About the book: 1985 / Professor at Charles University in Prague Jaroslav Zika worked for three years in Thailand as a UNESCO expert. Along with historical information, the author reports a lot of interesting things about the modern life of this country, where the ancient traditions of Buddhism are closely intertwined with the Americanized way of life of the urban population. The book tells about the life of official Bangkok, about the fate of ordinary people - peasants, office workers, precious stone traders, traditional medicine.