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Good morning Chiang Mai News September 06

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LOOK AT THIS !

Chiang Mai's new art gallery Look At This hosts Singaporian painter Li Li Tan this month and many of her bright, happy images had sold before the first champagne corks popped. "I dream a lot in both colour and black and white" said Li Li (left, above), who is a TV commercial producer and photographer. "One of my favourite paintings here is Ave Maria. I dreamt it in black and white, then painted it in colour". It must have been a good dream because the acrylic on canvas Ave sold for 40,000 baht on the opening night with a larger painting selling at an impressive 80,000 baht. Li Li is currently Bangkok based is so impressed by Chiang Mai that she plans to settle here soon.

Ave (top) sold fast but Soaring High was still available at time of writing. Look at Look At This opposite the Amari Rincome Hotel, Nimmanhemin Road anytime!

ABBOTT ON THE AIR

Phra Ajaan Pairat, also known as Phra Kru Ba Noy, is the young Abbott of Wat Doi Noi, the “Little Hillside Temple” near Lamphun, and since he arrived 6 years ago the place hasn’t been the same since! In late 2003 he fulfilled his dream of building a huge Buddha image in just 24 hours (‘Good Morning Chiangmai NEWS’ January 2004), now he has opened the temple’s own radio station which broadcasts on 88.50FM every day, and a plant for producing smokeless diesel fuel! Oh, and there is a free English class for beginners every Sunday morning, organised by, yes, you guessed it, Two years ago Phra Ajaan was on his own at the temple, now there are 14 monks and novices, all eager to learn from him. He is self taught in English and everything else he does. To produce what he terms “Bio-Diesel”, Phra Ajaan mixes ethanol alcohol and potassium hydroxide with the oil to produce his smokeless fuel. He has used the fuel in his family’s car for 3 years to ensure it was effective and safe. If you go to see him at the temple he will gladly show you an experiment in which he dips one tissue in diesel fuel and another in his bio-diesel, then sets them both alight. The one soaked in diesel fuel burns with a terrible black smoke, the bio-diesel burns cleanly with no smoke.

There is now a fuel pump at the temple. With the residue oil left after the filtering processes, Phra Ajaan uses it for cooking. Nothing is wasted! You can hear English on his radio station from 9-10.00am every Sunday, one of my contributions to the temple, the other being English conversation for the monks afterwards. Anyone coming here will love the place as much as I do, the surrounding countryside is breathtaking. Don’t expect a Wat Pratat Doi Suthep, but expect a lovely warm feeling at a very simple temple with this exceptional Abbott. Take the Super Highway out of town, past the Big C Supermarket, and continue due south along the Lampang road (route 11). Some 30kms from Big C you will see a blue sign written in English: ‘Community Forest’. Do a U-turn here, drive past a small police station and turn left at another ‘Community Forest’ sign and follow your nose. Derrick Titmus

NEWS OF THE PAST
In September 1996, ‘Good Morning Chiangmai NEWS’ reported: * The cabinet had doubled the import duty on wine to 40% and a team of excise officials had flown off to the UK to “investigate alcohol pricing.” * A Chiangmai garage owner called in a monk to exorcise the spirits of 4 young men who had been killed in a customer’s car. Ten mechanics had resigned after seeing the apparitions in the stripped out remains of the grey Toyota. * Government hospitals had stepped up security at maternity wards after a spate of baby stealing around Thailand, said the Health Ministry.

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