The Heroines

On the highway 402 to the airport you will pass a monument in a roundabout. This monument shows two ladies. They are the Heroines of Phuket. The story about them varies - one of the written documents is as follows: 

After the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya , then the capital of Siam , in 1767, King Taksin drove out the Burmese and re-unified the country. The Burmese were bad losers, and outfitted a fleet to attack the southern provinces and carry off the populations to slavery in Burma . The Monument honours Kunying Jan and her sister Mook who were credited with the organizing the successful defence of Phuket Island against the Burmese invaders. This became Phuket's most unforgettable historic event. To acknowledge their bravery and leadership, King Rama I conferred on Kunying Jan the honorific appellation Thao Thep Kasatri - a title of nobility usually reserved for royalty, and her sister became Thao Sri Suntorn. The monument was raised the 23rd of May 1967 and got its last decoration year 2002.

The story as I heard it from a Thai friend differs from the above: The two sisters invited the invaders to a party and served them with Mekhong (Thai Whiskey). They all got drunk and fell to sleep. The two sisters sneaked into their camp and took their weapons. The Burmese never wake up again.

If this story is true I don't think it is accepted as a fair method to fight the enemies, but I must say that I like that version better.

In the near of this monument there is a market, which fits me well on my bike tours. Here I buy to a low price fried bananas (kluai tok) and a tin of ice tea (in a minimart close to the market) and sit down among the stalls. Here it's always nice to talk to many cosy people:

Left: Mama Deng frying bananas. Next: Papa Moj with the son Bao. Next: Da talking good English. Last: Nong working on a beauty saloon and Bang who is Muslim and taxi driver on a motorbike. 

The Thai culture contains many stories true or not true but always full of life and fantasia. In Phuket you may have heard the fascinating and romantic story about

The farmer and his daughter

Once upon a time there was a farmer with land and some oxen. His beautiful daughter watching the oxen was often sitting on one of the branches of an old temple tree (Plumeria) singing with a wonderful voice for the oxen and for the Myna birds hanging about in the tree. One day a terrible storm swept away everything including the oxen and the daughter. They never found her. But the old tree was still there and the Myna birds as well. Today you can hear the daughter's song through the Myna birds.

The pictures were taken during the time when we were staying at Thavorn Palm Beach Resort. Here I learned about many of the old Thai folk lore like the one about

Hanoman

Hanoman is a monkey god up to a lot of mischief. You will find him in the Thai national epos Ramakien written by king Rama I (1782-1809) from the Indian epos Ramayana. I guess it is the same Hanoman you will find in the Indonesian mythology. There are also reasons to believe a heritage from the Chinese mythology where we meet the monk Tripikata with a loyal companion - a monkey (zoel guenon) also with a lot of mischief. I have only heard some few stories about Hanoman. When sun goes down Hanoman makes a big jump up in the sky and turn on all the stars. An other story is about

Phra Aphaimani

This picture of Phra Aphaimani is from Orchidacea resort. He could also be seen outside the big entrance to Thavorn Palm Beach Resort in Karon Beach . There he is surrounded by all the other characters in the Thai epos by Sunthorn Pru (1786 - 1855): His mother - Pisiasumut - carrying the dead body of Phra Aphaimani. He made suicide because of unrequited love. The mother looks like she has used some silicon. She has also two enormous canine teeth. Other characters here are Sumudsákoan, Mani Makon, Si Pa Kou, Sao Chai, Luci, Si Tao, Su Ta Kon, Zu Sa Kon and Nga.

Talking about stories we should not forget the story about

 King Mahajanaka

This is a fascinating old Thai story in a new version written by king Bhumibol Adulyadej. He has edited this book illustrated by the modern cartoon artist - chai Rachawat -

The first edition 1996 is richly illustrated with antique paintings somewhat difficult to understand by ordinary people. The second edition 1999 was illustrated by a modern prominent cartoonist - Chai Rachawat - with a good feeling for the eastern mysticism. The third edition 2000 was same as the second but with colour. King Bhumibol's motive for these editions was to create a high moral into the Thai people. Therefore he kept the price low so that every one should afford to have one book.

The picture - copied from the third edition shows the mother to king Mahajanaka's grandson - Mahajanakakumara - where she gets a refreshing bath after a long exile journey.

King Bhumibol is a fascinating story teller and his book 'The Story of Tongdaeng' edited 2004 has become a real bestseller. It is about his favourite dog, which he had picked up among all these stray dogs which are some of a problem in Thailand . Tongdaeng, which means copper, is a very intelligent dog with a high moral. The book is like the one about king Mahajanaka richly illustrated by the cartoonist Chai Rachawat and like that book written in both Thai and English (Thai on top of the pages and English in the bottom. The price in Thailand is 149 Bath i.e. less than 4 US$:

Thailand is a country of myths and fairy tales. One story is about

Pla Boo Thong

This fairy tale belongs to the folk lore and started in the year 2000 as an animated TV series and become soon very popular. It is about a mother - Khanitha - who after her death let herself be transformed into a golden fish (pla boo thong) in order to be able to continue a life with her daughters Ueay and Ay.

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