Bill,
If one looks at the family tree of population groups based on genetic distance (in the first chart in http://www.friesian.com/trees.htm <http://www.friesian.com/trees.htm> ), one notices that: S. Chinese, Mon Khmer, Thai, Indonesian, Malayians, Filipinos are closely related, belonging to the family: 'Mainland SE Asian'. On the other hand The 'Indian qualities' of the Thai probably orginate from: "The culture of Thailand incorporates cultural beliefs and characteristics indiginenous to the area known as modern day Thailand coupled with much influence from ancient India, China, Cambodia, along with the the neighbouring pre-historic cultures of Southeast Asia. It is influenced primarily by Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as by later migrations from China, and southern India. Thailand is nearly 95% Theravada Buddhist, with minorities of Muslims (4.6%), Christians (0.7%), Mahayana Buddhists, and other religions. Thai Theravada Buddhism is supported and overseen by the government, with monks receiving a number of government benefits, such as free use of the public transportation infrastructure. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Thailand <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Thailand> --ED --- In [email protected], <billsm...@...> wrote: > > Anthony, > > Issan is indeed a Thai dialect. It's kind of a blend of Thai and Lao. > > It's obvious that Chinese is the major contributor to the Thai ethnic mix. Their culture, written language, traditional dress, etc..., seems to also have a lot of Indian qualities. > And physically I think the people that look the closest to Thais are Filipinos. In fact several times my wife was approached by Filipinos while we were waiting for a flight who thought she was Filipino also. > > ...Bill!
