Cannes cinephiles swooned over the hit Thai film Tears of the Black Tiger, but the subject of that Technicolor pastiche—Thai cowpokes ridin' broncos on the Siamese range—drew a collective "Huh?!" Who knew Thais felt enough affinity for cowboys to create a hybrid subculture?
Say howdy to the Mild Mild East. Across Thailand, Deadwood saloons sport horseshoes and Apache headdresses. Villages erect totem poles of festival ghost masks. Boot-scootin' country music blends indigenous balladeering with guitar twangs, Vegas showgirls, and the Gene Autry yodel.
Alamo values appeal to Thais marginalized by nation-building efforts that prescribe modern urbane manners and admonish the rustic majority. In the 1960s, U.S. troops and movies brought a resonant cowboy narrative that championed outsiders in the lawless margins, such as the freedom-loving hardscrabble northeastern region, Isaan. Wild West allusions provided many Thais with a proxy critique of their situation without directly challenging central authority. Progressives and activists also adopted aspects of the theme in solidarity with the countryfolk.
In Phetburi province, aristocratic gentility is juxtaposed with hired guns and cattle racing. Psychologist Thamora Fishel, who researched there in the 1990s, kept hearing depictions of chao pho (strongmen) as "cowboys" and comparisons of Phetburi to Texas.
About a decade ago, as much of Thailand went bourgeois, this counterculture spawned a commercial cowboy industry. Now at Isaan's Pensuk Great Western Resort, Thai tourists sleep in teepees and learn to line-dance. "That's fake, just a fashion," chuckles Veerapan Onsiri, who sells Western paraphernalia at Bangkok's weekend market. "Go to the cowboy fair in Muak Lek [in Isaan] and ask those in macho outfits whether they can gallop a horse."
Thailand's frontier still existed when cattle tycoon Chokchai Bulakul—who, at 71, dons suit, boots, and a Stetson daily—was inspired by Western movies as a boy: "I said to myself: 'One day I'm going to be a cowboy.'" He lived his Siamerican dream and reared a beef herd in Isaan. His ranch, now the agro-tourism resort Farm Chokchai, was hard-won: A jungle on the land had to be cleared first.
Gunslinger cliches fit Isaan in those days: Villagers traveled in buffalo carts, officials rode horses, bandits extorted farmers. "There were a lot of outlaws in my district and just six police. I always carried a gun," Chokchai drawls.
Thailand, like America, romanticized cowboydom as the frontier came under central control. Thai saloon style recycles the detritus of a vanishing farming culture: Jungle vines entwine wagon wheels and buffalo skulls in venues wistfully called "old west."
Bangkok's swankiest avenue, Soi Thonglor, epitomizes the change. The Log Home restaurant gives upscale diners a homestead theme. Wearing chaps in the street outside, Boonsak Rordkroh mends leather at his cart with a roof resembling a 10-gallon hat. Left outside society's stockade, he's a freewheeling reminder of the rodeo on Bangkok's Rodeo Drive.—Philip Cornwel-Smith
Robin in the 'Hood
In another imported outlaw narrative, Thais remitting money earned in the West get dubbed "Robin Hoods." "It's not about stealing from the rich, but bettering yourself to better your country," New York Thai expatriate Manond Apanich explains. "The term Robin Hood perpetuates a sense of solidarity, patriotism, and Thainess." Because the label is linked with visa overstays and second-class treatment in the US, it doesn't apply to legally settled immigrants.
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music blends,
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