Wai Khru Ram Muay

 

 

In yesterday's blog, I wrote about the students of Tahsang Village performing "Wai Khru Ram Muay".

The complexity, beauty, and hypnotic nature of the ritual is dificult for me to describe in words.  I know that my description of the music as being like "snake charmer" music did not do it much justice.

Today I found a very good clip on Youtube that shows a Wai Khru Ram Muay performed by three fighters.  In a Muay Thai match, the Wai Khru Ram Muay would be performed inside of the ring by the two fighters after they had first entered the ring and paid respects to each of the corners of the ring.  In a Muay Thai match, the fighters may or may not perform their Wai Khru Ram Muay at the same time or in unison. Their movements are highly individualized but share common elements.  Besides paying respect to Buddha, their teachers, their trainers, their country, there is a certain psychological intimidation element to the Wai Khru Ram Muay.

The link to the Youtube video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/OPK5JtxjIM0

Our four year old grandson, Peelawat, performs his own versions of the Wai Khru Ram Muay; I suspect it is something that he has picked up from the older boys at school.  This weekend, I will share this video along with some others of Wai Khru Ram Muay with him and show him a special movement - "Chang" (elephant).

Duang and I attended a match in Pattaya.  The fighters were performing their Wai Khru Ram Muay when one of the fighters went to his knees bent his forehead to the mat and rose his torso upright with his right arm and hand placed at his chin to simulate an elephant's trunk - the place went crazy.  I have practiced the movement ever since and now that he is four, I will pass it along to Peelawat.

I think that it is going to be another great weekend.

Tahsang Village School Sports Day

 

 The end of December, in Thailand, is a special time.  It is a special time, not because of Christmas for the country is 97% Buddhist, but because it is the time of the year when schools conduct their Sports Day(s).

Twice before my wife and I have attended Sport Days that Tahsang Village School has participated in.  This year was an even more special time for the students of the school; their school was hosting the event.

The Sport Day is actually conducted over five days with the last day being like a mini Olympics between competing village schools - complete with opening ceremony, dance routine, and an Olympic flame. Four local schools for children 3 years old to 15 years old were participating in the grand event.

We drove out to Tahsang Village early on Friday 28 December in order to watch the parade of the students from Tahsang Village the short distance to the school at the perimeter of the village.

Some Tahsang Village School Students Awaiting Their Marching Orders

 Each of the competing schools had their individual assembly points along the main street in Tahsang Village. Each school had their students dress in the school uniform.  Within each individual school has a distinctive uniform for their students based upon their age group.  As seems only fitting, the youngest students were at the front of the school's contingent. As is befitting of any marching group. the schools contingent were lead by a drum major or much prettier Isaan version of a drum major.

Bem and Friend Ready to Lead Tahsang Village School Students

The older girls who lead their school's students are dressed in outfits, or rather costumes that the school had rented from a shop in nearby Kumphawapi. Here in Isaan, people are not wealthy and surely do not have money to buy specialized clothing that would wear only a couple of times a year.  Instead of buying, people will rent certain clothing for special events such as this or a wedding.  Many people will rent very beautiful and classy clothing for their wedding.  There are also costumes that are fit for royalty of a long gone era.  There are also costumes that you often see in entertainment establishments in Pattaya, Bangkok, or Phuket.

Bem Leads Her Fellow Students On To the Field

Some of the schools had some of their older girls dressed in traditional Isaan clothing while others had their students carrying the flags of the ASEAN nations along with students dressed in traditional clothing of the peoples of the ASEAN members. The ASEAN member states are Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Philippines. They are a regional association that hopes to evolve into a European Union type organization.  The absence of China in the group leads me to suspect that this group is associating as an economic as well as political balance to China in the region.

After the schools had assembled on the field of competition, there was a ceremony to raise the Thai flag, firing of three fireworks, opening speeches, lighting of the Olympic flame or rather the lighting of the pot of charcoal and finally an awards presentation.

Duangchan was awarded a certificate of appreciation by Tahsang Village School for her support and contributions during 2012.  Duang had attended the school for four years but had to leave to help support the family by working in the fields when she was ten years old.  Besides the current students being relatives and friends from the village, I suspect that Duang enjoys being able to help others.  She contributes milk, food, and snacks to the students for special events.   It was nice to see her generosity and support for the students recognized.

Tahsang Village Students Perform Wai Khru Ram Muay

Just as for the opening of the Olympics there was a dance routine for the Sports Day. As hosts for the event, Tahsang Village was responsible for the routine.  They did a fantastic job!  Tahsang Village School has 48 students and I believe all of them participated in the routine. The students wore their blue and red uniforms accessorized with a red headband invoking the mongkhon worn by actual Muay Thai fighters.  The students preformed a stylized "Wai Khru Ram Muay".  The Wai Khru Ram Muay is a warm up activity resembling a dance prior to competing in a Muay Thai match.  Besides preparing the fighter physically and mentally, it demonstrates respect for the teachers and the trainers of Muay Thai.  It is accompanied by unique music which reminds me of the music you hear in old movies where a snake charmer is performing.  For me, the Wai Khru Ram Muay is the best part of most matches.  The movements and music are hypnotic and steeped with a long history.  The students performed it very well.

The Wai Khru Ram Muay is an individualized activity with each fighter selecting the movements to demonstrate his skills as well as personality.  The activity by the Tahsang Village students was meant to be a choreographed routine performed in unison.  To the most part it succeeded in that intent.  However as the saying goes, "There is one in every crowd".

I had left the sidelines and walked to the middle of the field to get some better close up photographs of the students.  As I approached the back side of the performing students, three year old "Eat" broke from formation and re positioned himself directly in front of me.  Then in perhaps in a more genuine display of respect for the tradition of the Wai Khru Ram Muay broke into his own set of moves with huge amount of enthusiasm and unbridled joy.

"Eat" Performing His Own Wai Khru Ram Muay

Eat marches to the beat of a different drummer but you can always count on him marching enthusiastically.  Having marched and on occasion danced to different drummers, I appreciate both Eat's individuality and enthusiasm   I just hope that it does not get him into too much trouble!  No matter, he put on quite a show and was appreciated by the audience.

After the performance concluded. the competitions got underway.  There were running races, relay races, ping pong, volleyball, futbol (soccer), taekraw, and petanque.  There was also an unofficial competition between the schools for enthusiasm - blaring sound systems and students performing competing dance routines vied for bragging rights around the field.

No Need for Track Shoes or Even Shoes to Race In Isaan

It was obvious that many of the younger students did not understand the sports competition but that did not prevent them from enjoying themselves.  They had a good time playing with their friends from school and from the other local villages.  Perhaps best of all, they enjoyed eating and drinking.  The school had food for sales at a nominal price.  Many of the local food vendors had set up their stalls along the perimeter of the school grounds so there was ice cream, ice tea, soft drinks, grilled squid, grilled chicken (all parts), grilled pork, pauk pauk, and other local specialties for sale.  There were a couple carnival type booths for breaking balloons with darts, shooting things with a corks fired from a gun, and ring toss for prizes.  There was also a large inflated slide for children to play on.

Besides the teachers and students there were many spectators at the event. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers, sisters aunts, and uncles all attended the event. They enjoyed themselves watching the children and of course - gossiping amongst themselves.  Duang's Aunt, "Momma Glasses", showed up with a full bottle of whiskey that did not remain full for long.  Everyone was enjoying themselves but then again that is what typically happens when the Lao Loum people get together.

Eat Enjoying Some Ice Cream

Too Young To Go To School, But Old Enough To Enjoy A Cucumber

Tahsang Village School has only 48 students so they did not fair all that well in the sports competition.  If the goal of the day was to win and not lose, the day was a bad day for them.  However, you could not determine that by looking at the faces of the students or the adults.  For them it was a great day, and I would have to agree, because the goal as it is every day is to enjoy life, the life that you have and not the want you would like.  They had tried their best.  They had enjoyed the company of their friends, teachers and family.
Who knows?  Maybe they will win, next year.

Tahsang Village School Fans

Planting Rice - In January?

My Sister-In-Law Planting Rice on her Land

I have photographed people in Southeast Asia planting rice many times but those times have always been in July or August.  Last week we received a phone call from Duang's older sister telling us that they would be planting rice on Friday, 4 January.  She has a small farm just outside of Tahsang Village where she and her family grow rice, sugar cane, corn, and vegetables along with raising one cow and one water buffalo. They used to have pigs raised on their land but now cultivate mushrooms. The pigs were actually being raised by a poor family from their Christian Church.  Duang's sister let the family borrow the land.  Generosity is very common in the Lao Loum culture of Isaan.

Duang's two cousins and their families have joined their parents in living on the farm now.  That is how it is in Isaan, many children take care of their parents by helping on the farm. In return they have a place to live.

We were going out to the village to bring our grandson to our home to spend the weekend so it worked in perfectly with our plans.  The truth be known, we often accommodate family activities into our plans.  Besides the enjoyment of spending time with the family, there are always plenty of interesting people as well as activities to photograph.  We quite often will get phone calls informing us of something that people think that I would be interested in taking photographs of.  The fact is that there is very little that I am not interested in taking photographs and eventually writing about.

Duang's Cousin Brings A Rack of Rice Plants Out to the Paddies

Rice planting in January?  That was going to be a first for me to photograph.  Rice is typically planted here in July.  The reason that it is typically planted in July is because of the rainy season, the monsoons and has nothing to do with temperatures.  We are now in our "cold" season.  Night time temperatures typically get down to 65 F and there have been a couple nights when it has been down to 58 F.  The day time high temperatures are around 85 F.  This is my favorite time of the year - no air conditioning, no ceiling fans, no sweating or rather "much less sweating" for me.  It is also the time of no rain.  I like that too but then again I do not grow rice.

Planting Rice Seedlings In A Prepared Flooded Paddy

Here in Isaan, rice is grown using the wet cultivation technique.  Rice seed, saved from the previous harvest, is broadcast over a prepared and flooded paddy.  The seeds sprout and form a thick green carpet.  Insecticides are used to protect the seedlings.  After about one and one half months, when the sprouts are approximately 24 inches long (61 cm), the seedlings are pulled up from their mucky bed.  About four inches (10 cm) of the top of the seedlings are cut off.  The harvested seedlings are then transplanted in a final prepared flooded paddy.  In clusters of 3 to 4 seedlings, they are pushed approximately five inches (13 cm) into the 12 inch (30 cm) deep muck of the flooded paddy.  The rice grows in the flooded paddy for three months.  The rice paddy is allowed to dry out before the rice is harvested.  The cut stalks dry in the sun for three day before they are removed from the paddy.  Rain and water are detrimental to the harvesting of the rice.

Because of the need to have water to keep the paddies flooded during the growth stage of the rice, most farmers in Isaan produce only one crop a year.  Here in Isaan the rain falls from May until late October so the growing season is from July to late October.  Farmers do not have access to the large amount of water, cheap water, to grow during the dry season from November to May.

I had not been out to my sister-in-law's farm in two years.  I was shocked at some of the changes.  The farm is located at the edge of a large floodplain. Over the past two years a slough has been constructed along the back end of the farm.   I checked with Duang and she told me that her brother-in-law hired a company to dig the big ditch and that other land owners had paid for the work done along their property lines. No building permits, environmental impact studies, or permits were required prior to doing the work.  Now there is apparently a source of water as well as a source of fish year around for those property owners.  Duang's family is taking advantage of the new supply of plentiful and cheap water to grow a second crop of water.

My Brother-In-Law Planting With New Floodplain  Berm In the Background

For me besides the opportunity to take some family photos of rice planting, the day offered opportunities to do some experimentation with my photography.  Since it is "cold" season, I was taking late afternoon photographs. There was no need to avoid the heat of the day.  Since the shortest day of the year was less than a month ago, the late afternoon Sun is also lower in the sky than it is in July.  The quality of light now as well as the brilliant blue sky give elements for more interesting photographs of an activity that I have photographed many times before.

Working Together In the Late Afternoon

The great opportunities for photographs also presented challenges - especially for the automated functions of today's high tech digital cameras.  Modern cameras can take acceptable photographs by determining the aperture based upon the selection of  "film" speed and shutter speed, or by determining the shutter speed based upon the selection of "film" speed and aperture.  Many times this automation is not effective do to conditions outside of the "norm".

On the afternoon that I was going to photograph the rice planting I knew that automated functions would not work.  The bright background would cause the foreground, the people, to be too dark.  If I metered so that the people would be properly exposed, the background would be much too bright i.e. "blown out".  The background would have no detail.  There would be no blue sky, green vegetation, or rice stalks in the background. I was hoping for more dramatic effects in my photographs.

The solution to get more dramatic photographs was to go back to basics and taking the photographs the old fashioned way - manually.

I put my camera into "manual" mode, set the shutter speed high enough and aperture high enough to keep the background on the darker side and used an on camera flash with a Flashbender light modifier set to 1/4 power and also on "manual" to provide fill light for the foreground thus providing a more balanced exposed photograph.

Isaan Gothic

My Brother and Sister-In-Law

Posing Time Is Over, Time to Go Back to Work

As wonderful as modern technology and automation are, they do not always provide the best solution for every set of conditions or circumstances.  They will often provide "acceptable' results but not very often will they provide "exceptional" results.  For "exceptional" results and especially for conditions that are not "norm", the old time tested methods need to be used. Having been raised in a time and place where we were taught to seek and produce "exceptional" results, I am grateful that I still know the old ways.

Local Markets

On New Years Day morning, on our way out to Tahsang Village, we stopped at the local market in Kumphawapi.  We needed some offerings and food for our visit to a special Monk near the village where my Mother-in-Law was born. 

 

At the local markets, just about anything can be purchased - clothing, hardware, prepared foods, flowers, plants, DVDs, CDs, meat, seafood, turtles, eels, snakes, frogs - basically if it is alive or was once alive, it is for sale. Local people and people from outlying villages shop at these local markets.

In all villages there are small, very small, markets where villagers can buy certain necessities such as cooking oil, sauces, soap, shampoo, canned mackerel, soda, beer, whiskey, snack foods and sometimes eggs and a few vegetables. These markets supplement villager's shopping trips to the local markets.

Local markets are located throughout towns and cities in Isaan. In rural areas, there are markets set up alongside the road where people gather to sell and buy. Some of the markets are temporary setups on specified evenings of the week (night markets).

Duang Buying Some Live Eels to Bring to Monk

Local markets are a combination of indoor permanent facilities and temporary outside facilities. The indoor facilities are large dark open sided buildings or a series of connected buildings with corrugated sheet metal roofs. Inside there are rows and rows of fixed raised tables where the vendors set out their goods to sell. Outside facilities consist of a low raised wood rough platforms typically covered with plastic tablecloths upon which the merchandise is displayed along with a small spring scale to weigh the goods.

A large umbrella protects the goods and vendor from the elements. Sometimes there is a small plastic chair or aluminum lawn chair for the vendor but quite often they sit atop the platform along with the goods.  

We were shopping at the local market because the food is cheaper than at the big international stores, and most importantly the selection for the types of foods that the Lao Loum people eat is much greater there.

Fresh Food Being Cooked Over a Charcoal Fire

Shopping in the local market is not just the matter of going in, grabbing what you need, paying for it and getting out. These local markets in Isaan also are centers of gossip and social interaction. People end up meeting their friends and relatives at the market so they stop and talk. The vendors also join in and ask questions about family matters. The simple task of selecting vegetables to buy also requires an involved conversation - to ensure the best quality, best price and most likely most importantly of all be perceived as a "kuhn jai dai" - a good person, someone with a good heart.

Part of the Fresh Fish and Seafood Section of the Market

Dried Fish For Sale

Pig's Heads At A Station of One of the Pork Vendors

Scattered throughout the interior of the indoor portion of the Kumphawapi market there are large charcoal grills where fish and meat are cooked. Large metal ducts take the smoke and fumes up and out through the sheet metal roof. Cooked products are lined along the counter for sale. In other areas people use propane gas burners to cook sweets. The sweets are typically corn or rice with coconut as well as sugar added. I particularly enjoy the corn kernel- shredded coconut waffles fresh out of the waffle iron.

Fresh Fruit, Mangosteens, 25 Baht a Kilogram ($0.38 a pound)

Another Fruit Vendor, Everyday Is "Wear What You Want Day" At The Talat Sao

Inside the market the aisles are very narrow as well as crowded. We had arrived around 7:30 A.M. so it was the height of the morning market rush.  In addition to buying items for the day and days ahead, many people were buying their breakfast. You need to be careful walking because the concrete floors are not level, have abrupt changes in elevation, and are in various states of disrepair. Lighting levels are low inside the market with illumination provided by a small number of exposed fluorescent tubes and bare light bulbs. Interestingly, many of the bare light bulbs are now the eco-friendly fluorescent type. An occasional cat or street dog will also wander by to further complicate navigating through the market.

A Stall Selling Dry Goods and Some Goods that are Wet in Bottles

Some of the vendors, typically those who are selling canned goods have updated their booths with small TVs or stereos. This provides some entertainment and distraction for their children or grandchildren who accompany the vendors.

Typical Thai Desserts Being Made For Sale

Soup's On!

Between the sights, sounds, and smells, a stop at the local market is always entertaining as well as interesting.  There is also no telling what you may learn about just anyone, too.  I have written several times before that there are no secrets in Isaan.  The local market specializes in ensuring that and for free!

Duang Headed Out of the Talat Sao in Kumphawapi

 

Fresh Plaa-Muck

 

 

New Years Day is celebrated in Thailand as well as Chinese New Year, Thai New Year (Songkran) and various Hill Tribe new year celebrations.

All the New Year celebrations are times for families and friends to come together for eating, drinking, singing and dancing.  These occasions are also times when special merit making, as opposed to merriment making, can be earned through offerings as well as special religious rituals.

Just as there are special foods associated with specific holidays such as Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, New Years Jan 1 is a time for many people in Thailand to eat plaa muck, which you most likely know better as squid or calamari.

On our way out to Tahsang Village on 1 Jan to gather up the clan to go see a special Monk, we stopped at the market in Kumphawapi to pick up some items for the trip as well as offerings to the Monks.  We had gotten up early at 5:00 AM so we arrived at the market around 7:00 A.M.

It appears that the recent opening of the Tesco-Lotus Superstore just down the road from the traditional Kumphawapi market has not adversely affected the talat sao (morning market).  The market well well stocked and it was just as crowded as when I first encountered it 6 years ago.  I find that reassuring because just as I believe in local solutions for local problems and conditions, I believe that the more a community can be self-sufficient the better served its members will be.  Keeping the profits of groceries in the community is more beneficial and more market responsive to the local community's needs than shipping it off to large urban centers or worst of all - offshore multinational corporations.

After we had finished our shopping, which will be subject of a separate blog, we returned to our truck parked across the street in the large vacant lot next to the banana seller's stall.  I heard an announcement from a truck's P.A. system and asked Duang what it was all about.  She told me that the man was selling "plaa muck" (squid).  I looked and saw about three cars from our truck, a man in the back of a pick up truck filled with several plastic coolers.  I wandered over to check it out.

Fresh Live Squid For Sale - 400 Miles from the Gulf of Thailand

The vendor had opened one of the plastic ice chests and with a wood stick was stirring up the water in it.  The water exploded with black liquid and the frenzied movements of white withering squid appendages - the cooler was filled with live squid.  Live squid - beautifully formed, firm and with bright yellows eyes - 400 miles, 8 hours from the Gulf of Thailand!

Duang caught up with me and as I took photographs, she translated my questions and the vendor's replies.  The man and his wife had gone to the docks and purchased the squid right off of the boats that night.  After loading up their plastic containers, they drove 8 hours through the night to Kumphawapi.  Although New Years in January is an official one day holiday, many people take 5 days for their celebrating.  The squid vendor will remain in the area and return to his home in Bangkok after five days.

Stirring the Squid

The man had installed a series of battery powered aerators and pumps to keep the squid alive.  Similar arrangements are also used in the market to keep the fish, eels, and prawns fresh and more importantly alive.  It doesn't get any fresher than being alive.  There is no concern about purchasing bad seafood when it is still wiggling when you leave the market.

The man tended the squid while his wife handled the customers.  There was a simple spring scale on the back of the tailgate and the money was kept in a pouch secured around her waist. Customers selected their squid from several that had been removed from a large cooler and displayed in a plastic tray.  The vendor's wife weighed the selected squid on the scale, placed them in plastic bag and collected the money from the customer.

I was very impressed for many reasons.  The first reason was the realization that although I was 400 miles from the ocean I was able to buy fresher squid than most of my friends who live near the water back in Connecticut.  I could buy it not because of any technological advancement that Thailand has over the USA but because of an individual's initiative to meet a market's needs.

The market system of Southeast Asia, for me, represents a paradox.  Although the markets do not have much in terms of commercial refrigeration and advanced packaging, I believe that the food is actually fresher for the consumer.  Without widely used refrigeration and packaging, the food has to be fresher.  Any spoilage would be obvious to the consumer who can handle the items, inspect the items, and smell the items before purchasing.

I was secondly impressed with the ability of a person here in Thailand with some initiative to create a business.  I can only begin to imagine the permits and licenses required if I were to decide to create a similar business back in the USA such as driving up to Maine and filling up ice chests with lobsters to then keep alive and drive to New York City (roughly 400 miles) to sell in some parking lot. For a start I know that there would be business license(s), commercial plates required for the truck, health permit(s), tax permits, and God knows what regulations to be followed for transporting live seafood.

Here is Thailand as well as countries such as Vietnam, Laos, China it is very simple for a person to set up a family business.  It is all left up to the individual's imagination and initiative. As the Nike slogan says ... They "Just do it".

In the USA if you were to hire a teenager every week to care for your children while you and your spouse went out for an evening or two, you, to properly follow the law, would have to consider the babysitter to be your employee.  As an employee, you would have to have a taxpayer number, make Social Security contributions (old age, and health) on behalf of your employee, withhold the employee's required Social Security contributions, withhold Federal taxes from your employee's wages, withhold state taxes from your employee's wages, contribute to unemployment insurance for the employee, report all kinds of information to both the State and Federal Government. You would also be responsible for maintaining all kinds of records.  Oh - you are also responsible to first determine that your babysitter has the legal right to work in the USA.  Now is that any way to run a country or to encourage people to start businesses or even to hire any one who has not established themselves as a business?