PRATU NAMO : Rubrik:English

With the Forest Thais

Teesha — 2009-12-18T10:27:00Z

One of the reasons why I havn´t posted anything new in the last weeks, is the fact that I spend these weeks in a small village close to the Burmese border. Mainly to visit a longtime friend but also in order to flee from the daily lunacy in Bangkok.

Like all small villages which I occasionally visit, it is almost impossible to get to this small village without knowing some tricks and people.
Only if you know the name of the right temple you can tell the bus driver where to drop you off. After that it takes another phone call and 15 minutes later some relative of my friend comes and stores me on the back of his pick-up truck.

After arriving at the village, which is in fact only a small accumulation of simple houses in the forest, almost nothing happens. Unlike in an Isaan village, people in western Thailand are less affectionate. And even if, they don´t show it.

While I am hugged endlessly in the Isaan village and shown around like a trophy, in the forst village at the Burmese border there is hardly a lead that somebody recognized my presence.
But people in Isaan are ethnic Lao whereas the western part of Thailand is populated with Forest-Thais.

Apart from that there are many mutualities: The village is full of females of all generations since the men are either working in the woods or have moved to the city to find employment there.

Occupation: Village Inhabitant

The remaining village inhabitants accept their domicile also as occupation: livin in a village.
This means they basically do nothing. And my daily routine is accordingly:

At 5 in the morning I get up, under two blankets with jacket and wool cap, because during this season, temperatures drop down to 12 °C.

I stay in bed until six since it is still too cold and dark outside.
That it´s six I know from the smoke of the neighbors coal fire that wafts in my nose.
Still, at this time most of the people are still fast asleep.

I go outside, look for wood and chop it to small pieces with the help of a perilous cutlass.
I rake yesterday´s ashes out of the cooking site and spread it in the yard. The small pieces of wood I stack in the cooking site. A small piece of an old rubber tire serves as lighter.
Smells and smokes like hell but it burns long and hot. After that I pile up the charcoal until I get a proper blaze.

I take a pot and go behind the house. In huge cisterns water had been collected during the rainy season, which is now used as drinking and cooking water. I fill the pot angle some dead leaves out of it and heat the water on the cooking site. Unheated the water would be too cold for the grandmother who is concluded from her appearance about 4000 years old.

Then, I have to think about what to cook today. Actually, the people in the village don´t have money. Hence, most of the ingredients are found in the surrounding nature.
Although the garden behind the house looks feral, spontaneously one could easily whip up three different dishes from the plants.

Ingredients are provided by the surrounding nature

Today, I decide to fix a papaya curry. In Isaan people prefer to eat the unripe papayas as papaya salad (som tum). Forest Thais rather wait until the fruits are ripe and sweet.
First I have to pluck some tamarind and boil it in the wok. Then I have to find a long bamboo pole to push down a bulky, green papaya off the tree.
The rest is pretty simple: Chilli, sugar, salt, chop up the papaya and boil it. Meanwhile the rice is cooking in the cooker. As soon as everythings ready, miraculousy the whole house awakes.

The food has to suffice for the rest of the day. But Thais eat mainly rice anyway so the curry is practically only used to add some flavor to the rice.
Eating like in a western Chinese restaurant where you topple the whole dish over the rice and mix it is unimaginable and even impertinent in Thai perception.

After breakfast not much happens. I sweep some dead leaves together, carry the garbage out in the yard and burn it all together. A waste disposal service doesn´t exist in the village.

Sometime around 9 neighbors drop by. This is the time, when I retreat behind the house and plug in my ear plugs and read a book.
The way people communicate with each other in that village in Kanchanaburi province is even for my all-terrain mind way too much: These people don´t talk, they shout. And many times they shout completely meaningless sounds.

One woman yells for more than half a minute Ohooooo- Ohooooo- Ohooooo.
In addition all participants of the talk repeat everything that had just been said.
Which is in fact no big surprise since in a village where nobody ever does something, nothing ever happens. Accordingly, topics to talk about are rather rare.
Hence, I form a highlight in their daily routine. When I add more seasoning sauce to my rice the whole village will know it.

In addition, every household has half a dozen dogs. And quite often it seems as if these dogs are only kept to have an opportunity to shout at something. Constantly you hear a housewife shouting at some dog.

Eventually the sun goes down again. I eat papaya curry for the third time and at 9 o`clock I go to bed.

For some this daily schedule might appear boring, but for me it´s holiday. Just doing nothing. Get up when I want, eat what and when I want and just sit out in the sun and read.

For vacation and relaxation I don´t need beaches and the sea, which I could of course easily find in Thailand.

But you find palm trees in the village, too.

Tags: thai thailand village kanchanaburi rural country papaya curry daily life

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De Lingua Franca The Vanilla Vagina

Teesha — 2009-12-18T09:29:00Z

Of course the title of this post sounds rather like a bizarre product offered by an online sex shop. The truth is, that it has rather to do with a Christmas spice: it´s about vanilla and the words related to it.

When the Spanish started to export a kind of orchid plant from tropical America to Europe they needed a name for it and they chose vainilla.

This Spanish word basically means small sheath; small hull and is the diminutive of the Spanish word vaina which means sheath; seed pod; hull.
The word origins from the Latin word vagina for sheath which of course also names the female sexual organ.

Tags: etymology vanilla vagina hull pod sheath Spanish Latin

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The Bangkok Clock

Teesha — 2009-12-18T09:12:00Z

Livin without a watch.

It´s a dream of many. Just allow oneself to float through the day and only listen to one´s inner clock.

In the western hemisphere this is hardly possible, especially not, when you are employed.

In Thailand this may be possible. Even in the city, you don´t need a watch since Bangkok has it´s own sequence and most often a look out the window is enough to estimate the time:

At 6 the sun comes up.

At 7 the soup at the noodle shop is ready.

At 9 people start queuing in front of the post office, which I can see from my window.

At noon my house doesn´t have a shadow.

At 2 p.m. the smog is so dense that I can´t see the Royal palace anymore

At 3 p.m. the noodle shop closes.

At 4 p.m. the traffic jam starts.

At 7 p.m. the Karaoke brothel next door opens up.

At 8 p.m. the cockroaches come out.

At 10 p.m. the rats follow.

At 2 a.m. a water tanker of BMA waters the bushes and trees.

If your are still out at after that time, you probably don´t care anymore.

Tags: thai thailand bangkok time clock watch schedule sequence daily life

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The Thai Animal Clock

Teesha — 2009-12-18T08:58:00Z

The day before yesterday I also gave some clues how to determine the time in Bangkok quite exactly.

But people and especially Thais are rather unreliable. Accordingly, one is in danger to rely on a clock that´s going wrong.

Unlike the country´s animals. You just can´t determine the time more exact. I managed it to predict the time in the middle of the night with only 10 minutes wrong.
Of course, this is only possible in the village since in Bangkok there are hardly any animals except dogs, cats, cockroaches and bed bugs. The rest is negligible.

This is much different in the village where the proportion of man and beast is 1:3.

Naturally, there are the obligatory cats and dogs (the latter ones at least 3 per village inhabitant), buffalos, cows, ducks, chicken, pigs and of course elephants.

In addition, there are a zillion singing bird, who don´t belong to anybody.

In Thailand´s rural life it is rather unimportant what time it is. When the sun comes up, people wake up. When it gets dark, people eat and go to sleep.

For me as a Bangkokian socialized in the West this is not as easy because even in the village I persue a sophisticated scheme of lying in the sun and reading/sleeping and lying in the bed and reading/sleeping. Without knowing the exact time this two-fisted schedule is hard to keep.

Since Thailand is quite close to the equator a day has almost always 12 hours daytime and 12 hours darkness.

Especially when it´s dark, the missing shadows and position of the sun make it hard to find out what time it is.

Is it worth to turn around in bed and try to fall asleep again, or will the sun come up in 20 minutes?

For this reason I am giving some leads:

At 9 p.m. giant bugs start making a noise, so loud that even the Thais can´t sleep. Hence, they run around in their yard armed with water buckets and soak the ground in oder to make the bugs come out of their holes in the ground and kill them.

At 11 p.m. suddenly all hundreds of dogs start to howl. A concert that goes on for at least 20 minutes.

At 1 a.m. the same thing happens with slightly less howling.

At 2 a.m. the roosters start to crow for the first time of the day, only to find out that the sun still won´t come up and then fall asleep again (Thai roosters believe that they are in charge to bring the sun up by their crowing).

At 3:40 the roosters mean business and won´t stop their noise until late morning.

At 5:30 the cows moo for the first time (and exactly once).

At 6 a.m. the bells on the cow´s necks start ringing as they are moving now.

20 minutes later the sun comes up and the day starts.

Tags: thailand thai village time animals daily life cows elephants roosters

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Bangkok Post masks Thai Airways Manager

Teesha — 2009-12-18T08:20:00Z

With the help of photoshop one is able to do more than only create nice and clear faces. It can also bring up absurd and disturbing results as the Bangkok Post proofed today in their report on the executive chairman of Thai Airways, Wallop Bhukkanasut.
He is accused of having used his influence to avoid extra luggage charges and customs control for his more than 40 suitcases weighing in total 390 kg.
But even an offense like this doesn´t justify, to mutilate him in that way.

Or has this meant to be a symbolic picture to subtly demand Wallops resignation?

Technorati: thailand thai bangko thai airways scandal Bangkok Post photoshop

Video: Isaan Impressions

Teesha — 2008-03-25T23:51:00Z

Once again some nice motion pictures from Baan Konssay, U-Kaew district, Udon-Thani province

Check it out:

Technorati: thailand thai issan isaan esarn e-sarn pics bilder u-kaew udon thani konnsaay travel

Military Draft in Thailand

Teesha — 2008-03-25T08:32:00Z

In Thailand the military has always been playing an important role. The military operates broadcasting stations, banks and military schools as an alternative to the regular public schools.
In politics one finds much more Generals than in western countries.
Of course there is a military draft in Thailand. All males at the age of 21 have to do their duty for two years. And the draft is always due in this time of the year. From April 1st to April 12th draft-time in Thailand during which all 21-year-olds and all males born in the year 1987 have to submit to the draft.
Conscripts will receive an monthly salary of 1,550 baht and a daily allowance of 75 baht.
Assistant army commander Gen Jiradet Khotcharat said the army had set up 154 committees to supervise the annual draft to make sure it is free of fraud and bribery.
Gen Jiradet said the army must be careful in drafting men from the three strife-torn southernmost provinces for fear that insurgent sympathisers could mix with and infiltrate the army. He said military training would help instil good attitudes into conscripts from the South and help them stay away from insurgents. This year, a total of 85,760 new conscripts will be recruited into the armed forces. Of these, 1,392 will go to the Defence Ministry and the Supreme Command, 62,323 to the army, 16,000 to the navy and 6,045 to the air force. More than 20,000 conscripts have agreed to sign up for military service so far

Technorati: thai thailand army armee military miltär wehrpflicht draft

Thailand: Gang of 30 Beat up British Tourists

Teesha — 2007-07-25T22:05:00Z

After a vicious fight at an food stall in Nakhon Sawan a Briton had to be hospitalized due to a skull crack. A gang of about 30 Thai, including one soldier had kicked and punched the victim and two other Englishmen while they were dining at a roadside restaurant early Sunday morning.
After the three victims had been taken to hospital the gang stormed the building and resumed beating the three Brits until police eventually arrived. Responding to questions about the attack, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said the incident must be thoroughly investigated by police and the army.
Meanwhile police have arrested the accused soldier and another man. The suspects face a maximum seven years in jail if found guilty.
Police are searching fort the other suspects.

Also read the post : Battle with Thai People - You better don't

Technorati: fighting thai thailand gang Nakhon Sawan crime

The Whitening Madness

Teesha — 2007-07-24T22:05:00Z

Like Europe in the 18th century elegant whiteness is regarded as chic in todays asia. In drug stores all over south east asia you will hardly find a bodycare product without whitening-ingredients. Ranging from deo roll-ons to bodylotion all products have the whitening stuff inside which particularly people in the sunny regions of south east asia like. But many peole cant effort the mostly expensive brands and buy therefore no-name products from the market with sometimes ugly results. So, if you care for your skin pigments better buy brand products an invest some minutes to find a cream without whitener.

Technorati: south east asia trend whitening bodycare lotions weißmacher südostasien

Fish Sauce South East Asias smelly seasoning

Teesha — 2007-07-23T22:05:00Z

Some call it a smelly liquid made of fermented fish but for others it it is part of the national culture. Even the ancient Romans used it for seasoning their dishes and called it Garum. What soy sauce is for the Chinese, fish sauce is it for the people in South East Asia. Especially in Vietnam fish sauce (Nuoc Mam) is very popular cook and poets refer to it as eatable perfume. There are even poems and songs about it. In Thailand fish sauce is known as Naam pla, on te Philippines they call it Patis and Koreans speak of Jeotgal. But all have the strong, fishy smell in common, which needs to getting used to for foreigners. The production ist quite simple: Fresh anchovies are mixed 2,5:1 with salt. During the next months the salt abstracts water from the fishes, which drains through a small tap in the fish sauce barrel and pour back into the barrel. Like olive oil Nuo Mam has different levels of quality. Fishsauce increases the taste of most dishes without adding a fishy taste. With fish sauce, chillies, garlic and lime juice you can fix yourself easily a asian seasoning sauce on your own. Just chop some Thai chillies and garlic, pour some lime juice and fish sauce on it an leave in the fridge for some days.
But, as I said, it takes some time to get used to the aroma. I remember the small village Mui Ne at the coast of Vietnam which is famous for its fish sauce production. At 40 degree Celsius the stench was unbearable.

Technorati: fish sauce nuoc mam naam pla seasoning thai vietnamesisch gerichte kochen cooking dishes recipes rezepte

Thailand: Culture Ministry Encourages Parents to Choose Thai Nicknames

Teesha — 2007-07-22T22:05:00Z

The Thai Culture ministry wants to encourage parents to nickname their children with Thai names after a survey displayed that in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen 45.9 percent of the children have English nicknames already. "Now, more and more parents give English nicknames to their children," Culture Ministry permanent secretary Vira Rojpojchanarat said.
In Thailand people have nicknames additionally to their official first and last name. Official names hardly play a role in everyday life in Thailand. Instead, nicknames are used even on the job. If people are close to each other or younger than you, they may call themselves by their nicknames instead of using pronouns. Some Thai nicknames have meanings, and some dont. Treat them as mere names dont try to translate the names because some might be funny or not make any sense like pig (muu), chicken (gai) or fish (pla). Common Nicknames are: yai, duk-daa, gung, mot, an, jäng, dim, mai, bum, dtui, än, ding, nooi, däng, mäm, nüng, miao, nok, gop, oo, nit, nuu

Source: Benjawan Poomsan Becker: Thai for intermediate Learners and The Nation

Technorati: thailand thai nicknames lek Yai muu pla nuu oo Vira Rojpojchanarat spitznamen

Thailand: Hackers are Thais living in Germany

Teesha — 2007-07-21T22:05:00Z

Police say the hackers who invaded the Information and Communications Technology Ministrys Website were Thais living in Germany. The hackers breached the website from an Europe-based computer said Colonel Yannaphon Yangyuen. The officer explained, that his department had already warned the ministry about possible online attacks. He said the first findings suggest, that the culprits were from Germany. As a reaction to the invasion, the ministry handed over all systems security to CAT Telecom. After the hack the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) is also concerned about the militarys systems security. ISOC spokesman Thanathip Sawangsaeng said the Council planned to draft precautionary measures together with CAT Telecom.
Meanwhile, it is still unclear if the hacking was conducted to discredit the Council for National Security and its chairman Sonthi Boonyaratglin. Inofficially ISOC sources estimate that the hacking could have been to confuse the public over the coming referendum on the new Thai constitution.
In the meantime, the and Communications Technology Ministry has filed a complaint against the hackers.
Afer the new omputer-related Crimes Act offenders can be sentencedto prison between three to 15 years and fines ranging from Bt60,000 to Bt300,000.

Source: The Nation

Technorati: communication ministry Thailand Hacker Website CAT Telecom Thanathip Sawangsaeng Yannaphon Yangyuen National security council ISOC

Thailand: Hackers attack Communiction minitry's website

Teesha — 2007-07-20T22:05:00Z

An hacker attack on the website of the Thai Information and Communications Technology Ministry's website paralyzed the ministry's online presence for some time the day before yesterday. Instead of the welcome page the site displayed the grinning and waving Thaksin Shinawatra with the message "take back your dictatorship and return our Thailand". The attack to place at 11.50 a.m. and lasted about ten minutes. After that the page returned online not until 2 p.m. Up to now it is unclear whether the hackers started their defacement from Thailand or from overseas. Also, it is unclear whether or not supporters of Ex-PM Thaksin were responsible for the hack.

Information minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said he was "glad" about the skills of the hackers, but he disapproved the misuse of that talent. "The ministry will take action against those behind the attack, to make them pay for what they did," he said, adding that he had set a deadline for their arrest. A ministry spokesman said the attack had been launched simaltaneously from three different locations. A ministry employee described the hack a a "slap in the face" as it had hapened just one day after the Computer-related Crimes Act became effective.

Technorati: communication ministry Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom Hacker Website

Thailand: Thailand's first Blogger is doing time

Teesha — 2007-07-19T22:05:00Z

There is no doubt that Panrit Gor Daoruang is Thailand's most famous internet kid. At the age of 12 Gor startet writing about his life and about what it is like growing up in Thailand. His Blog entries were first published at the internationally known website ThailandLife.com in 1997. A lot of people regard Gor as Thailand's first true blogger. In his online diary he wrote about school, his home and his vacations all over Thailand. But only when he fell into an turbulent relationship with his first girlfriend and became drug addicted he really became famous. At the age of 16 he was discovered by the Bangkok Post, where he was offered to write a weekly column named Gor's world about his life.

For more than two years he entertained and shocked his readers with insights on the life of a typical thai teenager, who tries to cope with the strict rules of thai society. Motorbike races, teenage pregnancy, smoking in school, gambling, alkohol and drugs were presented week after week in a shockingly free spoken exposure. Nonetheless Gor also showed his appreciation for the thai values, for example when he wrote about his wedding, the birth of his daughter or is ordaining as a monk. A the age of 20 Gor was arrested for drug posession just a few months after he left monkhood. Since the age of 15 he had been addicte to "yaa baa", the crazy medicine", an amphetamine which is more widespread among thais than one would estimate. Gor had been trying to halt his addiction many times but had always failed as the drug was too powerful. At his trial he was sentenced to six years in prison, but the judge reduced the penalty for Gor pleading guilty at the last second. Today Gor is doing his time in Samut Prakan Central Prison, where the guards recruited him as an inofficial translator due to his fluent English

found at thaiprisonlife.com

pictures courtesy by thaiprisonlife.com

Technorati: gor Panrit Gor Daoruang blogger thailand thai Samut Prakan central prison jail teenager

Thailand/Laos: Hmong to be deportet

Teesha — 2007-07-16T22:05:00Z

The Mekong at Vientchian - Border between Thailand and Laos" height="135" alt="Der Mekong bei Vientiane Grenzfluss zwischen Thailand und Laos
The Mekong at Vientchian - Border between Thailand and Laos" width="180" align="left" class="left" src="http://static.twoday.net/pratunamo/images/Mekong.jpg" />Thai authorities are planning to deport members of the Hmong-tribe back to Laos within the next two months. "Those who came from Laos will be repatriated to their place of origin with no resettlements in Thailand or third countries,"said Third Army Region commander Lt-General Jiradej Kotcharat after an inspection of the shelter in Huay Nam Khao.
In total 7,653 hmong are registered, with an average of 26 births a month and 1.2 deaths a month sais the commander in the newspaper The Nation.

Most of the hmong refugees claim to be associated with the CIA financed hmong guerilla, wich fought until the fall of the laotian capital in 1975 against the communists. They had fled to Thailand because of the oppression in Laos.
Laotian government is still fighting against the former hilltribe soldiers although they not much more than small rugged units in the jungle with antique weapons.
Even though laotian military keeps on attacking Hmong villages.
"In one of the largest settlements with more than 800 inhabitants about 30 percent had gunshot or shrapnel wounds. Due to the attacks by the army many of the Hmong retreat in even deeper jungle areas. Some flee to Thailand, but there they are threatened by forced deportation back to Laos before they are registered by the UNHCR," reads the Amnesty International website.
However, Thailand and Laos regard them as illegal immigrants who should be deported home.

More on the Hmong: Hmong - People between diaspora and annihilation

Technorati: thai thailand laos lao laotisch hmong hilltribe deportation abschiebung

PRATU NAMO : Rubrik:English

With the Forest Thais

De Lingua Franca  The Vanilla Vagina

The Bangkok Clock

The Thai Animal Clock

Bangkok Post masks Thai Airways Manager

Video: Isaan Impressions

Military Draft in Thailand

Thailand: Gang of 30 Beat up British Tourists

The Whitening Madness

Fish Sauce  South East Asias smelly seasoning

Thailand: Culture Ministry Encourages Parents to Choose Thai Nicknames

Thailand: Hackers are Thais living in Germany

Thailand: Hackers attack Communiction minitry's website

Thailand: Thailand's first Blogger is doing time

Thailand/Laos: Hmong to be deportet

De Lingua Franca The Vanilla Vagina

Fish Sauce South East Asias smelly seasoning