Day One. Thurday, 18 December 2014.  The town of Kham Kai Noi’s blood brother

Phisanulok is only 337.5 km (210 miles) from Chiangmai where I work. But, apart from passing through on the way to and back from Bangkok, I haven’t been there before until today.

It is also known as Song Khwe (Two Tributaries) where the Nan and Khwe Noi meet. Which is a name familiar to all peoples of the Tai family that includes  Thai, Lao and Shan, among others. Even in Thailand there is another town up in Phayao which bears the same name. Up in Shan State, it is a small town in Hsipaw township, some 45 miles (72 km) south of the township seat, though the pronunciation is Je, also spelt Kye, there. Further north, it becomes Khe instead.

We start out at 07:00, and it is a 4 ½ hour drive plus time spent to have breakfast on the way. Naturally, we are not in time for the opening ceremony, which is presided over by H.E. Pisanu Suwannachot, the Thai ambassador to Myanmar plus a presentation on the Asean East-West, North-South Economic Corridors. But fortunately we have been informed all the presentations will be published by the organizers next month.

The journey is downhill all the way: Lampang, Denchai and Uttaradit before reaching our destination, from 1,000 meters above sea level to 45 meters above sea level. But our driver is good and we arrive there at noon all in 5 pieces (because our party has 5 members).

The first thing we do of course is checking in at the hotel, with an interesting name: Boonmee Heritage. Then we are off to the University of Naresuan, named in honor of the King of Ayutthaya (1590-1605) who was born here.

He is known to Shans as Prince of Hsenwi Kham Kai Noi’s blood brother. The two had been hostages at Pegu during the reign of Bayinnaung (1551-1581). And after Naresuan had liberated Ayutthaya from under Burma’s rule, he together with Kham Kai Noi marched northward to the Shan States thereby bringing them under his suzerainty. That was until his sudden death in 1605 after which it was reverted to the Burmese king of Ava.

The seminar is held at the Ekathosarot Building, named after Naresuan’s younger brother and successor (1605-1610), who, according to D.G.E Hall, was “unwarlike and so the Siamese effort in the Shan States was abandoned and Burma recovered them.”

There I met old friends like Somrit Luechai of Channel 3, Chairat Thomya who is now working at Thai Rath (moving from Thai PBS) and Supatra Bhumiprapas who had just published “The King in Exile” about King Thibaw.

We then attend two panels, one on “Monks and Politics” and the other on “Control of transborder diseases”.

Renowned Bhikkhuni Dhammananda talks about recent restrictions on the ordination of bhikkhunis (female monks) in the kingdom. I must admit here that I understand very little about the monastic law laid down by the Lord Buddha 2,600 years ago, and so am unable to follow much. But I’m certainly of the opinion that women do deserve a place in the sun.

Another is an interesting remark made by facilitator Somrit Luechai after listening to the panelists:
In Burma, monks are closer to the people
InThailand, to the rulers
Most likely an oversimplification but something to dig deeper into nevertheless.

The next one, on the control of transborder diseases, is spearheaded by Dr Witthaya Sawasdiwuthiphong from Maesot. He urges the government to spend more on prevention of diseases coming across the border because “It will cost us a hundred times more to remedy them.” He also warns the risks are higher as the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is to be launched by the end of 2015, when transnational movements are expected to be on a massive scale.

We decide to leave for the hotel at 17:30 although there is an invitation to join the dinner party with an entertainment of multi-ethnic dances. “I need to prepare for tomorrow,” I inform my hosts. “Because I rarely speak in Thai in public. I don’t want to embarrass myself groping for words when the time comes.”

Left alone in the room as my colleagues go out to buy their dinner (I don’t eat in the evening) I start working out my presentation for tomorrow, consulting the English-Thai dictionary now and then.

Then inevitably it is time to hit the sack, after deciding I can’t do any better to improve my Thai.

However, even as I’m on the verge of sleep, something is nagging me, telling me there is something amiss. That something seems to be very much out of place.