Life in Phana

Some clever visitors

This morning I was at a wedding breakfast by 7.15, too late for the monks' chanting, but just as the breakfast was being served. It was a good one, but my current diet restricted me a little. I was able to eat the laab, carefully avoiding the bits of skin, some of the vegetables, and the fried chicken legs. 'Fried' is not allowed by my diet, but I made an exception in the interests of doing my hosts the honour of eating their food.

One of the people I met there was Acharn Pannawadee who is currently Head of English at Phana Suksa. I first came across her in 1987 when she was a newly-qualified teacher and my father-in-law got her to translate his letters to our children. She remembers me from even further back, when she was a little girl. Apparently I was the first farang she had ever seen and she stared at me constantly while I was in Phana. This is Pannawadee as she was this morning, sitting on my veranda:

She brought three girls from Phana Suksa round to meet me at home. Here they all are, first with Pannawadee and then with me:

Now I knew that Pannawadee particularly wanted me to meet these three girls because they are all friends, and two of them have recently won prizes in an English-speaking contest. They got through to the Isan finals which were held in Udon Thani.

This is Nam Toey, who won first prize for story-telling. She is in Matayom 2 and is 14 years old.

This is a girl who rejoices in the nickname of WOW. Who gave her this nickname and how long she has had it, I am not sure. I don't suppose she has copyrighted it, so any reader who fancies renaming herself / himself can feel free to do so. Wow is 15 years old and is in Matayom 3. She lives in a village called Ban Saen Suk, which is actually in a neighbouring amphur and she has to leave home by bus at 6 a.m. every day to get to school in Phana.

The third girl is called Siwaporn, but her nickname is Judy.  Judy won 2nd prize in Udon for her impromptu speech. Acharn Pannawadee particularly wanted me to meet her because next month she is going to Brazil for a year on the American Field Service programme. Currently there are two AFS boys at Phana Suksa, a student in Matayom 3 and an older young man who is a teaching assistant. Wow is hoping to go on an AFS year abroad next year but she hasn't yet made up her mind where she would like to go. Here is Judy:

Judy is 15 years old and is in Matayom 3. She lives about 6 km from Phana, in a village called Ban Don Muang in Tambon Mae Klon. She has three sisters and one adopted brother. Her father has been confined to a wheelchair for several years now. I asked Judy why she had wanted to spend a year in Brazil and she said that she is interested in the Portuguese language and she loves football. I can't help thinking one of these reasons is much more likely than the other. The family she will be staying with in the town of Feiron de Santana also has three daughters, aged 6, 13 and 17, so AFS seems to have matched them pretty well.

It was lovely meeting these three girls and it was easy talking with them. You can see how much information I extracted from them in the short time they visited. And it is very pleasing to see that young people in Phana are looking outwards as well as preserving their own distinctive culture, and that they are being encouraged to do so by their teachers and their families.

It's all new in Phana

When you go home you expect to find things as they were when you left. I remember that as a small (and presumably insecure) boy I would sometimes dream of coming home from school to find the house and my family had all disappeared. So when we leave England each winter we hope that everything in Phana will be as idyllic as it was when we left six months earlier. But always we also find ourselves expecting some changes and hoping that they will not diminish our love of living here. The changes that have taken place in the last few years have all turned out to be positive ones, though thinking about them in advance did not always suggest they would be. What that says is probably that the decision-makers in Phana have a much clearer and more positive vision of development than I have.

A good example of this is the new market, which is situated less than half a km from our house. Between us and the market there is one house, two side roads, a bridge over a small steam, and you are there. I had thought it unnecessary, a nuisnace to me personally, and of no great benefit to anyone. A white elephant in English terms, if not in Thai. I was wrong on all counts. So you can expect a post dedicated to the new market before long.

A change I had known about was the arrival of the two new volunteers from Project Trust and we were looking forward to meeting them but when we got here they were on holiday (the schools they teach in were closed) and we only met them when the Desk Officer for Thailand arrived with his asistant for the annual monitoring visit. This involved us accompanying them and the tetsaban representatives to all three schools for meetings with directors and teachers. The volunteers, Billie andRosie, arrived in Phana at the end of August and when I reported that here (I was in UK then) a commenter suggested that they be inteviewed for this blog. I hope they will agree to that. They certainly seem to be first-class volunteers, keeping up the tradition which is now firmly established in Phana.

On our first day back our friend and neighbour Add (deputy mayor of Tetsaban Phana) came round to co-opt Pensri onto a small delegation going to Amnat Charoen the next day to discuss a pilot project on Community-Based Tourism being set up by TAT in two provinces, Amnat Charoen (in the north-east, inland, rural, little visted by tourists, on the Lao border) and Surat Thani, (in the south, on the coast, including Koh Samui, already a major tourist destination). Pensri duly attended the meeting, and now I too have been co-opted onto the provincial committee, adding a 'foreign' perspective and a little expertise in the English language and experience in producing brochures, etc. The next meeting is sometime next week (I think, this is Thailand, so it may not be), and here in Phana we are very excited by the idea and have already formulated some plans. I will be keeping readers up to date on this in this blog -- and even inviting some of you to visit as guinea-pigs!

Less exciting was finding that our water-storage tank which collects roof run-off and provides us with drinking water was empty. Our 'helper' had not made the necessary adjustments to the pipe after allowing a few weeks of rain to clear the gutters. So off we went to the small village of Ban Nong Ka, where water is pumped from a deep well in the wat, treated, bottled and delivered to customers all over Amphur Phana. The facility was very impressive and I will feature it in a later post.

The wat where the well is located is one which I had never visited before and it turned out to be rather unusual. It is a typical small-village wat, no grand buildings, no ubosot (ordination hall), very simple kutis for the few monks who stay there, an old wooden preaching hall with very little decoration, and lots of trees.

But outside the wat was this sign:

 

It seems that the senior monk here is a computer wizard! Possibly more of this another time.

Across the road is a small forest, and here is the Phu Ta, the guardian 'grandfather' of the place (a little hand-shake or out of focus, sorry):

 

And inside the forest, something was going on! More of that, too, another time.

Perhaps the strangest thing we find when we return each year to this quiet, unknown little back-water that is Phana, is how much is going on and how much there is for us to do and to get involved in. I always think there will be nothing of the sort, that I have seen and done everything there is to do here, but that is far from the reality. It's in England, really, where we live an uneventful life. I am not complaining: we still need both kinds of life and still enjoy living in both places. But it is definitely in Phana that we are much more involved in social and community activities. That doesn't seem to change, and we are glad of it.
 

 

 

 

 

Volunteers come and go in Phana

I miss a lot in Phana because I am only there for six months of the year. There is always a lot happening when I am there so it doesn't really matter very much. At my age you can have too much of a good thing (if you are lucky).

One of the things I regret missing is the arrival of the new volunteers from Project Trust in late August and then I miss their leaving the following July. Tetsaban Phana, which sponsors them, always put on a good bash for both occasions. The welcoming party always features the traditional Lao Bai Si ceremony as well as dance performances, and, naturally, lots of speeches. I blogged about this HERE and one of our first volunteers put her view of the experience Here .

These two volunteers, Sarah on the left and Lauren on the right, were in Phana 2009-2010. They were really excellent and they were very popular with everybody -- the children they taught, the teachers they worked alongside, their host family, the tetsaban staff, vendors in the market. Everyone they came in contact with, in fact.

 

 

In fact, Phana has been very lucky with the volunteers that have been sent by Project Trust. They have all been very good indeed and have given a lot of themselves to make their year in Phana a success for everyone, themselves included. When Pensri and I get back to Phana we will find two new volunteers, Billie and Rosie, already installed. They will be the seventh pair of volunteers welcomed to Phana. What makes them a bit different is that they are both English. Of the previous twelve, seven have been Scots and one was from Northern Ireland.

 

This year, Project Trust has sent 279 volunteers abroad, and 10 of them are in Isan, in Amnat Charoen, Yasothon and Mukdahan provinces.

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.

 

 

Street Art in Ubon Ratchathani

I have just discovered a brilliant new project in Ubon Ratchathani. The Royal Thai Air Force base is on one side of Upalisan Road, and this is  the route many people  take to get to Ubon airport which adjoins the base. The RTAF base has a concrete wall that prevents people seeing into the compound and this has recently been painted white. (Previously it was the usual sad, dirty grey colour of most concrete buildings in Thai cities.) And now school students have started to paint murals at designated spots along the wall. The intention is clearly to cover the whole length of wall and schools have been allocated their own spots. Some have made a start and I have seen students of varying sizes at work. This time I was able to take some photographs. They seem to have the theme of the work of HM the King.

 

 

 
 

Some are not quite finished:

 

Some are just about to have a start made on them:

 

I am really looking forward to seeing how the wall develops. I shall make a point of driving along there every time I go in to Ubon.

There have been other similar projects in Thailand, I am sure, but I am not aware of having seen any. It shows great creativity and skill on the part of the students, I think, and imagination on the part of whatever authorities initiated and organised it. Well done them.
 
 

 

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.

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

  

 

Allegations against Monk

The other day I visited a temple near a small town about 45 kms from Phana. I had heard that it had a small viharn containing two statues of a monk who was a follower of the famous Isan meditation master, Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto. 

 

I am always interested in the variety of Buddhist temples in Thailand and the extremes of architecture and atmosphere that you can experience in them. This was definitely at the austere end of the spectrum. There was no main viharn, no preaching hall, no famous image. The ubosot (ordination hall) was very plain inside and out. The door was locked but the window shutters were open. Inside there were no murals, no columns, no ceiling ornamentation. The compound was very large and there was a huge number of tall, old trees giving plenty of shade. There was a school for novices (124 of them) with a big welcome sign in English and about three classes of younger novices were in session. Some novices were using the school library to read daily newspapers and the wall outside the library featured news of the death of former PM Samak and photographs of him. Along one side of the compound wall there were several two-storey buildings to accommodate the novices. There were also two special little buildings, one a resdience and the other an office. This was because this temple is where the Chao Kana Changwat (the head monk of the province) stays.

There was a surprising number of cars and pick-ups and a mini-van parked in the shade under several of the trees. It isn't unusual for there to be vehicles like this in a temple, but there didn't seem to be anyone around except three old ladies sitting at a table in the deserted outdoor canteen for novices. While I wandered around the grounds and visited the school, Pensri went to sit with the women. It didn't take her long to find out what was going on.

A meeting was going on between the Chao Kana Changwat and a delegation of supporters of a small forest monastery not far away in the same amphur. There was only one monk (a 20-year monk, 42 years old) staying at the temple and there were also three middle-aged women, one of them his aunt, who also stay there practising meditation, though they are not mae chee. Allegations had been made in writing that the monk was 'too strict' and requests made that he be removed from the temple. There were also allegations that he had misbehaved with one or more women.

The allegation of being too strict arose from a few people who had borrowed money from the monk, or from the temple funds. His strictness took the form of ASKING FOR THE MONEY TO BE REPAID. Now it is not uncommon in Isan for loans to be requested and granted with both sides knowing that there is little or no chance of repayment, though nothing is said to this effect. But this would not be the expectation in the case of money borrowed from a temple. Asking for repayment causes  loss of face, possibly to both sides. As for the allegations of sexual impropriety, they are easily made against a solitary monk. In this case it would seem that they only arose because the monk had been so strict about the money. He certainly wasn't wise to lend money in the first place, though if you were being charitable you might say he was being helpful.

The people Pensri spoke to, and seemingly all the people who had come for the meeting (there were about 60 of them), all supported the monk and wanted him to stay. And that was the outcome of the meeting: the monk was allowed to stay. However, when his supporters had all left, he was still in conference with the Chao Kana Changwat, so perhaps some form of pennance, or at least some good advice, was coming his way.

A few photos of the temple. The wat gate already suggests austerity in that it focuses on the Buddha's teaching, the wheel of the law and the two tudong (wandering) monks on either side. Also the lack of bright colour is significant.

 

This small viharn was specially built to house the shrine to comemorate the revered monk who spent years wandering with Ajaan Mun. The local people decided some time ago to comemmorate him here, perhaps because he settled here in his old age, or perhaps he was originally a local person.

The walls of the lower section are of brick roughly covered with stucco. The interesting thing is that these walls do not reach the ceiling and the windows have no shutters, so it is very cool and airy inside. This inner building is the original, the viharn is just an open-sided sala built over it to provide protection from the rain and sun.

 

The shrine room is also very simple and relatively uncluttered.

 

Behind the viharn is the ordination hall and these two animals were being sheltered on a kind of veranda behind the hall. They were covered in heavy-duty canvas patches, stitched fairly roughly. I suppose that they were waiting to be covered with concrete or stucco of some sort.

 

This was a very interesting temple to visit, and the 'goings on' there on that day made it even more interesting.

 
   

 

 

 

Fewer than 180 Monks feasted in Phana

180 monks were invited to a ceremony in Phana a couple of weekends ago and so were we. We only received our invitation the previous evening when the organisers -- two good friends of ours -- realised we were back in Phana. We did not entirely understand what was going on but knew that 180 monks had been invited to chant and eat at a new wat on the edge of the town.  Our friends had booked a table for six people in our name and we were to offer 600 baht. We could invite four people to join us, of course.

It was a somewhat unusual occasion but not the first that supporters of this particular monastery have arranged. The monastery was only founded a few years ago. It is in a forested area right on the western edge of Phana, opposite the secondary school Phanasuksa. There is one large wooden sala with a wide verandah in front and about ten small kuti where the monks stay. There is no viharn as such and no ubosot.

The precise nature of the arrangements only gradually became clearer once we got there. It wasn't until the ceremony had finished and the last people (us) were about to go home that I found out why Ajarn Deem was carrying a blue briefcase the whole time.

The sala was crowded with people, there were more out on the verandah, and many more sitting outside under the trees. Under a temporary pavillion to one side of the sala 30 red tables with white table-cloths had been set up. Apparently we had sponsored one of these tables. The monks would eat there after they led us through taking the five precepts, agreed to accept our offerings, chanted, one of them had given an extemporised sermon and they chanted again. Another feature that made this occasion unique in my experience was that all the usual 'old man' duties were performed by women: asking for the precepts, making the formal offering, and so on.

 

 

People who take food to the wat to offer to the monks usually eat there too. On most occasions the food is first pooled and then shared out among the monks. What is left over is then redistributed to the lay people. That is what happened on this occasion. In addition, though, the villagers who live around the wat had bought and cooked enough food to feed the 180 monks they had invited.  I understand that they spent about 10,000 Baht on this. On top of that, people who had brought food also made cash donations according to their means, usually ranging between 20 baht and 100 Baht but there are no limits set at either end of the scale. But our sponsorship of 600 Baht was effectively a 100 baht per person donation.

 

The monks and novices took quite easily to being feasted at tables. But by my calculation there were only about 130 -140 monks present, so there were empty tables and more food than was required for the monks. Added to that is that monks are always given too much and they never finish it all. Their practice is that they stop eating when they have had sufficient. I only wish I had the self-discipline to do the same!

 

People waited patiently and in good humour for the monks to finish eating. It is customary courtesy for lay people to wait until the monks have finished, and also so that excess food can be redistributed.

 

The food was distributed to the monks' tables by  boys and girls from Phanasuksa School. They then cleared the tables and helped villagers to redistribute what had been left over plus the food that had been brought in by lay people. There was plenty for everybody, and again people mostly sat in groups of six, most on the ground but some old-timers like me at tables left empty by absent monks.

 

Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. Apparently this wasn't the first such occasion that the village supporters of this monastery had arranged. It won't be the last, either, because altough they raised about 60,000 baht above their expenses on this day, they still have some way to go to complete the two gateways. Two days later the workmen returned to continue work on the first one. But of course after the gateways it will be the viharn, and so on until the little kids here this day are well into adulthood themselves.

 

And what was Ajarn Deem carrying that briefcase for? When she opened it she pulled out several class registers and the boys and girls from Phanasuksa lined up and had their names checked against it. They had looked like happy and willing volunteers (which I am sure they were) but they were also fulfilling an assignment as part of their religious and community studies programme.

 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Phana: a former volunteer's view

I recently blogged about the volunteers who have come to Phana from Project Trust in the last five years. The fifth pair have just left and we are awaiting the next couple. So it seemed a good time to invite former volunteers to describe how Phana seems to them as they look back on their time here.

Gemma was the first volunteer, arriving in December 2004 and leaving in June 2005. She returned to England to train as a teacher and she has been teaching in a primary school for a year now. Gemma has said that she would like to set up some sort internet link between her class in England and a school in Phana, and I am going to try to facilitate this. I'm sure the school will be keen to get involved.

Here are some of Gemma's thoughts about Phana, together with some of her photos and occasional 'editor's comments' from me.

The thing that I will always remember the most about Phana is the people who live there and the way they welcomed us into their community.

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma and English teachers at Phana Suksa)

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma and cuddly students)

 

They took good care of us and constantly made sure we were OK and had everything we needed. I remember seeing our house for the first time with nothing in it and within a few days everyone had rallied round to make sure we had everything we needed.

 

(editor's comment: Gemma's house belonged to the Post Office and was in the Post Office compound with three others. The Head Postman lived in the house next to Gemma's. He was more than  a little delighted by the fact of living so close to two young farang girls!)

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma and the Post man)

The best thing about living in Phana was all of the festivals and parties we got to go to. The municipality included us in everything and we got to meet so many people.

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma came back to Phana from her summer holiday travels to be a Songkran Queen)

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma with the mayor of Phana - centre front - and teachers)

The worst thing without a doubt was the 3 a.m. market!!!

(editor's comment: The Saturday morning market was set up very close to Gemma's house, and the vendors started to set out their stalls at 3 a.m. accompanied by very loud music. Gemma and her volunteer partner had expected a Saturday morning lie-in to help them recover from the week's teaching. No such luck!)

My mum and dad came out to visit me with my brother and sister and they loved every bit of it. It took my sister a few days to figure out the toilet though!!

 

(editor's comment: No comment!)

One of my not so happy memories of Thailand was the Tsunami and the effect it had. It was worrying for all our friends and families and even when we went to Phuket in April the devastating effects of it were still very visible.

I plan on definitely coming back again to Phana and it will be the people who I am looking forward to seeing again, especially all of the teachers I spent so much time with and the workers of the municipality.

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma with teachers at Phana Suksa)

 

 

(editor's comment: a primary school class)

 

 

(editor's comment: Gemma surrounded by farewell presents)

 

Tetsaban Phana? No Problem, Sir!

The total number of people registered in Tetsaban Phana is 2695 and they are spread through 917 households. But as I said in my last post, a large number of these are not resident here most of the time. Pensri and I live in Moo 1, which is pretty much the site of the original 300-year-old village. There are 154 housholds, with 254 males and 343 females registered. With an average of 3.87 per household that gives it the highest density of all the 6 mooban. When Etienne Aymonier passed near Phana between 1882 and 1884, he reported that it was one of the eight muangs that comprised the province of Ubon and says that the 'former capital, Ban Phra Lao' consisted of 200 houses.That would probably have given it a population of about 1,000 if it conformed to the pattern of other muangs that he visited.  The 4 mooban that now cover the area he was talking about now boasts 519 houses with 1,848 people registered in them.

The annual budget for the year 2551 (2008) was almost 40 million Baht, up more than 10 million on the previous year. Almost half of this comes from the central government support grant and the rest from money collected by the Tetsaban, or directly from taxes raised by the government. The main expenditure in the current 3-year plan is the construction of a new market and bus station. In the previous three years one of the main construction projects was to provide a 'community centre' for each mooban. These all followed the same design: a wooden house on concrete stilts, with a single large room for holding meetings, ceremonies, and so on. The space beneath the house is used for a variety of community activities, some of them making a little money, but more often these houses are the focus of activities centred on preparations for festvals, processions, dancing contests and the like. A pair of public toilets is also provided in a separate little building nearby. How many communities the size of Phana can boast of a public toilet in each mooban?

A lot of money has been spent in the last few years since the Tetsaban took over running Samarkee School. At the time several of the teachers there decided not to stay since they disapproved of the Tetsaban taking over. But then the Tetsaban spent lots of money on new buildings as well as refurbishing the old ones and providing new and better equipment. Now more teachers want to work there than they need.

The tetsaban is also an important employer. Currently there are 11 teachers at Samarkee School, while at the Tetsaban itself there are 57 employees including 22 admin personnel who are civil servants and 32 'temporary' employees who do a variety of tasks, many of which entail driving around here and there in one of the 13 vehicles the Tetsaban owns -- fire engines, refuse collection trucks, water trucks, emergency rescue vehicle, emergency medical service vehicle, motorcycles and the minibus.

 

 

 

I am very impressed by the Phana Municipality, as you can tell. Perhaps I have been influenced by them giving me several little gifts every year. I should point out, though, that they give the same gifts to every person over 60 years of age, and in some cases they provide an extra one for each household. Most of these gifts are shirts, and most of them yellow, by the way! Other shirts I have been given promote physical exercise, although I rarely follow the good advice printed on these shirts. Most useful have been the blankets they have handed out in cold weather to each household, and a cold weather jacket with Tetsaban Phana printed on the back. They hand out 600 Baht pensions monthly to over 60s who have no other pension (that is, not to teachers, civil servants) but neither Pensri or I are eligible for one of these. The Mayor and his deputies and most of the fitter councillors always distribute these by bicycle, a good PR stunt if ever I saw one.

The tetsaban has several slogans, most of which are not very inspiring but they have two which I like very much. One is in Thai, and it goes "Kit mai awk, bawk Tetsaban" which translates as "When you can't think what to do, tell the Tetsaban." The other only ever appears in English and I like it even more: "NO PROBLEM, SIR!" The exclamation mark is theirs.