Thai Life in Phana

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.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

  

 

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. 
 

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.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

Sleepless in Phana

Loud music is a staple of life in Phana. In the still, traffic-free evenings, nights and even early mornings, sound travels across the open rice-fields unobstructed. Someone, somewhere is having a party of some sort most weekends. That is Fridays and Saturdays and into Sunday mornings. There are merit-making ceremonies of several kinds which entail relatives returning to Phana from all over Thailand. Because so many young and youngish Phana people live far away, in Bangkok and other urban centres, a party is called for whenever they return. Or they return whenever a party is going to be thrown.  I have got used to it and generally feel good that people are enjoying themselves. Sometimes I am there with them, though I tend to come home soon after the karaoke-type singing begins. I have never quite got used to the idea that so many people can get so much pleasure out of singing so badly, and that so many other people get so much non-judgemental pleasure out of listening to them doing so.

 

All that was until yesterday. Just up the road from us a family has been organizing this year's kathin at Wat Phra Lao. We had offered a donation early yesterday morning, but last night we made a much greater sacrifice. This truck parked in the road a little way up from our house:

 

 

Next to our gate (that's our gate, the green one bottom right) a large structure was being built:

 

And back down the road, next to our neighbour's house, the police had been busy too:

 

As dusk started to come on, the structure looked like this:

 

 

And from our side:

 

 

Needless to say, either side of the screen were two enormous banks of speakers. The guys putting all this together told me the films would start at 8 pm and finish at 3 am. They didn't say that they would have finished their building work by 6 pm and we would then be entertained by the loudest music in the world until the films began. But that is what happened.

We don't have glass in most of the windows of our house although there is some ornamental glass above the doors along the front. Sometimes the amplified bass from music a couple of kilometres away has caused the glass to reverberate. Coming from just 20 metres away, I am surprised it didn't shake out all the glass we have. It certainly resonated in my rib cage. I thought that things would get better once the first film started but the soundtrack of one of them (a horror story, I think) consisted mostly of piercing screams and loud bass grinding noises that I guess were spooky or something if you were in the right place -- about 20 kms away, perhaps.

Amazingly, at some point I did get to sleep. I was woken up at 2.45 am by the sudden silence! It was all over. Well, almost. The construction crew then worked for another few hours de-constructing it all and packing everything back into the truck.

The music of the kathin procession did not start until about 7.30 am by which time I was able to wave them off on their way to the wat, as is the custom. I have just learned that more than a hundred people sat on mats out in the road enjoying the films. Good for them. I guess it was an experience they will remember. I will too. Sorry I don't have photos of them enjoying themselves. Somehow I just wasn't in the mood by then.

  

 

Phana Song

This is an excerpt from "Phana 300 Years" performed by the people of Phana at Wat Phra Lao Thepnimit in April 2008. The young girl singer is a student at Phana Suksa School. The 3-day celebration was sponsored by Phana Municipality. I think it is rather lovely. I hope you enjoy it.