Life in Phana

Year of the Rabbit, that was

I was born in the year of the rabbit and that year comes round every twelve years. For me, it has come round six times so far. Traditionally, the sixth cycle (and the seventh) are celebrated more than an annual birthday here in Thailand. It is considered quite an achievement, I suppose, to see your sixth cycle. I certainly feel a sense of achievement, partly perhaps because I can still remember thinking that 30 years old was OLD AGE, and I could not imagine living that long.

My actual birthday was back in October, but we decided that the best time to celebrate it would be close to Christmas. We ended up with Christmas Eve for several reasons, the main one being that the family was asembling in Bangkok the previous weekend for the wedding of Liew and Ashley. By family 'assembling', I mean that our children Dominic and Darunee, with Jay and Adam and our five grandchildren would all be in Thailand for the wedding and then staying on for some holiday time. Liew and Ashley would be here from England too of course. Our Thai family (Pensri's sisters and their children and grandchildren and her cousins and their children and grandchildren) were also able to come up to Phana, as most of them do each year for a tam boun for the ancestors.

Most people arrived in Phana on the 23rd, Dom and Darunee's lot with us in the house, everyone else booked into Phana Garden Resort. Food was organised, monks invited, a stage put up in the garden, and a marquee, plastic tables and chairs stacked up ready for use. In the morning we were going to feed nine monks (one forgot to come!) and then have a baci su kwan ceremony with one of Pensri's second (?) cousins the spirit-caller. The neice of Mom, the woman who spent several months with us in England in 2011, had offered to dance the benediction dance, and three other young women were going to perform another dance for the baci.

Hundreds of photos were taken, none of them by me on this occasion. It is difficult to make a selection,but here goes.

Presents, this one from my senior brother and sister-in-law:

And more presents:

Beautiful dancers -- worth waiting 72 years for this picture, I think.

Our two 'children', Darunee and Dominic, and three of their children, Polly, Esme and Kim:

The monks beginning their chanting; the senior monk here kindly told me I could sit cross-legged. He could see that I was likely to topple over otherwise!

Most of the guests sit outside on these occasions:

The woman on the right is well past her seventh cycle. She must have attended hundreds of ceremonies like this one. She used to give me massages when I first came to Phana, and I thought she was really old then. Really old, but her thumbs were amazingly strong, and she gave me some of the most effective massage I've had. It was good to see her again because she doesn't get out and about much any more.

And then when the monks were eating, the su kwan ceremony began:

And then the sacred threads were tied around wrists while blessings were muttered. It is usual to wish the receiver good health and a long life but people seemed to enjoy trying to outdo each other by wishing me 100, 300, 600, 1200 years of life! I'm not sure I wish any of those for myself, but who knows.

Then we all had lunch and everyone except the families from Bangkok, Abu Dhabi and England disappeared rapidly, as is the custom. But in the evening we had an entertainment arranged and I'll post some pictures of that very soon.

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girl with all the moves

Back in the Kathin season, I took these photos of a young girl singing in the street in Phana. She was a local girl and no busker but had been hired to entertain people at a ceremony at a private house. The time was about 7.30 a.m., and she did seem just a little out of place. She sang very well but had finished her song by the time I was ready to take her photo. So this is her 'finale flourish' and as my title suggests, she had all the moves and a fine awareness of the camera. She has a good career as a performer ahead of her, I am sure.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

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.