Phra That Si Chom Thong, Chomthong, Chiang Mai Province

Year of the Rat: About 59 kms south of Chiang Mai, on the same road for Doi Inthanon, you will reach Phra That Si Chom Thong. This is one of the most important shrines in Chiang Mai Province as it houses a holy Buddha relic. Normally, relics are buried inside a chedi, however, here it is enshrined inside a container in the main hall. This relic is believed to part of the right side of the Buddha’s head. According to legend, the Buddha once came to the hilltop where this temple now stands and he foretold that the place would later house a holy relic. The relic was apparently found in 1452 and a temple was built on the hill at Doi Din Thong to enshrine it. When I visited the temple earlier this year, I was disappointed to see that the chedi was covered in scaffolding as they were renovating. I had made a special trip down from Chiang Mai just to visit this temple. But, at least I could pay respects to the holy relic in the nearby hall. This is an important shrine for people born in the Year of the Rat. As Doi Inthanon is nearby, you could combine a trip to the highest mountain in Thailand with this temple. Hopefully when you go the renovations are over. The pictures I have seen of the golden chedi are really beautiful. Incidently, the temple building below prohibits women entering. It seems to be common in northern Thailand to see signs stopping women entering sacred shrines.

Doi Suthep – Important shrine for people born in the Year of the Goat

In Thailand, many people celebrate their birthday according to the 12 year cycle. This is similar to the Chinese system. This year it is is the Year of the Dog. Every twelve years people will have a special celebration either for a birthday or the anniversary on an important event. A few years ago, one of my ex-students invited me to his grandfather’s birthday. At the party, he told me to guess the age of his grandfather. He was surprised that I correctly guessed that his grandfather was 72 years old. This was easy to work out. I knew his grandfather wouldn’t invite me to just any birthday celebration as the older generation generally don’t celebrate birthdays. So, I deduced it must have been one of his 12 year cycles. I made an educated guess that this was his 6th cycle making him 72 years old. His Majesty the King recently had a grand celebration in 1999 for his 6th cycle.

Here are the years of the cycle with the animals associated with each year:

1. Year of the Rat - Bee Chuat
2. Year of the Ox (Bull) - Bee Chalu
3. Year of the Tiger - Bee Kahn
4. Year of the Rabbit (Hare) - Bee Toh
5. Year of the Dragon (Big snake) - Bee Marong
6. Year of the Snake - Bee Maseng
7. Year of the Horse - Bee Mamia
8. Year of the Goat - Bee Mamae
9. Year of the Monkey - Bee Wog
10. Year of the Rooster - Bee Raga
11. Year of the Dog - Bee Jor
12. Year of the Pig - Bee Goon

Spread around Thailand there are twelve temples which are considered important pilgrimage sites for each of the twelve years. On their 12th anniversary birthdays, people will go to the temple corresponding to the year of their birth in order to make extra special merit. I was born in the Year of the Goat, so that means I should go to Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai on my birthday in 2015. Earlier this year I made an effort to visit many of these important temples for our sister site at ThaiTravelBlogs.com. Over the coming days I will be telling you all about these sacred temples and shrines.

If you don't know the animal sign for the year you were born, then click here.

“Here is a map of  Thailand”

Our Thai-Blogs.com website has been nominated for the Asian Blogs Awards. Steve’s website has also been nominated. Visit asianpundit.com to view the ten nominations for the Thailand section. You then choose which of the blogs you like the most.

The Nominees are:
Bangkok Street Dogs
Gregoire Glachant
Magnoy’s Samsara
Mango Sauce
Mekong Kurt
Steve Suphan
Stickman Weekly
Stu Towns
Thai-Blogs
Thailand Diary

Hopefully you will choose our blogs as the best for this year! Make sure you go and vote now because there are only a few days left to do this. Thank you.

The following was written in the 1850’s by Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix.

(left) A Siamese woman of King Mongkut's era (right) A Siamese man of King Mongkut's era. Formerly they shaved their heads and only left a round spot on top of the head where they wore the hair sticking up like a brush. The women cut their hair short, instead of shaving them off and they wore the same circular hair tuft as the men.

The dress of the Siamese is very simple: they go about barefoot and without a hat. As their only dress they have a piece of painted Indian cloth they attach to their belts pulling back the two ends in the back (that is what is called a langouti). This way of dressing is common for both sexes. Moreover, young girls and women put around their necks a silk scarf so that one of the ends falls over the shoulder in the back; while the men are satisfied with a piece of white cloth they sometimes use as a belt, sometimes as a handkerchief, to wipe off sweat, sometimes in lieu of a turban to protect them from sun rays.

People of modest means rarely use an umbrella. Those high placed, on the contrary, always have one. The common people, men and women, use some kind of light basket made of palm leaves instead of a hat. When the lower ranking meet their masters, they must have a belt of silk around their wastes. The King and Princes do not at all differ from their subjects in the shape of their dress but only in the richness of dress and usually they wear Chinese sandals.

(left) A high-ranking Siamese from King Mongkut's time (right) Two simaese from King Chulalongkorn's time (1868-1910). Under the government of King Chulalongkorn the Siamese males and females wore their hair combed backwards without shaving any parts of their heads. While formerly only prominent women wore a breast shawl, after King Chulalongkorn returned from Europe, he issued a regulation that all women had to wear a shawl.

The following description of a Thai mealtime was written in the 1850’s by Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix:

The Thai take all their meals seated on a mat or carpet. The dishes are enclosed in great bronze vases with a lid in a conical shape and adorned with red cloth. The dishes are cut in small pieces and the rice is placed aside and to the right in a great, widening bowl. On the left side, there is a basin with water in which floats another small basin to drink. The diners have neither spoons, nor forks, nor knives. They only use a mother-of-pearl spoon to take from the plates. For all the rest, fingers are sufficient for them. Only when they are satisfied do they drink pure water or a cup of tea. Drinking from the same bowl or cup is not shocking to them. Among the rich people, the husband usually eats before his wife who serves him at the table.The Princes and the King are only different from their subjects by the richness of the cutlery and the variety of dishes.

The dining hour is, so to speak, sacred for the Thai. One never bothers somebody who is eating; even masters themselves watch out not to interrupt the meal of their slaves. The time of a meal is also a time for silence. Even if one is with ten or twenty people to eat together, one barely hears a few words escape one or the other, so deeply engrossed are they in their business! Thus, their meals take only about a quarter of an hour. One must also remark that they never drink before or during a meal, only afterwards.

Nong Grace celebrating her third birthday

Continuing our series of good blogs from the past. These are some of the blogs published at this time last year.

• Loy Krathong
• Vultures at Wat Saket – a look back into the past
• McDonald’s in Thailand
• European Football and Thai Fans
• Letters from Thailand – book review
• Thai School Snackshop
• Paradigm Shift
• The Red Rope
• London Thai Festival
• A Journalist’s Bangkok
• Chinese Festival in Pattani
• My Thai(ish) Wedding | More
• Amazing Bite of Thai Seattle
• Holidaying in Kanchanaburi
• Giant Swing in Bangkok
• Tak Bat Dok Mai Festival
• About an Elephant
• Superstitions from Thailand | More
• Kanchanaburi Trip Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
• Pon’s First Snow
• Do’s and Don’ts for Thais going to Farangland
• One Night in Bangkok
• Hi-lo Society in Thailand
• Angry Thai Females
• Five Things I like about Bangkok
• The Bliss of Bangkok
• Understanding Thai Generosity
• A Malaysian Living in Mae Salong
• My Friend in Mae Salong
• Thailand and Malaysia
• Thai Money
• Thai Ghost Festival
• Meeting Carabao
• Muslim New Year in Mae Sot
• Weather in Thailand
• How to Play Thai Lottery
• Learn 300 Thai Words in 5 Minutes!
• Trip to Aranya Prathet & Poipet
• 19th Century Travel Advisory
• Living the Thai Way
• Average Monthly Wage in Thailand
• Thailand Facts and Figures
• Do’s and Don’ts of Coming to Thailand to Teach
• National Scout Day in Thailand

When people come to Thailand, one of the first things they want to do is to eat some genuine Thai food. The best place to do this is on the street. However, these places only have menus and signs in Thai and the vendors don’t speak any English. Of course, you could try and point to what you want to eat. But, what is that meat on the stick? Is it pork, chicken, beef or even crocodile? To help you order Thai food, we have started to do a series of illustrated articles on what words you need to use for each food stall. I have hundreds of pictures in my photo library of Thai food. When finished, this should prove to be very useful.

• How to Order Thai Food
• Thai Food Photo Album (over 800 pictures)

I have told you a number of times that I like exploring areas of Thailand by using Google Earth. In particular I like exploring my home province in order to find new tourist attractions. There has been one place I spotted a while back now that got me really curious. You can see it in the above screenshot. At the bottom of the picture is the pier at Bang Pu. The road going from left to right is Sukhumwit Road. What is curious is the large green patch of land with a straight road going to what looks like a temple surrounded by some water. I asked so many people but no-one could identify this place. Finally, this afternoon I decided I should go and solve this puzzle.

From the road the entrance gave no indication of what lay beyond. I crossed a bridge but my way was blocked by a barrier which was padlocked. A sign in Thai said something like “Keep Out. Trespassers will be Prosecuted!” The place was deserted. From where I was standing I could just see a building in the distance but it was not clear enough to identify what it was. So, I ducked under the barrier and walked up the road towards the building. About ten minutes later I reached a small lake (in the picture the white road circles it). Beyond was the sala, which is a Thai style pavilion. I knew from the Google Map that it was surrounded by a moat. On the righthandside I could see a white bridge. On closer inspection I could see a black stone which had a carving of a person and an inscription in Thai and Chinese. It then dawned on me that this must be a kind of mausoleum. It must have been a wealthy local businessman. Puzzle solved!

For the past few weeks I have been using Google Earth to produce a photo tour of Samut Prakan. I have marked many of the tourist attractions in my province and also added many photos. You need to download and install Google Earth first and then download this kmz file. Have fun exploring my city from the comfort of your home. See if you can find my home!