1.
Phleng Chat Thai
For unprepared visitors to Thailand it might be surprising to see that the national anthem is played twice (8am and 6pm) on every public place and blared out of a great number of loudspeakers all around the country. It's played in the radios and the TV's, the schools, all official buildings and, of course, in the barracks. It's expected to stand up when sitting and to stop walking, holding the arms downwards. It's according to a law made by Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram in 1939. If you don't obey, even as a foreigner, you harvest some ugly glances from decent Thai People. It can even be fined. Greetings from George Orwell. Do you remember '1984', where they had the daily '5 minutes hate show' in TV?
It can happen that the national anthem appears preceded or followed by advertisements, local official announcements or merely radio broadcasting through the loudspeakers.
The Thai national anthem (Phleng Chat Thai) was composed in 1932 (the year of the 'coup d'etat') and officially introduced in 1939. The official predecessor of 'Phleng Chat Thai' was 'Pleng San Soen Phra Barami', which is used nowadays as the 'king's anthem' and played in the cinemas before the main movie starts. If you don't stand up in the cinemas when it starts, you get fined as well. Guess why I never go into a Thai cinema...?!