guesthouse. We ordered rice soup muu and veggies, respectively. Then
the woman came back over to ask if we wanted "???" we declined. Then
we got our soup and it didn't have rice in it! Oops. So we had to ask
for rice and the woman thought we were crazy. Eventually we realized
that she had asked if we wanted "lice," but it was too late.
Then to our noodle soup place for noodle soup and iced coffee/green
tea. Breakfast for two for one for Robert. My green tea drink was
great; I need to ask them it's name in Thai.
Back over to 99 to tell them we were not going to Tak, the place that
does the strings of burning coconut husks. We decided to stay here and
go to the festival instead. He was very understanding, which was nice.
To our guesthouse for final preparations before going to Loy
krathrong. We uploaded a bunch of pictures, etc. Had shakes, but again
decided against eating there because the selection isn't great. We
hopped a bus to the Old City and ate there instead. The food was
marginal at best, bad noodle soup - blasphemy! Then we rented the
oldest, crappiest bikes known to man. We bought tickets to get into
the festival, where the guard told me bike tire was flat. Off to a
great start, I went back to get it pumped up before actually entering
the festival.
Inside, there were lots of booths selling food and things, so many
that it was hard to see the ruins in fact. We took a cursory lap and
then started using the map to track down the main sights. We saw the
king statue and wat mahathat and the Khmer/corn cob looking towers and
the walking buddha. Then we decided the bikes were more of a hindrance
than a help so we returned them and walked. We turned down an
overpriced farang and found a 10b cheaper one around the corner. I
used the toilet for three baht and helped an old woman realize that
only one stall was in use, the one with the red dot that she kept
poking. The green dotted stalls were free. Next we got a noodle soup
and a big water to combat my growing headache. It was nice to sit, out
of the sun and relax a bit. There weren't many people here yet because
it was early and it is primarily a nighttime festival.
At four we finally saw the first thing that was worth the entry fee.
They had set up a fake old village and there were numerous stations
where men and women were pretending to live as if in older times. I
posted a few pictures - there was a blacksmith (making dangerous
looking machetes that Robert really liked - we still haven't gotten a
knife...), pot makers, silk spinners, banana fryers, sweet bread
roasters, palm leaf horse makers (think of the wooden ponies on a
stick that you can gallop around the yard on if your imagination is
active enough), coconut milk makers and lots of small children dressed
up in traditional clothing. Some of the kids were brave enough to
practice their English on us, which was fun. Otherwise, we just
wandered around and gawked and photographed and smiled at all the fake
villagers. I never quite understood how all these people knew how to
complete their tasks. Did these people still live in old villages?
Were they just skilled history buffs? Not sure.
We moved on from there to find the mock fighting displays. These were
more interesting than they should have been. They were put on by kids
who were training in martial arts it seemed, but they were totally
staged. The kids' play acting was wonderful. It was good enough to be
interesting and bad enough to be funny.
We got another farang and bbqed chicken and sticky rice. We heard
music and followed it into an area that was fenced together and
branded with all the same style signs. It was strange and it took us a
while to figure it out, but it was another blast from the past. This
was supposed to be a traditional market, selling traditional foods,
using traditional money. (they didn't take bahts.) Huh? This was the
most puzzling thing for a long time. You had to go buy colored cowrie
shells and then the vendors in this area took the cowrie shells as
money. What was the exchange rate? How much can I buy with a big
cowrie shell? A small cowrie? It seemed like a cruel joke to add this
wrinkle to the language barrier, while dangling very tasty bits on the
other side of the misunderstanding. Oh- and the exchange booth was not
staffed with anyone with decent English. Genius plan. Basically, we
gave the exchanger some money, she gave us a bag of shells, we found
something tasty, we pointed to it and then handed over shells one at a
time until the vendor smiled and said thank you. It wasn't a great
system, but amusing indeed. I especially enjoyed watching other farang
struggle, once I knew the trick. We used our shells to get salad,
noodle soup, cassia flower curry, clay pot drink and then we ran out
of shells - actually we paid for the drink with one shell and 15b.
They will take baht! The cruelest joke of all.
The next bit was visually interesting, but hard to describe. We looked
at the light and sound production, but didn't buy a ticket so it was
marginal - and all in Thai. Then we looked at the hanging lantern and
Krathong competition entries. Very ornate. See the pictures. They were
releasing hot air balloon-like floating things that were cool to see.
They looked like those cool paper lamps that are large geometric
figures (these were all cylinders), but worked like hot air balloons
because they floated in the air as the oil in them burned. My pictures
look like smudges so I didn't post them. amanda! I need you.
then more noodle soup and...ok I'll try to explain this. There was a
chinese tour group eating there too and this guy got his bowl of soup,
but had a request. He couldn't speak Thai, so basically he made some
noises indicating he wanted attention and scooped up broth and poured
it back into his bowl. This was repeated while he grinned like crazy.
Lots of jabbering ensued, both within his group and several failed
attempts to convey his request to the waiter. After lots of pouring,
he got another scoop full of broth added to his bowl and he was happy.
The only other thing that we saw was the fireworks show, which was
good, but we had a crappy standing spot so it wasn't as good as it
should have been. I got frustrated as well because all my pictures
were crap. I can operate my eyes far better than a camera.
By the time we left the festival, we were dog tired and dirty and
done. We needed to find a ride home though, always one more hurdle. We
saw a bus packed to overflowing with people, but there was room for
Robert only. He happily jumped on the back bumper, but I couldn't
figure out a way to safely attach myself to the vehicle as well. He
jumped off and we started a new bus. Soon enough, ours was packed as
well and took off down the road, not so much of a hurdle, but wait!
The bus pulled into a side lot full of empty buses and drivers. We
were told to get off the bus and onto another nearby that seemed to be
already full. We obliged and our first bus pulled away, leaving us
standing in the dirt, hopeful to squish on to the other bus (the one
we passed up earlier because I couldn't get on). After some
rearranging, a baby carriage saw stowed and a plank seat detached from
the side and created a third row of seating and we somehow managed to
get on. Then we thought we would leave. No, money needed to exchange
hands, but a French woman lost her temper demanding that she wouldn't
pay for her baby to ride (despite it's giant baby carriage, this one
unable to be stowed). I'm not certain about the particulars, nor am I
sure they are either since the conversation was mostly pointing and
them speaking in their own languages without any understanding passing
between them. This took a while to untangle. Then we would leave? No.
Another bus arrived and dropped MORE people off next to our bus.
Nevermind the field of empty buses and drivers lolling about. Some
how, some how we squeezed them on as well, becoming a bus full of
thirty people plus the driver. It was intense, but eventually,
eventually we made it home.
Robert wants me to include a footnote. The festival was dry and
smoke-free. Why? Not sure, but there were signs everywhere. 10,000b
fine or 6 months in the hoosegow, or both! It was on an ancient
Buddhist temple so that might have been it. We asked a couple guys a
few days ago and they didn't have an answer either really. Robert took
their response as it has always been this way and they had no idea
why, while Jenn took it as this is the first year of the prohibition
and they were not sure why they changed it. Regardless, it was a
completely drug free festival. Of course it is one of the 5 Buddhist
principles you are supposed to live by, no consumption of intoxicating
drugs or alcohol, but the no killing principle isn't followed, at
least as far as food consumption goes, so who knows!
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