colmx Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 To update on my post above... BFs friends from pattaya and relatives all arrived to the village... now its "all hands on deck" to get everything ready for the ceremony (and of course party) I have just learned that BF is not allowed to have sex for 1 week after leaving monastery... so looks like its going to be an even longer seperation than the last worst case scenario.... ah well! Quote
colmx Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 Oh and the contingency 12,000 has been sent... And i reckon that still won't be enough Quote
Guest Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 Oh and the contingency 12,000 has been sent... And i reckon that still won't be enough LOL Thanks. This really tells me where I am headed. Quote
Guest TomUK Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 TomUK: Great story. I wish you would copy and paste here with photos. Thank you for sharing. When I took all the photos I asked my friend if I could show them on the internet. He asked me not to do so. I respect his wish for privacy and have therefore not included any photos in my report. But here is something I thought you might want to consider doing for your friend: After I took all my photos I had them all printed and gave one copy to my friend and kept one copy for myself. Later a friend showed me a photo book made from photos of his holiday on Koh Chang. I thought that is something I would like to give to my friend as a memory of his monkhood. I went to several photo shops, but I did not like the quality of the final product nor the fact that they did not have proper facilities where you could work on your photo book. So I had a look on the internet and came across CEWE PHOTOBOOK and I have to say I am very pleased with the end result. It is fairly simple to do. You download the software onto your computer. Then you select the size of the book and what type of cover you want. You also have to choose the number of pages you want, but you can change this later if necessary. For each page you can have a different number of photos, different sizes, even overlapping photos. You can also use one of your photos as backgrund (a different one for each page if you like). The software marks every photo as used when you include it in your book, but you can use the same photo several times. You can always preview the final result during the compilation of the book. If you wish you can include text and various backgrounds. When you have finished you upload the photo book to the company's website. For my book I used a photo of my friend as a monk on the front cover and a farmer taking his cows to the fields for the back cover. I made 58 pages and for 2 copies I paid about Quote
colmx Posted June 20, 2010 Posted June 20, 2010 Hi All My BF is now a monk and will be there until November 1st at the earliest To Answer GT's original Question... I sent 45,000 at first 10 days ago Then sent 12,000 contingency on Thursday He received 10,000 in donations But was still short 20,000 to pay all the bills (which of course i have had to send today) So total cost was 87,000 Why such a big shortfall? Contributions were much smaller than anticipated... 20B instead of an expected 100B His immediate family and extended family made no contributions at all(despite him contributing to all of theirs) There was also some robbery when it came to alcohol (people coming, leaving 20B and then sneaking off home with whiskey bottles) Of course neither he, his mother nor I were happy with this at all... but he had to go straight to the monks this morning and it does not help to dwell on it as he should not be thinking about this kind of material thing now I should also point out that he did not have the monks come to visit his home... he went to the temple for the Shaving ceremony. If the monks visit the home you can expect to add an additional 5-10,000 to the cost... Anybody want to loan me 20,000B to pay off his debts? Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted June 20, 2010 Posted June 20, 2010 At most wedding ceremonies in the UK, there would be food and one or two bottles of wine provided per table. When that's gone people buy their own drinks at the bar. The party to celebrate a boy entering a temple is nothing like a wedding party. I have only been to one and this was far more casual and quite informally organised. The party was not actually at the temple, but took place after the parade back from the temple and was held al fresco outside the home where the boy lived with his grandmother. Someone from the village had erected a sound system for dancing, others had helped organising food, and the boy's bf had provided all the booze, plus the cash to pay for everything since the family was too poor. There were no barmen, everyone just helped themselves and absolutely no-one kept a check on anything - they were all far too busy having a good time. So I'm not surprised that some booze disappeared. Quote
Gaybutton Posted June 20, 2010 Posted June 20, 2010 I know two ways to save a lot of money. 1. Find a boyfriend who already became a monk, before you ever met him and 2. Make sure he is also an orphan . . . Quote
Guest TomUK Posted June 20, 2010 Posted June 20, 2010 I know two ways to save a lot of money. 1. Find a boyfriend who already became a monk, before you ever met him and 2. Make sure he is also an orphan . . . Maybe I was just lucky. I felt honoured when my friend (who was/is not my boyfriend) invited me to attend the ceremony for his monkhood. Not only was I the only farang in the whole village, I also got to stay at his family home in my own room and could experience Isaan/Thai home cooking rather than just restaurant food. In addition I also attended a function in memory of a person who had died 100 days ago. I did not even know the deceased or the family, but I was just treated as another member of my friend's family. I made a donation towards the cost of his ceremony of 3,000 Baht. Not exactly a large amount of money considered that I now have memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. TomUK Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted June 21, 2010 Posted June 21, 2010 Spending that amount of money on a celebration to impress friends and family is insane. You can bet if there was no farang to foot the bill that amount of money would not have been spent. My bf tells me "Thai people just like to show off, more when they have a farang." Quote
Guest Posted June 21, 2010 Posted June 21, 2010 My bf tells me "Thai people just like to show off, more when they have a farang." What is the point of having a farang if you can't show off? Seriously. As for costs of weddings, my cousin just got married in Georgia. The cost, over 100k. That is not including the honeymoon which my immediate family is paying for and I'm kicking in. A lot? Yes, I guess so. But, I never thought the lesbian would find a man. Thrilled she'll be able to pretend for a bit. I almost booked them a Rosie cruise but thought that would be cruel. When I had parties in Pattaya for my farang friends, I spent well over 100,000 baht. I don't think something so special for him deserves any less. Quote
Guest joseph44 Posted June 21, 2010 Posted June 21, 2010 Spending that amount of money on a celebration to impress friends and family is insane. You can bet if there was no farang to foot the bill that amount of money would not have been spent. My bf tells me "Thai people just like to show off, more when they have a farang." True words, and that's what is was trying to say in my previous post. The actual ceremony doesn't have to cost more than a few thousand bath; every bath more is just a "waste of money". My Lordship starts every year the same discussion: "This yeat I'm going to be a monk!" That's ok! Start saving and when you have enough, you can go........up2u! Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted June 21, 2010 Posted June 21, 2010 What is the point of having a farang if you can't show off? Seriously. When I had parties in Pattaya for my farang friends, I spent well over 100,000 baht. I don't think something so special for him deserves any less. What ever happened to the concept of being with someone for love? I have had many parties and have never spent anywhere near 100,000 baht, not even in the US. Spending a lot of moneydoesn't make for a better party; it's the people that make a good party. Quote
colmx Posted July 11, 2010 Posted July 11, 2010 Just to upate this BF is 3 weeks in the monks since today and will be leaving this Thursday... That will mean he spent only 3.5 weeks instead of the planned 3.5 months in the temple... Reasons for leaving: He has been told that he can Leave July 15th... or must stay until November 29th! He reckons he could make it until the end of October... but there is no way he could add that extra month... Apparently there are no auspicious days for him to leave in October or before Nov 29th! Also he has become very disillusioned with life in the monks. he went there expecting to learn in a disciplined environment... Instead all he sees are monks sleeping all day and watching TV in their rooms! Yes they have the early start and are limited to 2 meals a day... but besides that there is nothing to do all day except wait for Asarnha Bucha Day on July 27th In his own words: "i know now that monks are just people, nothing special" On a more positive note... this means i'll be able to visit him for a week at the end of september! Quote
Guest beachlover Posted August 25, 2010 Posted August 25, 2010 Often, they'll spend everything they have on it even if they're living in a hovel in dire need of repair. The parade and party comes first. True... it's "face" that comes first. The same thing happens in India with their massive multi-day weddings. Quote
Guest beachlover Posted August 25, 2010 Posted August 25, 2010 My BF went me me on a 1,000 K bike ride last year and I didn't think he would make it. I was proud that he even attempted something most would not do. That's impressive... It's hard to find partners, or even friends who will do that kind of stuff. Quote
Guest GaySacGuy Posted August 26, 2010 Posted August 26, 2010 That's impressive... It's hard to find partners, or even friends who will do that kind of stuff. That's for sure...and finding a good partner that is nuts enough to go on a 1000K bike trip would be difficult at best! Quote
Guest Posted August 26, 2010 Posted August 26, 2010 That's for sure...and finding a good partner that is nuts enough to go on a 1000K bike trip would be difficult at best! He is a real charmer. I still can't believe he did it and wants to go this year from Chiang Mai to Phuket for charity. That one is 3500 K. Quote
