Interview with Thai Traditional Medicine Master Sombat Traisri Silp

Thai Traditional Medicine (TTM) may be 1,000 – 12,000 years old, but is a science now…

For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 41, click here.

Thai Traditional and Complementary Medicine Center

Though most people might not be aware of it, it is generally recognized worldwide that the best medical care usually comes from multidisciplinary approaches. In such programs, teams of doctors from different specialties each initially form their own diagnosis and treatment programs, and then work together to find the optimal treatment for each individual patient. And that is what they do at this center.

This medical complex offers the best of three worlds, Western, Thai, and Chinese medicine by licensed doctors. They also do research with various universities including Chiang Mai University Faculty of Medicine. https://www.med.cmu.ac.th/en/service/excellence-center/ttcm

April 7, 2023 Chinatown and Chip Aun Tong Dispensary Ltd. Partnership – An Extraordinary Downtown TCM Pharmacy

This might not sound so exciting to the average person, but I feel that this is one of the most interesting highlights of the city because 1) it is the largest centrally located old Chinese medicine pharmacy in the city, 2) it is in the large Chinatown downtown area 3) right next store is a very old herbal medicine wholesale shop, but not like anything most people ever saw before and 4) this whole very large area has the most authentic ethnic cultural things for sale I’ve seen in Thailand, on this trip at least.

The traditional Thai and Chinese medicine clinics I visited were generally pretty quiet, and I visited most of them two or three times, however business at Chip Aun Tong Dispensary Ltd. Partnership was booming. It is a “right-out-of-an-old-Shanghai-movie” Chinese medicine shop smelling of herbal flowers, leaves, roots, and bark.

I asked the service person at the desk if I could meet TCM Chief Pharmacist, owner and manager of Chip Aun Tong Dispensery, Dr. Shen Zhong Wang.

I did not want to delay him for more than a moment, but I did get to meet the Master TCM Pharmacist and felt honored when he agreed to take a photo with me.

I also had some boxes of Traditional Chinese Medicine a kind friend had sent me from China - enough to fill up my suitcases. That was an amusing situation, and given the only people licensed to dispense such valuable commodities were the traditional medicine pharmacists, I felt it an obligation to give some to each.

As a rule, I’m conservative when it comes to all kinds of medicine.

I like to check the National Library of Medicine’s research database on each of the herbs I’m interested in before buying and trying. I read a review article stating only 15% to 20% of most unregulated traditional herb- and plant-based traditional medicines are found by scientists to have medicinal value. This is why I always ask at clinics if they are engaged in any research. All kinds of medical research are easy to access these days via the National Library of Medicine free online database.

During our brief chat I found out he also keeps doctor’s hours at his clinic called “Mae Hia Clinic” (about 15 minutes southwest of the old town by car or motorbike). To manage and be the master of such an auspicious traditional Chinese pharmacy in a famous city like Chiang Mai, and a suburban clinic, he must have extraordinary skills.

And next door, a Thai Traditional Wholesale Shop

Next door to that most excellent pharmacy is a “hole-in-the-wall” Thai wholesale traditional medicine shop. It and the gentleman that works there are iconic Silk Road images. It smelled super good and healthy, different but similar to Chip Aun Tong Dispensary.

It would be interesting to see how his inventory matches up with list in the book by Viggo Brun and Trong Schumacher titled Traditional Herbal Medicine in Northern Thailand given to me by Ajahn. That would probably require a few months. I have the feeling that the shop might have been a very good resource in their research.

He didn’t appear to speak any English or hear too well and reading my phone APP translation didn’t work out too well, but he was certainly agreeable and friendly. He is a busy man and active as a teenager.

One thing the traditional medicine practitioners also have in common is none of them appear to have wasted much time in their lives, but rather stayed healthy and disciplined for their professions and arts. Once more we encounter a defining characteristic of a Master in any art, science, or other evolved human endeavor. So too we encounter another form of Gong Fu.

One way to find this pharmacy is search for “Warorot Market (Kad Luang)” on a GPS, and that will get you close. Below is a photo of the west gate to the old Chinatown. Woromot Market is inside the official Chinatown area (ahead), and the pharmacy is behind me on the left side of the street about 250 meters back.

Show it to a Tuktuk driver and you will be close. Ask “Tau Rai Khrab?” before you get in of course, so you don’t get overcharged when you get out. Numbers really are the first thing every foreigner should learn entering a new country, along with the usual conversation phrases. Most people in Chiang Mai speak English and visitors can assume 80%+ at least understand some usually.

The official “Warorot Market” is a small part of the much larger old Chinatown area. Inside the market it’s really huge, super busy, crowded, and easy to get lost, but one can find anything there, probably. It might be easier for most people to go shopping strolling the nearby streets to find most of the same things for about the same prices. Anyone looking for traditional ethnic arts, crafts, clothing, will be pleasantly surprised. It is an exceptional cultural experience, feeling more authentic than most tourist places because it is where locals go.

April 7, 2023 Chatchai Chinese Medical Clinic (Licensed)

Spacious and welcoming inside, this courtyard clinic is a garden spot for health and longevity.

This is a large, very elegant Chinese Traditional medicine clinic. I learned it was named after Dr. Chatchai who studied medicine at Qinghai University and is currently 39 years old. The one TCM doctor I talked with a few weeks earlier here was very creative in making a well-known Chinese commercial formula from scratch in the pharmacy and speaks, reads, writes, and understands Putonghua Chinese very well. However, as a rule they use in-house formulas.

Did the reader ever have one of those dreams where you are Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC), founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China chilling your heels there in the old capital of China, Xi’an? No? Well obviously, a trip is in order, especially for Wushu Kung Fu people. And, as home of the first emperor of China, one can bet some Xi’an soul food is the key to extreme longevity and success in any industry. Well, that is what the warrior told me. Which warrior where? Read on.

April 7, 2023 Qin Kitchen

Great restaurants are easy to find everywhere around Chiang Mai, and it takes something pretty special to turn my head. Well, a special figure appeared next to a door to a fabulous Xi’an Chinese restaurant today. It was a Qin Dynasty Warrior that looked like he escaped from the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin and decided to stand guard in front of this restaurant instead and invite me in. The fact it was 40 degrees centigrade (104 °F) and I had been biking for quite a while that day had nothing to do with the talking Qin Dynasty Warrior inviting me in, I think.

After polite greetings from the warrior, naturally I had to meet the owner Ken Xu and his wife and was fortunate to get a photo with them from in front, and then have a little chat as, it was midafternoon, so they were not too busy.

I found out they started the restaurant eight years ago, are both from Xi’an, and she learned Xi’an cooking style from her mother back home. Meeting them was a bit unusual because I do not meet many first-generation Chinese business people here. Sticking it out through the COVID-19 years means they must be popular. Why not? Xi’an food fed the Qin army that created the first large, unified China.

Can the reader believe the stone man in the upper far left can talk?

The menu is filled with most delicious Xi’an cuisine. One thing that caught my attention right away was the wide hand-stretched noodles they make for soups. Those are no ordinary egg noodles, oh, no, no, no; they are truly extraordinary (!), and the Beef Noodle heaven there beyond compare. Then, their Roh Jia Moh, kind of like a BBQ beef burger, except totally different and amazing, is just that. On more than a few icy mornings in Beijing, hot steaming soy milk, Roh Jia Moh and hot Ba Bao Joh (Eight Treasure Porridge) was just super.

April 8, 2023 Mungkala Chinese Medical Clinic

This is a classic gem of a courtyard medical clinic on a corner in a small quiet picturesque neighborhood of Chiang Mai. The other clinics are mostly on big streets. This one, however, is off the main streets.

I was very fortunate to meet Rungtip Ratinyapornpun, a master of Traditional Chinese Medicine. First off, I found people usually address her as “Tip” as in her first name. That is nice, I thought. Andindeed, she was. I found out her husband’s grandmother learned herbal medicine arts in an herbal medicine shop as a child working filling capsules, making tablets, and more interestingly, making medicine teas and decoctions. Her family has owned the building complex for generations, and she keeps the clinic open not for money, but just because that is what she likes to do. One can cheerfully note there is a younger generation of highly trained and licensed traditional medicine doctors springing up here in Thailand, China, and all-around Asia and her ongoing efforts helping to train young doctors and patients in the traditional Chinese medical arts is profoundly appreciated by all. How does one learn all that? Talk to the charming receptionist, of course.

Tip told me a short story before I had to go. She said in her grandmother’s time the traditional doctors did not charge money because it was a community thing, and we commiserated a moment on the changing times. “It was very simple,” she said. “For most minor problems people went to the traditional medicine doctors but for very serious problems they went to the big western hospital.”

April 8, 2023 Old Medicine Hospital Thai Massage School Shivagakomarpaj (OMH)

I had heard from a long-time resident of Chiang Mai “Old Medicine Hospital” is the oldest traditional medicine hospital in Chiang Mai. So, I was pretty darned happy it was easy to find in the labyrinthian maze that defines this city’s streets. It appeared there are two large buildings, with remodeling going on in one, and in a side office of the other I met “Oui” who is one of the massage therapists there. At age 63 he turned out to be a pretty spry fellow, as when I mentioned I like Yoga, he showed he is rather flexible himself.

I also learned the school was founded in 1961, is the oldest traditional medicine clinic and school in the city; has something like six doctors, and to get certified as a massage therapist one must start at Levels 1 and 2.The cost is 6,500 Baht for Level 1, and a slight discount for registering for both. The history and prestige of this classic traditional hospital and school are very clear looking at their website. I noted with interest: “Ajahn Sintorn was the founder of the Old Medicine Hospital and of the Shivagakomarpaj Lineage. He first studied traditional Thai medicine at Wat Pho in the late 1950s. Upon completing the degree in 1958, he stayed on as a teacher for four more years.”

Ah, ha! Wat Pho. That isthe foundation temple upon which Thai Massage started to become formalized sometime in the 1700s, then flowered and becoming widely recognized in the 1800s. The Old Medicine Hospital continues to be thought of as a superior medical university complementing modern medicine.

It seems sometimes in the east the value is recognized by age, whereas in the west value is a function of newness.

Thai vs. Swedish Massage

Attempting to find unbiased comparison of Thai and Swedish massage, I found a clinic in Denver that offers both. This is what they wrote:

“While Thai massage does include similar techniques as Swedish massage, it also embraces rigorous yoga-like stretches. In Thai massage the entire body is pushed, pressed, rocked, vibrated and rhythmically compressed by the therapist’s body—hands, feet, elbows, knees, forearms and shins. At times, the therapist can stand and sit on the client while realigning them to either internal or external alignments.”

https://denverintegrativemassageschool.com/thai-massage-vs-swedish-massage

April 8, 2023 Another encounter: Hindu Demon Guardians

Nearing the southern end of a little jog early the next morning, I practically ran into fourexceptionally fine-looking Hindu Demon Guardians, who might possibly be Rakshasas, or shape shifting demons known to be fierce warriors able to control others using deception and trickery. It was obvious to simply run right past would be rude I thought, so I collected my own inner demons, and we all had a wonderful little chat. His caretaker, a pleasant young Thai man named Benz Tawan at the shop called “Na Derm” introduced us.

Asking the Benz just how many boxes of silver would be needed to transport all four off to a world-class museum and heard each cost about half a million Baht or about $14,500. I asked where they came from, and the answer was “here” in Chiang Mai. This would not be surprising, as at least 300 temples are recorded in this city, and one finds them in just about every neighborhood, tucked behind gas stations, in the middle of intersections, everywhere. So, for around a cool two million one can acquire a most distinguished group of fearsome but gorgeous guardian demons.

I believe that is an eagle on the head of the Guardian Demon named Thao Wessuwan in Thai.

One never knows who one will meet next in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Commonalities of traditional medicines

Commonalities of most traditional branches of medicine thus far examined by this researcher include 1) they are prevention oriented, 2) recommend basic balanced diets of foods from farms and wild instead of factories, 3) and the closer to home those farms are, the better. Likewise, 4) all emphasize balances of different elements in and approaches to life that engender more positive, energetic, calmer, happier and healthier people. Like Chinese medicine, most Thai doctors recommend time of day for administration of herbal medicines.

Muay Thai and Thai Traditional Medicine

A particularly well-informed foreigner I met told me an amusing story he heard at the Old Medicine Hospital. “Muay Thai and TTM are sometimes the same, except in Thai Massage they “stimulate” the energy meridians whereas in Muay Thai they shock the energy lines(Sen lines). He gave me an example story that included a rather vigorous shock that immediately reduced pain and recovered full mobility in one of his small distal joints.

Commonalities in Traditional Medicines

What might differentiate TTM from most other Traditional medicines is 1) regular Thai Traditional Massage is advised by many or most TTM masters as a wellness-prevention, and curative method for a wide range of ailments, 2) many or most of the traditional herbs and herb formulas are local and in season, and 3) the foundational emphasis on meditation and Buddhist philosophies in general.

Source: Thai Health Ministry supports local traditional medicine | ASEAN | Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus)

None of this should be surprising in the least, as Thai Traditional Medicine was heavily influenced by Buddhist philosophies from the 3rd Century BCE. Perhaps surprisingly none of the masters I met mentioned Buddhism really, except Ajahn “Tip” (Dr. RungtipRatiyapornpun), at Mungkala Chinese Medical Clinic, and that was in the context of giving some donated medicines to Buddhist monks.The research on meditation is extensive.

This appears to be a form of Thai medicine too. These are hot days, and a few cool showers can be refreshing. Officially taking place on the 13th of April, nobody could miss it and every day for the next three days is a party. Mostly on the east old town wall road one canfind the most dramatic water warriors with pickup trucks loaded with weaponeers, buckets, and tanks with water. They do badland water wars against other pickup trucks and roadside water warriors in dramatic showdowns. And they don’t stay up too late either, which is kind of nice.

Ah, Chiang Mai.

Notes

Thai Traditional Complementary Medicine (TTCM) Clinic page by Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University offers an empirical fusion of Thai and Chinese Traditional Medicines backed by western science.

https://www.med.cmu.ac.th/en/service/excellence-center/ttcm/

Wat Pho Official Site: https://www.watpho.com/en/massage-school There are at least 10 sub-schools located in different cities and towns in northern Thailand.

For brief general information on Thai Traditional Medicine, see:

https://doctorlib.info/herbal/thai-herbal-medicine/3.html

Mae Fah Luang University

https://en.mfu.ac.th/home.html

On Google Maps

The location of Panyathai Traditional and Alternative Medical Clinic can be found by typing in “IDI Thai Massage School and Service Chiang Mai.”

Foreign Experts

Foreign experts in Thai Traditional Medicine referred to me here in Chaing Mai include Felicity Joy Keebaugh, David Royalance, Pierre Selguado, and Monica Giacomin (student of Old Medicine Hospital).  

For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 43, click here.