September 5, 2006 by leela  453 Words.

Thailand is a Buddhism country with more than 30000 temples and over 500,000 monks. Over 98 percent of their total populations are Buddhist.Monks are carrying high rank in the society. A lot of monks spent their whole life in studying of the Buddhism. Some of them are live in forest for concentration of Dharma (Buddhist teaching). Thai Amulets - Most of the monks and temples are traditionally ask for donation from the public in order they could renovate the temple or build the school and hospital for public. Monks normally will make some amulets with limited quantity for return to those donators as a token for their donation as well as good luck for them. Amulets are made of different kind of materials in the temple or from the monks.After molding, monks will chant the amulets in order to give lucks for those people whom wear the amulets. From the very early age onward, boys wear objects which reputedly protect them against diseases, witchcraft and accidents. When a boy becomes adolescent these objects with protective power become increasingly important in his life. Undoubtedly the most popular object which is worn on a cord of chain around a man's neck is the image of the Buddha. These images can be cast from metal or carved out of a piece of wood, ivory, or resin but the most common traditional ones are those manufactured from a mixture of many different ingredients, pressed in a mould and baked. In modern times colored plastic ones have become quiet popular.The Buddha images very in size; their height may be as small as 2 cm. but can extend to 7 or 8 cm., while their width varies from 1 to 5 cm. Although laymen are not excluded from making these small protective Buddha images, their manufacture is largely in the hands of older monks. In order to make a pressed or printed image, commonly known as phra phim, a monk needs, apart from the mould, a recipe, the proper ingredients, as well as considerable knowledge of spells, the sacred script and magical drawings. Historians will be sad to hear that one of the common ingredients of phra phim is the ash obtained from burning the oldest handwritten sacred books of the monastery. Almost as popular as Buddha images are the metal protective medallions which depict the head of a sacred person on one side and often some Khom (Khmer) writing or a simple Yan on the other. Very popular are medallions with the face of King Chulalongkorn, but even more popular are those with a monk who is famous for his magical powers. These medallions are made by commercial firms, usually on order from the organizing committee of a fund-raising ceremony.

September 5, 2006 by lee  440 Words.

The Mekhong is one of the major rivers (4909 km long) of Asia.It runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.All except China belong to the Mekhong River Commission. The location of its source, and therefore its exact length, has been a challenge for many years. This is due to the existence of several tributaries in a difficult to reach mountainous environment. Chinese researchers now believe that the source is located in the Jifu Mountains in Zaduo County, Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Qinghai Province, which is some 5,200 meters above sea level. The 2,198 km section which passes through China, is called the Lancang Jiang (Wade-Giles Lan-ts'ang Chiang).Once it flows out of China and continues to flow 2,711 km through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is known as Mènam Khong in Laos, Mae Nam Khong in Thailand, Tiền Giang in Vietnam, and Mékôngk in Cambodia. The river has a number of lengthy rapids, and major drops in the Khone Falls area, near Ban Khinak in Laos.Major cities along the Mekhong include Vientiane, Laos and Phnom Penh.About 90 million people rely on the river. It ends in the Mekhong Delta. During the monsoon period from July to November the water flow in the Mekhong increases that much that the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia changes course, and the Tonle Sap lake gets filled by the Mekhong's waters.In the dry season the Tonle Sap River becomes a tributary of the Mekhong again. This creates a natural flooding control for the delta of the Mekhong. The annual flooding is its most significant ecological feature, but with the completion of the Manwan Dam and several more in China, radical alterations to the river's ecology and fishing habitat are expected. Political conflict is expected over this issue as China's dams are put into place first, and are widely expected to prevent sedimentation from flowing, which would seriously harm agriculture and fishing downstream. The region has a history of conflict, and there are grave concerns that uneven distribution of harms done by the dams, and benefit derived from them, will lead to an escalation and perhaps new wars in the region. History Although early human settlements dating from the 1st century AD have been found at Oc Eo in the Delta, and a European map of 1563 depicts the river, the first systematic exploration began in with the French Mekhong Expedition led by Doudart de Lagree and Francis Garnier, which ascended the river from its mouth to Yunnan between 1866 to 1868.Their chief finding was that the Mekhong had too many falls and rapids to ever be useful for navigation.