Lakorn Thai

Lakorn is what the Thais call the Thai Drama. Generally speaking, Lakorn is on air at the prime time every night. Each episode is around 2 hours' long, including commercial advertisements. TV companies are entrusted by TV stations with the task of making Thai Dramas and the latter are entitled the TV-playing right.
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Famous Thai dishes

Tom yum or tom yam is a spicy clear soup typical in Laos and Thailand. Tom yum is widely served in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and has been popularised around the world.
Literally, the words "tom yum" are derived from two Tai words: "tom" and "yam". "Tom" refers to boiling process (soup, in this case). "Yam" refers to a kind of Lao and Thai spicy and sour salad. Thus, "tom yum" is a Lao and Thai hot and sour soup. Indeed, tom yum is characterised by its distinct hot and sour flavours, with fragrant herbs generously used in the broth. The basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce and crushed chili peppers.

Thai instrument

The khim is a hammered dulcimer from Thailand and Cambodia. It is made of wood and trapezoidal in shape, with brass strings that are laid across the instrument. There are 14 groups of strings on the khim, and each group has 3 strings. Overall, the khim has a total of 42 strings. It is played with two flexible bamboo sticks with soft leather at the tips to produce the soft tone. It is used as both a solo and ensemble instrument. Tuning this instrument is very easy but time consuming. The player inserts a type of wrench on the prongs that stick up from the sides, but only turns the prongs on the left side. Turning the prongs on the right side can cause the string to break. Then the player turns the wrench which tightens or loosens the string to the desired pitch. The internal parts of a khim are hollow chambers that are used for sound projection and there are decorated acoustic sound receivers on both sides of the khim. This instrument can be played by either sitting down on the floor with the khim place on the floor as well, or by sitting on a chair or standing while the khim is on a stand. The khim produces a bright and expressive sound when played.


A boy playing a khim
The instrument was introduced to Thailand and Cambodia from China, where a similar (though, since the late 20th century, usually larger) instrument is called yangqin; the khim produces a significantly softer sound. Traditional khims have two bridges, though in the late 20th century some players began using larger instruments with more bridges.
The Australian-born musician and vocal artist Lisa Gerrard specialises in the use of a khim hammered dulcimer, featuring its music on several albums and performing with the instrument live on tour.