Loi Kratong Day 2: Festival of FIREWORKS!

Well, Loi Kratong festival seems to be the festival that never ends! 3 days straight now of partying, fireworks and floating boats down the canals and Ping River here in Chiang Mai.

Enjoy this video, and appreciate the MADNESS that is Chiang Mai city during this special time. Driving my motorbike I got hit in the thigh about 3 times from explosive fireworks, and my friend May almost had her hair lit on fire from a sparkler dripping lantern in the sky!

Music, bombs, and fires everywhere...it's like a festive D-Day invasion!

So this video has been appropriately named 'Loi Kratong Day 2: Festival of FIREWORKS!'

If you missed the last post, click here for an explanation about the festival, the lanterns and why we float the boats down the river...

Loi Kratong 'Festival of Lights', Thailand

If you're ever in Thailand during the month of November, stick around for the Loi Kratong Festival of Lights! The city of Chiang Mai is known to be the best place to celebrate this festival since the locals go above and beyond.

This festival marks the end of the rainy season and it is by far the most beautiful of all Thai festivals. 'Loy' means 'to float,' while 'kratong' refers to the lotus-shaped boats which float on the water. The kratong is made of banana leaves or the layers of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant, and it is a practiced process to fold and make these beautiful boats. The more beautiful, elegant and elaborate your boat is, the more good luck! A kratong contains food, betel nuts, flowers, joss sticks, candles and coins.

Today and tomorrow, thousands of people will gather beside the canals and rivers. They will prepare their kratong with candles and coins, silently make a wish, and carefully place their kratongs in the water and release them to the current, hoping that the candle will not go out. Its flame is said to signify longevity, fulfillment of wishes and release from past sins.

It is also an expression of gratitude to the goddess of water 'Phra Mae Kongka' for having extensively used the water from the rivers and canals and for her bounty in providing water for the livelihood of the people. The goodies placed in the boat are offerings for her.

Lanterns are also released into the air as part of the celebration. The idea is, when releasing the lantern you're physically letting go of all your negative energy and 'floating away' all of your past troubles. It marks new beginnings and wishes for good luck in the future, so lanterns are used for many Thai festivals (including Loi Kratong.)

It was a beautiful night, and I had a great after party with some great friends. Life is awesome!

Sangklaburi, Life Along The Thai/Burmese Border

...Right now the situation in Burma remains dire…thousands of people are suffering along the Thai/Burmese border with nowhere to go. Organizations, NGO and Government alike have come together to do as much as they can for the refugees, but the camps are barely able to cope with the numbers of Burmese coming in every day, and supplies are limited.

Yet, despite what’s going on across the Thai/Burmese border 20 kms away Sangklaburi remains to be the quiet, charming, sleepy little town I have always loved it for. Children still go to school, monks study quietly in the temples and women barter and sell their home cooked foods at the market…life carries on.

Feeling inspired, I took a camera around the town looking for smiles. There are so many sad stories every day, but the people here are resilient and determined to carry on. I went to the local temple for some peace and understanding and came across a gang of ‘mini monks’ who instantly brightened my mood. I also spent the afternoon visiting the Burmese Mon and Karen resettlement villages, lending a hand where I could and learning more about the needs of those living day to day along the border.

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....Sangklaburi and The Longest Wooden Bridge in Thailand...

I'm starting to grow roots here in Sangklaburi again. I'll be staying here for the next 3 months with children rescued from the border, and I can honestly say there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now.

It's 4 pm now, so the children walk lazily in the heat and stiffness of their school uniforms and chase the chickens down the street as they make their own way home. Motorcycle taxi drivers toot and tease me as they zoom by, and I'm thinking it's time for me to cough up the 1$ it would cost to jump on the back of a bike and escape the humidity! Construction workers lay down their tools and join in a locals' game of football that seems to be a daily occurrence in front of the temple grounds. And all around smiles and polite nods greet me as the locals seem to recognize the 'white girl' that keeps coming back again, and again, and again.

Life surrounds Khao Laem Lake here. This was once the site where 3 rivers joined together, until the 1970's when the Thai government decided to dam the water for better resource management programs in the surrounding villages and provinces. So now, the lake has flooded the lowland valley and the people have adapted their culture to life along a lake---floating village culture.

Villagers meet their needs by fishing in the lake off one-manned motor boats, and building bridges to cross from one side to the other...in fact, the longest wooden bridge in Thailand is found here.

The bridge links the Thai villages to the Mon villages across the lake. The Mon is an ethnic minority group that was once part of a powerful empire in Siam's history. Today, this Mon village is known more as a protective hub for Burmese refugees. This village has been here for years and is now home to several human rights groups caring for the refugees and creating a resistance movement against the military junta across the border. Life on the Mon side is where Burmese culture reigns: the locals still rub their faces with yellow 'tanaka' root to keep away the burning sun, the men don checkered sarongs tied high up on the waist, and chewing beetle nut is more than a past time here...it's a cultural stamp.

Today I chose to visit some of the local sites I haven't seen in a while: the wooden bridge, the streets of the Mon village and the sacred temples and pagodas for the Mon Buddhist population.

**This video was created when I was playing around with my Picasa application...my first attempt ever, so be kind!

News from Thai/Burmese Borders, Nov.2010

***Thanks for my friends working diligently with human rights organizations in Mae Sot and Sangklaburi for sharing this information and fighting for the cause.***

I'm not sure what news if any has been shared over there about the Burmese election this past week, so I want to give you an update since it's been a really intense time felt all throughout the Thai/Burmese borders. About to get even more intense, since for the first time in a year the Burmese democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from her house arrest by the military government---the same woman who has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years.

SHAM ELECTIONS...

The elections have been recognized internationally as a fraud, to say the least. There have been reports of bullying and threats of violence towards civilians and democratic politicians throughout the country. People were forced to vote for the junta or risk being shot. Dead names loaded the voter registry and people feared mortar and bomb attacks at the polling stations, so most of the countrymen stayed at home and didn't vote. Only a few voting stations were open, making it impossible for citizens from the remote countryside to place a vote. I've been told the citizens were visited by the military guards days before the elections and had their names put on a list; they were then told they didn't need to vote the next day since their vote was automatically counted for.

Little information is coming out of Burma since they haven't had internet or phone lines for weeks and journalists have been prohibited from entering this month. Since border control has tightened so much, activists have been unable to smuggle much information out through their usual channels. And yet, an overwhelming win for the military government has been counted---surprise, surprise. The military now control 25% of the parliament, and the civilian wing that holds the rest of the seats are ex-military officers who retired from the service just days before the election actually took place. Basically, a puppet regime for the military has been installed.

FIGHTING BREAKS OUT ALONG THE BORDERS...The big news lately has been about the Myawaddy region, along the Thai border. The DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) is a breakaway faction of the military who has been fighting in resistance to the junta for years now on behalf of the Buddhist Karen population in Burma. In Myawaddy, they took control of a strategic polling station, shooting and launching grenades and bombs against the Burmese military. There are verified reports that bullets and grenades landed on the Thai side too; counting 4 injuries and 1 death of innocent Thai civilians caught in the overspill. It is unknown how many Burmese people are dying behind those closed borders.

REFUGEES STORM THE THAI BORDERS...There has been a mass exodus of Burmese crashing into the Thai borders all along the central region seeking refuge. The numbers jumped from 5,000 to 15,000 refugees in one day, just hours after the elections. All of the borders have been shut down, and all traffic is being heavily monitored on the Thai side. My friends in Mae Sot (Thai side opposite Myawaddy) are working non stop, loading trucks from the International Organization for Migration carrying Burmese people away from the border. They are loaded with beds going to hospitals, schools, emergency shelters and even military complexes trying to help these people. Thai police have been stressed to the max trying to restore order and control the influx of refugees and supply trucks. There's been news traveling by word of mouth mostly, and a heads up has been given that the DKBA are warning the Burmese civilians to get out, preparing for an intense counter-attack against the military government. The refugees were also provided temporary shelter by the Thai military. The Thai Red Cross, UNHCR, international non‐governmental agencies and local community‐based organizations were providing emergency food, water, sanitation, shelters and health care. As of 9 November, Thai military authorities began organizing the refugees in groups and preparing for their return to Burma despite the war zone that's still active there...

ETHNIC RESISTANCE GROUPS UNITING FOR A FIGHT...The DKBA are one of the strongest resistance groups in Burma and their guerrilla warfare tactics are known to be particularly nasty. They also have massive support from Buddhists and Karen alike throughout the country, so their areas of control are readily growing these days. There's talk now that militias all along the borders are inspired and seeking alliances in an attempt to overthrow the Burmese military control. A lot of the ethnic minority militias (like the DKBA) had cease-fire agreements with the Burmese government, which expired September of this year. Where I am now, in Sangklaburi, the Mon people are rumored to be gearing up for a fight: they've been stockpiling weapons, training and recruiting soldiers, preparing for the time when the government will surely turn its attention to them again.

WHERE I AM NOW...Just outside of our town is 3 Pagodas Pass, a known high level war zone in Burma. Fighting broke out on the Burmese side on the 9th of November, and since then the DKBA influence has gained control. From the 3 Pagodas land mark you can clearly hear gunfire and explosions in the jungle. In just one night 10,000 refugees came across our border and overwhelmed the handful of refugee camps available in this area. Some of them walked for miles to get here, and fear they will only be turned back.There have been victims of shootings, raids, landmines and all sorts of tragedies coming in search of aid. Today, the 14th November was a particularly bad day on the Burmese side, since fresh waves of fighting broke out and after a few days of calm it seems the violence is escalating again.

Please tell people about what's going on here....people need to know since little to no information ever gets out of Burma.

I will do my best to continue updating...

Are you in this area too? If there are any more news or stories to share, please post them here.

Sunday Night Walking Streets, Chiang Mai

The month of November in Northern Thailand is nothing less than *magical*. The rainy season is starting to clear away, the mountains are getting noticeably cooler, the humidity mercifully eases, and across the country celebrations are under way.

Last weekend I stayed at Kristi's Guesthouse in the center of the old city quarters. This guest house is a personal favorite of mine, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's no longer the hidden gem it used to be a few years back. It's located on a charming 'soi' lined with cobbled streets, modest and shy guest houses, a temple, a cafe or two and several Thai cooking schools.

I woke up at an ungodly hour on Sunday morning to the BANG! of fireworks and gongs going off in the temple outside my balcony window. It's official, the Buddhists are in full-force celebration mode now...monks are filing out of the temples with their precious few belongings to go home for the first time in months.

In the later years of Buddha (~540 B.C.) villagers complained about his monks traveling through their rice paddy fields. The rainy season is the most important season for growing rice, and the monks were accidentally damaging crops as they traveled the countryside spreading his message. He ordained that the rainy season months should be a time for monks to stay inside the temple walls, perfecting their meditation and focusing on their teachings...this tradition has carried on nearly 1,500 years later.

To this day, young men are traditionally ordained as monks at the beginning of the rainy season, and remain inside the temple walls for 3 months straight, the duration of the season. So today, on a clear, bright and sunny day, a small migration of monks set foot outside the temple doors and started their journeys back home. Music and messages of good luck were blasted from megaphones and fireworks shot off in celebration. Some of the monks had suit cases in hand, others had duffel bags, Ipods and cell phones already tuned in as they exited the gates.

Today also happens to be the most special of market days in Chiang Mai, the Sunday Night Walking Street. It's a cultural market that takes place every Sunday. The city street traffic is shut down and artists from in and around the province come together to sell their artwork: handicrafts, jewelry, hand made clothing, paintings, sculpture, woodwork...any possible trinket you could want. Music, massage parlors and street food vendors add the appropriate ambiance, and every once in a while I battle the crowds to treat myself to some quality shopping and local treats!

*This video was shot from the front gates of a temple, where the festivities mix in celebration of the end of the rainy season and the ambiance of the Sunday night walking street markets.*

*Moo Ping! Grilled pork with sticky rice and dipped in a spicy green chili sauce.*

*A little mood music, a little soft lighting, and even you can fall asleep in a massage chair!*

*Of course, a quick stop to visit my friends (Nim and Ning) at Parasol Inn and to steal some of their food!---this is also when I unknowingly ate a dish loaded with 30 chilis...*

What IS Buddhism?...Teachings & Meditation Tips

A request for Buddhist insight... My brother Chris emailed me recently with what seemed like the simplest of requests. He wanted me to pass along some Buddhist insight: quotes, links, resources, whatever I could get my hands on to introduce him to the Buddhist faith. Turns out, it's not that easy. You can't Google search Buddhism, and get a one liner explanation for how to improve your life.

I've been stumped for days trying to figure out what I wanted to say and how to say it! Where would I even start? With the story of Buddha himself, or how about the cultural variations that have evolved across Asia? There are just so many arms and legs to the faith that web and tangle together: realms of heaven and hell, reincarnation, demons and angels, mythical creatures, ceremonies, rituals, karma and dharma, monk hood, meditation, precepts and scriptures in many, many dead languages...I myself am no expert (I'm still relatively new to the faith), but what I do know has taken me years to study and absorb.

So...I sat down, and really concentrated. You could say, I meditated on this blog entry. What would my family understand coming from the opposite side of the world, where we have learned a different set of values and religious traditions? I think they would understand suffering.

A Proverb...For me, the power of Buddhism lies in the simplicity of its message. There's a proverb a monk once told me:

He said that one day a king went into the forest in search of truth. He wanted to know what the most important Buddhist teaching was. He asked a hermit (a wise man) his question, to which he answered "Do no evil, do only good, and purify your heart." The king was surprised since he expected a more complex answer. He told the hermit "even a 5 year old knows that already!" and the hermit said "yes, but even an 80 year old man cannot do it."

Buddhism is not just a religion, it's a way to live your life. It's not just a code of conduct, with the end goal of peace on earth and heaven or hell. It's the idea that everything around us is part of an infinite cycle (including time), living things are all sentient and connected, and more importantly life as we know it is an illusion our individual senses have created. True happiness can only be achieved within us, and only after we shun away materials, wealth, greed, jealousy, and all forms of physical and emotional suffering. It's a guide, showing you the techniques for meditation, calmness of the mind and body which in turn will help us focus to end our suffering.

If I had to sum up Buddhism it would be this: suffering exists and it is felt by every living thing, but it can be overcome if you understand its source and how it manifests itself.

The 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path offer explanations to the world's injustices and inequalities, and together provide the core of Buddha's teachings. For a faith well over 2,500 years old, it's embraced by 300 million people worldwide because it still gives us answers to many of the problems we face in our modern material-driven societies.

4 Noble Truths:

1.) Life is suffering: life includes pain, ageing, disease and ultimately death. We also suffer emotionally: frustration, loneliness, jealousy, hatred, fear, embarrassment, anger, being apart from those we love and disappointment. Suffering touches every living thing.

Another proverb...

A woman once approached Buddha with the body of her dead child in her arms, begging him to bring her son back to life. The Buddha told her that if she could fetch mustard seeds he would bring life again, but the seeds had to come from a household that did not know death. She searched everywhere in her village, but could not find one home where loved ones were not lost. She returned to Buddha that evening and said "there is death in every family, everyone knows death. I understand your teaching." Buddha then replied "things are not always the way we want them to be, but we can learn to understand them. Like medicine, once you know the cause of your illness you can find the cure."

2.) Suffering is caused by cravings and desires: we suffer when other people don't meet OUR expectations, OUR needs. We suffer when people don't like us, or when they don't give us something we want. We only suffer, as long as we continue to want things. If we can stop the craving, stop the wants, all the disappointments and pain will no longer hurt us.

3.) Suffering can be overcome: true happiness can be achieved if we give up our useless cravings and learn to live one day at a time, not dwelling on the past or worrying about an imagined future. This is the first step to shedding your mind of negative thought and energy.

4.) The 8 Fold Path is the guide to end suffering: practice these 8 things every day, and you will find happiness. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of practice to constantly be mindful and aware of our thoughts and actions, but that's the point...nothing worth having is ever easy to acquire.

The 8 Fold Path:

1. Right view: try to see everything around you with compassion. Wrong views occur when we impose our expectations on our surroundings, we only see things for how they should be or how we fear them to be. We must abandon fear and hope to see things for what they really are.
2. Right thought: try to control your thoughts, and get rid of any negativity. We are what we think. So if we think clearly with kindness, that's exactly who we will become.
3. Right speech: after right thought, right speech can come naturally. Be kind and respectful when speaking to others...for this is how you gain respect and trust, and also limit suffering for others.
4. Right conduct: treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Practice renunciation, get rid of the complications we cloud our relationships with.
5. Right livelihood: "Do not earn your living by harming others. Do not seek happiness by making others unhappy"- Buddha. Find happiness in even the smallest details of your work, for as long as you are not harming others you are doing good.
6. Right effort: sometimes we consider discipline on par with struggle, like training our bodies in rigorous workouts. This should not be the case with your spiritual discipline. Don't fight yourself, don't struggle unnecessarily. See things for what they are, and gently work with everything in your life.
7. Right mindfulness: always be aware of your thoughts, actions, words...be mindful of the tiniest detail in every experience whether it's performing your job duties, or loving your children.
8. Right concentration: this is meditation...Through meditation, we can see clearly if we are following all of the 7 points mentioned above...this is also your outlet, a space and gap in time, to find peace by completely ridding your mind of noise and traffic.

The concepts are so simple, but again so much energy is involved in keeping your focus. I'm an emotional person, I tend to react first then think. This is something I have to work on every day, controlling my impulsive reactions. So every evening, I try to take 20 minutes to sit in silence and meditate. First I meditate on my efforts for that day (am I following the 8 fold path?) then I try to think about nothing. I just empty my mind of all thoughts good or bad or worrisome and I practice sitting in silence...believe me, it's harder than it looks, but I do sleep better at night for it.

So what's the goal? The goal is to end suffering by realizing that we create our own suffering, and that the solutions to our problems are within ourselves, not outside. This is called nirvana, and the beautiful part about Buddhism is that anyone can become a Buddha. Buddha was not a god nor was he endowed with any special powers, he was a man...for Buddha simply translates to ' awakened one.'

Tips to help with meditation:

• sit in a comfy position with your back straight
• place hands in your lap with your left hand on the bottom
• keep eyes closed
• and concentrate on the tip of your nose...concentrate on your breaths since they are like a bridge between your body and your mind
• sit in the same place at the same time every day, and increase your sitting time little by little

If you would like to read more about Buddhism online I recommend using BuddhaNet as a great resource. I also recommend reading the Dalai Lama's Art of Happiness: through conversations with the Tibetan exiled Dalai Lama, the author explores Buddhist teachings in a modern world context.

Why do you think Buddhism has become so popular in Western culture in recent years?

Burmese Elections Just Days Away

November is officially upon us. The nights here in Chiang Mai are starting to get cool, the rain has stopped and Thais everywhere are gearing up for the 'Loy Kratong Festival of Lights' about to take place in a couple weeks. This is a magical time of year. Festivities will be held in all the local temples, paper lanterns will be released into the night air for good luck, and 'kratong' banana leaf boats will be artfully decorated with flowers and incense and released into the currents of the Ping River as a gesture of making merit and giving thanks to the river goddess for giving life and prosperity this year.

Across the border, it's a whole other story right now. November 7th is the expected date for the first elections in 20 years by the Burmese military government. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest until the elections are over, and no one's really sure what's going to happen once the election gets under way.
My friends working on the border right now in Mae Sot and Sangklaburi are worried: tensions are running high, violence is expected, and there's talk of minority groups gearing up and banding together for war again.

I myself will be heading to the border again soon, staying with a Burmese orphanage just days after the elections take place, and I'm a little bit nervous about what waits for me there these next few months.

Watch More Videos about the Burmese Military Gov't, Nov.2010

"Burma's 2010 election to be held this November is political theater designed to legitimize the military regime that has violently held power in Burma since 1962. 'This is NOT Democracy' examines the true reasons and historical context for the current election and why the regime's so-called "Roadmap to Democracy" is only a smoke screen to mask the regime's continued human rights abuses and refusal to relinquish leadership of the country to the people's chosen representatives." (17 min. Produced by Burma Partnership and Kestrel Media)

This Is NOT Democracy Part 1, youtube.video

This is NOT Democracy, Part 2