Thai Life in Phana

Retreat in the Forest, Day one

We arrived too late this morning to take part in the alms round at Don Chao Poo so we had to take our food offering directly to the 'food station'.

All the food offered to the monks into their bowls is pooled and sorted. Far too much food is provided, but it has to feed the monks and all the men and women in white (upasika) who take 8 precepts each day of the retreat. And when they have all eaten it is the turn of the lay people.The monks eat directly from their bowls during these 10 days, as forest monks always do. 'Wet' food is put into a little plastic bag and tightly sealed with a rubber band. Most of the rice offered this morning was the sticky variety and I guess that will be the case  every day.

Now what looks good here?

All of it!

Be patient ...

... and now you can help yourselves. When a monk's bowl gets full of rice it is emptied into a big basket like this one. The bowls quickly get full so the men pushing the basket-on-a-cart have to be spaced out along the line of monks.

The girls just want to have fun.

We put up with this every year ...

... so we might as well make the best of it.

 There's a good-looking fella!

The pillow suggests he lay down to sleep rather than sat up as the most stringent tudong monks do.

A neat and tidy monk was here:

How did this robe get so far up a tree? It's a mystery.

 
 

Caught in the act!

 

Women eat Thai food (and some men too). This is their time (at last) and place.

Schoolgirls have been taking care of the food arrangements and now they are serving the lay people.

Here we have a young monk with his proud mum and sisters. There was a call for him on his mum's mobile and he had to be found so he could take the call. When he got to them it was the tiny little boy who had to hand him the phone because women don't hand something directly to a monk. I guess if his sister had had a baby daughter I would have had to do the honours as the nearest man.

When everyone had eaten it was time for most of us to go home. Not for those who were staying to practise meditation and listen to some teaching later in the day. I left too but will return again before the retreat is over.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Preparing for retreat in Don Chao Poo

Every year Don Chao Poo forest in Phana is taken over by hundreds of monks, novices and men and women in white who have undertaken to join them for 10 days of meditation and Buddhist teachings. The people of Phana undertake to feed them every day from 21st December to 30th December. Different villages take it in turns to do this, though other people are welcome to join them on any day. Some people go to the forest every day to offer food as the long line of monks go on the morning bindabat, or alms round.

The opening ceremony, which is not attended by the monks, will take place in the forest tomorrow morning. But for the last few days people have been preparing the forest.

Boys and girls from Udomwitayakorn Primary School near the forest have been working hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of their work has been sweeping leaves from the main entrance to the forest and collecting some of the rubbish that litters the area.

The big problem is plastic bags. People bring food for the monkeys in plastic bags and although some of the bags get put into rubbish bins, the wind and the monkeys often take them out again. Some of the monkeys also have the habit of snatching bags of food and making off into the forest with it, so bags can be found all over the place. The problem of plastic bags here needs to be looked at and something done about it. Not that there is an easy solution but I'm sure it could be alleviated.

Anyway, at least once a year something gets done and this young lad seems to be enjoying himself even if he isn't working as hard as the other boys. I wonder how he got into this priviliged position. My guess is he knows somebody.

Outside the forest, this tetsaban employee is delivering flags to line the front wall of the forest.

Leaving my car inside the forest while I went off to take photos was a big mistake.

If the schoolboys were working hard, this was playtime for the forest residents.

 

I went back to the forest today, Sunday. The monks arrive today and the tetsaban had arranged a reception counter for them.

Most of the monks have attended this annual retreat before and they knew their way around the forest. All the same, someone was on hand to greet them and help them with their camping equipment. Some of them came with a glot, the tent which looks like an umbrella when it is rolled up. This is the one which tudong monks use when they are on their travels. I couldn't get a photo of one today because monks were changing their robes at each of the ones I found.

 

Many monks are into camping equipment of a more recognisable form.

A kitchen was set up near the reception area.

It looks as if a cup of tea will soon be served. These monks will only eat once a day during the 10-day retreat but tea without milk is allowable at any time, as is water, of course.

There are several of these water tanks in the forest and part of the preparations has been to clean them out.

The most important area is this one where the monks and other meditators will sit. Straw has been laid on the ground beneath the trees and there are piles of straw in several places so  that it can be renewed when necessary.

The monks also practise walking meditation along the shady paths of the forest.
 
 

I will be returning to the forest tomorrow morning because Moo 1 where I live is the main sponsor for offering food on the first day. Because it is the first day, though, there will be hundreds of people waiting to offer food to the monks. Then I will go back on other days to see how things are going. So I hope to post again about this meditation retreat later in the week.

 
 

 

Just another quiet day in Phana

I have to thank the Oyster Band for my title today although their song was much more heavily ironic than this post will be. That's because it really was a quiet day in Phana and as it got dark here this evening I was thinking that nothing at all had happened. But on reflection that is not quite true.

The loudspeaker from Moo 9 started up really early today, about 5 a.m. it woke me and by the sound of it it had been going on a while. There is a special harvest festival being held at Wat Burapa in Moo 9 over the next three days and it started this morning.

By about 7.15 Pensri and I were out in the drive playing badminton, a daily activity for us and a source of entertainment for the busloads of schoolkids who go by between this time and 8 o'clock. My usual intense concentration was disturbed though by what I saw on the cables strung out along the far side of the road. I rushed for my camera and then rushed with it up the road, The result was poor but at least it is proof that I'm not just making all this excitement up.

Now something like this would not get a mention if I lived in Lopburi, but here it only happens about once a year. I suspect that it is the same elderly male that goes walkabout on the wires. He is heading home here but is still about a km away.  

As we were eating breakfast on the verandah (it makes us think we are at Southfork) a young woman came by and squatted down next to Pensri and asked her advice on some family problems she is having. I wandered off to my 'study' at the back of the house to do some work on an extended piece of writing I am currently busy with in an off and on sort of way. A friend of mine, a former illegal immigrant now made legal, came by with a gift of a large fish. We said we would have it for lunch and an hour or so later he was back with lots of vegetables for us to eat with it. While he was away a friend of Pensri's came by with a ripe papaya from her garden. So that was a bit more lunch for us.

Pensri went off to do some photo-copying and while she was away another annual sort of traveller went by on a bicycle. I'm not easily fooled so I knew straight away that it was Santa Claus. Except, of course, that it wasn't. Because I caught a glimpse of a very neat leg emerging from the red robe. You shouldn't be in my blog, I thought, get back, get back to  where you once belonged Mrs Claws.

Lunchtime came and the fish was one I had never had before, The flesh was similar in colour and texture to a trout but it was a much chubbier fish (though I have never eaten chub) and a bit oily for my taste. Good though. And the papaya was sweeter and jucier than many we buy.

A couple of hours after lunch we were both on the verandah again, this time I was having a foot massage from the woman I met at the community day recently. A man from Wat Phra Lao committee came and talked us into donating towards moving the crematorium a bit further west. At the moment they need money for land-filling, 200 Baht a truck-load.  He had a big accounts book with him and took a long time telling us who had paid up so far and how much. So he put us down for 5 loads and we paid up. We don't much like their reasons for moving the crematorium (more room for the stage when they hold the annual festival) but on the other hand it will be moved further from us, so on balance it's to our advantage.

A couple more visitors. Ajarn Kanet, headteacher of one of Phana's schools, came round to talk to Pensri about the school reunion they are organizing together. Then, just after I had finished my foot massage, another ajarn came round to collect some proof-reading I had done of some work sheets he had prepared for his English classes.

And finally (but I can't really be sure of this for at least another hour since it is now 8.30 p.m.) Mr Arporn came round, coughing badly. Yesterday he was coughing worse and took himself to the district hospital just before dusk. He took a short cut from his house through Don Chao Poo, the local forest and monkey sanctuary. On one of the sandy tracks he came across a python, about 6 metres long and as fat as his admittedly skinny thigh. He didn't have much time to be frightened but he managed to be and accelerated past it because he reckoned if he had braked he would have stopped right up next to it. He also mentioned that it was lucky he wasn't on his bicycle becaue it doesn't have any lights. I don't actually think pythons are a danger to fully-grown humans but I didn't want to spoil his story. And I may be wrong. I definitely wouldn't hang around to put my theory to the test.

People used to talk about the python in Don Chao Poo but a couple of years ago the monkey population started to increase and it was assumed that the python was no more. It was a defunct python. Etc, etc, etc. I met an Englishman a couple of years ago who lives about 75 kms away. He said that he used to have a Burmese python but it grew too big so he put it in a box and drove it to Don Chao Poo where he released it, hoping it liked macaque monkeys. So I just wonder ...

I am also wondering whether tomorrow will be another quiet day in Phana. We shall see.

 

Recycling Day in Phana, Thailand

Recycling Day was a big success in Phana. As usual just about everyone in Tambon Phana was involved, either as a participant or a spectator. The competition for the moo baan with the best costumes and float drew some interesting entries from all the little communities that make up Tetsaban Tambon Phana.

This carefully-crafted hat made from recycled materials seems to epitomise the committment the people of Phana show when they are asked to put on a show like this.

The parade started in the amphur, at Samarkee School. They started marching at about 3.15 pm and reached the bridge just down from our house at about 3.30. As always they were led by two beautiful young women, in this case the two volunteers from Project Trust.

Samarkee School students were near the head of the parade:

The marchers came in all shapes and sizes:

The women of Phana always enjoy a parade and don't seem to mind making a bit of an exhibition of themselves.

 

These men enjoyed themselves too:

This was a day of many worthy slogans.

 

This one was contributed by Pensri and I to the Moo 1 (our community) section of the parade. I don't know how or why the hyphen jumped out of place.

 

This band comes from Samarkee School which has a great tradition of music and dancing.

 

This marching band performs at every occasion imaginable in Phana. They also spend a lot of time practising in the evenings and can be heard a long way off.

 

I love this section of the band, both for the ingenuity of the mobile, battery-powered amps and for the sound that comes out.

 

Here comes the mayor! On the right.

 

The decoration of the floats was fairly predictable but colourful anyway.

 

 

And after the parade comes the Tetsaban's waste-collection truck. Is it about to be made redundant by all this recycling?

 

When I caught up with the stationary parade at the market place I realised that I had contributed these Beer Lao and San Miguel cans. A young woman we know takes them from me and turns them into these attractive decorations.

This is the recycling stall. People brought bags and sacks full of stuff, all sorted. It was weighed and exchanged for an appropriate reward. There were eggs, for example, and kids could get sticker books or soft drinks.

I saw our friend who recently hosted a harvest celebration at her farm. She was having a foot massage and I decided to join her. Unfortunately, you paid for the massage with a ticket obtained by exchanging a sackful of rubbish at the stall. So the massage women were contributing their work to the cause. Well, I didn't have any rubbish with me to exchange so I'm afraid I used a bit of influence. The deputy-mayor's wife somehow acquired a ticket for me, I don't know how because she didn't have any rubbish either. Well, this is Thailand.

Somebody mistakenly thought I would make a good photograph so I asked her to take one with my camera too.

 

This foot massage business takes a lot of concentration. It is excellent anyway, and I have booked the same woman to come and give me another massage tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to pay for that one, though.

 

When they didn't have enough customers (rarely, in fact) the massage women gave each other a massage.

 

Then the on-stage performances began and that is how I ended recycling day in Phana. Very satisfying. Oh, the tetsban also provided everyone with some sticky rice and pork in a banana leaf. Packed in with the food there was also a tiny bit of banana leaf wrapped around some nam prik. Very thoughtful. And delicious.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

  

 

Celebrating the Rice Harvest in Phana

The rice harvest is pretty much completed in Phana and a couple of friends invited us to a ceremony at their farm to mark their own successful harvest.

This celebration goes by the name of Su Kwan Khao (Calling the Rice Spirits) although this one that we attended had several non-traditional features. Traditionally, the ritual was held in the fields before the rice was taken back to the house to be stored. Our friends' house is located right next to their fields and most of their rice had already been sacked up. The little pile of unhusked rice in the foreground of this picture represents the way it used to be done.

Another variation  from tradition was that the main ritual was not performed by a Mor Kwan (a spirit expert). Instead, the pa kwan (the decorated trays in the top centre of the picture) was joined to a Buddha image by the sai sin (sacred thread). People in Phana do not generally pay much attention to spirits. Nobody has a spirit house, for instance.

The spirits were well catered for, all the same. At the four corners of the rice heap were plates containing sticky rice steamed in banana leaves, hard-boiled eggs, a boiled chicken and a bottle of alcoholic spirit. The spirits don't seem to be very interested in the offerings (though I'm sure they appreciate the thought) and the guests always end up consuming everything.

 

The ceremony was held outdoors of course in an area shaded by big mango trees. Now usually if I stand anywhere near a mango tree the red ants that live in it find me within minutes. There must have been something about the presence of nine monks that persuaded them to leave us alone that day, because the ants didn't show at all.

This nicely understated set of shrine tables and the paraphenalia that goes with it stood in one corner of the area. The lotus pond in the background set it off nicely. Our friends' farm is fully organic and recognised as a model farm by one of the King's projects.

The contrasting light and shade didn't make photography easy but the atmosphere was very peaceful.

 

Here the acting-abbot of Wat Phra Lao has extinguished the candle at the end of the chant, thereby making the water in the bowl holy.

 

It is always a nice moment when one of the monks sprinkles the lay people with the holy water. You can feel the relaxation of tension after the serious business of chanting and sitting attentively (or not).

 

Phra Dit (the acting abbot) then read from a palm-leaf book, singing the words. They were in Lao, although they were written in the Thai script. This replaced the invocation to the spirits which a mor kwan would have chanted. I was very impressed by the way he could flip the book to a new page using just his right hand. And also he could read all the words without using a finger to point at them, quite an achievement since the words are very small and the lines very long, the pages being very wide. Still, I'm not sure anyone would have known if he had skipped a line or two.

 

The lay people sitting at a suitably respectful distance made me think that the mango trees had been planted with just this ceremony in mind maybe 15 or 20 years ago.

 

While all this was going on, women and small girls were preparing the food.

 

When the time comes to serve it, the young(est) men carry out the trays.

 

The host (in white shirt) prepares to make the offering...

 

... and his wife joins him with the white envelopes containing a small gift of money for each monk, and one for the layman in the dark clothes who had requested the chanting and the taking of five precepts.

 

On this occasion the monks did not eat from individual trays but arranged themselves in small groups and enjoyed the picnic atmosphere. Monks don't speak while they are eating and they don't show any pleasure or displeasure concerning the food.

 

 

We lay people waited patiently for them to finish so that we could eat. We were not constrained to silence when the time did come for us to eat, and we were full of verbal appreciation for the food.

 

Because Buddhist ceremonies in Thailand all follow the same basic pattern, it is easy to think that your experience is going to be the same on each occasion. But in fact there are always little differences in procedure, or place, or people, or FOOD and these things keep them interesting for me even though I have attended so many and often set out convinced that I am not going to have a good time. But I do. Especially now that everyone accepts that for at least some of the time I need to sit on a chair on the fringes of the gathering.

  

 
 
 

 

 

  

 

Professional mor lam in Phana

This is a professional mor lam performance. On the occasion I saw them in Phana only the woman sang, accompanied by the khaen player. To be honest the other man did not do a lot. He hardly danced and he didn't sing. It is possible he was just having a sulk. I can't believe he was only there for ornamental reasons. Sentimental, perhaps.

This was the finale of the Tetsaban Phana  celebration for Tod Kathin last month. One of the things I find most peculiar in Phana (and maybe that could read 'in Thailand') is that by the time the headline act comes on, everyone has gone home! I think no more than a dozen of us were here to listen to this group. And that was a pity because they were realyy pretty good. Earlier the audience had been huge because so many kids and old folk were performing, so all their friends and relatives (ie. everyone in Phana) was there to support them and take pride in them or have a good laugh at their expense.

So what the Tetsaban should have done (are you reading this down at the tetsaban offices?) was to put the professionals on early and give the youngsters a good model. (How come I always know best, in hindsight at least?)

Anyway, they were good. Here they are, and thanks to the Tetsaban for finding them.

 

 

OK, I take it back. He did dance a bit.

And here is me filming them. Not elegantly posed perhaps. But you see what I mean about the sparse audience?

 

 

Young Mor Lam Singers

These two young mor lam singers appeared twice in Phana recently. They are just 9 years old but already have real stage presence and their memory for the words of the songs was very impressive.

I saw them first at a tam boun baan, where I recorded them. Then they appeared at the tetsaban's entertainment for Tod Kathin where I took some photos.

Here is the video of  them:

They really seem at home on stage:

The audience enjoyed their performance very much. The only two who seemed a bit tense are the girl's mother (front left) and the boy's father (front right).

I noticed that he mouthed every word the boy sang and the boy glanced at him rather nervously and frequently at the tam boun baan. A typical 'star's parent' I guess. Seeing the little boy having his makeup put on was an odd thing, too. But they both (they are unrelated, apparently, but both come from Phibul Mangsahan in Ubon Province) sang really well. Good to see mor lam performed without 99 dancers in strange headgear, as well. 

 

If you are not familiar with mor lam, you may find the style strange. They are singing in Lao, of course. I hope you enjoy this brief example. 
 

Miss World in Phana: SHOCK RESULT!

What are we to make of this? What will political analysts make of it?

These are the questions being asked here in Phana.

The result of the Miss World contest held in Phana recently came as quite a surprise. The hot favourite was undoubtedly Miss Thailand who certainly looked the part. Here she is again for anyone who needs reminding of her undoubted charms.

 

The comperes took some time to decide who the winner should  be:

 

Well, the winner was ....

 

Miss Lao! and the runner up was Miss Vietnam.

 

Here is the happy winner:

 

 

She certainly seemed happy and appreciative of the honour:

 

No doubt the 'crown' suited her better than the pink shower cap she wore when we first saw her.

Miss World in Phana! Hot! Hot! Hot!

Miss World contest in Phana? It sounds unlikely, but if my eyes did not deceive me the event took place here just last week. Here are the two comperes, just about recognisable as residents of Moo 8.

 

Here come the contestants. First on stage is Miss Vietnam:

 

She is followed by Miss Japan. Both these contestants were well-received by the enthusiastic audience.

 

 

Unfortunately, Miss Lao was not greeted with universal respect. There were several unsavoury comments made about her appearance straight from taking a bath! Some people thought she could have made a bit more effort in the dressing-up department.

 

 

The same could not be said for Miss Thailand. She did the occasion justice by putting on her best outfit and lots of gold jewellery (probably borrowed for the occasion, but that's not to detract from her stunning appearance).

 

But the biggest cheer was reserved for the final contestant, Miss USA. You can see why she was such a hit.

 

And here is the full line-up waiting for the judges' decision:

 

I suppose the result was a foregone conclusion. Who do YOU think is the winner? (Pick the runner-up as well and you could be in for a big prize!) Let me know what you think. Answers in my next post.

Tetsaban Phana: Tod Kathin Procession to Wat Trimit

The Tod Kathin procession from the market place in Ban Phana to Wat Trimit in the amphur was a long  and noisy one. Few people saw it, perhaps, because although the route is a direct one, it doesn't pass many houses. Between Ban Phana and 'the amphur' (as it is always referred to) there is quite a lot of empty space, including the large area where the Tetsaban is currently constructing the new market and bus station.

 

All dressed up and quite a long way to go.

 

Where all the noise came from:

 

For some people, a procession is an easy ride.

 

Others have to put their best foot forward.

 

They have reached the District Office (the amphur).

 

Some people just can't help dancing.

 

Nearly there!

 

When you reach the temple, you then have to walk around the ubosot three times in a clockwise direction.

 

A temple has to have no fewer than five monks in residence to qualify for a Tod Kathin. This one only just made it.

 

What it is all about: presenting the robes.

 

One of the monks must have said they should help themselves:

 

And that really is the last Tod Krathin for this year. But the night before this the Tetsaban arranged 4 hours of entertainment at the market place, so I'll be putting some photos of that in my next posting.