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Jak, an art teacher, gives art lessons to kids on weekends in a well lit and air conditioned studio. English speaking kids are welcome.

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If you had to carry in your personal purse a cure for cold, nausea, dizziness, sore muscles, arthritis, and insect bites, you’d need a huge purse. If only all those medicines could fit into a small bottle, you could look only half a hypochondriac. That’s what Yellow oil is for. It is a traditional Thai medicine, that can sometimes save you a doctor’s visit, and certainly a lot of pain.

Yellow oil came to Thailand from China and exists in different versions all over south east Asia. Thai Yellow Oil has unique qualities because of the high grade of the plants it is made of. The families that make the oil keep the recipe a secret. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of home-made yellow oil brands, but the queen of Yellow Oil is a town called Trat, close to the southern border with Cambodia. This area is especially rich in fauna, even in Thai standards.

The best Yellow Oil in Trat is made by Somthawin, a local lady who started selling it door to door many years ago. These days she has 2 shops in Trat, and a small workshop in the family’s residence where the oil is manually produced. Nobody will tell you what exactly they put in their oil, but Trat residents say it contains menthol, a local kind of camphor called Ka Ra Boon, eucalyptus oil, a plant called Pim Sen (another kind of camphor) and a plant called Prai (Cassumunar in Latin), from the ginger family. Prai is responsible for the yellow color and is considered by Thais a magic medicine for all illnesses.

Usage: Yellow oil is not massage oil. It is much more concentrated and doesn’t need to be massaged in thoroughly, only spread over the skin. If you have a sore muscle or arthritis, just rub it on the skin and cover the place to keep it worm. Try to rest for a few minutes. You can use it on insect bites and make them disappear in a minute, or open the bottle and breath through it for cold or dizziness relief. You can also put a few drops on a piece of cloth and breath through.

Important: wash your hands thoroughly after rubbing the oil. You don’t want it in your eyes.

]]> http://tratmap.com/archives/ang-ki-somthawin-yellow-herbal-oil/feed/ 5 12.2494097 102.5097122 http://tratmap.com/archives/park-near-central-station/ http://tratmap.com/archives/park-near-central-station/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:30:18 +0000 Trat Map http://tratmap.com/?p=1219   Show on map

This lovely park is a good example how outdated google-maps satellite photos can be.

The whole park, artificial lake, etc. look like an empty field there

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For the past two years or so, city hall started using the place for events and festivals.

Both sides of the road outside the become a market during these events, and there are usually performances in the park itself.

All photos on this page are (cc) The Dod

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Some of the roads leading from the reservoir have irrigation channels, and you can sometimes see kids swimming there. If you decide to join them, you’d better wear goggles (otherwise you might have red eyes). Also remember that it’s much easier to swim away from the lake than towards it. If you get tired, swallow your pride, climb out, and walk the rest of the way while kids try to pretend not to laugh at you

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This is a royal project of the queen. Used cooking oil is a pollutant, so in this plant they buy used cooking oil and sell various types of machine oil for motorcycles, etc.

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At Swainunthawit school

A very small Chinese shrine (San jao). Before sunset, people from the neighborhood come to practice Tai chi in front of it (it’s free).

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A very large and incredibly beautiful Chinese shrine (San jao) where the town celebrates the Chinese new year and other events of the Thai-Chinese community.

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A Chinese shrine that has two parts, one on each side of the Chai mongkon street. The south side area is also called called San Jao La-Ko.During the 9 day long Thetsagan Jae Chinese vegetarian festival, the street section between the shrines is full of vegetarian (and non vegetarian) food stalls, and in the evenings people can eat food cooked by families of the Chinese community at the shrine. No fee, but a donation in the box can help cover the costs.

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Once in while they take an old film projector out to the yard and show old Thai and Chinese movies.

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The Wat has a very lovely garden, where the locals like to take walks in the afternoon, when the weather gets cooler. One of the nice things you can do there is buy a package of fish-junk food and go to the pond to feed the large catfish, carp and water turtles who live there. In a few minutes, a nice feeding-frenzy will occur.

Wat Phai lom is the center for many Buddhist ceremonies, especially Loi Krathong, a yearly Thai celebration, where people make floating wreaths out of banana trunks, and decorate them with flowers, candles and essence.

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The wreaths that the residents are making in the morning will be sold later in the evening to people who come to the Wat, and will be floated down a river, into the sea or in the Wat’s canals. Although this is a monastery and the monks are not suppose to eat after 12:00 o’clock, some food is sold there during the celebration hours, so that none of the guests will go hungry.

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A nice promenade overlooking the river at the section behind the old city. It’s quite sunny during day hours, and nicely lit at night time.

The boardwalk is a major gathering place on Loi Krathong celebrations.

There are 3 places where you can enter the walkway:

• Behind Windy guest house
• Behind Guy guest house
• Below the south-side bridge