Merit or Tamboon in Thai

Merit or Tamboon in Thai
Merit or Tamboon in Thai

Merit or Tamboon in Thai

Today is a Day of Merit, or Tamboon in Thai, for our village. I don’t know how many they hold per annum, but I’m sure it’s more than one. The day before yesterday, it was the turn of the village across the road, literally four metres, from us.

It starts with a large group of men and youths going around the houses tying string from each roof top to the next until all the dwellings are physically connected.

On the second day of Merit, people hold parties and go to the temple to pray for a better life (Good Luck) for everyone in the village. This way, even those who cannot get out will get ‘a feed’ from the tamboon generated.

So, we started the same process of shared Merit yesterday and tomorrow, the two villages will be connected with string to show their friendship and solidarity.

It’s a nice idea, eh?

As many of you will know, I am compiling a book called ‘Asian Shorts’. It will have short stories with Asia or Asians as central characters. As of today, it is 25% full, so if you want to submit an entry, free of charge, first read the one or two rules under ‘Asian Shorts’ in the header and please do so.

Those of you who have read the series ‘Behind The Smile’ might remember the ribbing I got because my coconut tree only had one nut. Well, I am pleased to announce that this year, it has nineteen and no-one is laughing any more.

The election largely passed me by, but it’s not the same now that the BBC can’t follow it live – at least it wasn’t on Radio Four. I have just come out for a beer and to write this to you and not a single person I have asked knew that an election was being held in the UK and cared even less, if that’s possible.

One thing is for certain though, it has shaken the major parties except the Tories. Top brass were falling right, left a d centre, but Cameron is too smooth and too wealthy for me, I don’t trust him one inch. It’s just a crying shame that there was no viable alternative, which is madness, since all the parties knew years ago how long they had to prepare for yesterday.

The saying ‘ We live and learn!’ is just not true often enough.

All the best,

+Owen Jones

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Owen
Owen

Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.

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