Nick Nostitz, thank you for the thoughtful comments and please stay safe in these trying times. Without you we would not have a true eyewitness to these trying times.
I have seen Police only using teargas grenades, no “dirty bombs”. It would have been amazing for you to see a dirty bomb exploding with the naked eye due to the sheer velocity of debris being flung. You would only see the results of debris shattering nearby walls, people or other objects.
They had rubber bullet guns, but i have not seen them using them.
I’m glad you did not witness the use of bullet guns. This is what we have on footage: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TR9swxDq4_Q
I appreciate the officer who wanted his friend to exercise restraint.
The problem is with police being badly under budgeted.
But ofcourse. There is however a difference between being badly under budgeted and skimming by the higher ups. You’d think they’d have more funding given how many kick backs they get for allow drug lords to pander their poison to the people unobstructed (well they provide some obstruction to keep their jobs).
PAD, as portrayed by their supporters and members, was not peacefully protesting.
It’s very interesting how an ENTIRE social and political movement is condemned due to the action of the few criminals amongst their midst. Even I don’t accuse all policemen of being corrupt intimidaters who resort to excessive violence due to lack of training.
They have also flung their own teargas grenades, and other explosive devices, which i have seen on numerous occasions during that day and night.
I like your usage of “own teargas grenades”. You know alot about PAD it seems. I assume you know without a doubt THEY MADE IT RIGHT? Because you know everything and saw everything.
On the PAD stage it was stated (with full knowledge they are filmed by undercover cops in the crowd) that some members would throw back tear gas canisters which did not detonate. One PAD member did this and out of his ignorance his hand was blown off. I’m impressed by your eyesight by the way.
PAD has used cars and lorries trying to overrun police, i have seen several such attempts, which were only stopped by police firing teargas grenades directly at those vehicles. I have photographed one police officer who was over run by such a car, and injured.
PAD did in fact use cars and lorries to form barricades. I saw the photo of the policeman lying under a car.
The driver was shot in the eye.
If you took that photo you would see the windshield penetrated by a small object.
The driver lost his eye.
I’m glad he was not driving faster otherwise something worst would have happened.
Please do not forget – the law was on that day on the side of police, and not PAD.
The law is and will always be not on the side of the people but on THAKSIN’S SIDE, which is the “democratic” way. Right?
We will not bother discussing how the police shot tear gas *straight into the crowd and not point the barrel upwards towards the sky and other fascinating images where they demonstrated lack of professionalism. None of that is important when it is directed against a group of people you do not agree with.
Regardless the picture they and their supporters try to paint.
I know you mentioned that you are busy now.
Since you took photos, please post vids or slideshows on youtube or other free hosting site to share.
There are many photos/vids out there for people to view.
The issue is Thais are tagging their videos in their language and it’s very annoying to try and search for footage on youtube.
As a footnote, those here familiar with the student movements of the 70s know the term “agent provocateurs” who infiltrate crowds with arms and explosives. There are lurkers here who know very well that the brutality committed against Thammasat and other Uni. students was possible because some “students” ALSO USED VIOLENCE TOWARDS THE POLICE TO GET THE BALL ROLLING.
Were they really students? Or were they planted amongst students to spy on the movement and also to emerge at key times?
I’m surprised that such well-informed folks here don’t know the #1 rule in civilian suppression: JUSTIFY YOUR VIOLENCE BY MAKING THE OTHER SIDE VIOLENT.
This is the major weakness of PAD. They can’t do profile checks of any schmuck off the street who put on a yellow shirt.
At the end of his homily jonfernquest, like khun stillwater on another thread, claims media bias. I am unsure what to make of this claim. Which media is biased? I know PAD claims that the foreign reporters are biased against them, and this might be simply repeating that accusation, but this is hardly the case for the Thailand-based print media, is it? Am I missing something or not reading widely enough.
I have to say that I do not understand Khun Stillwater’s response to Srithanonchai. “People here [NM?] who claim to study the PAD agenda are exaggerating.” Exaggerating what?
Then we are told that if we were true students of PAD and objective viewers of ASTV we’d know that Sondhi Lim has “stopped attending the brain storming sessions for new politics…”. But then we are referred to recent comments by the person allegedly uninvolved. What is the point of these comments? Are we being told that Sondhi is no longer folowing this agenda, that he has been sidelined or something else?
And, in Khun Stillwater’s first post we are told that the “mainstream media” is covering things up? Which mainstream media? I read the Bangkok Post and the Nation pretty regularly and their coverage seems remarkably pro-PAD. What is being hidden?
That some of those who fought against the military are still with PAD and finishing that fight is an interesting observation. The irony is that these people now stand with PAD alongside those who were trying to kill them in the 1970s and after (e.g. Panlop, who publically states that he killed commies for a living). How has that happened? Who has been converted to which cause?
I have been very busy the last days, but i hope i can find some time to make a more extensive post with pictures on what i have seen at the 7th of October.
I have seen Police only using teargas grenades, no “dirty bombs”. They had rubber bullet guns, but i have not seen them using them.
I do believe the reason that limbs have been torn off is that those grenades were from older Russian manufacture, and not more modern and less lethal ones. Also, when people are tightly packed, the explosive power is naturally higher.
The problem is with police being badly under budgeted. They did not use so called “excessive” force. I do absolutely believe that it was the right decision to use gas grenades, as it avoided more direct hand to hand confrontation, which would have most definitely cost far more lives.
From what i have seen, police has used appropriate force, and would have been justified to use much harsher methods.
It is horrible that people lost their limbs, i have seen several of those injuries. Police did not go out intending to hurt people that way, but they had to use what equipment they have had.
PAD, as portrayed by their supporters and members, was not peacefully protesting. PAD has used handguns (at one moment bullets shot by PAD were flying around me), they have used iron balls and screws in slingshots (i have a large bruise from one of them on the stomach, resulting from a PAD attempt to attack metropolitan police headquarters at midday). They have also flung their own teargas grenades, and other explosive devices, which i have seen on numerous occasions during that day and night.
PAD has used cars and lorries trying to overrun police, i have seen several such attempts, which were only stopped by police firing teargas grenades directly at those vehicles. I have photographed one police officer who was over run by such a car, and injured.
Please do not forget – the law was on that day on the side of police, and not PAD. PAD was, and still is, an armed group whose purpose is escalation, including the use of extreme violence against its opponents. Regardless the picture they and their supporters try to paint.
amberwaves, please explain to us how you managed to build those ping-pong bombs so that those bombs during Tuesdays incidents only caused serious injuries to PAD and not to police. Thanks.
anyone who took up the call to turn up at protest at foreign ministry are very brave and willing to sacrifice their own lives, limbs, etc.
I mean the total figures for Tuesday’s incidents are 2 dead civilians, around 440 injured, 75 were still hospitalised yesterday. Among the seriously injured were 4 civilians who lost legs, another lost foot, another lost arm, and others losing toes and fingers. Several had schrapnel injuries and torn-off skin. There are still civilians in critical condition in hospitals and the death toll could rise.
The total injured policemen was 20 officers, all of whom are in safe condition now, none died or lost any body parts to bombs.
So, if anyone took up the call, they are very brave.
Has the bill been published in the Royal Gazette yet ?
The bill was passed in the senate on nov 21 2007. As of feb 3 2008, it wasn’t published in the Royal Gazette (JANCHITFAH S (2008) Flaws in the Forestry Bill. Bangkok Post, (feb 3).
Is this delay normal? How long does it usually take?
I’d really like to know what happened once the Samak government came in. Did they approve the bill and send it for royal approval or not?
Did the Royal Juridical council conclude that it was violating the 2007 constitution?
Why would they need those “volunteers with good command of English” when all they would be screaming is GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!
And even if their protestors were indeed good in English and somehow had chance to present their messages to the westerners, they would be too absurd beyond all comprehension anyway – whether spoken in Thai or English.
Ha, ha, who do you think is going to win in the end, Thaksin and his proxies?
All this blog seems to be able to do is crack jokes about PAD mixed with jokes about HMK which do a real disservice to the Thai students you’ve been entrusted to teach.
And of course, it will be a minor miracle if this posting makes it through, because I don’t agree with you.
Media bias? Your blog convinces me that academics are at the forefront of it, particularly anthropo-apologists and their village people, not fighting media bias at all.
Sawasdee Srithanonchai,
This is why I know people here who claim to study the PAD agenda are exaggerating.
If you indeed view ASTV with your “independent mind” you would know that Sondhi has stopped attending the brain storming sessions for new politics and left it to Khun Piphop.
You would know this if you do indeed watch ASTV. You don’t have to watch it live, this info is also on manager.
I agree about “limited democracy Thailand has been able to develop over the past few decades”. It’s the type of democracy which uses very interesting tear gas against civilians and then accuses a young female victim killed by such devices as carrying a bomb in her purse as she walked alongside her own mother and sister.
It doesn’t sound like the same thing since numrin is a very small root, not whitish colored wood. The Kachins gave me a good supply of it after I had malaria, so I remember it pretty well, especially yellow color of the water. I suspect there are a number of plants used for malaria in the different parts of Burma. The Kachins also offered me some dried bear gall bladder, which was supposed to be one of the best possible cures. I think the dog meat and garlic would be much, much better.
The three or four occasions when I drank this stuff were a decade and more ago. I remember 3-5 inch long, thin strips of whiteish coloured wood infused in cold water, but I don’t remember the latter turning yellow particularly. However, it was a long time ago, and I wasn’t taking notes on the subject.
“when such persons have never listened to PAD ideals live, on stage”
Perhaps, those who have indeed listened (with an independent mind) to the ideals by watching speakers on stage, by watching the Video-CDs sold at the place, by reading the PAD’s version of the “Voelkischer Beobachter” (Phuchatkan, or Manager, Sondhi’s propaganda mouthpiece), or watched the endless 24-hrs. tirades of hatred on ASTV, would be even more inclined to vigorously reject the PAD as a threat to the limited democracy Thailand has been able to develop over the past few decades.
Tear gas in Bangkok is incredibly effective.
It has the ability to blow off toes, shred skin and cut off limbs.
The lie is only tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.
A crowd which did not attempt to climb the walls of Parliament, and could not lay hands on the gate due to the PAD guards.
Chew, before you swallow the lies in the mainstream media which continued to play dramas and game shows as the police used dirty bombs on protesters.
Continue to feast on the lies by those who dare discuss the “pathology of anti-democracy” when such persons have never listened to PAD ideals live, on stage, still streaming right now and to the very end.
Another four letter word 2) “Kaam” (the Thai pronunciation of karma) for those who murdered Nong Bo (age 28) and those who malign the movement she and her family believe in and will still participate in (based on the words of her mother and father).
All the false accusations against PAD whether committed in ignorance or for the sake of academic fluff still becomes “Kaam”.
Some of those who fought alongside the students in the 70s, are with PAD because they are finishing the war which started those years.
This is the last battle done out of 3) LOVE for their country and motivated by 4) HOPE that there is the possibility of a better tomorrow.
How about long strings of 4-letter words? The only real way to express my true feelings about every poo-yai 9regardless of political allegiance) in this country
Was the bitter root rather small and did it turn the water yellow? Was it infused with cold water? If so, it probably is the oe the Kachins call numrim.
Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged gunfire along their common border a few kilometres west of the Preah Vihear temple leaving two Thai troops and one Cambodian soldier injured.Tensions at the border between Cambodia and Thailand rose in July when Cambodia succeeded in having the Hindu temple listed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO and when the decision was met with some protests in Thailand.
Hi Aiontay.
Up-country in Burma I’ve been given various infusions, including a bitter root which tasted of quinine, and did help to relieve malaria on a couple of occasions. Also different herbs and chunks of wood etc – and sometimes insects or lizards – in rice whiskey [‘ya dong’] seemed to boost the spirit.
At home we use various Burmese medicines, including preparations from Kachin State, and also of course ‘Toh Meh Pah’ Karen tummy medicine, plus a wonderful natural/traditional shampoo made of many types of leaves and twigs. When the boys got sunburnt last month on the beach ‘thanaka’ proved very useful [probably should have put it on them before going out in the sun].
All the best – Ashley
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If somebody…
Nick: I appreciate your efforts and look forward to your extensive post.
Please keep it objective (without bias), as we already have more than enough propaganda to sift through.
Hobby
If somebody…
Nick Nostitz, thank you for the thoughtful comments and please stay safe in these trying times. Without you we would not have a true eyewitness to these trying times.
I have seen Police only using teargas grenades, no “dirty bombs”. It would have been amazing for you to see a dirty bomb exploding with the naked eye due to the sheer velocity of debris being flung. You would only see the results of debris shattering nearby walls, people or other objects.
They had rubber bullet guns, but i have not seen them using them.
I’m glad you did not witness the use of bullet guns. This is what we have on footage: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TR9swxDq4_Q
I appreciate the officer who wanted his friend to exercise restraint.
The problem is with police being badly under budgeted.
But ofcourse. There is however a difference between being badly under budgeted and skimming by the higher ups. You’d think they’d have more funding given how many kick backs they get for allow drug lords to pander their poison to the people unobstructed (well they provide some obstruction to keep their jobs).
PAD, as portrayed by their supporters and members, was not peacefully protesting.
It’s very interesting how an ENTIRE social and political movement is condemned due to the action of the few criminals amongst their midst. Even I don’t accuse all policemen of being corrupt intimidaters who resort to excessive violence due to lack of training.
PAD and slingshots: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CsVP66OYXus
They have also flung their own teargas grenades, and other explosive devices, which i have seen on numerous occasions during that day and night.
I like your usage of “own teargas grenades”. You know alot about PAD it seems. I assume you know without a doubt THEY MADE IT RIGHT? Because you know everything and saw everything.
On the PAD stage it was stated (with full knowledge they are filmed by undercover cops in the crowd) that some members would throw back tear gas canisters which did not detonate. One PAD member did this and out of his ignorance his hand was blown off. I’m impressed by your eyesight by the way.
PAD has used cars and lorries trying to overrun police, i have seen several such attempts, which were only stopped by police firing teargas grenades directly at those vehicles. I have photographed one police officer who was over run by such a car, and injured.
PAD did in fact use cars and lorries to form barricades. I saw the photo of the policeman lying under a car.
The driver was shot in the eye.
If you took that photo you would see the windshield penetrated by a small object.
The driver lost his eye.
I’m glad he was not driving faster otherwise something worst would have happened.
Please do not forget – the law was on that day on the side of police, and not PAD.
The law is and will always be not on the side of the people but on THAKSIN’S SIDE, which is the “democratic” way. Right?
We will not bother discussing how the police shot tear gas *straight into the crowd and not point the barrel upwards towards the sky and other fascinating images where they demonstrated lack of professionalism. None of that is important when it is directed against a group of people you do not agree with.
Regardless the picture they and their supporters try to paint.
I know you mentioned that you are busy now.
Since you took photos, please post vids or slideshows on youtube or other free hosting site to share.
There are many photos/vids out there for people to view.
The issue is Thais are tagging their videos in their language and it’s very annoying to try and search for footage on youtube.
As a footnote, those here familiar with the student movements of the 70s know the term “agent provocateurs” who infiltrate crowds with arms and explosives. There are lurkers here who know very well that the brutality committed against Thammasat and other Uni. students was possible because some “students” ALSO USED VIOLENCE TOWARDS THE POLICE TO GET THE BALL ROLLING.
Were they really students? Or were they planted amongst students to spy on the movement and also to emerge at key times?
I’m surprised that such well-informed folks here don’t know the #1 rule in civilian suppression: JUSTIFY YOUR VIOLENCE BY MAKING THE OTHER SIDE VIOLENT.
This is the major weakness of PAD. They can’t do profile checks of any schmuck off the street who put on a yellow shirt.
Did any NM readers take up the call?
At the end of his homily jonfernquest, like khun stillwater on another thread, claims media bias. I am unsure what to make of this claim. Which media is biased? I know PAD claims that the foreign reporters are biased against them, and this might be simply repeating that accusation, but this is hardly the case for the Thailand-based print media, is it? Am I missing something or not reading widely enough.
If somebody…
I have to say that I do not understand Khun Stillwater’s response to Srithanonchai. “People here [NM?] who claim to study the PAD agenda are exaggerating.” Exaggerating what?
Then we are told that if we were true students of PAD and objective viewers of ASTV we’d know that Sondhi Lim has “stopped attending the brain storming sessions for new politics…”. But then we are referred to recent comments by the person allegedly uninvolved. What is the point of these comments? Are we being told that Sondhi is no longer folowing this agenda, that he has been sidelined or something else?
And, in Khun Stillwater’s first post we are told that the “mainstream media” is covering things up? Which mainstream media? I read the Bangkok Post and the Nation pretty regularly and their coverage seems remarkably pro-PAD. What is being hidden?
That some of those who fought against the military are still with PAD and finishing that fight is an interesting observation. The irony is that these people now stand with PAD alongside those who were trying to kill them in the 1970s and after (e.g. Panlop, who publically states that he killed commies for a living). How has that happened? Who has been converted to which cause?
No answers I’m afraid, just questions.
If somebody…
I have been very busy the last days, but i hope i can find some time to make a more extensive post with pictures on what i have seen at the 7th of October.
I have seen Police only using teargas grenades, no “dirty bombs”. They had rubber bullet guns, but i have not seen them using them.
I do believe the reason that limbs have been torn off is that those grenades were from older Russian manufacture, and not more modern and less lethal ones. Also, when people are tightly packed, the explosive power is naturally higher.
The problem is with police being badly under budgeted. They did not use so called “excessive” force. I do absolutely believe that it was the right decision to use gas grenades, as it avoided more direct hand to hand confrontation, which would have most definitely cost far more lives.
From what i have seen, police has used appropriate force, and would have been justified to use much harsher methods.
It is horrible that people lost their limbs, i have seen several of those injuries. Police did not go out intending to hurt people that way, but they had to use what equipment they have had.
PAD, as portrayed by their supporters and members, was not peacefully protesting. PAD has used handguns (at one moment bullets shot by PAD were flying around me), they have used iron balls and screws in slingshots (i have a large bruise from one of them on the stomach, resulting from a PAD attempt to attack metropolitan police headquarters at midday). They have also flung their own teargas grenades, and other explosive devices, which i have seen on numerous occasions during that day and night.
PAD has used cars and lorries trying to overrun police, i have seen several such attempts, which were only stopped by police firing teargas grenades directly at those vehicles. I have photographed one police officer who was over run by such a car, and injured.
Please do not forget – the law was on that day on the side of police, and not PAD. PAD was, and still is, an armed group whose purpose is escalation, including the use of extreme violence against its opponents. Regardless the picture they and their supporters try to paint.
Did any NM readers take up the call?
amberwaves, please explain to us how you managed to build those ping-pong bombs so that those bombs during Tuesdays incidents only caused serious injuries to PAD and not to police. Thanks.
anyone who took up the call to turn up at protest at foreign ministry are very brave and willing to sacrifice their own lives, limbs, etc.
I mean the total figures for Tuesday’s incidents are 2 dead civilians, around 440 injured, 75 were still hospitalised yesterday. Among the seriously injured were 4 civilians who lost legs, another lost foot, another lost arm, and others losing toes and fingers. Several had schrapnel injuries and torn-off skin. There are still civilians in critical condition in hospitals and the death toll could rise.
The total injured policemen was 20 officers, all of whom are in safe condition now, none died or lost any body parts to bombs.
So, if anyone took up the call, they are very brave.
The community forest cul-de-sac
Has the bill been published in the Royal Gazette yet ?
The bill was passed in the senate on nov 21 2007. As of feb 3 2008, it wasn’t published in the Royal Gazette (JANCHITFAH S (2008) Flaws in the Forestry Bill. Bangkok Post, (feb 3).
Is this delay normal? How long does it usually take?
I’d really like to know what happened once the Samak government came in. Did they approve the bill and send it for royal approval or not?
Did the Royal Juridical council conclude that it was violating the 2007 constitution?
Anyone knows ?
Did any NM readers take up the call?
Why would they need those “volunteers with good command of English” when all they would be screaming is GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!
And even if their protestors were indeed good in English and somehow had chance to present their messages to the westerners, they would be too absurd beyond all comprehension anyway – whether spoken in Thai or English.
Did any NM readers take up the call?
Ha, ha, who do you think is going to win in the end, Thaksin and his proxies?
All this blog seems to be able to do is crack jokes about PAD mixed with jokes about HMK which do a real disservice to the Thai students you’ve been entrusted to teach.
And of course, it will be a minor miracle if this posting makes it through, because I don’t agree with you.
Media bias? Your blog convinces me that academics are at the forefront of it, particularly anthropo-apologists and their village people, not fighting media bias at all.
If somebody…
Sawasdee Srithanonchai,
This is why I know people here who claim to study the PAD agenda are exaggerating.
If you indeed view ASTV with your “independent mind” you would know that Sondhi has stopped attending the brain storming sessions for new politics and left it to Khun Piphop.
You would know this if you do indeed watch ASTV. You don’t have to watch it live, this info is also on manager.
Sondhi’s “New Politics” is discussed in English here:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JI09Ae01.html
I agree about “limited democracy Thailand has been able to develop over the past few decades”. It’s the type of democracy which uses very interesting tear gas against civilians and then accuses a young female victim killed by such devices as carrying a bomb in her purse as she walked alongside her own mother and sister.
Drip
It doesn’t sound like the same thing since numrin is a very small root, not whitish colored wood. The Kachins gave me a good supply of it after I had malaria, so I remember it pretty well, especially yellow color of the water. I suspect there are a number of plants used for malaria in the different parts of Burma. The Kachins also offered me some dried bear gall bladder, which was supposed to be one of the best possible cures. I think the dog meat and garlic would be much, much better.
Drip
The three or four occasions when I drank this stuff were a decade and more ago. I remember 3-5 inch long, thin strips of whiteish coloured wood infused in cold water, but I don’t remember the latter turning yellow particularly. However, it was a long time ago, and I wasn’t taking notes on the subject.
Did any NM readers take up the call?
I was too busy sharpening iron rods and helping assemble ping pong bombs for the Srivijaya warriors to go there.
Did any NM readers take up the call?
Tried to apply, but didn’t meet the conditions: Neither have a helmet nor a yellow shirt.
If somebody…
“when such persons have never listened to PAD ideals live, on stage”
Perhaps, those who have indeed listened (with an independent mind) to the ideals by watching speakers on stage, by watching the Video-CDs sold at the place, by reading the PAD’s version of the “Voelkischer Beobachter” (Phuchatkan, or Manager, Sondhi’s propaganda mouthpiece), or watched the endless 24-hrs. tirades of hatred on ASTV, would be even more inclined to vigorously reject the PAD as a threat to the limited democracy Thailand has been able to develop over the past few decades.
If somebody…
Four 4 letter words.
1) LIES
Tear gas in Bangkok is incredibly effective.
It has the ability to blow off toes, shred skin and cut off limbs.
The lie is only tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.
A crowd which did not attempt to climb the walls of Parliament, and could not lay hands on the gate due to the PAD guards.
Chew, before you swallow the lies in the mainstream media which continued to play dramas and game shows as the police used dirty bombs on protesters.
Continue to feast on the lies by those who dare discuss the “pathology of anti-democracy” when such persons have never listened to PAD ideals live, on stage, still streaming right now and to the very end.
Another four letter word 2) “Kaam” (the Thai pronunciation of karma) for those who murdered Nong Bo (age 28) and those who malign the movement she and her family believe in and will still participate in (based on the words of her mother and father).
All the false accusations against PAD whether committed in ignorance or for the sake of academic fluff still becomes “Kaam”.
Some of those who fought alongside the students in the 70s, are with PAD because they are finishing the war which started those years.
This is the last battle done out of 3) LOVE for their country and motivated by 4) HOPE that there is the possibility of a better tomorrow.
If somebody…
How about long strings of 4-letter words? The only real way to express my true feelings about every poo-yai 9regardless of political allegiance) in this country
Drip
Was the bitter root rather small and did it turn the water yellow? Was it infused with cold water? If so, it probably is the oe the Kachins call numrim.
Not too fast: Resolving border disputes in Southeast Asia
Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged gunfire along their common border a few kilometres west of the Preah Vihear temple leaving two Thai troops and one Cambodian soldier injured.Tensions at the border between Cambodia and Thailand rose in July when Cambodia succeeded in having the Hindu temple listed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO and when the decision was met with some protests in Thailand.
http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/news/ibru_news/?itemno=7034
Drip
Hi Aiontay.
Up-country in Burma I’ve been given various infusions, including a bitter root which tasted of quinine, and did help to relieve malaria on a couple of occasions. Also different herbs and chunks of wood etc – and sometimes insects or lizards – in rice whiskey [‘ya dong’] seemed to boost the spirit.
At home we use various Burmese medicines, including preparations from Kachin State, and also of course ‘Toh Meh Pah’ Karen tummy medicine, plus a wonderful natural/traditional shampoo made of many types of leaves and twigs. When the boys got sunburnt last month on the beach ‘thanaka’ proved very useful [probably should have put it on them before going out in the sun].
All the best – Ashley