What would you say is the symbol of your country? One of my students came up to me the other day and asked "What is the symbol of England?". I couldn't really think of any one symbol. Certainly not an official one. My student suggested Big Ben which is partly true but that is really a national icon. Something that represents the country. In the American movies, if they want to show their audience that the movie is now set in England they will show Big Ben or the Tower of London.

What about Thailand? What would you say are the symbols or icons of this country? This is a question I ask my students every year. I usually get the ball rolling by suggesting the three-wheeled taxi "tuk tuk" and the "elephant". We then brainstorm more ideas and write them on the blackboard. We end up with about 45 symbols and then the students have to pick one each to write about. Here are some of the symbols that they came up with:

But what about the official symbols of Thailand? Well, recently, the Thai government agreed on three national symbols to represent the Kingdom of Thailand: the elephant as the national animal, the golden shower flower (known in Thai as Ratchaphruek) as the national flower, and the Thai pavilion as the national architectural symbol.

Ratchaphruek was chosen as the national flower because it is widely known to Thai people and it is possible to plant it anywhere in the country. It bears beautiful cluster-shaped flowers in summer. The color of the flower is yellow, and this is the colour of Buddhism as well as the colour of Monday, which was the day His Majesty the King of Thailand was born.

The Thai Elephant was selected as the national animal because it has maintained close links with Thai history and customs, it has a long life, and it is closely related to the livelihood of the Thai people as a means of transportation both in times of peace and war. In particular, the "white elephant", which is deeply connected to the King of Thailand, and was also featured prominently in the former national flag.

Sala Thai, or the Thai pavilion, reflects knowledge of the Thai people. It retains beauty, which is different from architecture of other countries, and foreigners can acknowledge ‘Thai-ness’ through Sala Thai.

We now have a new website called The Seven Wonders of Thailand. Here you can vote for both the symbols of Thailand and also the wonders of Thailand. Please visit www.7ThaiWonders.com.