Gay monks rampant in North (part 1)

So many young Thai gays enter the monkhood these days that one day Buddhists might have to set aside temples specifically for gay monks, says Phra Payom Kalayano, abbot of Wat Suan Kaew in Nonthaburi.

Thais who want to make merit by giving food or money to gay Thai monks can go to those temples. Thais who are annoyed by the presence of gay monks can go somewhere else, he told Bangkok Today newspaper.

The newspaper asked how older Thais must feel when they spot gays among temple monks.

Even in a monk's yellow robes, gays still look the part. With their spiked hair, pretty faces, and pert chests they can look prettier than girls. Thais who make merit at temples and encounter pretty-boy monks might be put off.

Increasing numbers of gay males are following in the footsteps of straight men, entering the monkhood when they turn 20, to thank their parents for their hard work in raising them.

Once, few gays entered the monkhood. Today, the abbot says, five to 10 per cent of monks are gay.

They are particularly common in the northern region, while in the Northeast region, he notices many monks who are trying to be gay, but have yet to perfect the art (แฉ! พระสายเหนือ ตุ๊ดเยอะ).

Phra Payom has a sense of humour. Last year he baked up a batch of so-called Jatukham cookies, which he sold in smart aluminium boxes to mock the craze for Jatukam Ramathep talismans then sweeping the country.

He says that if the thought of a temple dedicated to gay monks sounds strange, even odder is that fact that so many young men who are gay would want to enter the monkhood.

Senior monks do screen young men who apply to join. However, they cannot be too strict about eliminating gays, as many temples are short of monks. No one wants to see temples end up deserted.

'The parents of gay men who apply to join the monkhood, funnily enough, are also often generous benefactors of temples...if we were to turn away their offspring, there would be trouble.'

The Buddhist canon forbids from entering the monkhood men who have changed their sex, who are obvious lady-boys, or men who have castrated themselves. These rules have been in place for a long time, as has the screening process to select men for entry to the monkhood.

However, in this age of human rights - and the need to find benefactors for temples - monks can do little but acquiesce.

now, see part 2

Pulling the finger out (3, final)

This blog is about to celebrate its second anniversary. It is only fitting, then, that I should usher in the third year by meeting loyal reader Ian.

Ian is visiting Bangkok from his home country, Australia. I have invited him for dinner next week, which my Thai partner Maiyuu will cook.

Hardly anyone visits our place these days, and in fact my boyfriend has become a virtual social recluse. If his friends from the condo knock at the door, he ignores them. When I come in from outside, he gets me to lock the door.

The room in which he spends most of his time, which is also the one with the door for receiving visitors, is a mess.

The home decorating is unfinished. Three walls have been painted, but one remains.

The fourth wall is also the hardest one: the television and stereo cabinet, fridge, and shelves sit against it.

To get at that wall, we would have to move all those things first. To make room for them, we would have to move boxes of clothes and books which have sat in the middle of the room since the redecorating work started two months ago....and so on.

When I first told Maiyuu about Ian's pending visit, several weeks ago, I asked him if he could finish the painting before he comes.

I don't want my guest walking into a place that's unfinished, especially as I have been waiting so long for him to get the work done.

By avoiding his own friends, he can put off painting the last wall. But if I invite one of my own, I thought, he would be forced to finish it.

If not, we would have to entertain my friend in what looks more like a bomb shelter than the guest room and dining area which it used to be.

Maiyuu would feel shamed into finishing the work, I thought - and early responses were encouraging.

'Yes, I'll paint the wall and have it finished in time,' he said.

Last week, however, we encountered a small hiccup: Maiyuu told me that he'd changed his plans for the room.

'I will buy wallpaper from Chatuchak market, and paper the last wall in bright colours instead,' he said.

That will leave us with three walls which have been painted in a purple cherry colour, and a fourth wall in an as yet-unseen brightly-coloured wallpaper...but I said nothing.

The important thing is to get the work done.

The weekend came and went, and with it the opportunity to buy wallpaper at Chatuchak Weekend Market. Maiyuu spent most of that time at work, making clothes.

Finally, the news I had been dreading arrived.

I reminded Maiyuu that Ian would pay us a visit next week, then asked if he would have the last wall wallpapered in time.

'No. I won't get it done on time. However, I'll make the place look tidier than it is now.'

So, my cunning plan to pressure Maiyuu to get the last wall done has failed. He has let my deadline slip. Yesterday he spent most of the day sleeping, though he did cut my hair, and cook roti Indian bread while I was seeing friends at Mum's shop.

The day was not a complete loss, but the fourth wall is nowhere closer to getting done. We haven't even bought the wallpaper yet. And what about all those cans of purple paint which sit in the bathroom? We might have to give them away.

Maiyuu does not mind cooking in a place which is still in the midst of being redecorated....and he hopes that the two farang who sit down a week from now to enjoy his meal won't mind either.

Time to roll out cunning plan number two. Ian, how are you with a paint brush?

Songkran, new and old (part 2, final)

This year, I notice, many teens are wearing full-length cotton pyjama pants and shirts. Songkran revellers like to wear Hawaii shirts, or other bright colours.

Pyjamas also tend to be brightly coloured, so maybe that's why they wear them. Another reason might be that they don't want their good clothes to get ruined, so they wear PJs instead.

Plastic gu*ns which kids use to squirt water at each other have shrunk in size. In previous years, kids carried wea*pons which looked like machine gu*ns. This year, most kids have small hand-held pist*ol, powered by water packs which they carry on their back.

This year, a family close to my condo has set up a pit stop rather than travelling around on a motorbike to throw water.

They run a small shop next to a railway station kiosk where I buy beer.

Four or five children under 10 stand in wait for people like me. When I walked past today, one child squirted water at me, before his sister told him off. 'The farang is not playing!' she said.

I bought my beer, and went straight home. No need to tempt fate.

The Ministry of Culture is running advertisements about Songkran on television. One shows foreign and Thai revellers swapping Songkran gear.

The foreigners give the Thais their plastic water gu*ns, and the Thais give the foreigners their small water conches, which under the Songkran tradition, Thais use to pour water over their elders' hands.

In return, elders give young ones a New Year's blessing, as the Songkran festival also ushers in the Thai New Year.

The ads suggest that foreigners are responsible for sullying a fine Thai tradition, by introducing plastic gu*ns to the Songkan festival.

Although some foreign tourists do come here during Songkran, specifically to join the water fights, I doubt they introduced the practice.

In any event, Thais embrace water fights wholeheartedly themselves. They don't need foreigners' help.

At work, on the night before Songkran, I watched as young Thai woman took a small watering can and asked if she could sprinkle water on the hands of her more senior colleagues.

She was about to finish work for the night, and wanted to bathe their hands as a sign of respect before taking off for the holiday.

These are people with whom she works every day, and are not much older than she is herself. My colleague looked embarrassed, but did it nonetheless. It took just a few seconds, and was sweet to watch.

Those on whose hands she sprinkled water, flicked the water back on to her in a friendly fashion.

I don't know how many Thais still bother with this tradition.

I chatted to the manager of my condo before the festival began. She was spending Songkran with her brothers and sisters in Rayong. They would visit their father, and take him out to make merit.

'We will sprinkle water on his hands, and he will say, ''Happy New Year!''

'We will take Dad out to give food to the monks in the morning. Old people need to make as much merit as they can before they die, but often cannot get out to do it themselves, so rely on their children's help.'

In a brief story on the first day of Songkran, the Manager newspaper visited an old person's home in Bangkok. The atmosphere was quiet, it said. Elderly residents were going about their day as usual.

If they were lucky, some would get a visit from family over the holiday - if they were not too busy throwing water at each other on the street instead.

However, most had not heard from their children in some time, and expected this weekend would be no different.

Songkran, new and old (part 1)

Teenagers tear up and down the streets in the Thai market where I live on their motorbikes. I can see them from my condo balcony. I can also hear them revving their engines.

They make an angry buzzing sound. When the sound of many, many motorbikes revving their engines is combined, they are like menacing hornets.

Whole families can squeeze onto one motorbike, while managing to spray water at people at the same time.

Welcome to the Songkran festival! This is the day three, the last day when streets are given over to teenagers to do almost whatever they please. Tomorrow, life returns to normal.

Most revellers probably get about on those noisy motorbikes. Others station themselves on street corners, like pit stop machanics on a motor racing track.

These are the Songkran revellers who do not have wheels. They include children too young to ride motorcycles - though no one is really too young in Thailand, as I see under-age drivers, in their early teens or younger, driving motorbikes almost daily.

Teens stationed on the street, usually close to home, lug out large tubs of water, which they use to recharge their plastic guns or plastic water basins.

They dip them in the tub, fill them, then throw the water at people.

They step out onto the street, to block the oncoming traffic, which comprises mainly Songkran revellers on motorbikes, or trucks.

I do not see much 'ordinary' traffic plying the streets of the market where I live. Many Thais go to the provinces during Songkran. Sensible ones who are stuck in Bangkok stay indoors.

The street which I can see from my condo is covered in water, even though it has not been raining.

When kids walk out from their pit stop onto the centre of the road, teens on motorbikes stop.

Revellers plaster their faces with a wet powder substance, then tip water over their head.

Sensible ones use the water which kids tip on them, to rub the power off their faces at the same time.

The most popular mode of travel for Songkran revellers is probably to pile on the back of a Toyota 'pick up' truck.

Yesterday I counted 15 teens on the back of one open-deck truck. They had hauled their water tub up there too.

Even though they are probably the most powerful vehicles on the road during Songkran, they too, have to stop if the street-corner kids walk out into their path.

Once they have been splashed - and they splash the kids on the street in turn - they can move on.

Sitting at Mum's shop in Thon Buri last night, I watched dozens of sodden, bedraggled souls wander back from Khao San Rd, a popular spot for throwing water during Songkran.

Some dropped into Mum's shop to stock up on cigarettes, which they keep in waterproof bags.

This gave me the chance to catch up on the latest Songkran fashions.

now, see part 2

Just too cute

A young Thai guy is confused. Twice recently, he has passed a Thai teen male, who uttered the word, 'Cute!'

It sounds like a tease, but is intended as a compliment. 'When I turned around, the young guy was smiling at me,' says the Thai, who calls himself Dominamia. He left his story at the Pantip webboard.

'Nothing about the guy's appearance suggested he was gay.'

The young man who complimented him on his appearance was 19-20. He was walking in Bon Kai in Bangkok when they crossed paths.

A couple of days later, the same thing happened again. At Suan Lumpini Night Bazaar, he walked past a couple of teens seated on a bench. The moment he passed them, he heard the same word: 'Cute!'

'I turned around to identify the source of the sound, to see if they were referring to me. Sure enough, the same thing had happened again.

'No woman has ever complimented me on my appearance like that,' says Dominamia, who describes his looks as average.

'If a woman had said that to me, I'd be pleased...I might smile in return, or thank her. But to have guys say it...I wasn't sure how to respond, and feel confused.'

He asks what he should do if it happens a third time. 'If I turn around and smile, would they jump on me and drag me away?'

A couple of readers who left messages in response said similar things had happened to them. 'I live in a dorm. A pack of kathoey who pass me on the work say that to me every day.'

From other readers:

'Don't let yourself become gay!'

'Are you wearing clothes or a bag which take the fancy of gays?'

'You probably suit the specs of the gay set. Are you wearing tight-fitting clothes? Too much make-up?'

'Cute!'