Leaving Thailand

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I'm moving on... After almost two months in Thailand I will be moving over the Mekong into Laos.

I have been resting in Nong Khai at Richard's house for the past ten days. Nothing but good company, good food and the feeling of home.

Thai New Year's started a couple of days after I arrived in Nong Khai and the celebrations lasted four days. On the morning of the first day, Richard hosted a typical Thai ceremony full of New Years blessings. The ceremony began at 7 am when the monks arrived to chant. Once the morning chant was completed, the attendants, all villagers from Richard's town, proceeded to share their food with the monks by placing portions of their food into some beautiful rattan baskets. I was invited to participate in the sharing of the food and was proud to give the monks some delicious sticky rice. Once the food was distributed we gathered around a christmas-tree-looking decoration on which there was string. The string was blessed and later cut into peices which are tied around peoples wrists to wish them good luck, ward of the bad spirits and invite the good spirits to stay with and accompany the person.

After this part of the ceremony, we were lucky to presence a very ancient ceremony which is not typically held where three monks, sitting on pedestals tell the townspeople about being generous and sharing, they also chant for three straight hours interchanging amongst themselves.

The Thai new year is also celebrated by now famous water fights wich go on for 3 or 4 days non-stop. People dancing on the streets and soaking passing pedestrians, motorcycle drivers, back-of-pickup truck riders, everyone is fair game. This tradition started as a more simple ceremony which involves pouring water with jasmine over the hands and shoulders.

In the evening the boxer's from Richard's camp had a chance to show off their skills in the ring with boxing matches that lasted until past two in the morning, all in all a hectic day filled with authentic New Year's events.

The next couple of days I part-took in the celebrations from the safety of the inside of a car and managed to stay dry eventhough there is no better luck for a thai than to wet a foreigner. Basically people drink all day and cool each other off. Not a bad idea since the weather has been in the high 80's and 90's.

That's it for now, enjoy the pictures and write me some emails, I miss everyone and would love to hear from you and know what you're up to.

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Photos

Thai family
These are the lovely people who have been babying me this past week (missing Noi).

Comments

[ana]

chicaa!!
laos es precioso !! la gente es amabilisimaa em mekong es hermoso te va a encantar!! estoy redonda ya pondre mas fotos!! un besote ana

[muma]

ok, spoilingated girl, how do you plan to cross the mekong? boat? canoe ? taking a bus over a bridge? back to roughing it after a wonderful vacation from your vacation oasis at Richard's? How I envy you! I saw a documentary on channel 7 where they were talking about people living until they were 150 thanks to all the advances in science and medicine. Well.. that brought to my mind that if that is the case, I am a spring chicken , and I will be able to do what you are doing a couple of years from now.. sounds cool, no? Keep on truckin' baby.... ENJOY life! your mamma..

[carmen]

me haces falta chicuela
hola! que bien ver que estas dichosa! rocky no podra ir a la india, pero es posible que yo si. hacemos viajesito en agosto? sigue disfrutando mucho. besis, c.