Dear Coke! Was so amazing to make this video with you. You are such a talented artist, extremely smart young man and an amazing story teller. I hope this video brings you lots of happiness, and hopefully even more! For the viewers, please LIKE, COMMENT & SHARE! To help us spread this video as much as possible!
Tq.Mayaan this young man very talents.and creatively.but now he lived in Thai culture.sad for him everyone only said he's Luk Krueng.that's made him seem he's not Thai.very bad that most of Thais people think that way.sorry for him.👌👌✌✌👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍😤😤🤔🤔🤔🤔✌✌
Coke is a Very talented kid. I wish him all the success in the world! Btw, I love his smile and he knows that he's cute. :-) Thanks for sharing! For Coke: for the question of "Oh, you're Luek Kreung" after you having showed Thais your Thai id. It means that we/Thai recognize you as a Thai and "Respect Your Other Half of Foreign Blood" as well. That's why we can't claim you all the way as a Full Thai. It would be a wrong thing to do (not to respect your other half). Thais are very inclusive, so to speak. That said, it doesn't mean we discard you as a Thai. "Respect" is everything in Thai culture. However, by outside looks, Coke fits perfectly as a southern Thai boy/ young man especially when he starts speaking southern dialect. I love his smile. It's so beautiful and genuine and it opens up the world.
@pancakestac I think, you read into too much. The sad part is with the descending tone and contempt . You're westerner, huh? I can tell. The bottom line, Thai culture is very inclusive and Respect for themselves and others is everything!! I will just leave it right there.
I look at this way “He’s a handsome Thai who can speak perfect English” This is strength point and I do believe the English language will open more opportunities to him in Thailand. Many Thai people try so hard to speak English spend a lot of money to study abroad or tutoring for getting better English. Now you live in the right place and right time! Coke’s a lot of energy to do his amazing work. Keep do it young man!
The Ayudhya project is so amazing to me and that's from 19 year old young man who wasn't even grew up in Thailand! And more, he knows history more than a lot of Thai people, I'm very sure. For half nationality, I don't think it matters much as long as you know who you are and what you do, be proud of yourself, treat every one with respect, in times, people will recognise you and give you more respect and treat you like their own!
What an absolutely awesome video. Thank you for doing this! I love my boy so much! Cokie expresses himself so well. This reminds me of so many conversations he and I have had about this very subject over the years. Thanks again for making this and sharing! Cheers
All my 3 kids are Luk Krueng Thai a American we are living in Portland Oregon but future plans is we wanted to move back to Thailand For me seeing your son improve himself with I mean Wow 🤩 wow he has an amazing heart with his thoughts
I am Thai and Coke is also Thai. Actually Luk Krung is a kind of admiring half Thai. It is not discrimination but most of us love Luk Krung and we feel they are special for us.
I am an Italian living in Thailand and as a father I can understand this very positive guy. We are tolerated but never fully accepted wherever we go. The Ayutthaya model is awesome! Just find this channel, I subscribed. ❤️
Awesome Genso! We are Mon & Maayan, we live on Koh Lanta in Krabi island. We are vlogging about our life, culture differences (Mon is Thai, I am Dutch-Israeli) and interviewing interesting people on our island. Thanks so much for subscribing and feel free to check out some of our other videos like this video we made about our kids entering Thai public school: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2-3roKs-NqE.html Or about this lovely magician living in a gorgeous house in the jungle: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ieWoIOilf9M.html Hope you enjoy it!
i'm luk khreung too...i've always tried to identify with both my black american heritage as well as my thai heritage, although I lead with being black, love my mom's culture just as much. love who you are Coke! be proud of who you are!
Diversity is an asset, my dear! My daughter is half Thai and half American like you. Being a mix race and also growing up in multi cultural family is a blessing. ❤
There’s literally no such thing as being half American. When people say American they normally mean White which is ridiculous cause White people aren’t the only Americans. Americans can be any race.
Although not Thai and not half Thai, but haven grown up Asian American and going back to Asia, I can understand everything he is saying too. All his questions, I understand. It’s unfortunate that he has to feel like he has prove something of himself so that he can be more accepted into the Culture that he didn’t grow up around, but it is reality and I really admire how he is aware of that and works hard to prove that he is Thai without being arrogant or nasty about it to the Thais.
Normally as Luk Krueng, they already classified you as a Thai, but in one word can be described that you are half-race, that's all. nothing is bad. Khon Thai likes to use short words to describe something/someone.
trueeee, Luk Krueng is Thais krab. Nothing's wrong with that. It's not exclusion but I would say it happened sometimes with respect and manner, though happen with same Thai people not the local when visiting as well. Trust the best for you all!
Hi sweet Lanta & Coke I am Thai. The meaning of Luk Khrueng mostly is half Farang & half Thai. It doesn’t mean you’re not Thai but maybe you look like a foreigner. I am Thai ( Thai- Chinese ) I was born & raised in Thailand. I look Chinese but I still Thai. The majority of Thai actors & actresses in Thailand are half Farang & half Thai. Coke please proud to be Luk Khrueng.
I’m very much proud, I am nothing but proud of myself, and so what that actors are majority half, it’s not about privilege but how people see us, because I act differently because I am different too many I am not Thai even though I have every right. Thai Chinese are very much integrated into Thai Society, for hundreds of years even thousands, in my case my ethnic background is more modern, Thai society has not had a chance to truly grow into a good Accommodation
Thank you for making the temple. I am Indonesian born Chinese . I stayed in chonburi for 9 years. And I am Buddhist .Really appreciate your beautiful works. As minority and Buddhist in Indonesia.. I also received racism.
This was so enjoyable to watch. The last time I saw you in person you were 11. Now you are a wonderful man. Your art is so inspiring. I remember watching you build towns on the beach when we were in Thailand. Those were in the sand and didn't last, but now you create permanent cities. This wonderful. Love, Grandma
I had the great pleasure of teaching (well, trying to at least) this young man. In our lessons he would, without fail, bring a Thai perspective to the history we were learning and over the IB History course he taught the class and I SO much. He also gave me a pretty mind-blowing tour of Bangkok's monarchical, architectural and religious history. I'm really pleased to see him doing what he's doing on Lanta and he's stayed true to the promise he made himself: to immerse himself in Thai history. A real one off...a real gent.
Hello, Rodney, I don't think we've ever meet. I'm his mom and thank you for had been his great teacher. He's love Thai history so much. I am glad that he brought this beautiful art and culture to us all. Warming regards, Coke's Mom
He is very creative and talented young man, his models are more like paintings. I really love to see the whole town close up when it’s done. Thanks for sharing it.
Im from malaysia and a mother of five kids and im very proud of you to speak out to the world how people look at other ppl. I take all these talks so easy.
Wow I hope Thailand's Ministry of Culture, national museums & private art galleries will display & promote Coke's work! Talented & eloquent historian/ storyteller.
I can't speak for Pop, but being the mom of 2 half Thai/half American and 1 half Polish/half American child, I can say that my experience has been joyful. I love learning about the cultures of my children's dads. Forrest and Louise are lucky because Pop is home every day with us and can tell us things about Thai culture and language, so they (at least Forrest does) understand that there are many wonderful things about being half/half. With Dorothy, however, I have to try and research things on Polish culture because she doesn't really have a relationship with her father. She understands that he and his family speak another language and have other traditions, but only wants to speak to me, so I have to do what I can to teach her. The only thing I can see being worrisome in the future is that we live in the South in the US, so I do worry about racism towards Forrest and Louise since you can tell they aren't fully white. The only thing Pop and I can do for that is make sure to teach them that it's ok to be yourself, no matter what you are. And, thankfully, Forrest is very comfortable being himself, even around others.
In my opinion, you don't need to be anyone else, but be yourself, know yourself, and proud of what you do. You have done such a great job to bring back all history of those temples to the young generation in Thailand. It is great to see someone give such big value and effort to make all these models. Be happy with your day, no worry of what people think on you.
Trust me. Thai people adore luk khrueng. I’m one of them. And luk khrueng equals Thai (at least for me and most Thai people I know). There’s literally no implied or bad meaning behind the word ‘luk khrueng’. And there’s nothing to do with discrimination at all; it’s just a word to call someone who looks Thai and speaks English fluently or those who looks like a foreigner but speaks Thai fluently. He’s hot by the way.
Half-Child is a Thai. You are Thai 100% because of your Thai spirit. You are very good at history of Thailand. The thing is your work is awesome ,beautiful and amazing.
Hi, there. It was a very good video that shows another side of the Thai half-blood who lives in Thailand. My son is also a Thai half-blood. I do understand where the story comes from. Thai people have a very harmonious culture, but sometimes it is hard to understand Thai people at some point. No matter how long you live in a country that is not your motherland, you still feel that you are a stranger in that place from my experience. To be a Thai half-blood who lives in Thailand is an awesome experience. They have double benefits that they can have double life in both countries. I think some Thai people express their way to connect with them differently but in a positive way.
This was wonderful - what an amazing and insightful young man! I wish he could make a model of Bangkok in 1977 when I was there. It's completely unrecognizable now. We stayed in the only hotel with hot running water. It was six stories and was the tallest building in the area. I just loved it - the people are fabulous! All the best to Coke, his beautiful art and his beautiful life.
LUK KHRUENG is a special status as your life get exposed to other culture. Thai people in general would think that you are luckier than most Thai people - and indeed you are!!! Well, you are definitely a handsome and talented Thai person!
Thai people like foreigners and given that you are half Thai we see you as our family too. Don’t get annoyed. You are loved actually. You really have knowledge of Thai temples , cultures and positive attitude and respect to Buddha, your works / creativity are amazing.
I think when you get older you won't care. My son is Half Thai but is growing up in Thailand and I have never heard that term for half Thai. Just enjoy loving in paradise.
Not Temple Boy, anymore if I may say. Temple MAN is more like it. It's rare to meet such a well-spoke, thoughtful person at any age. It's been a joy and privilege to watch Coke grow and evolve.
Very interesting to hear about his experience as a “luk khrueng” living in thailand and America. Please share his social media if he has any to see more of his temples.
Look krueng is interesting for Thai people because feature is different as high nose, colour eyes and tall .Look krueng is appreciated in Thailand.You can travel around in Thailand without racism.This is my opinion.You can speak Thai if you want and you can speak another as well.
I really enjoyed this perspective and learning of Coke and of his experiences. On this end, I'm also a luk kreung (US/Thai) but my features are very passable for Western or a warmer-climate European, although other cultures also sometimes believe that I'm one of them as well. Unlike Coke and your children, I was raised as a "third culture" child - growing up in neither the West nor the Far East. My parents did ensure that plenty of summers were spent with our maternal Thai family however. Although being on the very Western end of "luk kreung", I was always accepted by the community and was fortunate to have had positive experiences, and am very proud of the heritage I was given. The term, I have found through my experiences, is simply a statement of fact, not as a derogatory term. ...and as someone whose Thai family and heritage is situated in magnificent Ayutthaya, thank you for your passion to bring the Ayutthaya of the past to "life" through your modeling.
@@SweetLifeLanta , due to my father's career, much time was spent in South Asia and the Middle East, with summers and winters spent either traveling in Europe, Africa, or the Far East. I didn't return to the US until my teenage years.
Oh wow I have a similar experience too being raised in a third culture. I'm half-Japanese half-Ghanaian born in the US. I grew up in East Africa though (fourth culture?), I moved around a lot as a child, living in a couple countries in east Africa like Tanzania, Mozambique, and Rwanda. My parents tried to take me to Japan annually so that I could at least have that connection to my culture.
Look krueng in my opinion is Kon-Thai but has one parent who is a foreigner. Coke is a very cool guy! So much depth and wisdom! Love him and thank you for introducing him on your channel!
Very nice hobby has Coke, special to do this and yes to be half American & Thai make you special ..Like we are half Dutch Indonesian and my kids with Greek blood from there Father.
ลูกครึ่งไม่ใช่คำที่มีความหมายในเชิงลบ แต่หมายความว่าคนที่เกิดมาจากพ่อแม่ที่ต่างเชื่อชาติ ซึ่งคนไทยหลายคน(มากๆ)ก็เป็นลูกครึ่งไทยจีน ผมว่าปันหาของน้องจะมาจากการพูดภาษาไทยไม่คล่องหลายๆคนเลยไม่คิดว่าน้องยังไม่เป็นคนไทยเต็มตัวมากกว่าครับและทำให้น้องรู้สึกเข้ากับคนไทยได้ยากหรือป่าวครับ การเข้าถึงภาษานั้นๆอย่างท่องแท้มันก็เป็นการสื่อถึงการเข้าใจวัฒนธรรมของชาตินั้นๆได้อย่างท่องแท้ด้วยหรือไม่ครับ Luk Krueng isn't a negative word but it actually means who have mix 2 or more nationality. Most of us are half Chinese (more than 50% of Thais). I think the problem is language barrier that Coke doesn't seem fluent in Thai So a lot of people might think he is not truly Thai 100%.
when Thai people call you Luke Krueng, they don't mean they want to intimidate you. They fascinate more to Luke Kreung as you are unique. I also got 2 boys Luke Kreung 17 and 15 and I tell them that they are unique. Get it that way xx lots of love x
Thank you Mayaan for featuring this young man since I saw a video about his mama eatery. Coke Smith should be encouraged to start a youtube channel on his hobbies.
@@SweetLifeLanta Tell Coke to watch the channel ' No 1ideas' with 2.5 million subscribers building miniatures houses etc so that Coke learns to be a success with his temple miniatures. I sincerely wish him great success. He is talented, well-mannered, & just 19 years.
Very informative! Thank you for this! I’m an American and my wife, whose is pregnant with our new daughter, is Thai. We are raising her as Thai here in Hua Hin. She will be fluent in both languages so we are hoping this will help her in the future. She will also be an American citizen but we won’t be exposing her to American culture except on short visits to see family there. My wife lived with me in the States for 11 years before we moved back to Thailand and she is also fluent in English. We think it will just be better for our daughter to grow up Thai in Thailand.
I’m Thai Chinese but culturally, I am raised as Khon Thai more then Khon Jeen. My family considered Luk khrueng to be half Thai plus other ethnicities , which includes china, Japan , Laos, etc). Whenever I see other Chinese person, I don’t feel like I belong to in the racial group as Khon Jeen and even I look Chinese , they know I’m not 100% Chinese so I considered myself ( feel like I’m thai and not Chinese) to be Thai and not Chinese. Lastly, my husband is Khon Farang so it’ll be interesting to see which side our future children would feel towards 😂)
Thai people always be LookKrueng since thousands years ago from Mon, Lao,Khamer, Chinese, nowadays we have all LookKrueng almost 100% but the reason we not call all LookKrueng coz it’s the half-half from Southeast Asia
What a smart intelligent and talented young man. Good on you my friend whether you are Thai or American your family and friends must be very proud of you. Keep up the great work. Enjoyed the vlog thanks
One more great interview Maayan and thanks for sharing Coke! It was interesting to read the comments in Thai since it seems the most thai people here see Luk Khureng as Thai, I haven’t really got that perception before.
He is awesome guy!! Thank you so much to create this VDO to show how cool vision and attitude he has. By the way "Luk-Krung" from Thai view is in positive way. Many Thai people feel "Luk-Krung" seems like privileged and outstanding with others but this VDO let me realize how He think and respect him so much.
Thank you beautiful souls Maayan and Coke for this video. I’m half Thai half American too so I know what Coke is talking about. Same story I grew up in America and I visited Thailand often. My Thai is good with no accent as my mother sent me to learn Thai at an early age. The western mind is all about having rights and being fair, using your voice. Thai culture is about acceptance, obedience, not questioning methods that have been around for decades. So yes when you have a western mindset certain things like being charged as a falang and being seen as a Luke kuhurung at first feels yucky. You kind of feel like a piece of meat that everyone wants a piece of. You get use to it. And eventually as you deepen the love for yourself and develop your confidence you’re able to use what once felt uncomfortable as a tool to help you. Being half has its advantages everyone thinks you’re beautiful and are so fascinated with you if you can speak Thai. It’s the same for you Maayan, your Thai is so good and your beautiful energy shines. Thai people live simple lives. Their thinking is also simple. It’s different if you’re half Thai and grow up in Thailand because you’re use to the culture and will have more confidence speaking Thai as it’s your first language not second language like Coke and myself. Whether you’re half or just falung, you gain respect if you can speak Thai and immerse yourself in the culture just as Coke is doing with building mini temples.
Thanks so much for your beautiful comment. We love it that you put your whole heart in there. I'm sure Coke will really apprecitae reading it. Big hugs to you.
Thank you for sharing. Dear Coke, your works are truly impressive particularly the Buddha . Hope you continue your great works and strive in all aspects of life.
Its like me saying I am British but i come from a region in the UK and I am really English from Cheshire. Its the same in Thailand; you learn Thai at school and are taught all these Thai national things but you speak a local dialect like Eesaan or Southern language as your first language and you have all these local cultural diffrences. Its amazing how much cultural diversity there is in Thailand and this is something that should be embraced and not be seen as a bad thing.
Amazing work and outlook on things. I think when Thais say you’re “ลูกครึ่ง” it’s not that there’s no acceptance of you being Thai, it’s recognition that you’re more than just Thai. In the past it might not have been the case. I’m a “third culture kid” and I often get people thinking or referring to me as ลูกครึ่ง
Very interesting vlog thanks Mayaan. It appears that Coke has adapted well to his circumstances. He's plenty Thai, just look how he squats, Very few farang can squat like that. I can barely sit on the ground cross legged let alone squat for any length of time 😂 An extremely talented (with those models) and lovely young man and so pleased he was happy to share these early years of his very young life with us. 😀
Hahah! Totally agree about the squatting. Although I can do that too! That's probably the Thainess in me 😍😍😍😍 thanks so much Steven for joining in on this one (and all the ones before ❤️❤️❤️)
It is beutiful what you are creating Coke and keep doing what you love to do. Thank you for the great video Sweet Life Lanta too. Our kids are half Balinese and half Slavic growing up in Bali and also questioning who they are. We live in the times where east meets west again as our world desperatly needs it and you guys are the gods manifestation of this new opportunity. It is your beauty, perspectives, knowledge of the cultures and the languages and the resources you have that allow and will allow you guys to make difference the world needs to be the better place and heal 🙂👍🙏