Tuesday 25 April 2017

Grocery Shopping and Thai Take Away II

Shopping
 Aldi / Costco equivalent

 1 Kg coffee beans $11 AU
 Pick a piece of pig
 Frozen crickets
 Chilli's really?
Mango's and Rambutan

Take Away Dinner
 Prawn Patties, market style
 spring roles
 Chicken with nice sweet chilli jam
 Occy
 Chicken livers and sticky rice
 Goats balls and pink ginger and cabbage
Gossiping around the table.

Monday 24 April 2017

Coast and Fishermen

 Time for a swim
 up the beach
 Wedding photos on the rocks
 Fishing boats waiting for high tide




Home Cooking - thanks Rick, Kop and Ebony

A sumptuous home cooked meal from my good friends in Phuket.
 View from the balcony of the world going by.
 The chef and hostess Kop hard at work.
 Chilli Crab.
 Fried Fish.
 Coconut Chilli King Prawns
The proud hostess.
Host Rick
Many beers were drunk :-)

Thursday 20 April 2017

Sak Yant Thailand

Traditional Sak Yant tattoos are ancient geometric designs mixed with Buddhist prayers. They are believed to give the wearer magic powers associated with healing, luck, strength, and protection against evil.

Sak Yant is a very old tradition and part of Theravada Buddhism, the characters used in Sak Yant designs are not Thai characters, but Khom an ancient Khmer script.

The Gao Yord is the Master Yant and is a most sacred Buddhist tattoo with very wide ranging powers of protection that will protect the wearer against evil spirits and all forms of “Black Magic”.The Gao Yord is quite possibly the most important of all the Sak Yant designs. Many people will choose the Gao Yord as their first Sak Yant because of its universal powers and later add other Sak Yant designs of their choice.
The basic design of the Gao Yord represents the nine peaks of the mythical mountain of the Gods, Mount Sumeru.
The set of 3 ovals are a representation of the Lord Buddha.
The Gao Yord Yant has 9 Buddhas represented, with each Buddha bestowing special powers or spells.
The script used is Khom, an ancient Khmer script, and gives the abbreviation for the names of these nine Buddhas as follows; A, Sang, Wi, Su, Loe, Pu, Sa, Pu, Pa
In the centre of the Gao Yord design is a patchwork of small squares, the magic box, each square containing an abbreviation (in Khom) for the names of all the protection spells that this Yant will bestow.




The Sak Yant design Bua Gao Gaap is the Nine Petalled Lotus. 
In Thailand, Thai Buddhists will pay homage to the Lord Buddha with offerings of Lotus flowers.
In Buddhism, the Lotus represents purity in body, in speech and in mind. There is even a legend which states that Lotus flowers grow wherever the Lord Buddha stepped.






Wednesday 19 April 2017

Goodbye Koh Phayam

 The pier area on the eastern side of Koh Phayam, very quite after Songkran and most of the Thai holiday makers have left.
 The pier, Koh Phayam
 Getting on for the speed boat ride to Ranong


 Ranong Harbour

 Unloading
 After retrieving the surfboards from the 'slow' boat.
 Exiting Ranong
Army checkpoint checking for contraband and Burmese people smugglers.

Koh Phayam IV

 Rick and I :-)
 A new motorbike road
 Coffee under a cashew nut tree
 Fresh spring roll Burmese style. Yum
 Buffalo Bay sunset Koh Phayam, Thailand


 The Hippy Bar, Buffalo Bay, Koh Phayam Island, Thailand. Made entirely of driftwood. Good beer food and dancing :-)
View from our bow table while drinking Leo Beer.