Life in Phana

Keeping the Spirits on our side

The village guardian spirits inhabiting the Bue Baan in Ban Phana have been kept informed of the plans to build a new Lak Muang on the site of the old market-place. In effect their place is being down-graded, or at least overshadowed, by the new structure. (See the previous post for details of this.) So a ceremony was held early one morning according to local Isan customs to call the spirits and apologise to them for any inconvenience. I think their goodwill was called upon. If I have it right, there is not much these spirits can do for you, but a whole lot that they can do against you if they are not on your side.

The crowd was not a huge one, but it included most of the elderly residents of Ban Phana, a couple of abbots and a few novices, the District Officer (nai amphur), the mayors and deputy mayors of Phana Municipality and Phra Lao Municipality, and possibly a few other notables I didn't recognise. 

We were asked to be there at about 8 am but we have learned to take starting times to be largely ignored. Besides, we knew that the auspicious time for the spirits to be called was at 9.09, so we got there much nearer to that time. Here we see the spirit expert (a former head teacher from a nearby village) pointing out the need to be precise.

The calling of the spirits was a very serious matter. Some monks will have nothing to do with this kind of rite, but this monk had been called in from outside Phana because he was particularly skilled in communicating with the spirits.

Before long, more and more people became involved in the ceremony...

... the Nai Amphur ... 

... and local people:

The spirits had been offered a generous amount of fruit, but as usual they didn't actually consume any of it. It is always a nice moment in these ceremonies when it becomes clear that the spirits, although no doubt very pleased by the generosity and thoughtfulness of the people who have made offerings, are not going to take up the offer, except perhaps in a very spiritual way rather than a mundane one. This is the moment, you might think, that people have been waiting for. Help yourself (and a few others) time.

And since the number 9 was so auspicious on this day, I had better add one more photograph to this collection. There I was at the end. Just me, a resting monk, and the village guardian spirits at the navel of the village, the bue baan.

Spirits and their spiritual homes

Phana is busy with the spirit world at the moment. Placating spirits in one place and inviting them to another. It is all about Phana Municipality's plans to have a new lak muang (usually translated as the city pillar). This will be sited at the old market, in front of the community building which is taking shape based on the old fresh-market building. All of these developments are a blend of the old and the new. It is a compromise: many people want the new as a source and sign of civic pride; many others want to cling to the past, to preserve their unique history. Many people have only a hazy idea of the past. History doesn't figure much in the minds of most people, maybe because so much effort has been made by the Thai education system to expunge the memory of a time before the Thai state took over. That effort hasn't been entirely successful in Phana; there is still a strong feeling of Lao-ness here amongst the ordinary people.

The compromise was necessary because a lak muang (of sorts) existed beside the main road through the old village. Here is a photo of it taken back in February 2011 when Pensri and some friends tidied it up before the cycle rally. A group of school students were there on the day to tell people about its history. 

What you can't see from the photograph are the marker stones. You can't see them from the road either. They are exposed, but are about one metre below the level of the road. What that tells us is that the original sandy track was also about one metre lower than the present road. The houses nearby tell us this, too, because to get into them you have to go down some steps.

For years, after the road was raised by several successive 'improvements', the marker stones (bai sema) were buried and forgotten. Then about ten years ago, the Phana Municipality unearthed them (an old-timer must have drawn attention to them) and erected the concrete structure and wooden pillar you can see in the photograph above. This came to be known as the lak muang, though a surprising number of people pass it in their cars and never see it. It became neglected, as the original stones had.

For special occasions such as the cycle rally, the site was smartened up as you can see below:

The marker stones are as hard to photograph as they are to see, but this is my best shot. Click on it for an enlarged view:

Rumours went about that the current Phana Municipality planned to move the lak muang to a new site. Elaborate plans were drawn up and a lot of excitement was generated. But there were people, too, who felt that the move should not take place. This is where the compromise came in. It was finally agreed that the marker stones should stay where they have been for the last 300 years, and that their site should revert to the old Lao name of Bue Baan (navel of the village) and be marked as such. The pillar would be removed to form part of the new lak muang. Perhaps surprisingly, the site chosen for this new structure is at the old market place, in the original village, rather than the administrative centre known as 'the amphur', two kilometres further west. A good decision. Everybody happy. Hopefully, the spirits housed at the bue baan and later at the lak muang will be contented, too, when this grand new structure is completed.

Back to Phana... again

Here we are back in Phana, far from the floods that are ravaging much of Thailand. We have been here a week now, but our broadband connection was only restored yesterday, so this is my first post in some time.

Our journey from Bangkok was uneventful although the train to Ubon was diverted via Chachoengsao, and the journey time was two hours longer than usual. Warin Chamrap, where the train arrives, on the south side of the Moon River, was quite flooded, with the two large lakes overflowing and people who had had to evacuate their homes living in makeshift shelters along the main road to Ubon.

Arriving on the outskirts of Phana, the fields were full of rice and it looked as if here, at least, there is a good harvest in prospect.

At home in Phana we found  the garden hedge in full bloom and  attracting large butterflies:

We had heard that some of the sandy paths in Don Chao Poo Forest had been 'improved' and we were somewhat fearful that this meant more concrete. It wasn't as bad as that, and perhaps is not so bad at all. Certainly if these new paths encourage people to explore the forest a bit more that might be a good thing.

 

The paths lead to the four Buddha images that have been in the forest for the last 30 or so years.

The monkeys seem to have adopted the paths. Whenever they spend time on the ground, they seem to prefer to spend most of it on the roadways and now on these paths. They eat ants and termites and it may be easier for them to spot these and pick them up from the hard surfaces.

There are still some very pleasant, sandy paths, shaded by the tall canopies of the yang trees. This one leads off one of the concrete roads. I took the picture early on my first morning back in Phana, with the sun just beginning to break through.

It made the perfect welcome back to Phana.

More visitors to Phana

For a small town, Phana gets more than its fair share of 'official' visitors. I recently posted about the visit of two leading primatologists, one Thai and one Japanese, who had come to Phana to learn something about our monkeys (long-tailed macaques) and Thai culture. (You can read about that HERE.) While they were in Phana  tetsaban Phana (Phana municipality) were also hosts to two other visitors.

Ms Jaree Kiatsupimol was in Phana to assess its suitability to host a Peace Corps volunteer to work in community development. Mr Supot Akhpram was an assessor of the Democratic Community Award Panel, so there was an overlap of the things each of them wanted to see.

Here are a few pictures taken during their visit.

They went to the weaving co-operative ...

 
 
... and the Traditional Medicine Centre ...

 
 

... the library ...

 

... and of course the monkeys:

 
And this time next week, I should be back in Phana, although the train from Bangkok will be re-routed because of the flooding in Thailand at the moment, with more expected in Bangkok when I arrive next Sunday. 

Thai Monkey Forest

The Thai Monkey Forest on the outskirts of Ban Phana is more correctly known as Don Chao Poo Forest Park. I blogged about it several times back in April this year and since leaving Phana to return home to England for the summer I have been working on something we are calling the Phana Macaque Project.

The Phana Macaque Project (PMP) has been set up in response to what we see as a need to ensure that the long-tailed macaques in our forest are looked after in a way that protects and benefits them while also providing a rewarding experience for visitors who come to see them and maintaining and improving the relationship between the monkeys and the residents of Phana. 

To record the progress we have made to date, and to make information available to anyone interested in Thai monkeys and our Thai Monkey Forest, a blog / website has been set up HERE and I have added a link to this site on my BLOG ROLL. Posts to the site will appear on Thailand Voice. I hope you will take the time to visit and that you will find what we are doing in Phana for the long-tailed macaques interesting. As always your comments and suggestion will be much appreciated.

Visit Phana

VISIT PHANA was the theme of the community-based tourism that was on the agenda of the Amnat Charoen Provincial authorities earlier this year. Nothing much seems to have come of it so far, at least as far as the Provincial initiative goes. That may in part be due to the change in government. Not because a change in government necessarily results in the abandonment of all previous policies, but because budget allocations inevitably have to be looked at again in order to reassess priorities.

But in Phana itself some progress was made towards planning for community-based tourism. Perhaps it has taken a new direction, or at least a somehwat unexpected one, in that Don Chao Poo and the resident monkeys have become the focus; and the focus has been narrowed down further to the educational possibilities that they offer.

Another step towards community-based tourism in Phana has been the production of several leaflets, in English initially, but to be translated into Thai and possibly into Japanese.

Here is the content of the first leaflet.

VISIT PHANA 

THE TOWN OF FIELDS IN THE FOREST

Visit Phana and uncover the secrets of this little-known but historic and surprising town in the heart of Isan.

Phana just may be the best place you have never heard of!

Phana is famous for Phra Lao Thepnimit, the beautiful image in a 300-year-old temple: come and pay your respects.

 

Phana is famous, too, for the large tribe of long-tailed macaque monkeys in Don Chao Poo forest – come and feed them, or just sit and watch them.

 

But visit Phana and you can discover much more

Visit during one of the festivals – there is one every month, but the most lively is the Wat Phra Lao festival in February. Join the festivities at the temple. Take part in the bicycle rally around the town …

Come for the rocket festival in May. You can see the young women of Phana competing in traditional dancing as well as watch the firing of huge rockets.

Or Boun Pravet in March when the story of Buddha’s penultimate life is paraded on a banner and read in 13 chapters in a temple.

Or celebrate Loy Kratong at the big pond in Don Kwan village in November.

Visit on market days – Wednesday and Saturday mornings – but you must be up early as most of the action is between 6.30 and 8.00 a.m. The market meets again on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from about 4 – 6 p.m.

Come to Phana and eat gai yaang with som tam and sticky rice, or duck noodle soup, Korean BBQ perhaps.

Or a local speciality: Jao Hawn.

 

Visit the Traditional Medicine Centre for a massage or a sauna – or spoil yourself and have both!

Ask to see how traditional herbal  medicines are produced — and then buy some to ensure your health and comfort.

 

Hire a bicycle to visit the nearby villages. Watch weavers at work at their looms or dying thread; take a tuk-tuk to Ban Soi in Tambon  Chan Lan and see the complete process of silk production from mulberry leaf and silkworm raising to the finished cloth.

Take a picnic to Fai Rong Hin (the Model Agricultural Centre) in Tambon Phra Lao. Enjoy the quiet serenity and take a look at the livestock and find out how farmers are advised to adopt a more self-sufficient and sustainable style of farming.

 

Don’t forget to take a look at those fields in the forest.

 

 

Phana Garden Resort is waiting to welcome you.

Get to Phana by bus from Amnat Charoen or Ubon Ratchathani. Or take the a/c coach service from Bangkok to Khong Jiam.

But don't forget your destination:

Phana

Come on!

Surprise yourself

with an unforgettable visit.

Portraits from Phana

When I am in Phana I like taking portraits of people and I think I am getting better at it and the subjects seem to be getting more relaxed. Here are nine of my favourites. All the photos were shot in Phana, but two of the people had come from outside.

 

 

 

 
  

 

 

 

 
 

Politics is banned in Isan

 Here in Isan one man has banned politics. At least, he has forbidden all talk of politics on his farm.

  

You can see the large writing in red on the notice on the left of the picture above. It declares his farm a "Politics Free Zone". Underneath, in black, it warns that political talk is forbidden here. And thanks you for your consideration.

The owner of this farm visits it most mornings on his motorbike. I suppose he does a bit of farming before he goes off to school, because  he is a teacher at one of the primary schools in an outlying village. Pensri and I often see him when we are on our early-morning bike ride. He is a distant relative of Pensri and urged us to visit his farm sometime when we cycle past.

 

 

 

The dragon fruit cacti are the only crop he cultivates, but he has created much more than an orchard here. He clearly likes to spend leisure time in this peaceful spot just off the Phana by-pass.

 

He can entertain his friends sheltered from sun and rain. There are books here, a television set, refrigerator, cooking facilities, and so on. And outside the shelter there is more seating and picnic tables. I like the way that he has made use of a variety of furniture that has seen better days and probably been thrown out by his wife.

 

 

 

You can tell a lot about his character, I think, from this little oasis. It is rumoured that he won a fairly large sum on the lottery and spent it here. No Benz for him, but a place where he can relax with his friends, eating and drinking, and NOT talking about politics.

 

 

 

And if he wants to spend the night here, this little room looks very comfortable, and reminiscent of a monk's kuti.

 

Perhaps he is planning to add a door on this little building sometime. In the meantime, I suppose if a queue forms outside they can be distracted by the picture on the wall.

 

I am indebted to Wikipedia for unknowingly supplying me with the following picture and information about dragon fruit (Pitaya); in Thai แก้วมังกร, kaew mang korn.

 

Particularly red-skinned pitayas are a good source of Vitamin C.

Pitayas are rich in fiber and minerals, notably phosphorus and calcium. Red pitayas seem to be richer in the former, yellow ones in the latter.

The seeds are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, and in particular Red Pitayas contain very little saturated fat.

Pitayas also contain significant quantities of phytoalbumin antioxidants, which prevent the formation of cancer-causing free radicals.

In Taiwan, diabetics use the fruit as a food substitute for rice and as a source of dietary fibre.

Pitaya supposedly increases excretion of heavy metal toxins and lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. Eaten regularly, it is credited with alleviating chronic respiratory tract ailments.

Parading the abbot

 Parades are an essential ingredient of many celebrations in Thailand and parading a monk when celebrating his promotion is no exception. When the lay people of Phana were celebrating the abbot of Wat Burapha's promotion to the rank of Phra Kru recently, a parade through the streets was the order of one of the days.

 

Dancing girls are an important ingredient. Here they are all wearing skirts woven in Phana to a traditional pattern.

The dancers are accompanied by this group of musicians:

 

Lay people follow the band, all smartly dressed and in exhuberant spirits. The umbrellas are to keep off the sun rather than the rain.

 

b 

The organisers were keen to involve the tetsaban officers and were insistent that they wore their white uniforms. Many social occasions in Phana are organised either by the wat committees or by the tetsaban; and as in this case, often both are involved together.

Here we have the mayor and his deputy seemingly glad to see me; or glad to see me taking their photograph, perhaps.

The small children amongst the onlookers got very excited when the mayor threw small coins wrapped in silver and gold paper into the crowd and there were wild scrambles to pick up the coins. 

Taking part in the parade or standing by and watching it go past -- both are seen as auspicious events, and the people of Phana make sure that they take advantage of as many occasions like this one as possible.

 

Promotion for our abbot

When a monk is promoted it is always a cause (or an excuse, possibly) for celebration in small rural communities in Thailand. This is especially so if the monk is an abbot. The date for the celebration is fixed well in advance to give everyone the chance to make all the necessary arrangements and preparations.

Promotion comes in several different forms. Most frequent, but not always especially celebrated, is when a monk passes a new level of Pali studies. Passing level three, for example, entitles a monk to be addressed with Phra Maha before his name. This is often as far as a monk will go in his Pali studies, and many do not get this far.

Being appointed an abbot is more of a cause for celebration. It is not necessary to be a Phra Maha to be an abbot, but a monk must have been ordained for at least five phansa (five rainy season retreats) before becoming an abbot. Abbots are often promoted to the rank of Phra Kru on the basis of their contribution to the development of their wat.

In the last few years Phana has celebrated several such promotions that I have been lucky enough to attend. The biggest occasion was when Phra Maha Samlee of the Wat in Sao Reek village was made Chao Kana Amphur, the senior monk of the amphur in admin terms. The abbot of Wat Don Kwan was promoted to Phra Kru and Phra Dit became abbot of Wat Phra Lao. And just a few weeks ago, Phra Maha Jantee of Wat Burapha was promoted to the rank of Phra Kru. At the same time, he was given a new name, but I think for a long time to come I will only remember the one I have known him by for the last few years.

The two days of celebration at Wat Burapha were advertised widely. This banner was at the end of the road leading to the wat.

 

In the wat compound marquees were set up, vehicles decorated, and the donations book prrepared:

A traditional Isan suk kwan had been arranged...

 

... and the car that the abbot would be paraded in was got ready:

 

A special shrine table was set up to commemorate the three abbots who preceded Phra Maha Jantee:

 Phra Maha Jantee was supervising the preparations although the abbots of Wat Phra Lao and Wat Don Kwan, both very senior in terms of the phansa they have spent in the robes, were in overall charge and did a fine job on behalf of their fellow abbot.

 

These pictures were taken the day before the celebratory procession which I will post pictures of in my next post.