PANTAU VERONIQUE RENARD A view from abroad.: The Phuket Island Experience

Phuket Island

The first thing I did when I arrived on Phuket Island was going to one of the many Chinese temples in Phuket Town. Phuket has a large Chinese population and I love Chinese temples.
I took a bundle of insence sticks, held them above a flame to light them and stuck them in an ash bowl in front of a bunch of Chinese godly statues. I thought: what to pray for? So I prayed for the well-being of all sentient beings, I then prayed for a good and enjoyable 5 day stay on the island and then I prayed for good book sales. I also prayed for a Free Tibet and a long life for the Dalai Lama, one of my favourite prayers when I am in a Chinese temple.

Later that evening I received a message from my administrator John. He wrote to me that someone had put 3 copies of my book Pholomolo for sale on E-bay for the price of 30,67 USD per copy. Praise the Holy Lord and sorry for the ignorant people who purchase one such copy as you can buy them a lot cheaper via Amazon or any other retailer. Official list price is 24.98, but Amazon sometimes gives special discounts and you can by my book for 15 USD. I wonder why people would spend more on a copy of Pholomolo via E-Bay. Are they copies I have signed? I don’t know. The only thing I know is that book sales for May had increased by 100 per cent compared to April. So my prayers obviously work with retroactive effect too.

In addition, I prayed for my dear friend Chen Hao, who was the victim of a hit and run accident in Shenzhen, China. He was in coma for 9 days and needed facial reconstruction. He suffered memory loss and was in hospital for one month before he was able to return to Bangkok for further recovering. We both realize that such an experience is life altering and that he will not be the same person any more. Chen Hao is my dearest friend in Thailand; a man I love more than any other friend I have.