Bob

What's sad, at least to me, is the increasing number of chubby Thai kids over the last decade. Ten years ago, I almost never saw anything other than your typical skinny Thai kid but I've remarked more and more the last 5-6 years that there are "little buddhas" popping up all over the place. And some of them are actually rather huge at 10-12 years of age. Why? My guess is it parallels the growth of the burger joints, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, KFC, and all the crap food of the west. Over the years, you see more and more Thai kids and teenagers frequenting these places.

I think many Thai males do their couple weeks or couple of months at the temples when they are just 10-12 years old (or at least that's what usually happens up north) although I'm sure some do it in later years. What's rather awkward at times is how some of the younger monks are seen playing video games in the malls or goofing around a bit too much and usually they're criticized for that (which seems kinda petty to me, given they are only kids and doing their temporary bit). On more rare occasion you'll see an adult monk wearing his designer sunglasses and listening to his Ipod as he's strolling down the street and that seems kinda strange. Oh....here's a smaller sizing of my desktop (and I don't remember where I got this photo):

I attended the Muay Thai fights at the little arena in Hua Hin (it's the place just west of the night market next to Sao Paulo hospital) a couple of times this past winter and rather enjoyed those fights. There usually were about 7 bouts and they started with kids that were maybe 10-11 years old and the progressed with older fighters (the last couple of bouts were by fairly experienced fighters). Upon completion of a bout, the winner (who always had a 100 baht bill clenched between his teeth) would go through the crowd with his trainer and many people would give him (actually, you gave it to his trainer as the boxer still had his gloves on) 20 baht or so. And the boxer would often pose for photos if you had a camera. Here's a couple of shots:

I suppose you ought to be happy that your name isn't Bill Laden? Another poster notes the Thai word (kee) for shit. A long time ago, I came out of my hotel room in Chiang Mai and there were three thai maids all in a tizzy outside my door. Looking down the hall, there was this guy (British, I think) who was standing outside his door, jumping up and down kinda crazy, and he kept yelling "My Key! My Key." It appeared he somehow locked his key in the room (I'm not sure how you do that). I started laughing as I realized he was just looking rather insane to the Thai girls and what they were hearing him say was " No Shit! No Shit! No Shit!...." ("Mai" in Thai means "no", "not", or a negative - although it can also mean other things if a different tone is used)

Maybe I didn't say that right. That blue bar (the one you and I both see in Firefox at the bottom of a post) shows up partially (not entirely) in the middle of some posts when I view the site with Internet Explorer 8 (the latest version, I believe). I typically use IE 8 to view many Thailand forums and, while some sites are slower using IE 8, I've never seen it distort the posts like in this forum. No big deal, I'll learn to use Firefox on this forum.

I've gone to several bouts of muay thai and what fascinates me the most is the ritual surrounding the event. The two fighters enter the ring and, for about 5-6 minutes, each dances/prances around the ring in some ritualistic fashion (which I presume is essentially some prayer to the boxing gods to get them through the bout safely). Actually, it's called the Wai khru ram muay and Wikopedia describes it as follows: Wai khru ram muay (Thai: ไหว้ครูรำมวย) is an action of respect in Thai culture that is performed by participants in Muay Thai competitions. Wai is an action of Thais to show respect to others by putting the hands together like in prayer. Khru means teacher. Ram means dance in the old Thai traditional style. Muay means boxing. Usually Thais prefer to call it short Ram Muay or Wai Khru. Ram Muay is the way to show respect to the teachers and the trainers. Also, in past muay Thai was usually fought in front of the king, so Ram Muay was also to apologize to the King for the brutality in fighting. The fighter first performs the Wai Khru, circling the ring three times before kneeling and bowing three times as a sign of respect to God and man. He also bows to Buddha to ask for protection for himself and his opponent and for an honourable fight. The fighter then performs the Ram Muay, whose simple movements demonstrate a fighter's control and style. Each fighter performs the Ram Muay on each side of the ring to demonstrate his prowess to the audience. The Ram Muay is a personal ritual, ranging from the very complex to the very simple, and often contains clues about who trained the fighter and where the fighter is from. The practitioner may wear a headband called a Mong Kon and armbands known as Pra Jiad during the ceremony, and the Ram Muay may be accompanied by music. The Mong Kon is unique to Thai boxing and not worn in Cambodia or Burma. I've only attended the bouts at Lumpini once and it's a great experience for muay thai fans. Besides the higher quality of participants, you also get a chance to see the rather animated betting going on up in the cheap (upper) seats.

And when we get older (as in me), you forget most of that. P.S. That the William Glasser of Reality Therapy fame?

Hmmm....rather strange question. I've made 18-19 trips to Thailand and have spent 90% of my time in Chiangmai. And, if anybody was going to ask the same question, I would have guessed it would have been asked by a northerner about Bangkok! The real answer to your question depends on what you are seeking.

Hmmm....an idiot quoting an idiot (myself). Two things: (1) The blue stripe (which appears to be part of the "report bar" appearing at the bottom of the posts) doesn't show up using Firefox....so maybe I answered my own question (although there's no reason that IE8 shouldn't work properly here). (2) In neither IE8 or Firefox do I see any button to edit a post. That intentional (or is it well hidden)?

When I open a post (at least one of any length), I'm seeing a light blue horizontal stripe about half way through the post that is obscuring part of the print. I'm using IE8. Is it me, is it a bug, or should I use a different browser?