I remembered in secondary school when I studied the history of Thailand, I often wondered how the country managed to avoid being colonised -- no mean feat as it was the only country in Southeast Asia that managed to pull this off (if I get my facts correct). Other than escaping Japanese colonisation (which my history text did explain the reason), the country also escaped being colonised by the French while her neighbours did not (this point was unexplained in my history text).
The answer was provided amazingly at Pink and Piya's wedding, courtesy of their wedding favour below:
It turns out that King Rama 3 (a cousin of King Mongkut and a son of King Rama the 2) as seen above, who ruled from 1824-1851, played a major part in saving his country from coming under foreign rule, thanks to his frugal personality. King Rama 3 had a habit of saving, where he would store his money in a box on the table next to where he slept every night. It came up to 3 million baht and the king knew that one day it will come to use. The story goes then that at that time, France demanded from Thailand a sum of money to settle a truce, in order not to be colonised. No prize for guessing how much France demanded!
And so it was that King Rama 3 was called the Father of Thai Commerce (am sure he did more than the above to deserve the title!).
It was really lovely hence, I thought, for a commemorative coin of the king to be given out to guests at Pink and Piya's wedding, It served as a form of education for their local and foreign guests (turns out that not all the locals know about this piece of history), and was all the more fitting as the couple come from financial backgrounds. I thought that shows the immense pride my friends have of their country, and am greatly touched by this gesture.
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