www.isara.org : Help Making Better World With Your Clicks

This morning I read "Secret" magazine providing great and easy-reading contents about how to create happy life & mind. It's Thai national magazine editted and published by Amarin, The quality and biggest publisher in Thailand. www.amarin.com

The article I ran cross this morning and made me to focus was about an American guy named "Mr. Patrick Kirk Gillock" who is very well-known in Nongkhai province (in the Northeast) as "Helmet Guy".

The origin of this name come from the time he was first a volunteer as an English teacher at this province 6 years ago. He saw that his students were often absent because of motorcycle accidents. Some died and some were badly hurt.

He would like to help solving this problem, so he initiated "Helmet Donation Project" with the donation from his friends in the U.S because he has no money as a volunteer and he sold everything he had when he was working and living in the U.S. before he came here.

The project is successful and the locals become to know him and name him as "Helmet Guy" since then. Everytime he gives away the helmets, he will say "Please put on the helmet to protect your life."


He expands the project to "Helping Independent Organization" with the aim to decrease the gap between "The Riches" and "The Poorest" to encourage the same standard of life.

The organization operates free course of English and computer and also encourage people to reserve the environment.

His students can be anyone but the only thing he asks is "please put on a helmet to come to school"

The operation cost is support by foreign donation and his pocket money. However, he's thinking about how to make the organization growing sustainably.

He decided to apply his professional in web design to create a website name "www.isara.com" or "www.isara.org". The concept is totally different from commercial website that the income from advertisement will be used to help the inferior, not for himself.

The more people know the website, the more they use instead of google, the more the inferiors will have better quality of life.

So, everytime you click on www.isara.com or www.isara.org, you're helping Thailand. It's easy and free.

Visit today to make a better world with your only click

Special thank for content and picture from Secret Magazine issued 26 July 2009 p.36- 38

The Tree Named "Takhob"

This morning I move to take pictures at an area near my house, 10 walks from my house. I also use this picture to make the calendar above.

The tree in the picture named "Ta-khob" with scientific name "Flacourtia Cataphracta Roxb."

"Takhob Fruits"

Takhob is a middle-sized perennial plant. It has green round leaves and its fruits are round with sweet but astringent taste. The ripen fruits have dark red color.

Its root and wood can be used as herb with astringent taste.

Root is compounded medicine to defecate sweat (release high temperature in a body), secrete phlegm and feces.

The wood is used for healing diarrhea, dysentery and mucus from the anus.

Ta-khobs are found in flat forest or plain area.

When I was young, I remember that the gang and me always build a small tree house on Takhob tree. We also ate the fruits as they tasted sweet and they weren't poisonous.

However, we just ate for fun as its juice was too little and not enough for filling the thirsty.

Thank information of Ta-khob from http://arcbs.bsru.ac.th/local/spthai/10tkthai.pdf

The photo taken by my younger sister Nong Kung.

Thank for Thai-English dictionery of http://th.w3dictionary.org/

Rice Cultivation Season

Hi I'm Beam, your tour guide today!

On Sunday, my housemate asked me if I would like to see how the local doing rice cultivation at a site. I said yes and then grasped my digital camera and wore a pair of pink slippery.

During the motor ride, we had conversation. She told me that from June - August is the time of rice cultivation. After all process, it takes about 3 months until the rice fully grow.

So, as my hometown is countryside, everywhere we passed were local houses locating near flat green rice fields, fish pond and annual crops cultivation areas.

I felt so relax on the motorbike. I was falling in love with my hometown again and again. The beauty of nature and the kindness of people always conquer my heart.

Nice scene! Rice field & Mountains

After 7 minutes, we arrived at the field where people were working on.

Within one day, around 20 people could finish 1 field. I'm not sure how to measure it but you can see from the picture.

It's a culture that if one has a rice field and wants to transplant rice seedling, he or she will ask neightbors, relatives or people they know to come to help without paying. Then, next time, when one of the working group wants to do the same thing at his or her field, he or she will ask friends to help. We called this "Long Khag".

However, if there are not enough workforces, he or she might hire more people and the pay depends on the owner of the rice field. But normally, it'll be around 200 Baht per day.

Long Khag - practical authentic agricultural tradition since ancient time

When I arrived, they were pulling budding rice from the ground and hitting the rice slightly on a stick to let it drain out water and soil at their roots.

We are ready to be cultivated in the afternoon!

Other groups were dividing and tying the rice with long slight piece of bamboo (one full hand per tying) and then twisting the upper part of rice. They told me that to do this could make rice grow better.


Now the prepared rice would be placed together waiting to be cultivated in the afternoon.

"This clip video I took before going home. It was nearly lunch time and they share the snacks with friends. I was speaking to them with Northern dialect asking where they would have lunch. They told me they would go home for lunch then came back to continue in the afternoon."

Culture Tips

• Long Khag (Helping in rice cultivation for free) is one among ancient traditions in Thai agricultural cultures which still practically remain.
• In my hometown, the seasonal paddy rice will be started cultivating in rainny season (June - August) and have to wait for other 3 months to be ready to harvest.
• So, now the buying price of rice is higher because there is more demand than supply.
• Sincere sharing is still a preserved culture in my hometown.
  

Thank you for information from

My mom - Rice Mill Owner & Trader, Business Administration Teacher

Antie Nuan - Capable & Knowledgable Housemate & Farmers

The villagers on the interview day

Community Rice Mill (2) : How we do the business?

We run the business in an informal way of working. It opens everyday from morning until around 6 p.m. However, on important holidays such as Songkran Festival, New Year Days or important Buddist holy days like Buddhist Lent day, we will close so our employees have time to be with family and make merits. To decide how many relaxing days they will have based on agreement.

As the mill is just next to the house, actually we can open 24 hours (lol). It's true that sometimes at night (of course, not more than midnight time) customers will drop by because they just come back from going outside and call us to buy some bags of husk.

During day time, our 2 employees will take care of everything but sometimes if many customers come, my mom or I will go to help them.

Our workers are waiting for outcoming milled rice from the machine

Visitors are classified into 4 groups;
1. Rice consumers
2. Farmers
3. Rice traders
4. Others

Our products are;
1. Milled rice
2. Broken-milled rice
3. Husk

Rough Husk - For free! Soft husk - For sale



Paddy rice - For sale Broken-milled rice - For sale

The whole picture of business is that we buy rice from farmers and suppliers. The difference is that we buy a big lot from suppliers while buy few bags of rice from farmers.

If it's the big lot (around more than 20 bags of rice), we will give them higher price. At this time, it's around 112 Baht per Tang (local measurement of rice, 1 Tang = 14 Kgs.) and this price is for only sticky rice. The buying price of paddy rice is much more higher (more than 2 times) as there's low supply here. Most people here eats sticky rice.

Our big buyer's worker is loading bags of rice on the truck - we give him whole sales price

The buying and selling price of rice is so sensitive and variable. It can change everyday so it's neccessary to maintain a good connection with other rice mills and suppliers in order to lower the price competition. The central policy from government also affects harshly. There're various uncontrolable factors in rice trading. We have to keep ourselves up-to-date with news to prepare for unexpected situation.

After the rice is undergone the mill process, we will get following things; milled rice, broken-milled rice, rough husk and soft husk.

We sell the first three but the last one is for free. Anyone can take that.

Next time, I'm going to talk about the types of rice traded here.

Culture Tips

• In countryside areas, we do self-sufficiency business. We do not think about profit and loss that much but we care about how our business is related and interdependent with one another.
  
• Our local social network is not strong enough to protect our interest. The price structure and policy are mainly based on centralization and the big rice suppliers who have close relationship with the central authority.
  
• The local feel smaller than government. This is derived from the past uneven toughts of hirachy of power - old system thinking. From my point of view, I would say that it's the root of all Thai cultures.
  

Community Rice Mill (1)

You might have seen some pictures of rice mill in this blog.

Today I'll be a tour guide to tell you a story about my family's rice mill.

The Establisher

This small rice mill was established by my grandfather before I was born. My granddad was not rich and travelled to work around in Lam Pang and Chiang Rai. He had got only Primary 4 education but he had ambition to make his life better.

My grandfather in late the 20s of age

At first, he worked at a repair shop in Lam Pang as a technician. He was smart and hard-working. His boss liked him very much and he saw a capability in him, so he took my granddad with him when he had an appointment with customers.

My granddad start learning about how to deal a business and after that the boss let him meet customers alone.

However, my granddad thought that he would never be rich if he was still employee. He had to run own business.

When he collected enough money, he decided to move to somewhere to start business. As he was well-versed in technical knowledge and skills together with the idea that people ate rice as main dish, he decided to run rice mill business.

And that was the origin of our heritage from granddad. He passed away on 19 September 2006 with infection in blood. He is always my model and hero. Without him, I would not graduate from a university. And the money I spent during student years came from this business.

Current picture of the rice mill

Our rice mill is a small one not aiming in industrial production. It serves self-sufficient philosophy that the locals will bring their rice to mill with no charge. But we gain from trading rice and selling husk. There are around 3 rice mills in near area including this one.

However, if one wants to find industrial-scale productivity, he has to go to the highway about 15 k.m. from here. There are about 2-3 big rice mills there.

Next time I will write about how we run the business.

Thank you for your visiting ^-^.

First Buddhist Holy Day Within Lent Period

Today is the first Buddhist holy day within Buddhist Lent period. I've just known that the holy days during this time are considered more importantly than the normal ones.




On normal holy days, there is just one round of praying in the evening. However, today there are 3 rounds of praying. The first round starts around 6 p.m. and finishes at 7 p.m. This is the round of adults and the elderly. Most of them are lay & woman lay disciples who stay overnight at the temple (they came since morning and will go home in the next morning.) During the stay, they have to observe the Eight religious precepts.

The 8 Religious Precepts


1^st precept

«pánátipátá veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from being harmful to living beings.»

2^nd precept

«adinnádáná veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from stealing.»

3^rd precept

«abrahmacariyá veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from all sexual practices.»

4^th precept

«musávádá veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from uttering lies.»

5^th precept

«surámeraya majjapamáda††háná veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.»

6^th precept

«vikálabhojaná veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from eating after noon time.»

7^th precept

«nacca gíta vádita visukadassaná málá gandha vilepana dhárana mandana vibhúsana††háná veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will abstain from listening or playing music, songs, wearing flowers, jewellery and other ornaments.»

8^th precept

«uccásayana mahásayana veramaši sikkhápadaµ samádhiyámi.» «I will refrain from lining or seating on high and luxurious places.»

Thanks information from http://www.dhammadana.org/en/dhamma/practice/8_precepts.htm

The second round is for youths. As I didn't know that they had the ritual today, I didn't prepare myself but I will surely join next time (next Buddhist holy day - one week later).

Last time I attended, I observed that all children were wearing white T-shirt & long pants (all white). The youngest was about 7 years old and the oldest was about 15. They were the children living in this village. I was the eldest! LoL

They were doing great! It's great to see young people conserving the tradition.

....And the last pray for today will start around 10 p.m. It's called "meditation" part. I'm not sure what they will do in this part. If I attend next time, I'll definitely have story to tell you.

ฺLocal Temple & Buddhist Lent Day

This video shows how new generation helps maintain a good tradition. It's not mine but I think it's good to share this video to widen your perception. ^-^ (The song is in Thai but you can understand the pictures, right? :-))

Today is Buddhist Lent day or Wan-Khow-Phan-Sa which is basically known that it's the first day that monks are required to stay in a certain place or temple during rainny season so they will not destroy little lives and plantations on the ground during the time.

Not to "kill" living things is the FIRST among the five precepts & during rainny seasons when the nature is enriched and there're so many living things on ground, so to stay in a place can decrease a chance to kill them.

The origin of this tradition happened in the Buddha's age. In rainny season, locals complainted that Buddhist's monk destroyed their plantations while they were wandering from one place to another place. Hence, the Buddha suggested that they were in one place during rainny season which normally lasted 3 months.

My village's temple (Front Gate) named "Wat Ping Muang"

The peaceful temple, the center of local lives

Buddhist Lent day is a national holiday so there are so many people coming to the local temple for merit making. I had to sit out of the room, near the front door!Actually, I had to come earlier to get room within the building but it's o.k. anyway. I had no problems with sitting outside as I still could concentrate with the ritual.

Mr.Laymans are preparing for the ritual

The ritual started around 7 a.m. and finished around 8 a.m.

What we do were starting with putting flowers and candles on big trays at the front door area and also put foods in other trays. Then, we would find a place to sit (on mats on the ground) and paid a respect to the place and secred by doing obeisance 3 times.Then, we followed the instruction of the header of the ritual until the end.

Normally, on the important day like this, people will go to the temple twice, in the early morning and evening. In the evening, people will get in white dress and mainly go to pray and meditation.

Beyond the big holy day, the locals always go to a temple 4 times a month on Buddhist holy days. As most of dwellers in my village are the elderly and children, they don't have to be in rush hours to go to work and worried about money like people in a big city.

Basically, one village has one temple. The temple is like the center of the community. Here, there is not only the issue of religion but the ongoing life of locals here.

At the temple, a dean of monks will work together with a layman. One temple will have one layman. Normally, a layman is a head of village. So, all operations of the temple will be managed under his responsibility.

My village has just got a new head of village and today it's the first day he officially appears to the public.

And he's doing quite well ^-^

Hi there! Welcome to Chiang Rai

Hi Friends!

I'm Rinya from Thailand. I'm 100% Thai and I'm proud to be Thai, LoL ^-^.

I'm now helping my family with our small business at home and also taking care of my lovely grandma in my hometown. Taking Master Degree distance course in IT management is not enough to kill all my energy for a day, so I have been thinking what else I can do to utilize all my potential to serve others better before I die.

I've just got "The Blink" today.

I love my hometown and thank it and my family for healing my broken soul from the past 3 years of my busy, crazy and money-oriented life in the big cities.

So, I want to share information to people who wish to come to Thailand to explore more in rural peaceful areas to discover, refresh or even heal your soul in the places where have never been disturbed by tourists.

I can tell that there might be your challenges to meet people who can't speak your language but if you have a phrase book or dictionary and together with survival's instinct, you will fully experience the new world of travel and gain a lot from this valuable trip!

I also would like to give a clear picture that it's not that dangerous to travel outside the tourist attraction.

I'll also provide miscellanious information about our culture to make you understand more and appreciate what you will be experiencing in the future.

Your comments are welcome. Also, if you have any requests or questions, please feel free to ask, I'll try my best to provide the answer for you!

Bon Voyage!