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Published: July 16th 2017
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Geo: 16.3833, 103.933
Well here we go ...Wake up with the alarm at 2:00 for Jai to go into Phon Thong with brother Sai and wife Dom from next door in their pick-up. Getting there silly early means you can buy vegetables direct from the wholesalers who supply the market stalls so ..They are back at 4:30 and leap straight into action in the still dark back garden. I return to bed with a cuppa as any civilized person would do. By the time I get up for breakfast at 6:30 a few more people have arrived to 'help'.Brother Pad has found us a marquee at a house across the village so a group of us set off to investigate. We dismantle it, transport it back to the house and assemble it again. No worries ..
With the marquee up those who helped move it decide that is enough for now and they need some food and some whisky. I leave them to it which is going to be my motto for the weekend.
The postman arrived with a card from mum in England saying sorry she couldnt make the wedding but she was busy already ... what a shame.
At midday the tables, chairs,
plates, glasses etc arrive and all seems to be running smoothly.
14:30 Jiap herself arrives from Bangkok with Jai's son Boy and a friend of hers. She also brings a folder of studio posed wedding photos that they had done in Bangkok about a week ago. The one photo is about 2ft x 3ft and in a big guilt frame that is far too heavy to hang on any of our thin block walls.
I pop over to check on John but he is not feeling up to coming to help me out tonight.
Preparation of the veggies is in full swing by late afternoon.
Niece Boo has come and decorated our front wall and gateway with coloured material and has set up a decorated archway through which everyone will have to pass before entering the house. I wonder if I can get a lock for it ?
17:30 we set off in a pick-up to go and collect the beast. 200kg of pork seems to be bigger than the pig was before they cut her up. Pieces of flesh lie everywhere, a head is watching me everywhere I go and there is a large bucket of blood waiting for us as well. This is
really giving me an appetite - I dont think.
We load up the pick-up and return to Khamnadie where I retire immediately to the bedroom and leave others to deal with the meat.
In our absence getting the pig a second marquee has arrived from somewhere and been erected.
About 20:00 I decide that I should make an effort to be sociable although I dont really feel like it. The kitchen is covered in bits of pig with a group of chaps swilling whisky and carving up the lumps of meat. 'Butchering' is a vague term here and it usually means hack of lumps with a machette.
I get myself a beer, a chair and a bucket of mice and sit out on the road on my own to watch proceedings - well, its almost sociable.
The karaoke team had arrived earlier and set up the music and the large speakers hung from scaffolding across the road and pounding out a fearful volume. Someone is wearing a T-shirt that say "If its too loud, you're too old". No arguments here.
A car full of Jiap's friends have arrived from Bangkok and have brought piles of roses that they use to decorate further the gateposts and
the entry arch. They smell great.
A few of the neighbours come and join me and I even venture to the karaoke which was probably a mistake.
I eventually retire at about 3:00 a little - a lot - the worse for wear.
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