Merit-making activities in major cities around the country

[Lite Beer]

NEW YEAR ACTIVITIES
Merit-making activities in major cities around the country
The Nation

Buddhists offer alms to monks at Chonprathan Rangsarit Temple in Nonthaburi on New Year

BANGKOK: -- While many Thais celebrated the New Year with merit-making activities yesterday, Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra led city officials and members of the public to offer alms to 189 Buddhist monks at Sanam Luang ceremonial ground.

The venue now temporarily enshrines the Phra Buddha Nawaraj Bopit statue, which was built after an instruction by HM the King and is normally kept at City Hall, so people in Bangkok can worship during the New Year holiday period.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and his wife Naraporn signed a note of best wishes for the new year for Their Majesties the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family at the Bureau of the Royal Household hall in the Grand Palace yesterday.

Many other Cabinet members, lawmakers, military chiefs and senior officials, plus foreign envoys, also signed notes wishing the royals well for the new year. Members of the public were given a place in the compound to write notes wishing the royals well - and given a 2015 royal calendar as a souvenir.

In the North, a three-nation New Year countdown, held at the Mae Sai-Tachilek border in Chiang Rai, was a big success - attended by about 20,000 people. In neighbouring Chiang Mai, provincial Governor Suriya Prasatbuntitya led officials and members of the public to offer alms to 358 monks on Huai Kaew Road.

In the South, Phuket Deputy Governors Somkiat Sangkhaosutthirak and Suthee Thongyaem led officials and members of the public to offer alms to 199 Buddhist monks yesterday to mark the new year. Phuket head monk Phrarajasirimuni blessed the people and urged them to observe the five precepts strictly while also being loving, kind and united towards one another.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Merit-making-activities-in-major-cities-around-the-30251082.html

-- The Nation 2015-01-02

[soalbundy]

The temple industry always does well this time of year

[maidee]

i took all my copper money , and that was a lot accumulated over the years and tossed it in one of those "build a new temple" kind of boxes you see in the supermarkets

that was after DAIRY QUEENS had rejected brown pennies to my kids when they wanted to buy an ice cream

does that count as merit making ?

it was a good 30+ baht

how minutes in heaven did i buy for this ?

[outsider]

i took all my copper money , and that was a lot accumulated over the years and tossed it in one of those "build a new temple" kind of boxes you see in the supermarkets

that was after DAIRY QUEENS had rejected brown pennies to my kids when they wanted to buy an ice cream

does that count as merit making ?

it was a good 30+ baht

how minutes in heaven did i buy for this ?

Probably just a drive-by. And that's without a guide explaining the sights to you! LOL...

Jokes aside, I've been trying to find a way to unload those coppers I have. Putting them into one of those boxes at a supermarket is a good idea.

I don't know why they're still in circulation, really. You can't use it as currency, yet all these establishments - supermarkets, fast-food outlets etc. - jam it down our throats. Malaysia has implemented a system where bill totals are rounded up or down to the nearest tenth, essentially doing away with the coppers. Thailand should consider that.

[digo]

i use that coins to pay the red micro bus (in Bkk).. 6.50 baht