Newly Found Treasures - Saht Weaving Time

Weaving A Colorful Saht

Throughout Isaan now, women are busy weaving sahts, woven reed mats, that are used for a variety of purposes.  Sahts are given as offerings to Monks.  They are given as gifts when people die, when people move into a new home and when a son is ordained as a Theravada Monk.

Sahts are used in place of furniture - they are placed on floors, the ground, on raised platforms for people to sit upon and to place vessels containing food rather than upon a table.  A saht is placed inside of a coffin prior to placing someone in the coffin.  Many people use a saht as a bed.  Babies and children often nap in a hammock that has a saht first placed in it.

The ubiquitous handicraft of weaving sahts has been the subject of some of my previous blogs.  The following links to three of the blogs provides a fairly good background to the tradition and process of making sahts.

http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/03/saht-weaving-time.html

http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/03/saht-weaving-rest-of-story.html

http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2013/02/saht-time-of-year-again-saht-weaving.html

This 2014 (2557) saht weaving season and in particular this blog entry is more about the frequently used Thai expression of "Same, same; but different"

Women are weaving now just like any other season - the work load in the fields has diminished.  The sugar cane harvest is winding up.  The new crop of cane has been put into the fields.  The only work related to rice, is men rebuilding or repairing the dikes around the paddies in anticipation of the return of the rains in May.  The rubber harvesting season concluded in December.

The weather has turned hot.  We are now approaching 40 degrees everyday (105F) so women are not spending as much time as they were two months ago when it was quite common to come upon clusters of people huddled around an extended family fire to keep warm.  Now you commonly encounter women outside of the house but underneath the shelter of a corrugated metal or thatched roof weaving sahts, cotton cloth or silk cloth.

The hotter temperatures these days also accelerate the initial drying out of the harvested Ly plants.  The plants are set out alongside village streets and home yards for the sun and relative low humidity to desicate them.  Once the reeds have been sufficiently dried, the women use a knife to split them into 4 or 8 pieces.  The reed slivers are then dyed bright colors over a wood fire, after which they are once again hung out in the open sun to dry.

March is also one of the three times a year when the Ly plants are harvested.  This March is no different than other March that I have experienced here in Isaan.

What is different is the motifs of the sahts that we found being woven by the local villagers as well as the width of the woven panels.  Prior to this week, the sahts that we had seen were a combination of  1 meter (39 inch) wide panels woven by two people on a flat loom set upon the ground.  Due to family matters we traveled out into the countryside, out along dirt roads into the sugar fields, the rubber plantations, the wood lots and fields of cassava, to a small village about one-one half hours from our home.

One evening when we were at the village, a man came to us and wanted to show us his home.  It turned out that he was the husband of Duang's friend from her days at Tahsang Village Elementary School.  We went with him and I was quickly stunned.  Underneath a thatched roof on a raised tiled concrete area illuminated by a single short florescent light tube, Duang's friend was busy weaving a saht.  She was using a small hand built loom sized so that one person could operate it.  The loom was a three dimensional device more closely resembling the hand built looms that local people use to weave cloth than the flat looms that I had previously associated with saht weaving.

Besides being narrower than the saht panels that I was familar with, the saht was extremely colorful and had design elements incorporated into it.  I had only seen sahts that were bands of alternating colors or some variation of checkerboard patterns.  The saht that she was working on had colorful butterflies.  It was gorgeous.

Encouraged by my enthusiasm for her work, Duang's friend then proceeded over the next fifteen minutes to bring more of her work from inside her house to show us.  It was absolutely astounding!  The sahts were the most colorful and artistic that I had ever seen.  Hmmm ... I am starting to write like Donald Trump sounds when he talks about his developments.  I will have to watch it!

Since the lighting was so poor, practically non-existent, we said that we would like to come back later this week to photograph the sahts and get more information to write a blog.  Duang also had her eye on buying the butterfly saht that the woman was working on.

Two days later we returned to their home in the morning to take photographs of her works as well as other villagers that we learned do similar work.

A Neighbor Weaving Saht

The Saht Being Woven

Another Neighbor Weaves A More Typical Saht

The sahts were even more impressive in the light of day.  Duang's friend has been weaving her beautiful sahts for two years.  I asked about how she knew what to make and how to make it.   It turns out that she, like Duang, can look at something and figure out how to make it.  Many times I have observed Duang intensely inspecting an article of clothing in a department store  Originally I thought that she was considering buying the clothing.  I now know that she is seeing how it is made.  Often we return home to have Duang pull out her steel rulers and curves, large paper, cloth measuring tape, and pencil to create a pattern for what she had inspected at the store.  Within a few days she is wearing the item at a very much reduced cost.

Duang's friend looks at magazines and traditional cloth for inspiration.  She then experiments to create her interpretation and vision out of dyed reeds for her sahts.  Upon very much closer inspection, I saw that the designs were created by having individual reeds (weft) of different colors than the background lying on top of the very thin nylon string of the warp.  Varying the number of warp threads covered by the reeds as well as the location of the overlap develops the designs as the saht grows.  The woman keeps track of her design development as she proceeds in the process.  Once she has fully developed her design, she weaves from memory.

"Fish" Saht With One of the Failed Attempts to Create the Fish Pattern

One of her sahts reflects the design development.  The saht that I refer to as the "Fish" Saht incorporates some early failed attempts to create a fish pattern.

The "Butterfly" Saht Which We Purchased

Duang's Friend, Tiim, Weaving Another "Butterfly" Saht

Home Outside Work Area With "Butterfly" Saht In Progress

It takes three days for Duang's friend, Tiim, to weave a saht.  The sahts are either three panels wide or two panels wide.  On her loom that her husband built, she produces  58 cm (22.5 inch) wide panels about 200 cm (6 feet) long.  The length of the panels is restricted by the geometry of the loom.  A loom with a higher horizontal bar (bamboo pole) would allow for a longer saht.  We purchased a "Butterfly" saht - two panels wide for and overall dimension of 1.2 meters wide (46 inches) and 2 meters long (6 feet)

Equipment For Binding Saht Panels

Tiim does not have the equipment necessary to bind the edges of the panels or to bind panels together.  However, there is another woman in the village that has the equipment (an industrial Juki sewing machine), knowledge, skill and desire to make and install bindings for sahts.  I had looked at the bindings of sahts and assumed that people purchased binding material approximately 2 inches wide to sew over the saht edges. Once again based upon how I expect things to be done in the USA, I had figured out, or rather incorrectly figured out how it is done here in Thailand.  As Duangchan frequently has to remind me "Thailand not same as America".

Bound Saht Along With Material For Binding

Here in Thailand, people purchase full sized cloth to be used as binding material for sahts.  They cut the cloth for the required width to bind the saht edges and to connect panels to each other.  The same material is cut and sewed to create handles and lashings for transporting the saht when it is folded up.

In addition to creating and installing bindings for the village sahts, the woman that we visited at the other side of the village, also weaves her own sahts.  Her sahts were also amazing - colors and designs.  She very willingly allowed me to photograph some of her sahts.

 

 

 



 

 





It was quite a discovery for us - one that I just had to share with others.  The quality of life is not solely defined by the amount of material items.  The quality of life, in regards to material aspects, is greatly influenced by the style and beauty of those material possessions.

Duang and I were extremely happy to observe how, in addition to asserting their self-sufficiency and self-reliance, the people of this village were able to incorporate their sense of style along with their artistic expression into their work.  We had found many treasures.

Often it takes getting out of the metropolitan areas and into, sometimes deep into, the countryside to experience the true depth and breadth of a culture.  I am extremely fortunate that my wife enjoys these types of quests and can give me so many of these opportunities.

Lessons from Photography

"Anticipation In Isaan"

I am too old and definitely too set in my ways to say that photography has taught me a great deal about life.  More likely my photography has been more influenced by my life experience and philosophy.  However, I am convinced that my photography experience has confirmed many of the lessons from my life.

I have written and I believe that although we inhabit the same planet, we live in different worlds.  Our individual worlds are formed and shaped by our perceptions of reality.  Our perceptions of reality are formed, shaped, as well as defined by our environment and more importantly by our individual life experiences.

Through the different prisms of our cultures we view the rest of the worlds outside of our comfort zones.  Our initial reaction when encountering something new or different is that it is not good.  Unfortunately for many people, the mere thought of encountering something new is enough deterrent to even seek new life experiences.

Last night, after attending a Theravada Buddhist funeral in an outlying small village here in Isaan, Duang and I attended a Morlam Lao show at a Wat near our home.  Duang's youngest brother stages and performs shows throughout the area.  Last night he was performing at a local Wat festival.  The festival which was being conducted in conjunction with Pha Wet or Phawet also was a fund raiser for the maintenance of the Wat (temple facilities).  We have attended many of these and always enjoy them.  I have hundreds of photographs of these events.  Despite having photographed all day with the temperature hitting 40 ... 40C (105F) and having so many photographs of Go-Go dancers getting dressed, applying their make-up, as well as performing, I brought along my camera gear - all 22 pounds in my nondescript backpack.

I went backstage, actually underneath the stage in an area enclosed by tarps, reserved for the performers.  I went to sit down and rest for the 1-1/2 hours before the start of the show.  I even told Duang who sat on the saht with me, that I was not going to be taking any pictures. Then, just as happens so often in life an opportunity was presented to me or I at least recognized a photographic opportunity.

One of the dancers had completed her preparations to the point where she decided to lay down in a hammock suspended from the scaffolding that supported the dance floor and bandstand above our heads.  While she lay in the hammock, she was using her smart phone.  The area underneath the stage was fairly dark, the only illumination being a very bright floodlight about 5 meters away pointed horizontally into the area so her face was essentially only illuminated by the light from her smart phone screen.

I really could not control the lighting of the area.  Just as in life, there are many things that you can not control.  The secret of life and photography is to control what you can control, not worry about what you can not control, and always ... make do with what you have.

I was fascinated by the lighting, shadows and mood created by the small amount of light form the dancer's phone.

I normally shoot in the aperture mode of my camera.  Digital cameras today have various modes in which they are programmed to take photographs.  Typically these modes include at least the following: Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Programmed, and Manual for any given photographer selected "film" speed (ISO setting).

In the Shutter Priority, the photographer selects the speed for the camera's shutter ( examples - 5 seconds, 1 second, 1/125 second , 1/2000 second) to operate at and the camera's electronics and software will automatically determine the aperture to create a "properly" exposed picture. "Properly" exposed is the camera's interpretation of the readings that it sensors are receiving and the results of the camera's microprocessors using those readings.  The result will be a picture where the mid of the subject matches or almost matches the mid tone of the photograph itself.

In the Aperture Priority, the photographer selects the size, f-stop, of the lens opening (examples - f-1.2, f-2.8,  f-22) for the camera to operate at and the camera's electronics and software will automatically determine the shutter speed to create a "properly" exposed picture. "Properly" exposed is the camera's interpretation of the readings that it sensors are receiving and the results of the camera's microprocessors using those readings.  The result will be a picture where the mid tone of the subject matches or almost matches the mid tone of the photograph itself.

The following is a photograph of the dancer with her phone.



Apeture Mode Picture - ISO 1600, 1/8th second, f2.8

What the ... ?  This is nothing like the scene that I described earlier in this blog!  I described and wrote about the scene from my perspective and sense of reality.  In this case my camera recorded the picture based upon its perspective and sense of reality.  My world and the camera's world are completely different!  In the case of the camera, its perspective is based upon the "reality" or if you prefer, the perception that "a properly exposed photograph is a picture where the mid tone of the subject matches or almost matches the mid tone of the photograph itself."  In this case, the camera lightened the entire scene up to achieve this result - a result that no where matched my reality.

This example also shows that the determination of a correct exposure is a subjective as well as well as interpretative exercise.  "Correct" is in the eye or experience of the beholder.  The camera interpreted this scene's exposure as "Correct" based upon its interpretation (programming) of proper.  My experience there last night convinces me that this exposure is wrong and no good.  So it happens everyday in our life - we make judgements and act on evaluations driven by our senses of reality.  Quite often in the case of cultural differences these judgements and actions are flawed and not justified.  Unlike errors in photography, errors related to cultures and our reactions to them often have disastrous consequences.

Since I selected the aperture reading of f2.8, and a "film speed" of 1600 the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second to produce its interpretation of a properly exposed picture.  With my input of film speed and lens opening, the camera had no freedom other than to choose 1/8th of a second.  Besides not matching my reality (experience) of the scene, the selection of 1/8th of a second created another problem, a problem that dooms this picture.  The picture is blurred because of camera shake.  The shutter speed is too slow to avoid recording movement of the camera because of my hand movements.

So is the case in life, there are consequences, some bad as well as many being unintended, to the actions or decisions that we make.  In digital photography, the consequences are quickly revealed, quickly understood, and easily rectified.  In life it is seldom the case as in digital photography.

I decided to shoot the scene in manual mode, a mode that I am finding myself shooting in more and more frequently recently.  This is the old fashioned way, where the photographer selects shutter speed, lens opening and "film" speed to better capture their experience or to create a different reality of their choosing.

Manual Mode Photograph - ISO 800, 1/40th second, f2.8

I lowered the ISO setting because I wanted to reduce the "noise" in the photograph ("grain" in film prints - speckles).  I just f2.8 because I did not want sharply focused details to show in the background.  I was seeking a "shallow depth of field"  Just for the hell of it or perhaps from experience I selected 1/40th second as a shutter speed.  I knew that it was about the slowest speed that I was capable of hand holding the camera without camera shake showing up in the photograph.

For the shot, less was better.  Less exposure created a better photograph.  It captured my experience better.  As often in life, less can be more and more often than not it is enough.

Since we were both enjoying the shoot, I decided to use a remote flash to my equipment.  Still in the manual mode and setting the flash output manually I took some more photographs of the dancer.

The above example is not exactly what I saw, my experience, but is an acceptable reality or interpretation of the dancer and her phone only in this case I was not relying on her phone to illuminate the scene.  For this example I controlled the amount as well as direction of the illumination in the scene to take the photograph.  This is not always possible, in photography or in life, to control major elements; nor is it essential as shown in the previous example of just illumination from the phone.  The key to success to to recognize and control what you can control while at the same time being able to exploit and effectively utilize what you are unable to control.

Using programmed modes will very often give "acceptable" photographs all other things considered.  But is photography or even life all about being acceptable or "good enough"?  Is not the goal to be "extraordinary", to be better than before, to be diverse, to stand out?

In taking full control of your camera, the manual mode. you have the capability, the freedom, to be creative.  The ability to be different rather than just conform to someone else's standards or interpretations is possible when we take control and responsibility for our camera's settings.

For me the same is true in life.  There is so much more to life when you control and take responsibility for your life rather than relying upon others to do it for you.

These are lessons from photography.

Salt of the Earth

Harvesting Salt - Ban Dung, Thailand

 "Salt of the Earth"

Lets drink to the hard working people
Lets drink to the salt of the earth
Lets drink to the two thousand million
Lets think of the humble of birth

 

   

Songwriters: JAGGER, MICK / RICHARDS, KEITH

Salt Of The Earth lyrics © ABKCO Music Inc.

 

 

My ambition and goal for my photography, as well as in writing this blog, is to extraordinary people doing ordinary things.  In so doing, I wish to show how different people appear, to provide a glimpse into other cultures, to celebrate the diversity of mankind and to demonstrate that, despite our appearances, we are so much alike.

 

Living here in Southeast Asia, I have plenty of opportunities to act on my ambition and to strive to fulfill my goal. I have been able to photograph many activities such as subsistence rice farming, sugar cane cultivation, brick making, knife making, cassava rice cultivation, melon farming, broom plant harvesting and countless cultural events of the various peoples who inhabit the region.

 

My quest has been made much easier by the friendliness of the people and the easy access to their daily work, activities, and celebrations.

 

Last Saturday, we drove out to Ban Dung to observe and photograph the production of salt - an activity that we had not watched before.

 

Recycled Sugar Bags Filled With Rock Salt

Alongside of Highway 2096, the road from Ban Dung to Ban Muang, just outside of Ban Dung is the salt production area.  Off to the right are a series of what could be mistaken for rice paddies.  Each of the flooded contained areas is about the size of the typical rice paddies here in Isaan.  However there is no vegetation growing in the contained areas or on or along the low dikes that border them.  The area around the dikes is a wasteland - crusty ground of various colors from brown to yellows to beige and to white.  The water contained in the paddies, which are actually evaporation ponds (salt pans), tends to be yellowish browns in hue.

 

When the rains have stopped, starting in October, the evaporation ponds are prepared and repaired for the upcoming production season.  When the rains return, typically in May, salt production halts due to the diluting effects of rain on the solar evaporation process.

 

 

 

Wells are drilled throughout the salt production area.  Fresh water is pumped into the wells to dissolve the underground salt formations.  The ensuing brine solution is then pumped through exposed PVC pipes throughout the evaporation area of the facility to fill the prepared salt evaporation ponds to a depth of approximately 10 inches.  In about 10 days the water level has decreased to about 4inches and salt crystals have precipitated out of the pregnant liquid.  Workers then harvest the rock salt by raking the crystals off the salt pond bottom using long pole squeegees into rows from which the workers will scoop the rock salt to fill recycled sugar bags.  Periodically workers come by with an "iron buffalo" (naguya) and wagon to collect the filled bags and transport them to a central location to be dumped in a large pile to await the arrival of buyer's large trucks.

 

Part Of Fluid Distribution System

 

Boys Playing At Salt Well

That is the technology and science regarding the salt production.  However like just about all things in life technology and science are just a part of the story.  The other part is people, the people who initiate, maintain, and control the processes .  It is the mostly anonymous and unidentified workers of our worlds that plant the crops, harvest the crops, process our foods, mine our minerals, create our modern necessities and conveniences. 

 

Harvesting Rock Salt Off Of Evaporation Pond Bottom

 

The salt production workers, for the most part, are unidentifiable.  Just like the rice farmers, the salt workers are covered head to toe.  They wear hats with large brims for protection from the strong sun.  For additional protection from the sun they cover their face with cloths leaving only their eyes exposed.  Where as Westerners will spend a great deal of money to obtain a tan during the winter and lay out exposed to the sun during the summer, here people spend money on special creams and wear additional clothing to prevent getting dark skin.  There is a bias against having dark skin because it identifies a person as an outside worker and member of the lower status groups.

 

 

 

Since they are working around so much salt and water, the workers also wear rubber boots and gloves.

 

Scooping Up Rock Salt

 

The workers appeared to be an equal mix of men and women with the women focusing on harvesting the salt and filling the bags while the men occupied themselves with loading the bags onto wagons, transporting them and emptying them on to a large pile.

 

An "Iron Buffalo" (Naguya) Hau;ing Bags Of Rock Salt

Most of the workers commute to the salt mine from Ban Dung and smaller surrounding villages.  However some of the workers, the supervisors, lived at the mine site.  No doubt their additional duties for the supplied housing involved providing security and maintaining the equipment as necessary outside of normal working hours.

 

Supervisor Housing Located Above Evaporation Ponds

 

We were driving along Highway 2096 when we spied the salt production area.  We turned and drove a short distance down a dusty dirt road to the center of a residential complex of the salt mine.  In the middle of the complex there was a large pile of rock salt.  At the far end of the area there was a large group of children huddled together on the ground playing some kind of game.  Off to the side of the children was the outhouses for the housing as well as workers in the field.  We parked the truck off to the side and out of the way.  Upon exiting the truck, as I was getting my camera backpack, Duang told the people that we came to see the work and to take pictures if it was OK.  There was, as is typical. no problem.  We then walked down to the evaporation ponds.

 

 Woman Worker Filling Bag With Salt

We wandered about the various dikes that separated the evaporation ponds.  Workers were busy raking salt crystals off of the bottom of the ponds.  Other workers who had completed piling the rock salt from their pond were occupied scooping up the crystals and dumping them into bags.  A team of three workers was busy going from pond to pond collecting filled bags. loading them on to a wagon, transporting them up to the residential area and dumping the bag's contents on to the every growing pile.

 

Peelawat Resting In Worker's Shelter

 

My five year old grandson and I set off to photograph the workers in the evaporation ponds while Duang followed behind at her own pace.  After awhile Peelawat became hot and tired , so he rested along with my camera bag, under a worker's shelter, a primitive tepee constructed from three poles and a plastic tarp with two sahts placed on top of one of the dikes.  By now curiosity overcame some of the older boys who were part of the congregation up in the residential area.  They followed me around and I took some photos of them doing things that any young boy would enjoy - playing with the water, pipes and well of the fluid distribution system.

 

Duang was not bored.  She kept busy talking to the workers as they toiled.  She has a great curiosity about people so she is often engaged with the people that I am photographing.  She then fills me in on the details so that I have a better understanding of what I had photographed.

 

Offloading Rock Salt On To Central Pile

 

It was around lunch time when we headed back up the hill to the residential area.  A mother and her three children were sitting on a raised platform outside of their house.  Here in Isaan you do not ignore people and just go about your business.  We went over to her to socialize a bit before leaving.  I always view these interactions as an opportunity to learn more about the people and their work.

 

I generally do not give money to people that I photograph.  Typically we spend time talking with them - even answering the questions that they have about us and our life.  What I often do is to buy some refreshments and food that we share with the people.  For me this is more personable and expresses gratitude better than just handing over some money.  The people had allowed us to share in their life and giving them money seems to be rather impersonal and detached.  Sharing food and refreshments gives us an opportunity to share some of our life with them.  I have found that although we often consider our lives to be rather plebeian, other people view us as just as interesting as we view them.  You see ... we are so much alike.

 

 

 

As Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote ...

 

Lets drink to the hard working people
Lets drink to the salt of the earth
Lets drink to the two thousand million
Lets think of the humble of birth

 

Let's celebrate the anonymous and faceless people who struggle and toil to make our world a better place.

 

Let's celebrate the anonymous and faceless people because, in Allen's World, they are the real celebrities.

Red Lotus Sea Gallery

"Nymphaea Lotus" - Red Lotus

A gallery of photographs of last Sunday's visit to Thale Bua Daeng (Red Lotus Sea) is now available for viewing on my personal photography website.

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Flowers/Red-Lotus-Sea-Thale-Bua-Daeng/37287145_czg39b

Sea of Red Lotuses

Morning Over Thale Bua Daeng

A long, very long time ago, in a land, most likely very far from you, the people tell of the creation of Nong Hon Kumphawapi Lake as part of the Pha Daeng and Nang Ai legend.

In the legend of Nang Ai and Pha Daeng, Nang Ai's beauty and fame catches the attention of Phangki, son of the Naga King, Phaya Nak. Nang Ai and Phangki had been fated by Karma to be reborn several times as soul mates but there were problems.  Phangki was many previous existences was only interested in satisfying himself and Nang Ai had been a dutiful wife but not a real over to him.  She had prayed to never be paired with him again.  In a new life she has secret trysts with Pha Daeng, the ruler of Phaphong.

Phangki shape shifts himself into a very handsome man to court Nang Ai.  Phangki is not successful in his efforts to win over Nang Ai from Pha Daeng. Frustrated he once again shape shifts, this time into a white squirrel to better track and keep an eye on Nang Ai with the intent of finding an opportunity to kidnap her.

When Nang Ai and Pha Daeng see the white squirrel, they order a royal hunter to trap it.  The squirrel, son of the King of the Nagas, ends up dying.  The meat is fed to the people of the town.  It miraculously keeps increasing until 8,000 cartloads of meat are fed to the people of the city and surrounding villages.   Phaya Nak, King of the Nagas, vows to kill everyone who has eaten his son's flesh.

After eating the squirrel meat, a very large thunderstorm suddenly hit the city.  Since that did not typically happen, Pha Daeng tried to escape quickly with Nang Ai on his horse, Bak Sam. from the rising flood.  All of Isaan was turned into a swamp. The escape was not successful. Nang Ai was swept off the horse by the tail of a naga.  The spirit of the white squirrel had become King of the Nagas and had taken Nang Ai into his underwater kingdom.

Pha Daeng was devastated by the loss of his true love, Nang Ai, and soon dies.  His spirit recruits and organizes an army of spirits from the air to wage a long war against the Naga Kingdom.  The war eventually ends in a stalemate, both sides too tired to continue.

It is said that the Nong Hon Kumphawapi Lake is a remnant from the flood and the trench that can be seen today in Tambon Pho Chai was created by Bak Sim's erection as he ran to escape the flood.

Today at the end of Nong Hon Kumphawapi Lake there is a natural wet land called Thale Bua Daeng or Talay Bua Daeng (Thai names often have two or more English spellings) "Sea of Red Lotuses" or "Red Lotus Sea"

From December to February, the red lotus bloom across the swampland.  A festival is held each January at Wat Ban Tium to celebrate the blooming of the red lotus, "Nymphaea Lotus" which is actually a lily and not the lotus so reverently and extensively used in Theravada Buddhist rituals.  It doesn't really matter for just as "Arose by any other name would smell as sweet", a flower such as blooms there be it called a lily or a lotus looks just as beautiful.

"Nymphaea Lotus"

There is a key to viewing the red lotuses besides going in December to February, you need to have your visit between 6:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. when they bloom.  When there is too much light the flowers close up.

To view the red lotus sea, you need to take a boat which will bring you out into the swamp to be in the midst of the blooms.  We arrived at the boat rental area about 7:15 A.M. on Sunday and rented a boat without any difficulty.  My wife was told that there are 60 boats that take people out on the waterway.

It costs 500 baht ($16.50 USD) to rent a boat for 2-1/2 hour tour.  As Duang, our grandson Peelawat, and I were preparing to pay for our boat, some people off to the side asked us if we would like to share the cost of a boat.  We agreed and were joined by three very pleasant Thai women.  The boats are very comfortable and ours had nice sahts (woven reed mats) on the seats as well as on the deck.  I estimate that the boats have about 9 person capacity.  They go slow and have PFDs (personal flotation devices) for those who wish for them.  The water is about 2 meters (6 feet) deep.

There are rest room facilities at the parking lot and there is an island part of the way through the tour where the boat will stop if the passengers need to use the bathroom.

Red Lotus Bloom

Most of the tour is along cleared channels through the dense vegetation on the water's surface.  About midway through our tour, our guide stopped the motor and poled our boat into the mat of lilies off to the side of the channel.  Within arms reach there were 5 to 6 beautiful blooms that kept me occupied photographing them.  Throughout the tour we saw many different kinds of birds.  We saw a fisherman pulling in a net and plucking small fish out of it.  In the distance we saw a couple dugout boats that appeared to be harvesting plants.

A delicacy here is lotus seeds.  Alongside of the road in the proper areas, you will come upon local people selling lotus pods.  Within each pod are many seeds - sort of like raw peanuts but without the shell.  People eat the raw seeds fresh out of the pod and they are very good eating.  The seeds are often processed into a paste and used as filling in oriental pastries - even better tasting.  I do not know if these pants have a seed pod or if the seeds are edible however I did eat part of the plant.

On our way back to the parking lot we passed many booths selling local foods, soft drinks, and drinks like fresh lemon ice tea (Thai style - fresh brewed hot tea, fresh squeezed lemon, sugar, and condensed milk poured into a paper cup of crushed ice).  One stall had a treat made out of the root (tuber) of the red lotus.  The tuber had been cut on a diagonal to form slices about 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick - exposing the internal chambered structure.  The slices, according to Duang, were then cooked with sugar, banana and coconut to create a semi firm sweet treat.  The vendor was very clever in having a small bowl available for free tasting.  We tasted and bought a bag to take home and enjoy.

It was a great side trip on our way to return Peelawat to his home in Tahsang Village.  It was even more enjoyable to see him excitedly recount his adventure to his family and friends in the village.

We have put the Thale Bua Daeng Festival on our list of to do things for next January.

Baan Mat Funeral

I have now caught up with editing and post processing all of my photographs to date.  The front sidewalk across our property has been pressure washed to remove 5 years of accumulated diesel soot and assorted molds to reveal  uniform grey concrete surfaces.  Several house repair and maintenance tasks have been completed so now is the time to catch up on some blog writing.

At the end of January, Luang Paw Pohm Likit, the Forest Monk, called Duang to inform her that one of the women that we knew at the Ban Mat Wat had died.

We had first met the woman in October when we started going out to visit Luang Paw Pohm Likit.  She lived in the near by village of Baan Mat.  Everyday she went out to the forest to bring offerings of food to Luang Paw Pohm Likit and participate in the merit making along with the other lay people.  She was 76 years old with two sons and two daughters.  She radiated a certain dignity and appearance that belied her age in a region where people age quickly due to the hardships of day to day living.  It was readily apparent that she had a "good heart", a nice person.  She was one of the people who had come to visit me in the Kumphawapi Hospital when it was actually my father-in-law who was in the hospital.  Upon realizing the miscommunication, she and the others stopped by our home to visit me on the way back to their village.  We had not been out to Baan Mat due to all our responsibilities regarding Duang's father's death and then one week later the death of his sister-in-law, Duang's aunt.  The woman from Baan Mat had been sick for a week in the hospital before dying.

We had to take an alternative route through Baan Mat to get out to where Luang Paw Pohm Likit stays.  The woman's home was on the direct route - the one lane, narrow concrete lane through the  village leading to the dirt  roads going out into the fields and forest.  As is typical for funerals, weddings, house warmings, Tambon Roy Wan, and Monk Ordinations, the family had set up pavilions, canvas canopies, in the street.  Beneath the pavilions, guests sat in plastic chairs at wood tables eating and drinking.

Duang and I were transporting the Forest Monk for the funeral ritual.  Luang Paw Pohm Likit has a very humble Wat without any crematorium for funeral rituals.  The deceased woman was going to be transported to a nearby village that had a very large Buddhist school as well as all the other facilities of a fully developed Wat.

Luang Paw Pohm Likit sat in the front of the truck with me while Duang sat in the back.  The seating arrangement which is expected practice here serves two purposes.  The first is to show respect to monks because they are considered to be a higher status than lay people.  Being a Monk places a man further along the path of enlightenment than ordinary lay people.  The second purpose is to help ensure that a Monk does not have contact with a woman.  A Monk is not allowed to touch a woman.  When a woman makes an offering to a Monk, she either makes it through a male next to her, drops it into the Monk's bowl, or places it on a cloth that the Monk has placed in front of himself.  Once the woman has placed the offering on the cloth, the Monk pulls the cloth to him thus completing the offering and signifying acceptance of the offering without risk of contact.

After paying our respects to the family and to the woman at her home, the three of us drove to the nearby Wat for the funeral ritual. This was the fourteenth funeral that I have attended here in Isaan in roughly five years.  There are many common elements to the funerals but each one has unique variations and subtleties to distinguish them apart.

All the funerals have been Theravada Buddhist rituals, both Dhammayuttika Nikaya and Maha Nikaya sects.  The Dhammayuttika Nikaya sect is the smaller sect, younger sect, and more conservative sect of Theravada Buddhism here in Thailand.  However as far as I can see the rituals are the same as the much older Maha Nikaya sect.  The difference is not in what they believe but how the Monks practice their faith.  The conservative Dhammayuttika Monks eat only one meal a day whereas the Maha Monks are allowed two meals a day.  My observation has been that the Dhammayuttika Monks wear the darker brown robes whereas the other sect robe's are the brighter saffron or orange robes.

Removing the Coffin From Refrigerated Casket

As was the case for Duang's father's funeral ritual, both Dhammayuttika Nikaya and Maha Nikaya Monks participated in the the funeral ritual for the woman from Baan Mat. For the funeral at the end of January, a big difference was the number of Monks involved in the ritual.  There were 23 Monks in attendance, which far exceeded any other funeral that I have attended.  Typical funerals have 6 or 9 Monks attending.

Typically a major portion of the funeral ritual is performed in a sala - an open pavilion on the Wat grounds - corrugated metal roof, 4 foot high walls - if any at all, tiled floor, raised area for Monks to sit on mats, and a shrine in the corner at the same level as the Monks.  For this funeral, the ritual was performed in a large, very large assembly area for the school students.  The area was so large that I was confused exactly where to go.  Some of the lay people sat on the floor out of the view of where the Monks were - their view blocked by portable school bulletin boards containing announcements, student art, and lessons.  As is always the case here when I look confused, the people smiled and pointed for me to go to the front directly in front of the platform where the more senior monks were located.  Luang Paw Pohm Likit welcomed me and reassured me.  He speaks some English so he gave me some pointers on what to take photographs of.  I consider myself to be fortunate to live amongst such tolerant and friendly people.

A Grandson During the Funeral Ritual

In taking photographs of recurring events, such as funerals, I strive to explore a different aspect or focus on some unique individuals in an attempt to avoid taking the same photograph over and over along time.  I often start off to an event with some specific approach in mind.  Quite often that planned approach is abandoned for the opportunities that present themselves at a particular event.  One of those opportunities is documented in the above photo.  It is a photograph of a Novice Monk.  It is a photograph of a grandson making merit for a deceased grandparent. It is a photograph of mourning.  I have literally hundreds of those types of photographs, so why take this one?  The uniqueness of this photograph is the juxtaposition of the young Novice Monk's robe and the glass of Orange Fanta.

I have never read it any where nor have I been told that it is necessary or required to make offerings of Orange Fanta Soda to Monks but it seems every time that I witness offerings to Monks it includes Orange Fanta.  On the other hand when making offerings to the spirits of the home, garden, or land, Duang and many others offer only Fanta Strawberry Soda.  I have yet to see Fanta Strawberry or Grape Soda offered to Monks.

Monks Accepting Offerings

This funeral was different in that there were many offerings of robes, blankets and towels to the Monks.  Rather than placing the offerings on top of the closed coffin and offering them one by one to individual Monks, the offerings were placed on a series of stepped tables in front of the coffin. In groups determined by apparent seniority the Monks went up the stairs to the coffin and individually accepted an offering.  This seems very strange and goes against every thing that I have read about being a Monk but it is what I observed.  I even just refreshed my memory and verified my memory's accuracy by reviewing my observations this evening with Duangchan.  She confirmed what I saw and did not see was accurate.  I guess this but another example of "There are the ways that things are supposed to be and then there is the way that they actually are"

The Abbott Taps Farewell On the Coffin Three Times With A Daugchan

One typical element of this funeral was the number of children in attendance.  here in Isaan children are not sheltered from death or the funeral ritual.  I have attended a funeral where the local elementary school was let out of school to attend along with their teachers the funeral for a villager.  Children get excited over the throwing of coins wrapped in colorful foil paper along with candy that is tossed to the crowd from the steps of the crematorium just as the coffin is rolled into the furnace - a gesture of giving up of all of this life's and world's goods by the spirit.

Children are allowed to run, play and be joyful as long as they are not doing it in the sala.  The children can always found in the space between the sala and the crematorium eagerly and energetically biding their time for the money toss.  The presence of a foreigner at this funeral taking photographs did nothing to dampen the children's enthusiasm.  I had met the children earlier at the woman's home.  They tentatively tried their rudimentary English skills on me and I was all too willing to try my even less rudimentary Thai skills on them.  We quickly found common ground and bonded over talking about animals.  I knew the names of some animals in Thai from watching Nat Geo Animal Planet on television with our grandson, Peelawat.  Recently we had watched a program about lions, "sinto", and I had developed a pantomime of a sinto turning its head as it was making a huge yawn.  The children loved it - much more so than my impersonation of a "tau" - turtle.

It was not long after I relocated from my position in the sala in front of the Monks that I was reunited with the children.  I took some photographs of them which I willingly shared with them.  Seeing themselves in a digital photograph only encouraged the children to be more creative in their posing.  The ultimate pose that they created was a reenactment of  a the sinto.  It was a fun way to pass the time.  Rather than getting upset with the children or with me for encouraging them, people inside the sala pointed out approvingly to Duang what was going on.  They told her that I had a "good heart" and that I was good with children.

Our day at the funeral ended with us driving off with Luang Paw Pohm Likit not into the sunset but away from the wisps of smoke that commence to flow from the stack of the crematorium.

It had been a good day.  It was good to help the Forest Monk and even better to pay our respects to a nice woman.  Here in Isaan with the openness of funeral rituals and the involvement of so many friends, family, and neighbors there is quick closure to the death experience.