Magic tattoo

Thai tattoos (Sak yant) are more than mere artwork on skin. They're part of a deeper belief system that the designs are normally tattooed by wicha (magic) practitioners and Buddhist monks, traditionally with a long bamboo stick sharpened to a point (called a mai sak) or alternatively with a long metal spike (called a khem sak).Thai tattoo received from a genuine Buddhist monks is believed to act as an amulet that carries powers of its own. The people who has tattoo will be protected but they must be moral and follow the  five precept. 

A tattoo of a particular god might gain that god's favor, protection and guidance over the wearer's life. The tattoo of an animal like a tiger might protect the person wearing it from evil and physical harm, for example.

Wat Bang Phra is famous for its tattoo festival attracts people from all over the world. Many are practitioners of Buddhism, but a growing portion of festival participants are simply tattoo devotees, hoping to receive an authentic Buddhist tattoo from one of the monks.

Once the tattoos are finished, many people who receive them enter a violent, trance-like state. Whether this is because the tattoo is spiritually routing an evil spirit living in the wearer's body, or is due to a physical reaction to the snake venom which is often a component of the ink, the experience is a profound one.

Types and Designs

There are many traditional types and designs of yantra tattoos, but some of the most well-known and popular include:
    Ong Phra (Buddha's body) - Provide insight, guidance, illumination, etc.
    Ha Thaeo ( five rows) - one of the most common yantra designs for women,the one that Angelina joli had. Each of the five lines relates to a different blessing for success and good luck.
    Kao Yot ( nine spires) - typically tattooed on the center top of the back in various sizes and levels of complexity. Simple version pictured at the top of this article.
    Si Yot ( four spires) - to influence the feelings or actions of others and protect the bearer.
    Paet Tit (eight points) - represents protection in the eight directions of the universe. Round shape; typically tattooed on the center of the back.
    Mahaniyom ( great preference) - to grant the bearer favor in the eyes of others.
    Yot Mongkut (spired crown) - for good fortune and protection in battle.
    Bpanjamukhee ( five Deva faces) - intended to ward off illness and danger
    Suea ( tiger) - typically depicts twin tigers. Represents power and authority.

Samples for Sak Yant images

Thai French Fries

              People think french fries are a junk food. It is actually not, try some Thai french fries which is low in calories, high in protein and extremely nutritious which have made from different insects :-)

              Fried insects are a local snack or a food for only low-income Thai field workers in the past. It became popular and now can be found all over Bangkok.


      

The most popular fried insects in Bangkok are bamboo worms, crickets and grasshoppers. Others include scorpions and water beetles, weevils and ants. They’re usually fried in a wok and seasoned with chili sauce & a bit of Thai pepper powder. In Bangkok tourist places, you can find the insect cart in Khao Sarn as well as Soi Nana. The sellers like selling to westerners as they would expect the laughs, shrieks and sounds of disgust.

Only in Thailand!!

The amazing venue is called the Archipelago Cinema and is tucked away inside a bay surrounded by towering island rocks and lush jungle plants. It premiered during the Thai film festival.

Movie theaters are inherently awesome places to be on their own, evoking memories of past big-screen adventures and nights spent eating popcorn and candy for supper. For a new film festival in Thailand called Film on the Rocks Yao Noi, an outdoor cinema was constructed in the most unlikely of places: right on top of the water. And it just might be the most amazing place you could ever want to watch a movie.

The amazing venue is called the Archipelago Cinema and is tucked away inside a bay surrounded by towering island rocks and lush jungle plants. It's a natural paradise, and it just happens to be the perfect spot for a floating movie theater. The lagoon itself is shallow enough that it turns into a watery beach during low tide. Once the tide shifts, the ocean once again fills the area.

Archipelago Cinema
Using recycled wood and other materials, a giant modular raft was constructed to hold the audience. Viewers relax on large cushions and enjoy the sounds of the ocean as well as the film on the screen in front of them. The rafts are loosely held together and then anchored to the bottom of the lagoon. This allows the ocean to push and prod the structure while keeping it within a reasonable viewing angle of the screen.

Archipelago CinemaThe massive display and projector are secured more firmly to the bottom of the bay, which is probably a good idea considering that these structures house all the important electrical components and wouldn't take kindly to a dip in the ocean. The viewing raft is designed to be portable, and will likely be used for other events in the future as well.

Showings only take place during the evening, and special ambient lighting is used to bring the surrounding island scenery to life. With all the amazing eye candy to be seen, it's a wonder anyone was actually able to focus on the movie playing, but those who attended have spoken very highly of the experience — which only serves to fuel our jealousy even further. Of course, 2012 was just the first year for this amazing film festival, so we can only imagine what wild things the foundation has planned for the future.



source : http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/floating-movie-theater-might-just-coolest-place-earth-161343747.html  

Buffalo Races claimed on CNN and the BBC as a must-see event.

The annual Buffalo Race, held around the 11th lunar month ,around the first weekend in October, farmers from all over the province bring their buffalo to Chonburi City for a festival that dates back centuries.

The races themselves are preceded by a parade of colorful buffalo-drawn carts Miss Farm Maiden Contestantsthrough the central part of the provincial capital. Then the contestants are led to the stadium while farmhands run along side and throw buckets of water on them to keep them cool. The buffalo are fed a mixture of beer and eggs to enhance their performance, and the riders probably consume one of the ingredients to gather their courage for the bareback ride of the rampaging beasts. Crowds whoop and roar and dive for cover as the numerous rounds narrow down the field to four finalists. Finally in the late afternoon the winning buffalo is festooned with garlands and prizes are awarded to the rider.

Although this day of fun and competition would succeed with just the buffaloes as the celebrities, there are other activities to make it a worthwhile outing for families.

A fair with food stalls and handicrafts appeals to visitors who love authentic Thai food, snacks and sweets. Then there are the rides for children, concerts of folk music and, of course, a beauty contest where the prize is the honor of being declared Miss Buffalo.

Daily Routine for Thais at 8 Am and 6 PM

                                      Our flag is known as Tong Trairong which mean Tricolours. 
                                        Red represents Nation, White Religion and Blue King.

 
Every day at 8 am, the flag will be elevated up to top of the flag stand while national anthem played, and at 6 pm it will be lowered down while national anthem again played. In schools, the morning ritual of singing national anthem while standing still to pay respect to the flag followed by a prayer is practiced. People on the street also stand still in the morning and afternoon. Do not be surprise if you walk along the street and people just sudden stop their activities and stand still singing the national anthem.

Golden Baby (Guman thong)

 

The story of the Golden Baby comes supposedly from a 19th century Thai tale called, “Khun Chang Khun Paen”. In brief, the story goes:
 

Khun Paen was a soldier, 400 years previous, a time when supernatural forces played an important part of traditional warfare.Khun Paen had wanted a protective spirit to watch over him in battle. To this end he cut the unborn foetus of his son from his dead wife’s womb and took it to a temple to perform an occult rite. 

 

    He wrapped the child’s torso in sacred cloth and roasted it on a fire whilst chanting ritual mantras and dark incantations to create the supernatural being with whom he could communicate.

 
The golden baby is a spirit of  stillborn babies boy. we believe it is just like a real baby that do need regular care and feeding. Thais worship then by offering red sweet water once a day. Some do believe of preparing a plate at the table for the spirit whenever you eat. Since the Golden Baby is still the spirit of a child, it also requires that you give it toys, and nourish it with love as you would a normal child then they will bring the master a prosperity as well as protect them from danger. 

 

Thai Starbucks

Nowsday, Thais start to drink more coffee. Before Starbucks came to Thailand, we do not have much coffee shop here. Coffee is just another drink where we order in a restaurant or buy it from Food cart on the street. We drink coffee at home or in restaurant. Once Starbucks spread around the country, people like more a concept of chatting with friends and/or relaxing while having coffee in the coffee shop.  Coffee shop became popular and that is why we have many coffee shops around country.

O-Leung /black coffee

Thai style Ice Tea- Cha dam yen

Nom yen

O-Leung : is our traditional coffee without milk. In Chinese, O-means black and Leung mean cold.
Cha-Nom : is Thai style ice tea with milk. Cha (tea)Nom(milk) where we put sweetened condensed milk with sugar.

Thai style hot coffee/Cha Nom/chocolate milk

Traditional coffee blender

Cha Dam Yen : is a Thai style ice tea similar to ice lemon tea but we do not put lemon in there.
Nom Yen: is a popular drink for kids. Nom (milk)  yen (cold). The based ingredient is sweet water intensive mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Normally we will use the red sweet water intensive and mixed with milk to get a nice pink color.

Popular coffee/tea brand

coffee cart along the street.

Popular Thai Milk brand

 

Hot coffee served with Thai style bread or congee

Hot coffee served with deep-fried dough stick

The Thai Spirit House stories

          Many Thais believe that the spirits are everywhere. When we build a new house, there is always the possibility that it has disturbed the spirits who live on the property. In order to protect their new home from retaliatory harm or mischief, some Thai families put up a little house for the spirits to live in. The spirit house must be located somewhere on the grounds we believe that if the spirits are provided with such shelters and appeased with daily offerings (food or flowers or phallic symbols), they will protect the house or building, and shield its inhabitants from harm."

Where you can see the Spirit House

The Spirit house can be seen every where at a prominent spot outside every business establishment,hotel,restaurants,hospital,a bar, disco ,inside temples ,outside caves ,in an uninhabited forest You may also see the spirit houses on the road which were built to pacify the tormented spirits of people who have died violent deaths in crashes at that site.Their theory is that if the spirits who haunt the place are given a home they will not spitefully endanger the drivers who must pass this way. In addition, It is common to see spirit house at the yard of every home.

                    Type of the Spirit House

Shrine of the household god(right)  / the spirit house(left)

1. The Spirit House with single pole. This house will be used for guardian spirit or we can call shrine of the household god.

2. The Spirit House for general spirits was build with 4 poles. It is common spirit houses are smaller than the shrine of the household god.

We can have shrine of the household god alone or together with spirit house. We will never build Spirit house with 4 poles alone. Because we do believe that the spirits can be bad spirits and we need the guardian to control those spirits as well.

Modern Spirit house

Modern Spirit house

  
Most of the spirit houses were built in a traditional Thai style houses in order to match Thai house in the ancient time. Nowsday the spirit houses turn to me more modern just to match the building and houses style in present..

Flowers for parents

Flowers that Thais used to symbolized Mother, Father and Student Virtue


Jasmine: Pure love of mothers

On August 12, Thais will celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Birthday anniversary as well as was established as the official Mother's Day in Thailand. The beautiful domestic jasmine flower, or málí, also became the symbol of Mother's Day at that time. The idea came about because of the flower's decent properties - it's soft and pure white and has a long-lasting, sweet smell. It also blooms all-year-round and has medicinal value for the heart. It is traditionally believed that white jasmine represents the selfless virtue of a mother who thinks more about the needs, happiness and wants of other people than about herself.. 


 

The Canna Lily: Father is a guardian of the family member

The Thai name for the canna lily is “Buddha Raksa,”which literally means “protected by the grace of the Lord Buddha.”,and since the color yellow represents the birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol, the canna lily was selected by the Volunteer Society of Thailand in 1980 as the flower to symbolize National Father’s Day on December 5. For children to give to their fathers yellow canna lilies is therefore an expression of the love and respect they unconditionally have for the person who helps keep the family together and nurtures its members with care. 

 Ixora flowers/Eggplant flowers/Bermuda grass:  Student virtue

Thai people admire their teachers as their parents; therefore we have Wai Kru (Thai Traditional Ceremony) which means the ritual of paying respects to the teachers. Below are listed of flowers which students will give to the teacher for their own virtue.

 1. Ixora flowers represent sharp wisdom.
2. Eggplant flowers represent humility and politeness.
3. Bermuda grass represents perseverance and endurance.

Ixora Flowers

Bermuda grass

Eggplant flowers

Thai elephant can paint.

               

Paint made by elephant

   Wow!!!. I starring at the painting and I could not believe that these elephants have created masterpieces. It took them only 15 minutes to create those beautiful paintings. It would take me more times and less beautiful to make the same kind of images. I saw the 2 years old little one use his little trunk carry a paintbrush, holding his truck while thinking what he should paint next. He looks alike human using hand and think before paint. It is just wow. It is amazing that the elephant can definitely paint.

Customers reserved the paints, the price range from 2000- 6000 Baht

 

You may wonder how their trainers (Mahout) trained them. The first step for the young elephants was to learn to hold the brush in their trunk. Initially, the calves were reluctant to pick up a paint brush and it took more than a month of persistence before the would-be artists.  

The next step for the mahouts was to train them to actually put paint onto paper. Mahout has treated them with care just like they are their giant kids.

                            

Thai Ladies

Thai ladies are  quite tender and gentle by  nature.Thai ladies are always  smiling and hence the name "The Land of Smiles". The lovely smile of the ladies in Thailand reflect good spirit of the poeple in general and happiness around. Since Bangkok is a hub of fashion, most of the Thai ladies always look stylish and are a treat to the eyes.It’s amazing how many  ladies in  their 50s and 60s still wear jeans and look incredible good doing so.


Thai ladies in each region have different appearance and characters.

Bangkokian Lady

Bangkokian Ladies are the most stylish,independant girls with light complextion. Most of them have a Chinese descent background.

Northern Thailand is known as the ‘Region of Beautiful Women and the Ladies here have lighter complexions and are known for their sweet temperament.

Southern ladies have the darkest skin tone with large eyes.They are known for their strong character or being quite spicy.

North Eastern Ladies have an attractive honey tanned- skin tone with the over high cheekbones.According to her beauty and physique.Issarn lady is considered the most attractive to any nationality

North Eastern Lady

Northern Lady

Southern Lady

SAWASDEE KA :-)

I love the "wai"  : Thai greeting

In Western countries people say hello and shake hands.In Thailand we  wai accompanied by a very pleasant "sawadee ka" or "sawadee krap".  It is the most warm, friendly and welcoming greeeting  on earth

How to Wai?  

We place the palms and fingers of both our hands together as in a prayer position in the center of our bodies while bending your head down toward your hands. Keep your fingers close together. Wai is pronounced like the word "why" in English.

Who should we Wai?  The wai is a mark of respect for position and age. For Thais, different levels of the closed hands can show different degrees of respect. The higher the joined hands are held in relation to the face is an indication or more respect or reverence .As a rule, if someone wai you, you should always wai back. However, it is not considered correct to wai children or to wai someone who is thanking you for your patronage. 

Beside Greeting The 'Wai' is also used for

1) Thank you

2) Good Bye 

3) Apologize

4) Praying to the Buddha

In *general* as a tourist it isn't necessary to wai anyone, but to smile and nod respectfully in return.