Life in Phana

Phana's Pride or Shame?

The people of Phana have much to be proud of. And they are right to feel pride in the cleanliness of the streets, the 'zero waste' campaign that recycles large quantities of waste; the community spirit and community action that enables campaigns such as this, initiated by the tetsaban, to succeed. And the tetsaban is rightly proud of the prizes and the national exposure and acclaim it has won.

The people of Phana are also proud of Don Chao Poo, a conservation site for more than 50 years. And proud of the long-tailed macaque monkeys that live in the forest, some 500-600 of them. The monkeys attract tourists, mostly from the surrounding villages and towns but some from further afield. After the famous Buddha image in Wat Phra Lao Thepnimit, they are what puts Phana on the map.

But there's the rub: put monkeys and tourists together and one of the things you get is litter. Tourists bring food for the monkeys, or buy it in the stalls outside the forest, and much of the food is in plastic bags. Monkeys grab plastic bags; the wind blows them around; the waste bins are a waste of time because the monkeys raid them and scatter the contents. But you can't blame the monkeys; and if the tourists should take more care and take home their litter whenever possible, at least they are being thoughtful and generous in providing food for the monkeys.

Recent trips Pensri and I have made into the forest have dismayed us both: the amount of litter is, quite frankly, disgusting. It makes a mockery of the forest as a conservation area, and it makes a mockery of Phana considering itself a clean place. Here are some pictures I have taken recently.

This one shows plastic bags that have been discarded and blown into the forest close to the track. This degree of litter should be easy to deal with if it is removed quickly, by which I mean daily or at least every other day.

 

But the accumulation of rubbish such as this is on another scale altogether. It is not wind-blown. It is not deposited by monkeys. Some of it is embedded in the soil, so it has been here for years, not days. 

This litter has  been quite deliberately collected here and it is easy to work out WHEN and WHY and WHO by. 

Don Chao Poo forest is used by the tetsban and the amphur to hold official 'opening ceremonies' for a variety of occasions. Before the Governor or his representative or some other dignitary is whisked into the forest in a motorcade, the roads are  'cleaned up' -- a euphemism for brushing all the litter into the undergrowth, out of sight. Cliches, maybe, but relevant and accurate: brushing the problem under the carpet; out  of sight, out of mind.

So what is to be done? Well, it is a long-term problem that will only get worse if plans to encourage more tourists to visit Phana come to anything. In the short term, Pensri and I went to the forest last Wednesday and spent about 90 minutes collecting litter. We filled 5 black bin bags in that time. We filled the first one twice because some monkeys came along and ripped it open and re-scattered the litter.  A good demonstration of part of the problem. But we also saw lots of evidence that the monkeys are only part of the problem. It is not, I think, the monkeys who are drinking beer, milk, fruit juice, eating sweets, smoking cigarettes or reading and and discarding magazines full of pictures of naked women. I hope the monkeys know better than to do any of that, though I know they learn fast.

On Thursday we were joined by a friend of Pensri's and three young students from Phana Suksa. On Friday there were five young students from Phana Suksa. On those two days we collected more than 30 bags full of litter and then went to have duck noodle soup together in Ban Don Kwan.

The man in the picture here is employed by the tetsaban to spend a couple of hours a day in the forest, putting down tetsaban-provided rice for them, sweeping up some of the leaves. There is no blame attached to him for the litter: there is far too much of it for one person to deal with.

The youngsters here all wanted to continue working on the weekend but we oldies needed a rest. We will be back in the forest on Monday, but by then the weekend feeding by tourists will have introduced a lot more plastic bags. Never mind, it is likely that we will have removed the biggest proportion of the long-term litter in another two mornings of work. Then it will be up to the community to decide how to tackle the problem in a way that will make a blitz such as ours unnecessary again.

For the rest of this week I will post blogs with some of my thoughts about the 'monkey/litter problem' in Phana. I hope readers will offer some suggestions, too.

Community-Based Tourism

I am not sure I fully understand what the Thai Tourism Authority understands by Community-Based Tourism. But Amnat Charoen is one of two provinces (the other is in the south of Thailand) that is going to run a CBT pilot project. I need to understand what is meant because I have been co-opted onto the Provincial committee that is to draw up plans for the different amphur in the province. My job is to 'collect data'. I wasn't at the original committee meeting (though Pensri is one of the Phana representatives and she was there) so I can interpret data collection pretty much as I please, I think.

Tourists already come to Phana, almost all of them Thais coming from other parts of the country. They  visit Wat Phra Lao and sometimes Don Chao Poo Forest Park. On average, they spend no more than 30 minutes in Phana before getting back into their big tour bus or private car and heading off to the next stop on their itinerary.

These tourists are in no way based in our community. They donate to the wat, no doubt, and those going to Don Chao Poo purchase some food (not necessarily appropriate food) for the monkeys there. But Phana gains little or nothing from their visit

What I have done so far is produced  a document outlining what Amphur Phana has to offer to tourists so that they might spend more time here and provide some income-generating opportunities for Phana people.

SITES TOURISTS COULD VISIT IN AMPHUR PHANA

• Wat Phra Lao -- 300-year-old temple and famous Buddha image
• Wat Ban I-Keng -- attractive wat in a nearby village 
• Wat Ban Sao-Ree --village wat with school for novices 12 - 18 years old
• Wat Don Kwan --new(ish) wat in Tambon Phana; largest black Buddha image in Isan; 2nd tallest Phra That under construction
• Don Chao Poo Forest Park -- Buddha images, Chao Poo shrine, monkeys
• Weaving groups: Ban Phana, Ban Pathum Kaew; Ban Soi (silk production from mulberry leaves to cloth)
• Traditional Medicine Centre: Traditional Massage (treatment and training); herbal medicine production and sales
•  Model Agricultural Centre, at Fai Rong Hin, Phra Lao Municipality
•  School visit(s)
•  Noodle-shops and restaurants

ACCOMMODATION: at Phana Garden Resort

INCOME-GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES: Phana Garden Resort, Noodle-shops and Restaurants, Taxi and bus services, Hire of bicycles, Purchase of woven products, Purchase of herbal medicines, Purchase of traditional massage services, Invitations to donate for site visits:

REQUIREMENTS BEFORE IMPLEMENTATION:

• “Come to Phana” brochure produced, in Thai and in English

• “Come to Phana” brochure to be made available at TAT offices in Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani, Yassothon, Si Sa Ket, Bangkok, etc. And on TAT web-site.

• Production of bi-lingual informational guide leaflets to individual sites; to be made available at the sites, and at Phana Garden Resort, Amphur Offices, Tetsaban offices and OPT offices

• Production of map of Phana district showing facilities, routes and distances; to be made available as guide leaflets above

• English-language menus compiled and made available in noodle-shops and restaurants

• Purchase of bicycles for hire; to be made available at a central location where they are easily available and can be checked for repair, etc. (eg Tetsaban Phana IT Centre at the Old Market)

I suspect that 'Home-Stay' might be part of the TAT definition of CBT, but to me there seems little point in  making all the arrangements that would entail until it becomes clear that there is demand for it from tourists. It would be different if there were not already somewhere to stay. But a visit I recently made to a 'Cultural Village' in Kalasin Province suggests that what might be envisaged is putting on some sort of  cultural performance for large groups of tourists who would be put up in village homes. But this means inspecting and certifying the homes, and preparing to entertain groups which might never materialise. That seems to me a recipe for disillusionment and cynicism. To be fair, at the village in Kalasin it did seem to be working to a certain extent, but that is down to the village being entirely populated by an ethnic group that is sufficiently 'different' to create interest, and whose culture is sufficiently well-maintained that there is likely to be little about it that is specially put on for tourists. I am not sure that Amphur Phana is sufficiently different in that respect, but it does have enough to interest someone for a stay of, say, two days. We shall see what, if anything, comes of this initiative.

 

(No photos with this post, but I expect to be posting about the various sites as I go about 'collecting data'.)

Making History in Phana

Phana has just celebrated the third-month festival which is the annual festival for Wat Phra Lao. This year was a bit special because it is three hundred years since villagers began building the wat. The exhibition of words and pictures to mark the 300-year history of Phana (see my previous post) was visited by hundreds of people during the three days of the festival and many of them recorded complimentary comments on the boards we  provided.

Several people had also suggested that Phana could hold a bicycle rally (the first ever in Phana, although the Tour de Thailand came through a couple of years ago) and the idea was taken up enthusiastically by the director of Phana Hospital, Dr Pathompong Prupong and by the District Officer (Nai Amphur -- นายอำเภอ). A committee was formed that included them both together with people from Tetsaban Phana and Tetsaban Phra Lao plus Pensri, who was to combine the rally with the celebration of the 300th anniversary. The result was a rally that informed people of the story behind several sites in Phana and involved the collection of little snippets of information, some fun activities, some cultural activities -- and some traditional hospitality.

The rally was well advertised, by word of mouth to begin with, but posters appeared shortly before the big day.

Hundreds of people turned up and everyone had to register and be issued with a T-shirt, a 'passport' / question-sheet, an official entrance number to pin on the T-shirt and a leaflet outlining the aims of the rally and so on.

Who said Thais can't form an orderly queue?

I was a little startled to find this professional-looking competitor, but beneath it all was Acharn Kanok, retired teacher. Did he think fancy dress was required?

There was no fancy dress category, in fact, but there was a lot to compete for, including some impressive-looking trophies and cash prizes of Baht 2,500, 2,000 and 1,500.

These students from Phanasuksa School gave us some historical information (in Thai and English) relating to Don Chao Poo, where the rally was gathering and preparing to start.

 

People were getting a little impatient to get going, but naturally there were also some official opening speeches to hear first.

But finally the rally began, with small groups setting off at about 10-minute intervals.

Some people had an easier ride than others:

The monkeys of Don Chao Poo had been given a fruit and nuts banquet before the rally began, probably as compensation for so many people invading their territory so early in the morning. There were  lots of security men to make sure none of us got run over by  bigger vehicles. The organisers had also  provided helpful signs like this one to make sure nobody got lost or missed a checkpoint. I love the rally logo.

At several points along the route people had set up refreshment stops such as this one, offering much-needed liquid and some food, too. I saw several people trying to pay, but this was offered freely.

 

When riders reached a check-point they had to present their passport for stamping ...

 

and here at Wat Don Khual they had to take part in this activity and have their score recorded. Who would cheat under such watchful eyes? I was told that I would have to 'play hula hoop' here so I was pretty relieved to find I only had to throw a rubber ring. At two wats we got a stamp for going to 'wai phra' and at Wat Phra Lao everyone visited the exhibition.

 

 At Wat Burapha these young guides from Samaraki School told us about the history of this wat, the second oldest in Phana.

 

On leaving this wat, we were issued with a plastic bag containing a bottle of water and a straw, and three banana-leaf packages containing sticky rice, a chicken leg and some beef, and some chilli sauce. This was provided free by the organisers, Changwat, Amphur or Tetsaban funds, I'm not sure which.

 

Then it was out onto the open road again. The route took us behind the village along this track used to get to some of the rice fields. The gentleman you see here was the oldest rider, 76 years old, I am told.

 

The Phana Thai Traditional Medicine Centre was the last stop before we doubled back to the Amphur Office (ที่ว่าการอำเภอ) for the finish. The Mediicine Centre doesn't usually provide live music but a specially-composed mor lam about the rally was sung and played, and riders with any energy left were invited to dance ...
 

... or to watch these men at work on traditional crafts ...

 

... or invited to drink some of the herbal tea produced here.

 

Finally, after what was a fairly short ride but a very long day (what with the passport checking, finding clues, taking part in activities, taking refreshments and so on) I made it through the finishing arch with my team.

 

But it was this young man who claimed first prize in the individual event for youngsters, and his obvious pride in his achievement will make sure he remembers the day that he and Phana made history together in the first ever Phana Bicycle Rally.

 

My thanks go to Tetsaban Phana and their photographer on the day, Mr Tong, for allowing me to use their pictures.

Preparing for the third month festival

Here in Isan we celebrate each of the twelve-month festivals. The third-month festival runs from 16 to 18 February and it is the festival reserved in Phana for Wat Phra Lao. This year Phana is also celebrating 300 years of the founding of the wat. Pensri has arranged an exhibition illustrating the history and we have spent several weeks putting together the words and pictures with the help of two young friends. Today we set it up in the old sala, which is generally only used now as a store-room. There is a bit more to do tomorrow, such as installing two TV sets to show the video of the Phana 300 Years which was celebrated three years ago.

There are twelve of these panels. Panel 10 seen here is concerned with education, started in Phana by the famous monk Chao Khun Ubali, who founded the first primary schools in Ubon (1897) and Phana (1898). His photo is at the top of the panel. Panel 11 relates the story of the development of Don Chao Poo Forest Park.

 
The wat committee lent us the banner recounting the story of Pravet, which we have draped around the inside of the old sala, partly because it looks so good but also to disguise some of the dustier corners of the building. Here are a couple of scenes from the story:

Wat Phra Lao itself, especially the area around the ubosot, is also being prepared for the festival, which will begin on Wednesday evening with a somphot ceremony during which lay men and women who have taken the eight precepts and are dressed in white will alternate in chanting throughout the night. They chant 108 repetitions of the 'Reflection on the Triple Gem' which itself contains 108 words, 38 referring to the Buddha, 14 to the Dhamma and 56 to the sangha. The chanting is arranged so that each group chants 12 repetitions with 9 intervals. Throughout this, a series of four specially-trained monks who have been ordained for more than 5 years, will chant something else inside the ubosot while a very senior monk will meditate throughout the entire proceedings.

Here are some of the images waiting to be 'sacrilized' by the ceremony:

and some of the decoration:

but the window decoration is my favourite:

This year, for the first time, there will be a bicycle rally on the morning of 16th. It will be a 'tour' of nine significant places in Phana, starting at Don Chao Poo (where the monkeys will also be given a ceremonial breakfast) and ending at the Amphur Office.  Participants will be expected to answer some questions on the history of Phana as well as performing some 'activities' (singing and dancing?) at some of the check-points. Personally, I am not convinced as to the sanuk-ness of this last bit. But I am looking forward to the three days of festivities, possibly even including one or more of these, currently being advertised in the wat compound:

 I hope to bring you more pictures of the festival when it is all over.

Monks Retreat in the Forest, 2010

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.

That's what I wrote last year in this post. The following day I posted this follow-up in which I had to admit "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'."

This morning we arrived in plenty of time so I was able to take some pictures of the lay people waiting to offer food to the monks as well as of the bindabat.

First, a call at the food station to offer some non-rice food. During the alms round people only offer rice, always of the sticky kind. Here in the food station there was a huge amount of food that had been donated, and lots of variety, too. Of course, almost all the lay people stay on to eat in the forest and they are served by schoolboys and girls after the monks and lay followers in white have taken what they need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The abbot of Wat Phra Lao here in Phana arrived by car with a monk I had never met before but everyone else seemed to know him well. Pensri told me he was a 'Phana monk' and it was clear that everyone was very pleased and even excited to see him back in Phana. He is the monk on the left as you look at the picture. On the right is the new abbot of Wat Phra Lao, very much a 'Phana monk' as he is related to almost everybody and had been acting-abbot for two long spells.

 

These next two pictures show the visiting monk (formerly abbot of one of the temples here, I later learned) being greeted and pausing to talk as he made his way along the very long line of lay people:

 
 

 

The alms round was an impressive event as always, with about 150 monks staying in the forest this year.

            

 

 

And when the line of monks has passed, it's time for us to eat!

 

Here are a few more pictures I took this morning. Please click on the thumbnails if you would like to see a larger image.

         

 

Isan Dancing in Phana

Last week I posted seven pictures of dancers as my Pic of the Day. Then on Saturday Pensri called our friend Adt in Phana and it turned out that he was at Wat Phra Lao watching the dancing competition that is part of the annual celebration of Boun Bang Fai (the rocket festival) organised by the tetsaban.

 

 

 

 

 The dancer here (in Don Chao Poo) is A. Pensri rang her, too, on Saturday, to find out if her new baby had been born yet. He had. Her second child and second son. So no dancing for her at Boun Bang Fai, but some family celebrations, I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two dancers had been performing at the Phana 300 Years celebration at Wat Phra Lao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next four photos are of dancers at Wat Phra Lao, taking part in the inter-mooban competition as part of the Boun Bang Fai celebrations a few years ago. The tetsaban organises these events and sponsors them by providing funds to each mooban as part of the tetsaban cultural promotion policy.

 

 

 

 

The dancers love all the dressing up and spend a lot of time rehearsing for the big event. My impression is that the young (and not so young) men love watching, and lots of them turn up in the evenings to watch the rehearsals as well as supporting their mooban on the day of the competition.

 

 

 

 

 

As well as dancing in the grounds of Wat Phra Lao, the dancers, accompanied by their bands, dance in a procession around Phana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what we were missing last Saturday. Not to mention the firing of rockets the following day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo was taken at another tetsaban-sponsored event.The two volunteers had just danced with girls from Phana Suksa School, but I forget the occasion. It doesn't need much to get the young women of Phana dancing.

 

 

 

And by another coincidence, these two volunteers, Sophie and Callie were back in Phana as visitors (they were last years' volunteers) and watching the dancing with Adt when Pensri phoned.

 

Not all the dancing that people do in Phana is as choreographed and rehearsed as this. Here are two very short videos I shot of much more extemporary dancing. This first one was at Phana Suksa School while some teachers and students were preparing for a Kathin ceremony.

 

And this one was shot at Wat Burapha in Phana, again while people were preparing for a Kathin ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boun Pravet: Procession to the Wat

The procession from Don Chao Poo Forest back to the wat is a loud and lively affair. Here are some pictures of this year's procession.

 

 

An important part of the festival is the parading of this long banner which tells the story of Prince Vessandorn pictorially. When it reaches the wat it is stretched along three walls of the big sala to serve as a bckdrop for the ceremony which takes place on the following day.

 

 

 

These two children were playing the role of Prince Vessandorn's children who have been returned to him and accompany him back to his city.

 

 

There were many more monks than usual in the procession this year. Many of them had come to Phana for the celebration of the four promotions I posted about previously.

 

Most of the children walked alongside the procession but a few of them walked in it, and this young man obviously enjoyed carrying a banner, though it must have been hardwork for him.

 

When the procession reached the old marketplace, it was greeted by very loud firecrakers to warn off any demons who might have been lurking around. Some firecrackers had been let off for the same purpose as the procession started to move off back in Don Chao Poo.

 

But this is what the children were waiting for. The senior monks riding in the back of a pick-up truck kept throwing out handfuls of one baht coins and there was an excited scramble to pick them up. A few adults took part too (it is supposed to bring more luck than actual monetary gain) but those I saw passed the coins on to children.

 

In my next post I will explain what happens in the wat on the following day.
 
 
  

 

Boun Pravet: Gathering in the Forest

The Boun Pravet festival is concerned with re-telling the story of the penultimate life of the Buddha, for Thais the favourite and best known of the Jataka stories. It is the Mahachad, ‘the great story’. It tells of Prince Vessandorn (Pravet), son of King Sri Sanjaya, who gave away his white rain-producing elephant to a nearby kingdom which was experiencing drought. He was driven out of his home city with his beloved wife and two children. He never hesitated in giving away anything that was asked of him and even parted with his children and his wife when they were requested. In the end, his wife and children were restored to him as reward for his generosity and the people of his city went to the forest to beg him to return to rule them. As a result of his unfailing generosity and his complete lack of ‘clinging’ he was reborn into his final incarnation.

In Phana, monks and lay people assembled in Don Chao Poo Forest in the afternoon after performing a ceremony calling Phra Uppakrut, as recounted in my previous post. Signs of royalty play an imporant role: a white horse, an elephant, a red and gold umbrella, banners and lay people in smart clothes are the most obvious indicators.

While people were assembling, the Mayor of Tetsaban Phana, Khun Prachoenlap, welcomed people and kept them amused. This was the first time I had witnessed Boun Pravet being celebrated on a Saturday, and so the number of people present was much greater than any I had seen before. In fact Boun Pravet is a festival that has no particular fixed date, but in Phana it is always celebrated at the time of Maha Pucha.

 

 
A senior monk recited from memory a summary of the story. This year, a lay man was taking the part of the prince. He was invited to return to the 'city' and was carried back on the back of the  white horse in a loud, happy procession. His 'children' rode on the elephant. His wife did not seem to have a role!  The other lay people were re-enacting that part of the story when they went to the forest to invite the prince to reurn to their city.

 In my next post I will show some pictures of the procession as it made its way back to Wat Phra Lao.

 

 

 

Boun Pravet: Phra Uppakrut

Last weekend Maha Pucha Day was celebrated in much of Thailand, but hardly at all here in Phana. It never is, because the people here celebrate Boun Pravet on the same day. Maha Pucha has been a Thai national holiday since the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851-1868), but celebrating Boun Pravet is a much older Lao tradition. The two-day celebration of Boun Pravet began on Saturday mornng, the second phase was in the afternoon and it continued throughout Sunday.

The festival always begins with a little ritual calling Phra Uppakrut to protect the space where the main ceremony will take place. In Phana that meant Wat Phra Lao this year. Phana's two main wats are the focus of the festival on alternate years and monks from wats thoughout the amphur come to take part.

Just who or what Phra Uppakrut is, is a matter for conjecture because there seems little agreement between people, even in Isan where he has an important place in Buddhist iconography and in the traditional celebration of this festival. He is certainly associated with ponds and swamps. He is said to have risen from a swamp, either because he is a swamp spirit of some sort (some say he is the lord of the nagas) or because he was a monk (hence the title Phra) who was meditating in a swamp when called upon to preside over a meeting of monks. The paraphanalia associated with him (monk's bowl, kettle and so on) also point to him being thought of as a monk. The men performing the rituals were keen to point out to me that he is not wearing a hat, rather it is a lotus leaf that he dislodged when he rose from the swamp. Note also that he is always depicted as holding a long-stemmed lotus flower.

Everyone seems to agree that Phra Uppakrut is the enemy of Mara (the personification of disruption and hindrance) and so calling him to attend the festival ensures that all is peaceful and calm in the village and the wat for the duration of the celebrations.

  The first ritual was conducted at the south-western corner of Kud Phra Lao, the large pond to the west of the temple compound. A sedan chair had been prepared together wth several ritual items, most notably flowers and the usual kind of offerings made to spirits and angels. A man then went into the pond and emerged with a small black  image  of Phra Uppakrut. Presumably the image had been placed there previously. Arriving late, I only saw him come out of the water with the image from a distance.

The 'diver' was also the ritual expert (mor kwan) who called on Uppakrut to attend the festival. He placed various small banana-leaf-wrapped packages of food in the yellow bowl when he had finished the invocation. The image and ritual items were then carried to Wat Phra Lao and another small rite was performed at the staue of Phra Uppakrut after circling him three times in a clockwise direction.

 

 

As with other aspects of this festival, I know that the rituals are not necessarily carried out in exactly this way in other parts of Isan. Even in Phana there are small variations and elaborations from one year to the next.

In my next post I will show what happened later the same day when monks and lay people gathered in Don Chao Poo, our local forest.

 

Visitor Week in Phana

This has been a week of visitors for us in Phana. Last Sunday I picked up Darunee and Adam and their three children from the airport in Ubon. After a breakfast with Lao coffee in Dao Coffee shop we made the trip back to Phana. It was the first time for little Polly, who is just 15 months old. Everyone else’s last visit was two years ago. Esme was still the right size for her bicycle but Anna’s tricycle was passed down to Polly and Anna was the lucky girl to get a brand new bike. That doesn’t often happen if you are the second child.

 

 

All three girls really enjoyed exploring our garden, fearless of scorpions and snakes. The adults, though, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. And everything was fine. The girls especially liked playing with water and love a game they call “ants in your pants” which meant they took off all their clothes and hosed each other down.

 

 

 

On Monday we found two monkeys working in the coconut orchard opposite the house. The men had come from Roi Et, as had the younger (3-year-old) monkey. The older monkey was 7 years old and had come originally from Laos. He cost 200,000 Baht, so his owner said. Like most itinerant vendors and workers, they were staying in a local temple for the week they were offering their services in and around Phana.

 

 
 

On Tuesday we were visited by a new friend, a kiwi, who I had met for the first time in Ubon last Saturday, though we had 'met' originally on this blog. Then on Wednesday Phana was positively invaded by farangs when the Director of Project Trust and the Desk Officer responsible for volunteers in Thailand came to visit the project here. They watched the girls teaching at Samarkee School and stayed overnight at the Phana Garden Resort. We all had a very enjoyable evening at a little restaurant called "Uncle Moustache" after the owner's most obvious feature. The menu: duck laab, fried fish, stir-fried mixed vegetables, omelette, pork and tofu soup, fried sun-dried beef, sticky rice and som tum. The following day the Project Trust visitors were officially welcomed by Tetsaban Phana before going to the volunteers' other two schools. Then after a big lunch with the Tetsaban, they were picked up by people from Tetsaban Loeng Nok Ta where they were going to visit another project there.

Naturally, Ingrid and Nadia were taken to meet some of the monkeys in Don Chao Poo forest.

 

And they saw how much the two volunteers, Lauren (on the right) and Sarah, are loved by the children in Primary 1 class.

 

At some point in the week this plant vendor appeared at the gate. She showed Pensri what the plants would look like when they flowered and we ended up with another 10 plants to put somewhere in the garden.

 

Then twice we were visited by this rather eccentric monk who gave me three round seeds from a large tree. He said I could either plant them and get three tall trees or eat them and be impervious to bullets. I think I'll pass them on to Pensri to see if she wants to use them in the garden.

So the week has ended. The monk is still in Phana (I drove him 'home' to Wat Burapa) but everyone else has left. Not to worry: on Monday Pensri's two older sisters are coming up from Bangkok. They are being driven by P'Saisawarth's eldest son Jeab, and of course he and his wife are bringing Mono. So we won't be feeling lonely or forgotten out here in the sticks.