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Thursday, 06 September 2007 |
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One of my favourite areas in Samut Prakan Province at
the moment is Cape Thunder to the West of the Chao Phraya River. The
coastline here borders the Gulf of Thailand. The communities here are suffering heavily from land erosion.
This is partly due to the change in farming methods, but also to rising
sea levels. Along this coastline, much of the mangrove forests were
chopped down to make way for shrimp farming. This has now resulted in
about one kilometre of land being lost to the sea. If you go and stand on the jetty behind the temple and look
out to the sea you will see a row of electric pylons in the water and a
concrete structure. The pylons mark the route of the old road and the
concrete structure was the water tank for the old school. The school was moved further inland in 1982, the same
as most of the other houses and the village shrine. However, the sea
has already started to catch up with them and they might have to move again.
More from Richard Barrow >>>
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Thursday, 06 September 2007 |
I originally met Yui by a chance a couple of years ago and we became good friends. She had always told me that she had a boyfriend and I would often see him come pick her up, take her to eat and buy her stuff etc…It was only after knowing her for the better part of one and half years that she admitted one evening “Steve, Yui pen mia noi na”. (“Steve, I am a minor wife). Actually, I wasn’t very surprised, perhaps she thought that I knew all along – Thai-style like…..she guessed I would find out all by myself.
As you will read, Yui can certainly think for herself; she is charming, has a fun personality and without a doubt would have no problem at all, at just 30 years of age, to find a ‘proper’ boyfriend. She prefers to live though, the life of a minor wife (mistress) – and it is that which encouraged me to encourage her, to tell her story.
Read more at thai-blogs.com Part 1 and Part 2
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Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
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Chavoret Jaruboon preparing to execute a prisoner
Between 1984 and 2002, Chavoret Jaruboon shot dead 55 prisoners. In
his autobiography, "The Last Executioner", he describes some of the
more notable cases. Two stories in particular stand out. One of them
was of the execution of a man who pleaded his innocence right up to the
last moment. He said that the real guilty party was the son of a
policeman and that he was beaten into making a confession. During his
execution, it looked like he was almost being saved by divine
providence. When Chavoret pulled the trigger the gun jammed and it
wouldn’t fire. He checked the gun but couldn’t see any reason why it
wouldn’t fire. They then set up the spare machine gun. After it was
carefully aimed, Chavoret then pulled the trigger. But, this one jammed
too. The prisoner might have been saved, however, a quick thinking
guard decided to search the prisoner more thoroughly. They then found a
Buddhist amulet called Luang Phor Daeng hidden in his right armpit.
They do say that some amulets are powerful enough to protect you from
bullets. Or maybe the monk, whose image was on this amulet, was trying
to protect an innocent man. Anyway, once the amulet was removed the gun
became unjammed and the prisoner was executed.
Read more at theai-blogs.com in Part 1 and Part 2 >>>
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Thursday, 09 August 2007 |
As each year passes it becomes increasingly more difficult to find new
and interesting tourist attractions not far from Bangkok. I have been
on some really good day trips for thai-blogs.com that included renting
a boat to go dolphin watching, riding a train that literally passes
through a market, and the Reclining Buddha image where you can go
inside to see the heart. I didn't think that there would be much more
of interest which hadn't been discovered already. Then I saw a
television programme about Wat Khun Samut on the Gulf of Thailand. I
first heard about this Thai temple surrounded by the sea in a newspaper
article in the Bangkok Post about four years ago. I wanted to go there
back then, but there are no roads in that area and the only mode of
transport is by boat. It seemed incredibly difficult. So, I just put
the name of this temple up on my whiteboard with the other destinations
I wanted to visit. Seeing the temple on television last month and then
also newspaper reports about land erosion statistics released by the
World Bank, prompted me into renewed efforts in finding out how to
reach this small community on the coast.
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