Aww. Even in the midst of a coup, Thailand is constantly thinking about the tourists.

I wish the military was this friendly everywhere. While I was taking pictures of foreign bathrooms and haggling over plastic jewelry, some of my traveling companions attempted to take pictures of the Chinese military. Some of them were less than thrilled about that and made it clear that they didn’t want their pictures taken. Very disappointing. Nothing says "I’ve been to China" quite like a picture with a Communist soldier in front of Mao’s tomb. However, a picture of a Communist soldier walking away from you while holding his hand in front of your camera can also be quite the souvenir.

Sadly, this kind of attitude seems to be the rule rather than the exception. I have a picture of myself and a friend in Greece, grinning like imbeciles next to a stoic Greek guard. I have a picture of another friend, grinning like a moron next to a stoic English guard at Windsor Castle. And I have a picture of myself mocking a very stoic statue at Versailles in France - there weren’t any guards in that particular courtyard.

I think the Thai soldiers should run a smile training camp. Is it so difficult to show a little love to the tourists? I mean, if we weren’t traveling to your country and visiting your important landmarks, they’d only need half as many guards - your average Chinese person tends to be just a smidge less keen on taking home a chunk of the Great Wall than your average foreign tourist. Think of us not as annoying (although it’s hard to imagine that we’re more annoying than the street vendors), but as job security. Every smile you give a tourist ensures your steady paycheck. :)