Buddhism in Thailand: a guide for expats and visitors is available from e-books in Thailand. CLICK ON THE IMAGE to enlarge it. This is a book which describes the practice of day-to-day Buddhism as you will find it in Thailand.
You can view details of Buddhism in Thailand HERE and you will find a FREE download of the first chapter.
I posted my first blog on this site just over a year ago. It came about by one of those happy accidents that have characterised much of my life. The newspaper I usually read was sold out of my local newsagents so reluctantly I bought my second choice. It happened to have a little supplement booklet inside, all about blogging, blogs, platforms, SEO, etc. It has served me well enough but was very elementary I have since discovered by reading blogs that are sometimes about blogging like My Thai Friend which is always interesting and informative.
Reading other people's blogs has served me well, too. My BLOG ROLL lists the ones that I read regularly. They were chosen orignally for several different reasons: they are all Thailand-based, some are 'local' to me, such as Life in rural Thailand, some are both amusing and perceptive such as Beyond the Mango Juice and Boonsong Somboon's Thailand Photos ; others are informative, or I just read them because the writers have a take on life in Thailand that I find appealing such as Retired in Thailand and Loving It and I love the writing style of My Thai Village Life, because of or despite never feeling the urge to ride a motorbike.
I feel very grateful to have come across these blogs and the others on my blog roll list. They have certainly enriched the last 12 months and in a way I suppose they have changed my life for the better. A bit. I am not talking the road to Damascus here. So thanks, fellow bloggers.
What has really brought all this to my attention was a recent post by another on my blog roll. Catherine recently posted about a new ebookshop launch at Women Learning Thai. The bookshop is run by Hugh Leong, who contributes to Cat's site some really useful Thai language learning materials such as this recent one entitled I'm Not Fine, Thank You. I have been looking for some time for an e-book outlet for a book about my father-in-law which I wrote as a retirement project some years back. It has sold reasonably well in Thailand but as time goes by it gets harder to find on shelves as new books are coming in all the time. It is available now from ebooks in Thailand and I hope to have another book there soon. Take a look, amongst other tempting titles you will find a free 7-day cookbook download!
I saw a cartoon in a newsaper recently. A teenager was resisting reading a newspaper because it had no links she could follow, she couldn't leave instant comments, she couldn't forward pieces to her friends, and so on.
I've never used so many links, but if they don't work, I know Martyn will let me know. Thanks, Martyn.
Not so many people have been looking at my Pic of the Day (use the tab at the top of this page) so I have posted a selection from January and February pics. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.
Pensri has been collecting material for a history of Phana for about ten years. Her father had a big collection of books and documents on the subject and several people in the village have added to her collection by allowing her to photo-copy written materials they had, as well as offering her photographs. Wat Phra Lao has a big collection of black and white photos and they let her browse through the whole lot and she borrowed many.
An important source was the History of Laos by ML Manich Jumsai published in English in Bangkok in 1967. It is out of print but our son Dominic found a copy and gave it to Pensri.
Other people in the village contributed work of their own. The abbot of Wat Burapha, Phra Maha Jantee, wrote a history of Buddhist education as it related to Phana. Phana has been a noted centre of Buddhism since the middle of the 19th century when a monk from the village (Yakru Boonma) studied at Wat Bovornivet in Bangkok with the future King Mongkut (Rama IV). Rama IV sent him back to Isaan to reform the sangha. Since his day there have been several Phana men who have become abbots of the Thammayut wat in Ubon, Wat Supatanaram.
Other contributions concerned palm-leaf texts, phaya (the Lao wisdom expressed through word-play) and the weaving traditionally (and still) done in the village.
Last November was the centenary of Pensri's father's birth and she had hoped to have the book ready for that. She didn't quite make it, but nevertheless the book is dedicated to him and her mother to mark the hundred years and the publication was sponsored by the whole extended family, more than a hundred people spread throughout Thailand now.
The book is not going to be for sale but will be offered to interested people locally. The first to receive a copy were the 120 people who last week attended a reunion of Matayom Phana school which was founded 72 years ago and closed 46 years ago. Pensri left 50 years ago.
Then on Tuesday Pensri and her two older sisters had an appointment in Ubon with the Governor. They presented him with 150 copies to issue to schools there. During the course of their meeting with the Governor, Pensri was telling him how how her childhood experience catching crickets stood her in good stead when she worked in the biology lab at Exeter University in England. It seems the farangs were afraid to handle the crickets. It then emerged that the Governor had been born and raised in Isan, at Chaiyaphum, and used to catch crickets by pouring water down little holes and pickng them up by their antenna when they floated upwards. A good laugh was had by all!
This picture was taken after the meeting. The man is the Governor's PR man.
Friday was another difficult but proud day for Pensri. She had offered the Provincial Education office copies to distribute to schools and the Head of the Education department (a Phana man, and one of Pensri's first cousins) had picked them up earlier in the week. Then he rang to say that he wanted to distribute them to Head Teachers at a meeting in Amnat Charoen on Friday. Pensri had to make a speech, which she hates doing, so she spent the previous night rehearsing it endlessly with me timing it (at just about 3 minutes, short for a Thai speech). It went fine.
So Phana's 300 years of history is in print and all Pensri has to do now is send off two copies to the National Library, as must be done for every book with an ISBN.
A book which gives me particular pleasure, especially when I am far from Thailand as now, is Very Thai by Philip Cornwel-Smith. I have a hardback copy here and a paperback version in Phana. I have actually bought about five copies altogether, but envious friends and relations have taken the others. On the whole I am pleased to let them have a book which I enjoy so much.
Very Thai is one of those books you can dip into anywhere and always find something interesting. The topics are all familiar to anyone who has been in Thailand even for a fairly short time with their eyes open, but Cornwel-Smith always has an informed take on every subject and he makes good use of knowledgeable Thai experts who add native authenticity and depth to his own observations. For example, we all notice the gaudy decorations on trucks, tuk-tuks and songthaews, but Cornwel-Smith reveals the traditional and even mythical origins of the designs. He points out that “Looking beautiful may be important but meaning matters as much. With spirits underwriting any accident, drivers pay extra premiums for divine protection through décor. Chassis metalwork plays shrine, cabins act as altar, talisman-shaped bolts physically hold the trailer together.”
Cornwel-Smith reports what he sees and digs down beneath the surface to cast new light on everyday objects and customs. He touches on some topics that come up on the Bangkok Post letters page (Soi Animals, Street Vendors, Motorcy Taxis, Hanging Wires) but he observes without whingeing. His mission is to explain and not to criticise or make cross-cultural comparisons. He certainly touches on things which are not normally regarded (especially by Thai officialdom ie Thai Tourist Authority) as ‘culture’. So we have the McDonalds clown wai-ing, the sniff kiss, the beckoning lady, whisky mixer tables, and so on. What this wonderful book does above all else is to celebrate what makes Thailand so unique, what makes it such a joy to live in, what makes it so different despite the seeming universality of shopping malls, expressways, and high-rise buildings.
And the photographs are a delight. The only thing I have against them is that I didn’t take them myself. I wish I had. Maybe if I had, I would have included these next four pictures, which illustrate a couple of things which give me and many people in Isan a lot of pleasure.
For farmers, this vehicle/machine is really a jack-of-all-trades. It has lots of different uses on the farm, and it can also take the entire family out for a bai-teeow. Great.
The ex-bicycle wheel comes in very useful. Here are two ways it is commonly used:
I love this sort of ingenuity that you find so often in Thailand, perhaps especially in the countryside.
There are also lots of ways to block the road, or at least to use it in ways we hadn't thought of. Here are two common ones:
That's just after the rice harvest of course. Later, in the dry season, we have:
And finally, making it into my own Very Thai collection, is the Phana Municipality minibus:
Very Thai
Everyday Popular Culture
Philip Cornwel-Smith
Photographs: John Goss
River Books
Bangkok 2005
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