One of the jobs I have to do at the school is to look after the foreign teachers. This term we have four new teachers fresh off the boat. The teachers are staying in a townhouse belonging to the school. Their contract is only for this term though a couple of them will probably stay longer.

Whenever we have a group of new teachers I have to do an orientation meeting with them. The idea is not only to help them fit in at school but also to help them survive in the local community. One of the first things I tell them is that their life here will be like a goldfish in a bowl. There will be no privacy for them at all and literally everyone will know their business. Both inside school and outside. As there aren't too many foreigners walking the streets in Paknam whatever they do and however they dress will attract attention.

Unfortunately for them there is no distinction between school and home life. How they act around the townhouse, even in their own time, will reflect back on the school. In the past, the school administrators have asked me to tell some of our teachers to dress more appropriately and also not to go to some of the nightclubs near the school. A task I am not always that happy to do. After all, in Western society, what you do in your free time is your own private business.

In Thailand, teachers get a great deal of respect in the local community. (Unluckily they don't get much money). As a consequence, we have to set good examples of being model citizens to not only our students but also to just about everybody else. It doesn't really matter if we are Thai or not. in fact, it is probably worse that we are not Thai. Any mistakes or blunders we make are usually magnified out of proportion.

A good example of this in practice comes from an excellent book by Phra Farang. This is a Westerner who came to Thailand to become a monk. He makes a comment in his book that if there were two monks sitting on a bench smoking and one was Thai and the other was Westerner, then Thai people would give two very different reactions. The Thai person they would ignore. However, seeing the Westerner smoking would shock them.

When I first came to live in Paknam I was probably the only foreigner here. I certainly never met any others while I was walking the streets. Everywhere I went I felt eyes following me. After I had started to learn some Thai I could then hear them talking about me as I walked by. I didn't know who these people were but they all knew me. This made it rather difficult to get angry with someone when they push in line at the local 7-Eleven. This person could be a parent or someone who knew a teacher at school.

This brings me back to the foreign teachers we have now. When I was at the school I never knew of the "secret service" that was working away in the background. Now I was starting to hear "gossip" of everything these foreign teachers were doing. They went to a local swimming pool and sunbathed on the deckchairs. They went to a restaurant on the other side of the river and drank lots and lots of beer. They walked down to the market holding hands. They invited a girl back to the house. They went to watch a movie at Central City Bangna. It was just incredible how much news was finding its way back to the people at the school.

It can be hard living like this. But, if you let it get to you then you will go crazy. Best to keep smiling and continue on the best you can. However, if you don't like living your life under a microscope, then it would be best if you moved to places like Bangkok or Pattaya where foreigners can be more anonymous.

It has now been about five months since I got my motorcycle. I had lots of fun with it. I have also been through a lot of bad luck which has upset me very much. Now, I am back at the temple with the bike. I am outside waiting for the monk to come back from his alms round. I will ask him to bless my bike to get the good luck back.

Since February, the first day I got my bike, up to now there has been quite a lot of accidents and problems happen to my bike and me. Especially the latest accident that just happened, it was a very big one. That reminded me about what my mum said when I first bought the bike. She told me to take the bike to the temple to have it blessed but I didn’t listen. Even after the first time my friend crashed my bike, I still didn’t listen to what she said. Now, I am very sorry that I didn’t listen to her. If I had taken my bike to let the monk bless it earlier, my friend might not have ended up in hospital and I might not have had lots of bad luck like this.

The first bad luck with the bike happened to two of my friends. It happened not long after I had the bike, less than one month. My friends came to see me and my new bike at my house. They came without telling or calling me first so I wasn‘t alone. At that time, I was staying at home with one of my girls. They walked through the front door and surprised me. I tried to give them a signal to tell them to go first but they pretended not to see it. They sat down on the floor and started to talk to me and tease my girl. We talked for a while then I went to turn a nude video on for them. I asked them to wait there for a while. Then I went upstairs to my bedroom with my girl. A little while later, I came down to check on them but they weren’t there. I came down and saw a note that they left for me on the table, it said …

“I borrowed the bike to go back home, won’t be long. Don’t worry, I will be extra careful with your bike.” From: Ton & Job

I was shocked and worried. I called Ton on his mobile to ask where he was, he didn’t answer. Then I went back upstairs. About 15 minutes later, they came back with some scratches on their arms and legs. They said they had crashed while they were trying to avoid a dog. They said they were OK then I went out to see my bike. There were some scratches on the bike plus the handles weren’t straight. I took my girl back home and then I went to the bike shop to fix it. My friends paid for it.

After that accident, my bike didn’t look as new as it was before. The scratches were still there because the shop didn’t paint over them. It is expensive to do that so my friends didn’t do it. Really, I could have told my friends to do it as well because they took it without my permission. But I didn’t tell them, I was too scared to tell them. I was very sad about that accident but I still didn’t learn. I lent my bike to another friend and the second accident then happened.

My friend asked to borrow my bike to go to see his girl. I don’t know why I lent it to him. Maybe because I was on the bike with him at the time. While we were waiting for his girl, he went to ride around. When he came back, he came on the wrong side of the road. It was during the night time and the road was pretty dark. He came very fast and then he drove into a big hole. The bike flipped over and my friend broke his fingers so I called a taxi to take him to the hospital. I stayed with my bike for nearly the whole night until some of my friends came to help. Now, it looked even older than before.

After that second accident, I didn’t let anyone borrow my bike anymore. But the third time still happened. It was my mum who crashed it this time. I was in the hospital at that time. She was going to ride my bike home. But, because she hasn’t ridden a bike for a long time, she went too fast and crashed into an electric pole. She was fine but my bike wasn’t.

My mum told me that I should listen to her and take it to the temple to be blessed. I still didn’t listen to her and then the fourth and worst accident happened.

The final and worst accident happened because I was too lazy to take my friend, Ball, home so I asked another one, Oat, to take him. He was the one I trusted most about using my bike. He is very good on motorbikes. He took Ball home and he was on his way back. A car in the left lane suddenly did a u-turn without signalling. Oat was in the right lane behind that car. He crashed into that car and flew over it. He fell down on the road and broke his left leg. The man in the car took him to the hospital and agreed to pay. He also paid for my bike to be fixed. It was in the garage for about two weeks. I had to use my dad’s bike instead. It is a very old one and very loud which was embarrassing.

You know what? It wasn’t only about the accidents that happened. I also got caught lots of times by the policemen for not wearing a helmet. And one time, I got caught after I came back from watching motorycle racing. I lost 600 baht for that. I should have listened to my mum and taken the bike to be blessed. I was so unlucky, I lost lots of money to the policemen and to fix my bike. But at least, none of the accidents happened to me. I still have some luck left!

That is why I finally decided to go back to the temple. After waiting for a while the monk came back. I followed him up to his kuti with some flowers, incense sticks, a candle and gold leaves. I gave them to him and then he took a pen out and started to write something on all three gold leaves. After he finished writing, he gave them to me and led me down to my bike.

He used some white powder and water to put some marks on the front of my bike, above the light. He made a triangle shape pattern. I heard him say something as well while he was doing it. It wasn’t Thai. I think it was Pali though I didn’t understand any of those words. After he had finished that, he held one of the gold leaves in his hand then he put it on the bike above the white marks. Then he did the other two gold leaves on both sides of the handles and put the jasmine garland around the left handle. After that, he started to bless my bike with the holy water in the bowl that I was holding.

He walked around and blessed my bike one time. Then, he turned to me and blessed me by splashing some water over my body. He said to me that he had warned me about those accidents already. He said that the next time when he or elders say something, don’t ignore, listen and do it. I replied “yes, I will” back to him and gave him a polite wai. He said it was nearly done but there was something else he needed to do. I asked him what was it? And suddenly the monk hit my head pretty hard with the thing he used to bless my bike. He said now it’s done and walked back up to his kuti. I think the reason he hit me on my head is to keep away bad luck plus he maybe wanted to tease me!

I went back to my grandmum’s house to eat some snacks before I went back home. I went to stand in front of my bike and looked straight at it. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at it. I went in the house and came out with a cloth. I was about to wash the white marks and gold leaves off. Then I heard my grandmum say that not to wash them off, let them fall off by themselves. She said if I washed them off too soon, some bad luck might come back to me and my bike. I listened to her and went inside to put the cloth back. I paid respect to my grandmum and her friends then got on my bike and rode back home.

After the blessing, I feel a lot safer every time I ride on my bike. However, even if all the bad luck has gone away, I don’t think I will lend my bike to anyone again. Now, I will say “no” to everyone who wants to borrow my bike. Or if they are really in a rush or have really important things to do, I will take them. I have spent a lot of money making the bike look new and I want it to stay that way.

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This is the uncut version of Panrit's article that first appeared in his Gor's World column in the Bangkok Post when he was 16 years old. We will be posting his full versions every Sunday for him while he is still in prison. This story and many others appear in Panrit's autobiography "Gor's Thailand Life".

"He fought like a man so he could become a woman" - Still from the Thai movie Beautiful Boxer

Thailand here has many-a glorious site to feast ones eyes on, besides just a million temples, two million taxis and three million noodle soup stalls we have the one and only 'Thai ladyboy'. I had decided to stay away from such sordid topic til our cute little regular-commenteer friend from Indonesia here put in the query of 'Can Richard or Steve write a blog on lady boys? - i just wanna know all the ins-and-outs about such a fine species'. Well, since our Webmasting friend Mr Richard is busy blogging to the likes of every Thai custom and superstition under the sun, Koh Changs's gruesome garbage piles and how to be a respected teacher in Thailand, its me instead who has had to put pen to paper and give yous all a behind the scenes adventure into the goings-on of that.... lusty Thai ladyboy.

Ive certainly had a ride of laughs during my decade here in the 'Land of Monks and Mangosteen' but nothing has made me crack-up as much as the site of the Farang man finding out that his future ex-wife wanna-be used to be, in fact, a man.

I can recall the very sad and sorrowful tale of an English guy a few years back who after meeting his darling in Pattaya decided to turn the relationship into a serious one. So, our English buddy here spends the next one and half years sending his loved one wads-a of cash, building for mum-in-law a spanking new house and enjoying quarterly year trips to visit his cherished beauty. Since our English friend here could not cope with the anguish of having to live a life alone in Boring Britain decided to propose marriage to the love of his life and take her back to his home country. That was until....the day of the interview at the British embassy.

After the officials had listened seperately to the backgrounds of the lovers, the officials promptly realised that perhaps our English laddie here was getting more than he bargained for. So they took the guy to the side and said "Mr fellow Englishman and law abiding citizen.....we have decided NOT to afford a fiancee visa to your future ex-wife because her passport in Thai language reads 'Mr' and not 'Miss', do NOT make a laughing stock of us here at the embassy, asking us to afford a fiancee-visa to a man! you must darned well know that British law hears nothing of such a despicable thing!

All the other visa-hopefuls that day had the more than laughable opportunity of witnessing our English friend here running round the embassy carpark for the next half hour booting his darling up the bum and shouting to the likes of "In the name of the Queen i have never been so humiliated in the whole of me life!"

Once, when living down in Krabi a long long time ago my Dutch buddy asked me to go with him to Patong, Phuket for a few days and since my friend here enjoyed the bar life i was soon following him up and down the main strip stopping at a few bars for a bevvie. Next, whilst sat at one bar at an awful time of the day, something like noon, a ladyboy on standing outside the bar was in a brawling match with this darned big Israeli guy on the other side of the street cursing each other to the likes of "Stop your mouth or i put my high-heel over your head" and from the former Israeli solidier: "Just you go back to your village and ride a buffalo".

After ten minutes of this verbal abuse the Israeli walks off and my Dutch friend on knowing this ladyboy asks her "What was all that about?" to which the ladyboy replied. "After spending last night with the guy, I just....this morning, decided to tell him that i was a ladyboy".

Now, our ladyboy friends down there on Phuket are well-known for one thing.. and that is flashing their 'works of operation-parts' at a whole host of pedestrains walking by. After a few farang grannies and grandads had almost died of a heart attack on seeing such private parts exposed, the Patong police decided to make such an offence illegal, and posted up a few warnings in Thai lingo to the likes of 'Any ladyboy caught flashing her watermelons in public will be prosecuted and fined: 500 baht'

Beyond a question of doubt, zillions of Farang have a fascination for Thai Ladyboys and to prove it you only have to look through the viewing statistics and refering search engines of thai-blogs.com. Whilst our dear webmaster friend here Mr Richard scores lots of new readers who have posted 'Grand Palace Photo' or 'Spicy papaya salad recipe' into a google search engine half the refering searches to my blogs can only be called 'sizzlingly saucy'

On top of the most common decent ones i get, number one (for sure)are viewers who ask for info to the likes of 'Thai girlfriends' and second most popular has to be 'Thailand + Lady boys'.

Then, it astonishes me the inumerable amount of Farang who are unable to differentiate between an actual girl and a ladyboy! So for all you readers, here is some advice... on 'spotting a ladyboy':

Be suspicious to the likes of any supposed girl standing at the height of 6 foot 2 with an enormous chest and bulging biceps.

Beware of any husky voice asking to the likes of "Hello honey, where you go?"

And be real darned suspect if she has bigger feet than you and legs that look-like those of David Beckham’s

Even so, many of our ladyboy friends are pretty stunning to say the least and in places like Pattaya, are undoubtedly far better looking than most of the bar girls from Buriram. Talking about the height of them again, I am amazed to the high percentage of Thai men, who on being ridiculously tall, decide to have a 'sex change' and become a ladyboy.

On becoming a ladyboy it is essential first, to seek a change in your hormone system and so all the ladyboy wanna-bes can be seen popping into their local pharmacies and purchasing a whole years supply af that ladies' medicine; 'the pill'. While the doctors recommend consuming just one-a-day, the ladyboy wanna-bes are scoffing them down at the rate of 5-10 a day. Next, the ladyboys on needing to slim down are terribly reknowned for taking a daily dosage of the world's most potent 'slimming pill' and that is 'methamphetamine' (Amazingly, a few crooked doctors in The States have been caught prescribing this drug to ladyboy wanna-bes over there, under its medical name: Desoxyn!)

Tonnes of the ladyboys are addicted to this stuff, and so many a Farang who on in enjoying the bar scene down there in Patpong, Khao Sarn or Phuket are warned to be darned careful on any dealings with a ladyboy, yes stacks of them are suffering from the 'madness fever', and im not exaggerating!

Once upon a time i had a decent ladyboy friend of mine over there on Ratchdaphisek who was working as a make-up artist. I asked her one day to the likes of "What do your folks back home think about you?" to which she answered "They don't know im a ladyboy, in fact every time i go home i wear a big baggy jacket to disguise me chest and tell them ive long hair cause i play for a music band", and im not joking.

You may have wondered what happens when one of the insane pickpocketing ladyboys is jailed. Well, they get banged up in the girlie section and certainly not the male section. As the randy male inmates would be mouth-watering in delight at the prospect of a big-ballooned ladyboy as a jailmate. As for toilets, of course the ladyboy uses the female one.

Then there is the question of 'military service', what an embarrasing sight it would be for the Royal Thai Army to have a lipsticked ladyboy guarding the border with all the Khmer soldiers on the other side staring into their binoculars and having a right darned laugh at such a saucy spectacle. And so, when the army on ordering a Thai male citizen to surrender to their recruiting office, a thorough inspection has to be made to the health of the guy.

Of course, many a recruiter has been not-so-surprised to see the likes of a ladyboy walking through the door. Now, its army policy that the authenticity of the ladyboys' chest and underparts be analysed and classified 'real' by an army doctor before she is exempt from military service. As for any ladyboy wanna-bes who use tennis balls to fool the on-lookers, they are not, and are soon forced to serve the compulsory two years.

Ive been asked on a few occasions to - what happens to a ladyboy when they are past their sell-by-date ie. too darned old to be of any use anymore. Well, the answer is, just the same as any other normal woman and that is selling grilled pork by the side of the street, cutting hair or dealing in lottery tickets. as for the physical attraction of one! i'll let your imagination get the better of you there!

Then finally, I remember the classic newspaper headlines in the Thai Raj newspaper a couple of years back that read 'Accountant to sue hospital for the mysterious disappearance of his diggery-doo!' It seems that the pitiful accountant who on going for a back operation at a darned well-known Bangkok hospital was the victim of a despicable doctor cock-up after his 'operation details' got mixed up with those of a ladyboy wanna-be's! So, for any of you male readers out there wanting to have an operation in Thailand - you have been warned!

At the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, you will find six pairs of giant demons that stand guard at each of the entrances. They are facing inwards towards the ubosot as if they were protecting the Emerald Buddha. These giants were built during the reign of King Rama III and each represent an important character in the Ramakian story. If you look closely, you will see that each one has its own characteristics.

On the eastern side there are two entrances. The first one is guarded by Indrajit, who has a green face, and Suryapop, who has a red face. They both have a bamboo shoot as their crown.

The second door is oppoite the ubosot. It is guarded by Mangkorngun, with a green face, and Virunhok, with a purple face. Their crowns are topped with nagas. Notice that their right hand is at the top unlike the previous two. Also, the left hand has a ring.

On the southern side, where you exit to go to the Grand Palace, you will see two unusual Giants. These are Totkirijun, who has a red face, and Totkritorn, who has a green face. Both of their crowns are topped with bamboo shoots. However, take a look at their noses. They have elephant trunks instead of regular noses.

The western side has three doors. This first one is where you come in. It is guarded by Chakrawat, who is white and has four heads and eight arms. Standing beside him is Asakornmarsa, who is dark purple and has a double tier of hands. Their crowns are topped by cockerel's tails.

The second door is near the golden chedi. The white giant Sahasadeja has one thousand heads arranged in five tiers and two thousand arms (not shown in picture). His buddy is Tosakanth who is green and has three tiers of three heads and one on top. This one is the demon king.

The final door is again near the golden chedi but further north. These giants have cockerel's tails. They are Virunchambang and Mayarap.

It is three o’clock in the morning and I am sitting by the side of the road. All around me are about ten policemen. They are talking about what to do with us. Some of my friends managed to run but I wasn’t so lucky. The policemen have already rung my parents and we are waiting for them to arrive. It all started about three hours ago when one of my friends rang me. He asked if I wanted to go with him to watch motorcycle racing on Bangna-Trad Highway.

One Sunday after I had finished working on my web site at my old school, I was sitting around and resting in the computer room. Then someone rang my mobile. I answered it and realized it was one of my older friends. His name is Phong or Pee Phong as I call him in Thai. He asked me to go to see him by Paknam market. I said OK without asking why because it was on my way to go back home. I shut down the computer then walked to the lift. I said goodbye to Richard and went to get my bike in the garage. Then I left school. I looked at my watch and it read 11.25 p.m.

I went to meet Pee Phong straight after leaving school. I met him by the market at our friend’s bookshop. He sat there alone waiting for me. I parked the bike and went to him. He said he was bored and didn’t want to go home. Then he asked me about going back home late. I answered “no problem about that but not too late. Why?” Then he replied with a question, “Do you want to go to watch motorbike racing?” At that time I knew for sure that he wanted to go but it depended on my answer. I thought about it for a minute then I answered “Yes, let’s go”. He said “good” then we stood up and walked to my bike.

That was my first time going to watch the racing. I had heard about it long time ago but I never had a chance to go to watch. Also, my dad had told me before not to go but this time I pretended to forget what he had said to me. I was very excited about going to watch. I let Pee Phong drive my bike because he knows about where they race more than me. He has been there to watch lots of times.

Pee Phong told me that every time he went to watch, he had to run away from the police. He said that the policemen are really cruel. They use a police car to chase the motorbikes. They also hit the motorcycles at the back who are too slow. Sometimes they use some small seeds to throw on the road and then catch the ones that skid and fall off their bike. Not long ago, one of my friends had an accident while he was running away. He broke both of his legs and arms and he is still in the hospital.

Pee Phong rode around and headed towards Srinakarin Road. My watch now read 12.00 a.m. While we were riding, I saw lots of motorbikes around us, both in front and behind. They were heading to the same place as us. A few minutes later even more bikes arrived and we now started to be a big group. From my eyes, there were more than one hundred bikes around. Everyone was following each other. Pee Phong told me that the ones at the front will always lead other bikes to the place where they race. Also, they will be the ones who will look out for the policemen.

We went up Srinakarin Road, pass Theparak Road and then turned off to Bangna-Trad Highway. On the highway, there were not many cars around and the road was so smooth. We rode on for a while and then they started to stop by the side of the road. A short while later, some motorbikes started to race. We were sitting on my bike by the side of the road watching. It was really exciting.

Now I know why people like to come to watch because it is more than just a race. For example: style, some of them lied down on the seat like superman as they rode along. Some were showing off to the girls by doing wheelies for two or three blocks! It was really amazing. Sometimes, they put money down to guess the winner for each round. There were a lot of beautiful motorbikes and girls around. Different people had a different idea on how to modify their bike. I was really jealous of them. I wished I had a beautiful bike like them.

The race has been going on for a couple hours then the police came. The one at the back sent a signal and then every bike started to leave. Lucky that Pee Phong didn’t turn off the engine so we left quite quickly. There were some that didn’t leave their engine running and got caught by the police straight away. Pee Phong did pretty well about running away, we were quite far up the front. He told me that he didn’t want to be in the front because the police might be waiting somewhere ahead with a trap. He said better to be in the middle. Everyone rode as fast as they could. No one wanted to get caught because the police might take their motorbike away or give them an expensive fine if their bike had been modified.

Most bikes were going the same way. I saw some bikes drive down a small lane. I thought that they must be going to their home. Then, Pee Phong turned left into a small lane. I asked him “where are you going?” He replied that he didn’t know. He just saw a sign saying it’s a shortcut. He told me that to get lost in a shortcut is better than running away on the main road. We slowed down and kept following the road.

At last, we ended up on Sukhumwit Road near the turn off to Theparak Road. I looked at my watch. It was now 2.25 a.m. I had to go back home to sleep and get ready for school the next day but I didn’t want to. I was in the mood for some fun and excitement. Pee Phong was riding towards home. I said to him that I wanted to see more racing. Then he said that there might be some around Theparak Road towards Bangphi so I told him to go there. We went around the block, passed my house then went back on Srinakarin Road. We saw some motorbikes coming towards us. I thought that they must be going back home.

Pee Phong was riding along the road slowly. I sat at the back looking around for girls and policemen. I decided to go home after I didn’t see any clues or signs about the racing. We were on the corner about to do a u-turn to go back home. There was a man walking across the road in front of us so Pee Phong slowed down to let him cross. We moved forward after the man walked pass. But suddenly that man turned around and grabbed Pee Phong’s shirt. I knew straight away that he was a policeman.

Pee Phong was about to speed up but he didn’t because the policeman was about to punch him. For sure if Pee Phong sped off, that knuckle would have hit him or probably my face. The policeman took the key out off the bike and told us to go to the other side of the road where the police box was. There were about ten cops there; also there were a lot of teenagers and motorbikes. They had all got caught by these policemen.

I sat down on the pavement by the side of the road while the policemen were searching my motorbike. Luckily I had brought my riding license, but they asked for something else as well like registration paper and proof of ownership etc. I didn’t have any of these so I had to call my dad and tell him about what happened. He said he would come soon. I hung up and went to sit down near Pee Phong. One of the policemen came to me and asked for my license. I showed it to him and then he took it. He said he will give it back when my dad came.

We waited for a long time for my dad. At last he came. He arrived at about 3.45 a.m. Then I went to tell one of the policemen. My dad went to talk to him while Pee Phong and I went to stand by my motorbike. The policeman who took my license came to me and gave me back the key. I asked him about the license. He said he had given it to another policeman and will give it back to my dad later, after he had paid the fine. I went to tell my dad about going back home. He said he would wait around here for the policeman who had my license. I said OK and went to get on my bike and left. I rode Pee Phong home first and then I went back home to sleep.

Less than two hours later, I got up and went to school as usual. I still didn’t get my license back from the police. And also, I didn’t know what happened next after I had left there. I didn’t know how much my dad paid for the fine and what time he came back home. After my school finished, I came back home and took my motorbike to work. I was a bit scared when I rode the bike because I didn’t have my license.

I arrived at my old school then I rang my dad. He said he had just gone to get my license in the afternoon. He had paid 600 baht for the fine. The policeman said that I was supporting the racing so I still had to pay the fine. My dad also said that the policemen annoyed him last night. They let him wait for about two hours. My dad was really angry with them. He said that he came back home like 6 o’clock in the morning. He told me next time when I got caught, he wouldn’t come to rescue me. He told me to remember what he said and don’t go to watch the racing again!

The most important event to be held at school is the annual Wai Kru Ceremony. Like other schools around the country this always takes place towards the start of the new academic year and always on a Thursday. The students pay respect to their teachers by presenting them with flowers and going down onto the floor to do a krab which is the most respectful way to show respect. The students hope to gain merit and good fortune for the coming year.

I have tried to explain this ceremony to some teacher friends from America and they found it difficult to comprehend. They said that no way would American students prostrate at the feet of their teachers. But, that is exactly what happens here. The students are making merit in order to gain good fortune over the coming academic year. When we receive the flowers we are not supposed to say "thank you" though I am often tempted to do so. We should take this opportunity to give them some good advice for their future and also to wish them good luck and say that we hope they will get good grades.

These are pictures that I took at Sriwittayapaknam School this morning. Other schools will hold their own Wai Khru Ceremony this month.

The Day of Vesak, or Visakha Puja, falls on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month, coinciding with May 8 this year. About 2,000 Buddhist leaders from all over the world have joined an International Buddhist Conference on the United Nations Day of Vesak in Thailand, scheduled for May 4-6.

Visakha Puja commemorates the birth of the Buddha, his attainment of enlightenment, and his passing away. An extraordinary aspect of the occasion is that the three incidents took place on the same day but different years. The Buddha attained enlightenment at the age of 35 and passed away at the age of 80. He spent 45 years propagating his principle of freedom from suffering.

The United Nation General Assembly at its 79th plenary meeting in late 1999 adopted the resolution for international recognition of the Day of Vesak. The resolution recognizes that the Day of the Full Moon in the month of May each year is the day most sacred to Buddhists. The international recognition of Visakha Puja also acknowledges the contribution that Buddhism has made for over 2,500 years.

The Buddha taught mutual loving-kindness and forbearance for the sake of peace and happiness in society. Since these principles are shared by the United Nations Charter, the United Nations declared that Visakha Puja was a day of universal significance, and directed that observances be held, as appropriate, at the United Nations Headquarters and other United Nations offices in May each year.

Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana represented His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn in presiding over the opening ceremony of the International Buddhist Conference on the United Nations Day of Vesak 2009. In her address, she said that the Buddha’s teachings provide all of the virtues necessary for discovering the Dhamma and preaching it throughout the world for the sake of peace, happiness, and welfare of both the individual and the world as a whole. Major topics of discussion at the conference included Buddhist Approach to the Environmental Crisis, Buddhist Approach to the Economic Crisis, and Buddhist Approach to Political Conflict and Peace Development.

Buddhism began to make its way into Thailand during the time of King Asoka the Great of India in the year B.E. (Buddhist Era) 218. After its introduction into Thai society, Buddhism gained wide acceptance because of its emphasis on tolerance and individual initiative, which complemented the Thais’ cherished sense of inner freedom. It has had a profound influence over Thai arts, culture, tradition, and learning. More importantly, it has dominated the character of the vast majority of the Thai people.

At present, Thailand is the location of the headquarters of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, an international Buddhist organization which promotes coordination and cooperation to enhance Buddhism throughout the world. There are currently around 32,700 Buddhist monasteries and more than 350,000 monks across the country.

Source: The Government Public Relations Department