Tesagan Gin Je or the Vegetarian festival NOTE SOME DISTRESSING PHOTOGRAPHS



The festivities in Phuket include procession of MAH SONG
wearing elaborate costumes  
This is all very carnival like atmosphere with crackers noise
 and lots of people



Mah Song are the people that

 invite the spirits of gods to posses their bodies.

Mah means horse and
refers to how the gods will use their bodies-as a vehicle
It is believed that while one is possessed -  the Mah song
 will not feel the pain. They appear to be in deep trans.
Continous cuts are being made as Mah Song move their heads
 from side to side continously.

The belief is that partaking in this Tao ceremony
prolongs one’s life absolves sins and past debts
and eliminates bad luck of oneself and his family

Only pure unmarried people can be Mah song.

Women can also be Mah Song

MAH SONG wear
elaborate costumes
 and pierce
 their cheeks
 and tongues



People accompany
mah songto keep
 their wounds clean
and help
 support the heavier
 piercing
One happy
 havy sward handler



The entranced distribute blessed candy and pieces of orange cloth
engraved with words for good luck



The entranced



And more blessings.
Mah Song seem to receive some gifts and it all happened quickly
 so I didn't manage to see what it was



Grateful woman holding on to  her families orange cloth engraved with words for good luck.
The kids are holding on to their blessed candy.

Sunday 18^th September 2011

Driving along Phukets streets on a sunny Sunday afternoon we noticed this commotion on the side of the road with crackers and lots of people. Sometime when in a foreign country those times take one by surprise and this on did ! We soon realized that what we were witnessing was the Vegetarian Festival that has 2 other names. Something we have read about and I in particular have always wanted to see it. We expected it to take place later on in the month and we knew that this year we were going to miss it – unfortunately.

If you thinking of vegetarian festival as eating a lot of vegetables you are in for a huge surprise. It is also known as Nine Emperor Gods Festival and it lasts nine days starting on the eve of the ninth lunar month. It is one of the most unusual and bizarre festivals in Thailand it is called Tesagan Gin Je or Vegetarian festival.

The story is that Nine Emperor Gods are the nine sons of Emperor Zhou and Mother of the Big Dipper. Tao believe that honoring the North Dipper Stars prolongs one’s life absolves sins and past debts and eliminates bad luck of oneself and his family.

According to folk stories that the 9 sons were actually sea pirates.

According to Tao Nine Emperor Gods are high ranking Star Lords presiding over the movement of planets and coordinating mortal life and death issues. Serious “stuff”

So on the eve of the ninth moon the temples of the deities hold a ceremony to invoke and welcome the 9 emperors. A carnival like atmosphere pervades the temples with

most devotees staying at the temple and eating vegetarian meals as well as reciting continuous chanting and prayer. Mah Song are the people that invite the spirits of gods to posses their bodies. Mah means –horse and refers to how the gods will use their bodies-as a vehicle and can be seen shaking their heads back and forth continually. Only pure unmarried people can be Mah song . They wear elaborate costumes and pierce their cheeks and tongues with all sort of sharp objects : swards banners knifes etc. Some pierce their arms with pins or fishhooks as well.

Teams of people accompany Mah Song to keep their wounds clean and help support the heavier piercing. It is believed that while one is possessed the Mah song will not feel the pain.The entranced distribute blessed candy and pieces of orange cloth engraved with words for good luck and maybe get some gifts.

In Phuket participating parties wear white which is translated to abstinence of meat seafood and diary products and this is called JE food. Yellow flags are hang out in places that sell JE food. The streets are full of yellow flags now wherever we drive.

There is a belief that there will be rain during all the nine days since the arrival of gods is believed to be trough water. Laugh if you want and we had rain for the past 2 days with winds that took my washing away…

On the ninth day there will be a great procession held to send the deities home.

Oh by the way apparently there are no scars left. I also heard that there was no blood well that as you could see is not quite so.



Khao lak

Khao lak is a seaside place that sits on a long stretch of coastline with attractive beaches. The big draw in the season  are the live abroad diving trips which explore the stunning Similan ( meaning 9 as there are 9 islands ) and Surin Archipelago.


The power of nature is very evident here...



We stayed in a rather attractive resort for couple of days and explored the small town as well as the empty destroyed by tsunami hotels – quite ghostly.




What used to be...3 large resorts
Totally destroyed by tsunami
They will never
be rebuilt.
Sad feelings around here
 with dead stillness
and the nature taking over
what used to be...

 

A tribute to an european family
 with their picture
 held to a coconut tree
 and protected.
 Marked  with a small coral rock...
 still after so many years




A small house
 that is built outside of the shade
 of the large house
 for protection
 from bad spirits
 giving them somwhere
to live.
 Each house in Thailand
has at least one
small house like this.
Offerings are placed daily.



This town was hit really hard by the tsunami some say that it was hit the most. A police boat was brought by the tide where it currently stands 2km inland when the giant wave hit. The boat remains on the hill as a monument to those lost and a reminder of natures raw power.

We went trough the small villages on the coast and wondered how anyone would possibly make it to safety if another tsunami hit. The villages are right on the beach and the closest high ground is kilometers away. We followed a trail of the tsunami safety signs and the signs led to a mosque on the main drive trough road 5 km away. We feel that it might be a rather long run for safety. We have seen couple of tsunami towers and we are not sure how they are supposed to work. It might be look and see arrangement.. There are so many areas in Thailand that were hit so much harder than Phuket and had higher loss of life than Phuket yet they are not mentioned.

This is the only tiger we found on this trip...



A quick stop at a  typical Thai fruit store
with stink beans on the way home/boat.
So traditional in the south

Ratchaprapha and Chiaw Lan Lake

Jul 2011


Some of the long boats waiting for tourists.
In season this place would be absolutely buzzing and out of season it is
a rather lazy and restful time for all.

The rain stopped for maybe 2-3 hours in 3 days and we took this time to drive to stunning Chiaw Lan Lake that was created by an enormous shale clay dam called Ratchaprapha with lime outcrops protruding from the lake to 960m.We had to employ the services of a long boat and a driver to go trough the lake.” Bobby” found an original one indeed! He looked like an interesting character and his boat (or his friends boat sometimes it is hard to follow) looked just as original as he did. He needed some money up front to buy fuel first. He had coupe of car seats in his friends boat an absolute classic.

The lake with it’s outcrops was breathtaking impressive and magnificent. There were also some caves but because of weather we could not walk trough them. I was happy about that! Who wants to walk in cold water on a cold day – a rarity in Thailand. The caves are normally partly submerged.

We also visited a small tourist village in a wonderful setting. Fed some beautiful pink fish and met the locals that were looking after the place We utilized our rain free period to the max. it started raining again just as soon as we got of the boat. We could clearly see the rain following us and were all giving our driver all the encouragement to go faster laughing and screaming….

Next day we decided to move on to Khao lak



Khao Sok National Park

Person who lived in Phuket for a while told us that he visited Khao Sok National Park and found it magical. From the drive to the park to running into wild elephants to the stay in tree houses they said that the place was just captivating.

The elephants sold me.

We really needed a break after all the stresses of engine reconstruction so we planed a short car trip to the park after which we were to move back to the boat. Well we seem to have an absolute knack for choosing a rainy weather even in the middle of the hottest time. We have done it a few times now and it is almost expected that when we go away it absolutely pours with rain in Phuket. This time was spot on too. Our drive to Khao Sok was bucketing wet.

We could hardly see the road at times not to mention elephants.

The sky just opened and with constant and continuous heavy rain

This is what palm  "flower" and palm oil is made from it

The splendid banana flower that was just outside our outside bathroom
with water as cold as the rain.
The little bananas were the size of the little finger of your hand
Which makes the flower quite enormous in comparison.

Khao Sok is part of the oldest rainforest in the world where snakes monkeys tigers bears boars deer gaurs tapirs reside besides the smaller animals.180 species of birds as well as worlds largest flower Rafflesia kerrii. It’s flowers can reach 80cm in diameter Finding our tree house accommodation for the night was not the easiest of tasks. We drove trough potholes and strange little roads and finally got to the end of the road where a wild and raging river met with maybe 600 meters rock.



This one is for Domenique!



This is one of the 180 species of birds.
No idea which one. He just arrived as we were having breakfast
and had his very swiftly sucking the nectar from the flowers. 

What a sight and amongst this a tree house. It looked fantastic and it was. Romantic too. The bathroom was pretty much outdoors with cold water and a military army of mosquitoes just waiting. The bed was hard as a rock and everything in the room was rather damp. Basic was another word and all would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the rain. There are so many things to see here but the heavy rain was not the time to trek the jungle. We would have loved to venture into the jungle at night which we will have to do another time. It promises to be a rather a different and unexpected experience.

The tree house accommodation.
This was the bridal suite...we would have to say"Good luck with the marriage"
Ha Ha...

And it continued to rain...on and on and on.....

As soon as the sky turned darker in the evening the sounds started to build up and the night life in the jungle started. It was so incredibly loud that it was almost impossible to sleep. Magical of sorts! We have never been in a jungle so alive.

The rain stopped for maybe 2-3 hours in 3 days and we took this time to drive to stunning Chiaw Lan Lake that was created by an enormous shale clay dam called Ratchaprapha

On the way to the lake - a typical Thai life scene
 with kids returning from schools - any which way!

We have seen some working elephants on the way and not the wild one



And there he was joyful totally
 covered with mud and
" Happy as a Larry".
We almost missed him.
He blended in so well.
We stopped the car
 and parked it on
the other side of the road
...we did not get out of the car
He surprised us
by actually being there!!!
WILD!!!!!



Visa run - a new experience

Boats that take "visa runners" accross to Burma.
Notice these boats have no roofs and therefore less thaneconomy.
Most people will use little umbrellas to get a little shade from the sun

This is a funny story. After returning from Hua Hin’s family vacations with the family

 on an overnight bus we booked our first visa run to Burma. So with very little sleep we fronted up at the Visa Run office to be picked up for a whole day run to Burma and back just to cross the boarder of Thailand and get another visa. The little bus arrived with all weird and wonderful people who were willing to pay around $70- and spent the whole day driving and boating to get a 2 week extension on their visa. There was an unforgettable singer from the Philippines with a band of 2 who was also an export import specialist and could sing with a computer and do well let’s say a lot of things in life. Young woman who gave her time for free to an orphanage. Well that is actually not quite correct. She gave her time and had to pay for the privilege to stay at the orphanage. A man on a US passport who could have been anyone had more stamps in his thick passport that we have ever seen and apparently was an instructor? Sometimes it is wiser to remain silent and ask no questions. A young excited woman with her very young English boyfriend who told me how excited she was to be 20 weeks pregnant. She also thought us how to open mangosteen fruit. There is a little trick.

Young lost man who had no idea what he was going to do in life and tried to work it out on the way. Us who felt like run always from somewhere. And not to be forgotten the person who amused us all day driving on the other side of the road like a lunatic and gave us more than 100 hair raising experiences – our DRIVER!!!!. Stopping on the way for food and drink in strange and not so wonderful places was always an experience. It looks like a lot of people get employed doing visa runs even the little roadside bars. Everyone gets a little cut. Once we got to the boarder crossing and the doors opened most of us almost collapsed with the smell that entered the bus. Not sure what it was and can only imagine that one month old fish guts mixed with something more putrid was a mild smell in comparison. I found it almost impossible to breathe some people were vomiting ouch…and with the combination of heat and humidity we felt like fugitives in some fourth world country. It made us laugh because that moment was so bad there was little else to do. Unfortunately for some this was life…Hmm. This place was super busy with lots of movement people pushing and shoving. Passports flying around in mid air. There was the form filler who did all the writing for us with hands full of forms really full and passport handler and checker and there was the boat. Wow different and somehow always looks better in the pictures. It was not great for real. We got on the boat got driven for 15 min got of in Burma got pushed to an office where the officers had singlets on had our passports stamped…by the way names were not necessary here just nationality and than we thought that we might have an hour or so to look around but no10 minutes is all we got. In those 10 minutes we managed to “employ” 3 guides who wanted us to buy Viagra and cigarettes I think and as we were living wanted payment for their service that we didn’t want in the first place. This was all fast fast fast and before we knew it we were packed backing a bus and driven back. Let’s say that flown back in the car would have been a better description of it. The driver put a movie on for us that was absolutely blaring and he was wild on the road – almost surreal. That day was a lot of things…Would I want to do it again? Maybe not but we laughed a lot!!!!

Waiting in lines from form filler customs and passport collectors

Our wonderful team that took care of us.
At this point the feeling was definetly "we are fugitives"





Burma- the first impressions!
Honey Bear Hotel was the biggest buildinh here

Main round-about

I guess this is as much as we have seen.
Would have liked to stay a little longer....

Engine trouble! Something small?Water in the engine!

The engine cap with water drops....

June 5th 2011

Now in retrospect it all started on the way over from Langkawi to Phuket. The little trouble with starting the motor. Yes we had the problem checked and yes there was a small electrical error that was fixed before we left for our month long trip after Tinker’s Birthday on the 2^nd of May to sail around Thailands islands. How exciting!!!!! It is so great to leave the marina which must be one of the hottest places on Earth- really.

It is also a working and fixing place for most boat owners. Everyone is busy either getting ready for a trip somewhere or fixing things and there are always things to fix on boats. Our first few days out were easy going and relaxing. Our first real destination was Kho (meaning island) Phi Phi Don and that is where the engine problem became a more serious matter and so we cut our month long trip plans and were towed in back to Phuket marina by our friends Chris and Barrie from Apsara. Firstly we were dropped of outside the marina as it was not possible to enter on tow. We had to wait for the right tide and a few dinghies to safely push Cognac into it’s spot at marina. A bit anxious and it all went well. It took a few days to get the mechanics to show up and give us some good news. Neither of us thought that things could turn up to be serious. They did! Unfortunately! There was water in the engine! BIG TROUBLE! all mechanics were busy on different projects and could not help us. We pumped out the mixture of oil and water and filled some parts of the engine with break fluid to stop corrosion until mechanical help would come…long wait when we knew that things could only get worse. There was also a question of salt versus fresh water in the engine. We tasted it and could not be sure. It turned out to be salty. The worst possible. Our moods deflated and really worried we still waited another 2 days until the whole team of Volvo mechanics had time. And than more bad news. They started to disassemble the parts and than more parts and more parts. It became apparent that the engine needed to be rebuilt. After more waiting even that proposition was put under question.

The wait is very draining and the whole situation was very upsetting for both of us. Days were very long and extremely hot. The inside of the boat disassembled with what was left of the engine suspended in the air. The engine is very large about 5 foot by 2 and about a ton in weight so it was all a huge operation. As the days went by we became mere and more anxious even deliberating new engines which would be a bigger operation than rebuilding the old one as all the other parts would have to fit and that is no easy matter not to mention the incredible cost probably 40k+.

And than finally a little piece of  good news. We could rebuild! Hooray! At this time we were offered to move out of the boat and stay with our friends at their Andara apartment until the work was finished. Thank you Chris and Barrie!!! It was going to take 3 weeks that turned out to be 6 weeks plus. Really with all the little fixes and sea trials 3 months.

The trials of taking the engine out of the boat and not damaging anything in the process – difficult and requiring incredible attention to detail and foresight. The trials of checking on the work in progress at the mechanics requiring patience forethought and more patience with lots of driving. The trials of transporting the engine back to the boat was nervous not to mention the hundreds of parts that came with it. Fortunately our mechanics were professional and rather meticulous. Thank you to every one and each of you for all the work that you have put into making sure that we could sail again.

Huge thank you to Leon and Volvo team!

Have a look at the picture story to tell more and hope that none of you would have to go trough such experience.

It might sound rather odd and a boat is almost like a “baby”. Ones happiness is totally connected to how the boat “feels” and performs. We rely on it to keep our life safe and when that is put into question something very deep gets “shaken”. The belief about personal safety questioned! Certainly not like a car!

PS In the end the fault that caused all the problems has been found after the “new” engine was installed. Great comfort as we now know what the problem was. The part was smaller than a car key and the hole that was punctured in the part just a little bigger than an end of a pin.

Not looking good at all and there was still hope.

A few days later parts are looking really bad.

Disaster

Almost clear now that the engine will need major repairs

More bad news and question re cylinders

Engine has to be pulled up and inspected below. The boat is dissasembled
 and temporary workshop set up

Had difficulties pulling the engine up

The engine has to be  rebuilt if possible.
Parts have to be tested first

What used to be the oil now looks like mud. The salt water has caused
a lot of corrossion by now.

Not the best time. Worried...and still a waiting game.
The news is all bad

The arrival of the re-built engine in parts all wrapped in gladwrap.
This was quite an operation and Robert waited for it for days
in the unbearable heat. 

Trolleys and trolleys of parts arriving to Cognac.

It took 6 men to bring the head on board.
A very careful operation not to damage anything in the process

Bit by bit at a time

With extreme care

And more parts. The job of putting it all together...enormous

Semi assembled