Back In The USA

I have been back in the USA for a week now.

I finished my second full day at Yellowstone National Park.

Although it rained almost all day, it was a productive day. These are some shots of a young grizzly bear on Dunraven Pass in the rain. Haven't had time to edit all the photos or to write a blog on the activities of this trip.

I will get around to it soon.

Fawn Leb Dance

In addition to being a significant religious attraction, Wat Phra Doi Suthep outside of Chiang Mai has cultural offerings.

On the day of our visit, two university students were performing classical Thai dances in the courtyard that surrounded the various buildings of the Wat complex. There was also an orchestra of 7 younger students of approximately high school age playing traditional Thai instruments to accompany the dancers.

Of the various dances performed, my favorites were the "Tee Dance" or "Umbrella Dance" which we had previously seen performed at the Khantoke Dinner and Show and the "Fawn Leb" Dance.

For the "Fawn Leb", a Northern Thailand dance style, the dancers wear 6 inch long brass fingernails on their fingers to accentuate the movements of their hands. The intent of the "Fawn Leb" dance is to reflect the beauty, calm, and peacefulness of the Northern Thai (Lanna) people. The long fingernails extend the supple fingers of each dancing thus emphasizing the graceful movements or both their arms and hands.

The dancers wore their hair in the chignon style accentuated with a yellow floral tiara along with a chain of jasmine flowers. Their silk costumes were traditional, simple and elegant - all of which complimented the grace, beauty, and elegance of the performance.

The orchestra wore plain and simple farmer style clothing - heavy cotton yellow tunics with a black wrap around cotton belt and loose cotton green trousers. They played various string, wind, and percussion instrument to accompany the dancers.

It was all very beautiful, emotionally uplifting and memorable.

Yao Hill Tribe People

The Yao people are found in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and China. They are believed to have originated in China and migrated south. Migrations were centered around the opium trade in the 1800's and 1900's as well as the Mien peoples support of the CIA's secret war in Laos.

Today after the heavy suppression of the opium trade by Thai authorities in the late 20th century, the Yao cultivate rice, corn, cabbages, other vegetables and fruit.

Today there are approximately 55,000 Yao living in Thailand.

The Yao people are well known for being the businessmen of the Hill Tribe peoples. They are peaceful and skillful at resolving conflicts. These skills have assisted them greatly in assimilating into Thailand.

Yao women are well known for their needlepoint and embroidery skills. They install the cross stitching from the backside of the cloth as opposed to the customary front side by Westerners. Sales of their handicrafts supplements family income greatly.

Many older Yao women shave their eyebrows as it is the traditional practice. It is also traditional that Yao women shave their bodies but I am unable to confirm if the practice continues - and I am not interested in confirming either.

Yao women wear very distinctive clothing. They wear a large black turban on their head which is sometimes adorned with silver decorations. Yao men are skilled silversmiths so it is not surprising that silver ornaments would be worn.

The women wear a long dark blue or black jacket that is trimmed with thick deeply red boa on the lapels. They wear loose pants that often have intricate needlepoint designs on them.

These women are very skillful embroiders and adept at needlepoint. Their village was filled with booths selling Yao handicrafts.

The textile art was very pretty and well crafted. It was difficult to resist buying all that you wanted. I actually ran out of cash and was forced to stop. There were not any ATM machines in the village and I suggested that they make arrangements for some to be installed.

I told them that I did not understand the origins for the name of "Yao" people but I suspected that it may possibly be attributable to all the falang (foreigners) that visit, buy their beautiful art work, look in their wallet and exclaim "Yao! - I've spent all my money!"

Morning With The Monks

The weather has changed and I guess that we are now officially in the rainy season.

Last Friday we spent a very rainy day in Bangkok dealing with American bureaucracy - not that American bureaucracy is any worse than any other but when it involves your own country it is much more difficult to tolerate if not to accept.

On our bus trips between Udonthani and Bangkok, the seasonal weather change was most apparent the further south that we were. The rains have flooded many of the rice paddies and it is amazing what a difference a little water makes. The flooded fields that a month ago were desolate and barren are now bursting with bright green rice shoots. Farmers were busy in the fields preparing the land for planting. Earlier this month, on May 11th, Thailand celebrated "Royal Ploughing Day". The festivities which were telecast over national television, involve royal officials plowing the earth outside of the Grand Palace in Bangkok using a team of oxen. The ceremony in conjunction with religious observations is an offering for a good harvest and is an indicator if it will be a good harvest. After the oxen have finished plowing they are offered plates of grass, corn, rice, beans, sesame, liquor, and water. The Royal Soothsayer observes what the oxen choose to eat and makes his prediction for this year's crops.

This year the oxen ate corn and grass. The Royal Soothsayer has predicted a good year with abundant rains and healthy crops. It is too early to determine the accuracy of the crop prediction, but we have been getting plenty of rain - so far.


Today we went into Udonthani to celebrate Duang's brother's new home. He has bought a home on the street next to Wat Matchimiwat where many of the Luuk Thung performers live. He had rented a place there but his landlord needed money, so she sold him a place for 40,000 baht ($1,143 USD).


We arrived early at his home and work was still going on getting it prepared. His place is directly across the street from the Wat so I grabbed one of my cameras as well as the video camera and walked over to the Wat. There always seems to be something going on at a Wat in Thailand. Even when there is nothing exciting going on at a Wat, they are refuges from the din and chaos of the city or village life. Wats always have many trees and plants on their grounds. The trees and flowers on the Wat's grounds provide a very peaceful as well as tranquil respite from the world - including dealing with bureaucracy! This morning was no exception. The restful noises of the chirping birds was joined by the rhythmic sweeping of coarse brooms on the concrete and tile paving. The Monks of the Wat were busy cleaning the grounds. There were 30 Monks busily sweeping up dirt, debris and leaves. The Monks were mostly young boys and young men. Two older Monks were obviously in charge but they also swept along with the boys.



The Monks toiled mostly in silence. Being young boys, despite being Monks, the workers were quite amused and giddy about being photographed. Their smiling and curiosity did not interfere with their duties. Fortunately they were able to complete the cleanup prior to the onset of today's rains. I ended up finding shelter beneath an exterior stairwell of one of the Wat's buildings. Our rains are not day long events. Although it may rain most days, the actual duration for the rain is around 2 hours. Today the rain although heavy at times was over in twenty minutes.


When the rain had completely stopped, a small procession entered the Wat grounds and circled the assembly hall three times. A young man dressed in white lead the procession. He was going to be ordained as a Monk today. His family and friends were with him to witness this major milestone in a Thai man's life.

I joined the witnesses and spent the entire ceremony photographing and filming the ritual. Although I had witnessed the ordination ritual several times, each time that I do I understand more and develop a greater appreciation for the tradition and devotion associated with the ceremony. I am also amazed at how free and open the Thai people are towards "outsiders". Photographing and filming of Buddhist ceremonies is not an issue. Interjecting yourself into a family's celebration is not resisted or resented. In fact at the end of the ceremony, a representative of the family invited me to join them for dinner. As best as I could I thanked them and explained to them that I was having dinner with my brother-in-law across the street as part of his house warming celebration
I returned to my brother-in-law's home and observed the preparations for the arrival of the Monks. Around 10:45 A. M. five Monks arrived from the Wat. The Monks sat atop the elevated concrete structures that had been built in the front part of the house. Sahts were placed on the tile floor for everyone else to sit. Plastic chairs were also placed outside on the sidewalk for guests to sit. There was a ceremony lead by a Brahman with the Monks supplementing the ritual. After the ceremony, the Monks were given offerings of food. There was a great quantity and variety of food given to the Monks. When they completed eating their meal, the leftover food was taken outside of the house and the neighbors, and other guests ate it as part of their meal.

The Dancing Lao Loum Farmer - Video

Yesterday, I learned how to post a video to this blog. It was actually not difficult at all to do.

I had mentioned about perhaps posting a video of a new friend dancing at the Kham Chanot concert. Today I am posting that video.

He was a local farmer that absolutely enjoyed himself as well as the Lao Kao (moonshine whiskey which is very popular in Isaan) He took a liking to me and ensured that no but he got took close to me while I was filming. He even got into a little directing - motioning me to come closer to the stage to get a closer view of the Go-Go girl that he was most interested in. I showed him how I could zoom in for closer shots without having to move. When I showed him in the camera monitor screen how I could zoom in for just that special shot that he wanted, he got all excited and started clapping me on the shoulder in appreciation. I then showed him how that wasn't very good in that it shook the camera and ruined the scene. I did not have to show him again.

This clip shows a little of the spirit and energy which is so often observable here in Isaan. The people really enjoy their music and dance. They while being modest are typically uninhibited at these events. The energy and enthusiasm along with the heavy drinking often leads to flare ups.

The concert on Saturday was no exception - there were some fist fights towards the end of the concert. As happens at every event that I have attended the flare ups are directly in front of the stage and involve teenagers. Unlike some concerts, Lady Boys (Kathoeys) were not involved. There were plenty of police around so matters were contained and were brief. No problem - everyone enjoyed themselves. Perhaps they did not enjoy themselves as much as the "Dancing Lao Loum Farmer" but not many people can.

Isaan Rocket Launch Video

This is a video clip of one of the rocket launches that we witnessed on 10 April 2009 at Tahsang Village in the Isaan Region of Thailand.


I had previously written about the events in my blog entitled "Friday 10 April - Isaan Rocket Program" posted on 4/16/9. Another related blog entry to this tradition is "31 August 2008 - Prapheni Bun Bang Fei" posted on 1/9/9


Photographs of the event can be viewed at //http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/gallery/7968595_fFoZv/1/517645776_Lrqf2

Video of Tham Chanot Go-Go Girls

Yesterday, I wrote about the concert at the doorway to the water underworld.

Today I am attaching a clip from the over two hours of video that I shot of the show. I am learning that filming is not necessarily too difficult to accomplish but capturing good audio is very difficult. Although I set the camera's microphone to low setting, the sound is blown out due to the loudness of the speakers and intensity of the bass portion of the music.

If this experiment works out, I will most likely post some clips of a guy who became my friend during the show. He is the drunk guy dancing up a storm. He had moves that I had not seen in over 40 years and most likely won't see for another 40 - if I live that long!

I spent all day editing the video to produce a DVD for my brother-in law. I have a draft but I need to edit it some more to get it completely on a single DVD.

All this editing and viewing has inspired me - I will now create a gallery entitled "Go-Go Girls" at
http://hale-worldphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/8185157_q4YxR/1/534649341_xnoXd