Pretty in Pink

Despite the frustrations of teaching there, Thailand was a fun place to live and we miss it sometimes.

We've still got mixed feelings about wearing Polo shirts to work, although that wasn't just because of the colour of the shirt. Rather it was more due to the oddness of teaching in shirts embroidered with fluffly bunnies and cute mice.

The horrible yellow coloured-shirts were Monday's compulsory attire for a very long time. That's because the auspicious Thai colour for Monday is yellow- the King's colour as he was born on that day- Thailand was awash with people showing their love for the Monarch by sporting yellow shirts.

Tuesday's colour is pink and it was compulsory to wear a Polo of that colour to school for a few months. That was because 'Pink mania' hit Thailand for a brief period when the King exited hospital after a long period of illness resplendent in a hot pink blazer.

Green is for Wednesdays, but that colour never really took off, although if you did wear anything green the Thai would appreciate the effort whether you had realized the significance of your act or not.

Thursday's auspicious colour is orange. Few Thai have taken to that colour.

Friday's is 'blue day,' and next to yellow the most popular colour as the beloved Queen- the Mother of the Nation- was born on this day.

Saturday's colour is purple and Sunday's Red.

Black is the colour of Mourning in Thailand and for several weeks we had to wear a black shirt to work everyday to mark the death of the King's sister. The official period of mourning was later extended to 3-months for government workers but luckily we foreigners were excused.