Last shift had been pretty tough again. Until 1 a.m almost no emergencies had been reported but after that I spent my time rspeeding through Bangkok on the back of our advance motorbikes from one scene to the next.
You could have felt it in the air that night. It was pretty hot and humid (more than usually). People just kept on fighting each other and even the police had a hard time to get the people to stop their fights. At 3 a.m weh ad a case when I was treating a patient who had been injured in a fight while just behind me another fight broke out and more people got injured.
That`s pretty exhausting.

Check out the video:



Tags: thailand thai ems paramedic bangkok healthcare emt ambulance video emergency

I guess this ist he most ignoratnt headline that I have published for a long time, but this is really what happened and this is also what this post is all about.
During my last trip to Issan, the northeast region of Thailand, one of the most important buddhist ceremonies of the whole year took place in baan Konsaay, the village where I stayed.
For that ceremony all family altars in all houses in the village and the houses too had been connected with each other with a white cotton thread, like it is used in all buddhist ceremonies. The thread then led bundled to the statue of a high rank abbot in the lately constructed extension of the temple.
In the whole temple area grass mats had been spreaded und above the area a huge network of cotton threads had been created, from which thousand of single threads were hanging down.. Of course that net was also connected to the village houses the family altars and the statue in the temple.
Then, in the evening my metamorphosis as a part-time nun took place. More details about that can be found in my earlier post My Day as a Buddhist Part-time Nun.
When we arrived at the temple –now as nuns- we took those white cotton threads that were hanging down and spun them around our heads. So did all the hundreds of other women from the village. A couple of hundreds in total. From that moment on we were all spiritually connected to each other, the family altars, the houses of the village and the statue in the temple. This was certainly the most mystic occurance that I have ever expernienced.
After that we lighted candles in front of us and of course also the obligatory incense sticks. At that time it had been 9 p.m. The ceremony did not end before half past one in the morning after singing more than a thousand timest he same buddhist prayer.
In retrospective a very touching experience, although a was scared all the time that being wired up like that, somebody might be able to reda my thoughts or that I just would fuse.

Check out the video:



For some reason the video is a little grainy again so I added the best pictures again.











Tags: mystik thailand thai issan isaan esarn e-sarn pics bilder u-kaew udon thani konsaay travel buddhismus

Once again some nice motion pictures from Baan Konssay, U-Kaew district, Udon-Thani province

Check it out:



Tags: thailand thai issan isaan esarn e-sarn pics bilder u-kaew udon thani konnsaay travel

Like Europe in the 18th century elegant whiteness is regarded as chic in today’s asia. In drug stores all over south east asia you will hardly find a bodycare product without “whitening”-ingredients. Ranging from deo roll-ons to bodylotion all products have the whitening stuff inside which particularly people in the sunny regions of south east asia like. But many peole can’t effort the mostly expensive brands and buy therefore no-name products from the market –with sometimes ugly results. So, if you care for your skin pigments better buy brand products an invest some minutes to find a cream without whitener.



Tags: south east asia trend whitening bodycare lotions weißmacher südostasien

Thailand is the land of smile. It is almost impossible to turn those peaceful people angry. Thai people see over a lot of the rude behavior, language and insults by westerners. But you better not try. Even they have a straw that breaks the camel's back. And when they're letting go they do it more surprisingly and mercilessly than you expect.

So, avoid all kind of confontation with a Thai - least of all fighting. "You might feel like a buff thug, but believe me: You will lose and may possibly be arrested. Thai boxing ist a popular sport in Thailand and Thai people are as thick as thieves. So, brace yourself, even after 20 Singha beers. Don´t even think about it!" reads a german language online-magazine on Bangkok.
This should actually be common sense but especially western people sometimes seem to forget their manners- even more when encountering the considerate and polite Thai people.



Tags: thailand thai fighting confrontation argument behavior

When the vietnam war spread to cambodia and laos, the CIA created a tribal guerilla from members of the Hmong hilltribe in 1961 to fight aigainst the communists. During the bigger war in Vietnam Laos became a minor battlefield and the US-Hmong alliance dissolved. When the US withdrew from Laos in 1975, they left the field to the communist "Pathet Lao", who consecutively killed more than 10.000 Hmong. Many of them then retreated into the laotian forests to keep on the war against the government. But many survivors also fled to the USA, where today about 200.000 Hmong are living.
Amnesty International assesses the descendants of the fighters of those days as not dangerous to the laotian government:" The Hmong are not in possesion of weapons or only have overaged ones. They are undernourished and without medical support. Nevertheless the laotian Government regards the Hmong as danger to the country's security."

US-author Roger Warner visited the covert battlefields and has a similar report:" We found those reports true on a small scale. Scattered bands of ragged fighters subsist off wild plants, trying to evade the Laotian army … and almost every day, the leaders of these Hmong bands talk on satellite phones with their Hmong-American relatives."
Even though laotian military keeps on attacking Hmong villages.
"In one of the largest settlements with more than 800 inhabitants about 30 percent had gunshot or shrapnel wounds. Due to the attacks by the army many of the Hmong retreat in even deeper jungle areas. Some flee to Thailand, but there they are threatened by forced deportation back to Laos before they are registered by the UNHCR," reads the Amnesty International website.
It is still unclear how many Hmong are living in the forests. Approximations vary from several hundres to uo to 17.000. The human rights organisation also documented that about 780 Hmong have left the jungle of northern Laos last year. They are still missing.

Tags: Hmong Laos lao laotian hilltribe Amnesty International war UNHCR refugees human rights

Thai kick boxer Buakaw Por.Pramuk is going for it again at the K-1 World MAX tournament. Three wins, all won in the third round by 3-0, the 25-year-old fighter as already on his list for this year.
Buakaw who's original name is Sombat Banchamek is the current K-1 World MAX Champion after mercilessly switching out Dutchman Andy Souwer's lights in the final fight last year.
Doing this he took what he was supposed to take already the year before. Then, he fought against Andy Souwer but the jury voted 2-1 after two extra rounds against him.
Buakaw, who was born in the Isaan Buriram province, can look back on a great carreer - despite his youth.
He only lost two out of 18 K-1 fights. Out of 157 Muay Thai fights he solely lost seven. But those fight are only those of his professional carrer. In total Buakaw took part in more than 400 fights.
Experts regard him as a complete kick boxer, who leads his legs to the aim at all levels, hits hard on his opponent's body, but who has nonetheless lots of power in his fists, with whoch he immediatly preys every carelessnes of his rival.
Buakaw, which means "White Lotus" grew up under poor conditions, startet his carreer as a Muay Thai fighter and entered the K-1 circus not until 2004. Then, he immediately qualified for the final tournament nd surprisingly won against against Masato from Japan.



Tags: thai thailand buakaw por. pramuk muay บัวขาว ป. ประมุข K-1 kick boxing

Maka Bucha Day is the day of the Full Moon in the third lunar month.
"Maka" referrs to the month of the same name in the ancient indian lunar calendar. The word "Bucha" means prayer. So, "Maka Buch" means " Prayer in the month of Maka".
Maka Bucha Day is also known as the "Day of the fourfold assembly", a specaial congregation in the age of the Buddha, that occured in the bamboo grove of Veluvana on the full moon in the month maka. On that day 1.250 monks spontanously assembled in the grove without having arranged so.
All of these monks were "Arhant", monks who had reached the highest level of enlightment. Also all of them ha been disciples of the Buddha and had been ordained by the Buddha personally.

Watch the following short Clip, showing us celebrating Makabucha Day with firework at the chinese temple on Ko Chang:



Tags: makabucha day maka bucha buddha lunar month fourfold assembly arhant Veluvana firework