile and go right back to looking hot and tired.
So, I wanted to know once and for all if the Thai people live up to their dearly-held smiling stereotype. I designed an experiment to get to the bottom of The Thai Smile Paradox.
Last week my community had hosted an event for its senior citizens. Sitting in a room full of Thailand's supposedly happiest residents seemed like a chance to test my "Land Where Some People Smile Some of the Time" hypothesis. To catch the seniors in the act, I set my camera to smile mode- the camera takes a picture automatically when it senses someone is smiling- and waited. I moved my camera around for fifteen minutes trying to capture Thailand's most famous expression. It took fifteen minutes for someone to smile! Theory proven. Thais smile about as much anyone else.
