I've chatted with a local Chinese friend recently about the Chinese New Year celebration over here. He told me that although it was not an official public holiday in Thailand, it used to be big in Thailand. People in Bangkok will stop work for at least 3 to 5 days and the bosses (mostly Chinese) would give red packets to their employees or treat them to dinner.
After the 1997 financial crisis, most of the smaller companies were wiped out (mostly owned by Chinese) and post 97, there were an aggressive takeover of companies from investors abroad. Mostly from the US or Europe. Especially the Ma Ma shops (convinient stores) being killed by the Hypermarts (Tesco, Carrefour, Big C etc). So nowadays, Chinese New Year celebration is not as vibrant as it used to be.
Still, the Chinese here will still purchase some decorations and visit relatives and eat their reunion dinner. Small celebration is better then all the hoo-haas we have in Singapore. And the best part is I have not heard one single lame Chinese New Year song on TV or store (even one own by Chinese). Yeah!!!
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Interesting game....
I think its human nature that people like to gamble. Over here, legal and illegal gambling are easily found. Cross over to Tachilek Myanmar and you could head to a very grand Casino (heard from wife that its pretty big) just around the corner (Many Thais crossed over to get to high roll in that Casino). Wife was helping her cousin looking for a job and found him one. Bloody hell, as a runner(seller) for a bookie. The game they play is not lottery or 3D(they have it here same as Malaysia). Not sure exactly the name of the game. The Burmese play it too and they called it simply Sam Sip Hok (36). The Thais called it Pat Thong Si. Basically, the game involves the picture shown on the right (click on it to see a bigger version). You could see a man wearing a costume with lots of animals on it. Total of 36 animals. And then beside the picture is a chart which kinds of say which animal is a partner of the other. Example, 1(monkey) is a partner of 18 (Gold fish). The chart is sometime important and I will explain later.
To play, the bookie or boss will pick a number at his house in a secret room. No one even his own wife knows about it. He will come out of the room and tell a story to his runners, normally about 4 to 6 sentences. This story is actually a clue to what number is going to open today. So the runners get the story and spread it to his audience. Who would place their bets from the runner. The odds is actually 1:30. So if you buy 10baht, you will 300baht. The min bet is 1baht and no limits on the max (heard some hardcore buy few thousand baht per day). So everyday there is 2 bets, one in the day and one at night. First results is revealed in the evening at 4pm, while the second at 10pm.
Wife got lucky a few times and managed win a few hundred. hehehe... So far I asked for the translation for the story and found out that the sentences are not that direct, it could mean more than 10 animals sometimes(which means if you buy all 10, even if you strike, the returns might not be that great). Some are quite obvious until you are scared to make the bet. So its a psychological game from the bookies also. The chart I mentioned before is sometime important and the story might have clues like "friends" "wife" "partner" and etc..
By the way, you can see Chinese characters in the picture as the bookie is a bloody Thai Chinese :P. And a lot of Chinese are playing. And of course, this is illegal in Thailand but seems like the bookie got some real good "connections". Heard that his best friend is the Police Chief of Chiang Rai Province.
Mid Autumn Festival in Thailand
The typical Chinese family here do celebrate 中秋节 (Mid Autumn Festival) which is on the 15th, 9th 8th month of the Lunar Calendar. Today is the day and I am kind of surprised the number of Chinese family here in Maesai. (Quite a lot actually). At night, they all take out a table and place it outside their house. On the table are offerings like fruits, sweets, cakes and of course, moon cakes.
The moon cake they eat here are black red bean paste type and its more towards the salty side. And the size of the moon cake also quite funny.. Very large.. I'll try to get a photo but I saw one family bought one that is as large as a table (about 80cm in diameter leh). Basically their process very simple. Offer the food and light some candles and joss sticks. Then they proceed to devour the stuff on the table lor (quite typical Chinese Bai Bai) hehe..
Kids here don't carry lantern leh. But they have those that you could light up and set it float into the air (like in Loy Krathong). They also start selling crackers (Yeah!!!) So of course in the evening, we went to the main street and bought some and release them at the rice field near our house. All the kids around us joined us with screaming fun.. hehe..
No pictures as too busy playing with fire crackers hehe.. since I will be missing Loy Krathong this year (sianz)...
The moon cake they eat here are black red bean paste type and its more towards the salty side. And the size of the moon cake also quite funny.. Very large.. I'll try to get a photo but I saw one family bought one that is as large as a table (about 80cm in diameter leh). Basically their process very simple. Offer the food and light some candles and joss sticks. Then they proceed to devour the stuff on the table lor (quite typical Chinese Bai Bai) hehe..
Kids here don't carry lantern leh. But they have those that you could light up and set it float into the air (like in Loy Krathong). They also start selling crackers (Yeah!!!) So of course in the evening, we went to the main street and bought some and release them at the rice field near our house. All the kids around us joined us with screaming fun.. hehe..
No pictures as too busy playing with fire crackers hehe.. since I will be missing Loy Krathong this year (sianz)...
The Singapore Inconvenient Story (We are not as good as we think)
If you CARE to check the meaning of inconvenient under dictionary.com. This post is about a situation I perceive in Singapore social trend. From the people I spoke to, I kind of derived this post.
We Singaporeans tend to follow the crowd or want to be "one" of the crowd. This is especially true when the gahment say something so and so is good and we tend to just blindly follow.
Take for example, in the 1980s, the gahment was pushing engineering and we have flock of engineering students in the 1980s, followed by IT in 1990s (due to the Technology wave). Currently the trend is biomed. I myself have met students in my poly days that have not any interest in computer, yet they signed up the course as its supposed to be the "in" thing.
I even met some friends of mine joining churches because its "cool" in my secondary days. Not to say that most of them don't go to church anymore.
I also met some people who blindly venture into business as others are doing too. Examples from them are mass investments into China (with no results yield) and throwing money into stock exchanges (KLSE) and got burnt jialat jialat.
What about the bubble tea syndrome? Some people see other's business and copied it. These copiers normally have deeper pockets and they will undersell and to kill of other smaller competitors.
So are majority Singaporeans really that talented and good as mentioned in the mass media? I seriously doubt so. I think we are painting ourselves to be too good. The only positive edge about Singapore education is the using of the English language as its main official language. Other than that, most students (including me) are just bookworms who mostly use strategies to get good grades in the schools. Hardworking? Yes most of us are but at the same time, not working as smart as the Chinese or Indians. In short, we are not that good in areas that takes risks and sudden changes in the environment.
In short, I am a bit worry about the future generation of Singapore (our kids mainly). If they are going to compete against the children of China and India, who will win?? I mean we are already lack natural resource in our country and the only reason we are on top is because of our human resource, yet more and more bright local Singaporeans are leaving Singapore. The gahment tries to solve this by allowing more foreigners to be granted PR or citizens but yet, are they going to stay in Singapore forever?
We Singaporeans tend to follow the crowd or want to be "one" of the crowd. This is especially true when the gahment say something so and so is good and we tend to just blindly follow.
Take for example, in the 1980s, the gahment was pushing engineering and we have flock of engineering students in the 1980s, followed by IT in 1990s (due to the Technology wave). Currently the trend is biomed. I myself have met students in my poly days that have not any interest in computer, yet they signed up the course as its supposed to be the "in" thing.
I even met some friends of mine joining churches because its "cool" in my secondary days. Not to say that most of them don't go to church anymore.
I also met some people who blindly venture into business as others are doing too. Examples from them are mass investments into China (with no results yield) and throwing money into stock exchanges (KLSE) and got burnt jialat jialat.
What about the bubble tea syndrome? Some people see other's business and copied it. These copiers normally have deeper pockets and they will undersell and to kill of other smaller competitors.
So are majority Singaporeans really that talented and good as mentioned in the mass media? I seriously doubt so. I think we are painting ourselves to be too good. The only positive edge about Singapore education is the using of the English language as its main official language. Other than that, most students (including me) are just bookworms who mostly use strategies to get good grades in the schools. Hardworking? Yes most of us are but at the same time, not working as smart as the Chinese or Indians. In short, we are not that good in areas that takes risks and sudden changes in the environment.
In short, I am a bit worry about the future generation of Singapore (our kids mainly). If they are going to compete against the children of China and India, who will win?? I mean we are already lack natural resource in our country and the only reason we are on top is because of our human resource, yet more and more bright local Singaporeans are leaving Singapore. The gahment tries to solve this by allowing more foreigners to be granted PR or citizens but yet, are they going to stay in Singapore forever?
Song Kran Part 2
Yesterday on the third day of Song Kran (which is suppose to be the last day of water fun), we went to the Wat (temple) in the morning to get blessed for the year and later in the afternoon. We took a trip to Chiang Saen to catch a Dragon Boat Race (Thai style of dragon boat). But the informer seems to have gave us the wrong day (suppose to be today) so we did not catch any big events. You may view a photo essay below by clicking on the album.
Today is suppose to be a working day but as the 2 days of Song Kran is on a weekend, the Thai people will have an addtional 2 more days of holiday. (Bloody good man). No major splashing of water in Maesai today. Some kids are still having some minor fun but not as havoc as the last 3 days. We went around paying respect to my wife's relatives and some elders (ma cham our CNY bai nian). So we scooter around the area, going to 5 different places today. Now just reach home and finish this blog before going to bed... really a bit poofed liao.
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| Song Kran 2007 |
Today is suppose to be a working day but as the 2 days of Song Kran is on a weekend, the Thai people will have an addtional 2 more days of holiday. (Bloody good man). No major splashing of water in Maesai today. Some kids are still having some minor fun but not as havoc as the last 3 days. We went around paying respect to my wife's relatives and some elders (ma cham our CNY bai nian). So we scooter around the area, going to 5 different places today. Now just reach home and finish this blog before going to bed... really a bit poofed liao.
Song Kran
Song Kran (Swang Krang) , 泼水节, or the New year (Water festival) of Thailand. Its on every 13th of April and yesterday was the first official day of party and fun. Actually the water drenching already started a week ago where children starts to squirt water guns at passing motorbikes.
I was sick so I am not that involved till today. Feeling better, I went to my storeroom to get my soakers out. 1 water pistol and another water canon. Baby and wife was at the rear while I drove the bike out. The plan was to drive to the main road and back. Wat lau... war zone just at the entrance of our village. Already all wet and bloody hell, they use buckets of river water which is bloody cold. Baby not very happy with the splashing, a bit scared.
They are 3 major variants of splashing water in Song Kran. The first are the the "Tankers". There are the people that will be on the back of their pickup with a whole drums (oils drums) of water as ammo and drive around the town to attack the "Sentries". The "Sentries" are just people standing at the roadside. These people will use hoses and pails and normally they are the most devastating as they are the most heavily "armed". Finally there are the "scouts" or "runner". Both are on bikes. "Scouts" are normally following the tankers but they run in front. If they see any major "sentries" in front, they will rush back to inform the tankers to come and play. Scouts normally have 2 people on the bike with little water pistols. "Runners" are just people on bikes trying to siam (evade) as much water as possible. Normally they are alone and they are actually quite dry compare to others. (really skillful in evasion)
We are going out as scouts but we got no tanks so just try to have some fun. We did not managed to hit the main road, half way we turned back as Huihui was all wet and we do not want her to catch a cold. The return journey also jialat. Tankers are jammed at our village entrance as there are dozen of sentries there.
No pictures as my camera is not even splash proof. Quite dangerous as these kids will just spray whatever at you. Quite fun actually, maybe someday if any of you managed to come to Northern Thailand (they are more playful here than Bangkok). Get to soak some water and laughter.
Btw... not to mention a lot of pretty ladies all wet and sexy........ especially those with very thin clothes... :P
I was sick so I am not that involved till today. Feeling better, I went to my storeroom to get my soakers out. 1 water pistol and another water canon. Baby and wife was at the rear while I drove the bike out. The plan was to drive to the main road and back. Wat lau... war zone just at the entrance of our village. Already all wet and bloody hell, they use buckets of river water which is bloody cold. Baby not very happy with the splashing, a bit scared.
They are 3 major variants of splashing water in Song Kran. The first are the the "Tankers". There are the people that will be on the back of their pickup with a whole drums (oils drums) of water as ammo and drive around the town to attack the "Sentries". The "Sentries" are just people standing at the roadside. These people will use hoses and pails and normally they are the most devastating as they are the most heavily "armed". Finally there are the "scouts" or "runner". Both are on bikes. "Scouts" are normally following the tankers but they run in front. If they see any major "sentries" in front, they will rush back to inform the tankers to come and play. Scouts normally have 2 people on the bike with little water pistols. "Runners" are just people on bikes trying to siam (evade) as much water as possible. Normally they are alone and they are actually quite dry compare to others. (really skillful in evasion)
We are going out as scouts but we got no tanks so just try to have some fun. We did not managed to hit the main road, half way we turned back as Huihui was all wet and we do not want her to catch a cold. The return journey also jialat. Tankers are jammed at our village entrance as there are dozen of sentries there.
No pictures as my camera is not even splash proof. Quite dangerous as these kids will just spray whatever at you. Quite fun actually, maybe someday if any of you managed to come to Northern Thailand (they are more playful here than Bangkok). Get to soak some water and laughter.
Btw... not to mention a lot of pretty ladies all wet and sexy........ especially those with very thin clothes... :P
No Christmas in Maesai, no post till New Year.
Hahaha! One thing I really like about Thailand is that Christmas is not a public holiday. (I'm not a Christian) The public office and banks still need to operate on the 25th. I'm not too sure about why the fuss over the intense shopping, gifts, decorations and especially the seasons greeting. In Singapore, I never ever like saying "Merry Christmas". Its just too foreign to me. Prefer Happy New Year Though.
Still, its the end of the year and although Maesai has no Christmas day, they are making up with a New Year party on the 31st. Will write about that once I came back from Myanmar. YES, I am going to my wife's home town to see her grandpa. Its in KengTung and I will be away on the 26th to 29th. Just in time for the New Year Party here.
Finally, as of title, no post till New Year. I had reached my monthly quota of 15 posts and I wish to take more time on my tank model before I leave for KengTung. (hehe) So will not post till 1st Jan 2007.
So to all my readers, Happy New Year and errr ..... merry christmas... ( still hate it :P )
Still, its the end of the year and although Maesai has no Christmas day, they are making up with a New Year party on the 31st. Will write about that once I came back from Myanmar. YES, I am going to my wife's home town to see her grandpa. Its in KengTung and I will be away on the 26th to 29th. Just in time for the New Year Party here.
Finally, as of title, no post till New Year. I had reached my monthly quota of 15 posts and I wish to take more time on my tank model before I leave for KengTung. (hehe) So will not post till 1st Jan 2007.
So to all my readers, Happy New Year and errr ..... merry christmas... ( still hate it :P )
Wedding..
Wife's friend got a wedding cum house Bai Bai (pray for good fortune) ceremony last Sat. We went to attend the lunch and skipped the morning Bai Bai. Unlike our Chinese customs, they normally don't wait for all the people to come before they start the meal. What they do is they will be an usher that will squeeze the guests to a table, once the table is filled up, they will serve the food. So my wife called her friends to meet at the same time (all seat together more fun mah) and we prepared one red packet to drop it into a little box at the entrance. Some people gave big photo frames of the Thai royal family or other novelties instead of money.The meal itself is quite interesting and delicious, 8 person to a table (like our Chinese Chiak Toh) . Got a cold dish appetizer, steam fish in chili, pig's trot, fried rice, chicken herbal soup, stir fried nuts and chicken, mushrooms with asparagus and a plate of fruits. Quite funny thing is that they served all the dish at one go(except the fruit)! Bloody hell, nearly got no room for all the dishes. Anyway, we finish the meal at 1plus and wify chatted with her friends till 2 plus before we left. Other people were still drinking alcohol and singing Karaoke when we left. Not sure how long they will stay... most probably when the liquor is finished. Here some photos. of the event.
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