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t only took stepping into the brown-carpeted conference room of a grungy Bangkok hotel to enter a dimension of belief where aliens not only exist (and think we're stupid) but communicate with a select few Thais over the psychic plane.

Home News I Went to a Bangkok Hotel to Hear Apocalyptic Alien Prophecies NEWSLIFESTYLESOCIAL MEDIA I WENT TO A BANGKOK HOTEL TO HEAR APOCALYPTIC ALIEN PROPHECIES By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter - 30 July 2017, 17:11 Top: Members of UFO Kaokala, a group that trains in meditation to seek answers and prophecy from extraterrestrial life, Saturday at a convention held in a Bangkok hotel. I t only took stepping into the brown-carpeted conference room of a grungy Bangkok hotel to enter a dimension of belief where aliens not only exist (and think we’re stupid) but communicate with a select few Thais over the psychic plane. This is the UFO Kaokala group, and on Saturday more than 200 members gathered to hear their leaders relate the latest prophecies gleaned from their otherworldly advisers, sip on the Royal Rattanakosin Hotel’s sugar-water tea, seek the use of their extraterrestrial gifts and puzzle over the outside world’s lack of belief. “There’s some people today that still don’t even believe in aliens,” a woman said to low chuckles and murmurs of shared incredulity from the audience. Advertisement Somjit shows the audience her depiction of some aliens from Pluto she communicated with. That woman was Somjit Reapeth, who is tasked with overseeing Alien Communications for the group. Somjit and the rest see a rupturing world just out of reach to the vast wisdom offered by the aliens zipping around the universe who have banded together in an intergalactic Federation. To those cosmic travelers, Earthlings are savage, spoiled children who can’t evolve past devising new ways to kill each other. “Our Earth is like a speck of dust in the galaxy. Unbelievers should open their minds. Don’t be scared that we have advanced neighbors. They want to help us,” Somjit, 58 and a nurse by trade, told the audience. “They visit us in every era. How do you think we built the pyramids?” Members believe in extraterrestrial life and practice meditation to communicate with said life. Most are middle-aged, middle-class people of various backgrounds, from office workers and medical professionals and underemployed free agents. All are Buddhists who say xenology and studying alien teachings not only comports with but enhances Buddhist spirituality. Kuntamestha Fhanataweenantha, a 39-year-old personal financial planner, has been a member since 2009. He said aliens tell him about natural disasters to come, and even what is to happen in his personal and professional life. Kuntamestha Fhanataweenantha, a 39-year-old personal financial planner, shows a portentous YouTube video he created in 2011. “Within six years, the volcanoes along the Ring of Fire will erupt, and tsunamis will harm Chile, San Andreas and especially Yellowstone,” Kuntamestha said, referring to the nation, a seismological fault line in California and US national park. He said that he uploaded a video just before the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami warning of the catastrophe about to hit Japan. “When I joined, I didn’t believe in aliens. But on the retreat, I saw UFOs and light silhouettes of people, and I was speechless,” Kuntamestha said. “Now the aliens tell me things like Sakhon Nakhon will flood, that there will be a solar halo, or that I’ll get a big client in a couple days that will get me 5 million baht.” Talking to aliens, for Kuntamestha, is tantamount to religious development. “It’s okay, even if I don’t go to temple,” he said. “This is very similar, and very easy too. There’s no need to translate difficult text from Bali-Sanskrit.” What UFO Kaokala Actually Believes One might expect the whole thing is a scam cult to squeeze money from the gullible. But apart from the entry fee of a few hundred baht and a small merch table selling T-shirts and photos, Saturday’s event wasn’t about money. Instead, uninitiated visitors found an earnest (if slightly paranoid) group of New Agers with some wild ideas practicing the kind of good ole’ ufo religion that emerged in the ‘60s and ‘70s. UFO Kaokala members believe that by meditating and developing one’s own mental abilities, they can project their brainwaves and talk to extraterrestrials, while developing their dharma along the way. They draw heavily from mass media representations of extra-solar life. Somjit compares her extraterrestrial experiences with what’s represented in sci-fi movies. “Aliens portrayed in movies are about 70 percent accurate,” Somjit said. “They do have large heads to accommodate their large brains, a high IQ and small bodies. Like in Star Wars, the aliens also made alliances with aliens from different planets. We need to develop our mental abilities to communicate with them, because what happened in the latest Transformers movie will come true.” So why are they talking to a 58-year-old Thai nurse? “If you’re asking why the aliens picked Thailand to communicate with, it’s because we’re Buddhists and trained in meditation. We have nothing else, if not a high psychic ability. The non-spiritual W...