Jack's Day 04-01-2010

It can’t be a typical day in Mae Sai as we are in Chiang Rai, about 60 kilometers south of Mae Sai.

Daeng’s cellular telephone alarm woke us at at 5:40 AM as she had set the alarm feature. She turned it off and the alarm on my phone went off five minutes later. We need to be at her sisters at 7:00 AM to follow the car that was taking everyone to the Temple. We showered and did all the typical things we do in Mae Sai every morning.

I did hear a new reason to not have sex. Daeng told me we couldn’t have sex as we were going to the Buddhist Temple. When she said it the corners of her mouth curled up like it does when she is kidding. I told her that excuse didn’t make it as she is Christian. We both laughed.

We put my notebook in a safety deposit box in the lobby and walked outside to the parking lot. Just as if we had asked for it, there was a coffee/breakfast truck sitting by the parking lot. As soon as the man saw me, being a round eyed person, he started into a little singing chant about coffee, fried eggs and anything we want at Alice’s Restaurant, except Alice. We all laughed.

We did have coffee and “baht-ta-go”. "Bath-ta-go” is fried dough, kind of like a Thai donut. They even had piped in country and western music playing. We wiped off the dew on the motorbike and drove to Daeng’s sisters house.

It was just about 7:00 AM and everyone was waiting for the pick-up truck that was going to take them all, about 10 people, to the Temple. There was some conversation and a few phone calls and Daeng gave her sister and Jack’s Father the keys to the motorbike and told them to go on so they would not be late. Jack is Daeng’s nephew and the boy that is going through the ceremony.

We waited for about 20 minutes more and Daeng made another phone call. She turned to me and said the ride was not coming and she was going to hire a “song-tail” to take us. A “song-tail” is a small pick-up truck with a rack in the pick-up bed to transport people.

In a few minutes she was back with two “tuk-tuks”. A tuk-tuk is a three wheeled vehicle that can transport about four people maximum. We loaded them up, said good-bye and told them we would see them in a little while. I was very proud of Daeng for taking charge of things and making them happen.

We walked up to the main street and got another tuk-tuk to the Temple.

When we arrived things were in full swing with hundreds, of people and boys to go through this ceremony.

Lots of praying before the boy got their double edged safety razors and proceeded to a chair in the huge circle around the outside of this gigantic Temple. There must be over a hundred boys. More ceremony as different monks came by each boy and cut a small piece of hair.

The cut hair was put in a plant leaf as it was cut. Maybe 20 people came by each boy and cut a piece of his hair. It was time for the family to help him cut all the hair off his body, head, eyebrows, etc. I didn’t spend any time taking pictures of the etc. parts.

Jack sure looked different with no hair. He seemed to enjoy it as he was smiling and laughing through the process.

After the hair cutting the 100 or so boys moved to the showering area as the families followed. They were washed, dried and powered down. I might add with cold water as Jack had a case of the shivers.

They were then clothed in with white surrounds and back to the temple for more praying. We hung out to the end of the ceremony and then the boys loaded into pick-up trucks for a parade through the city.

We jumped into a pick-up and joined in with the parade.

We went through the city and then returned to the Temple for more prayers and blessings.


After that ceremony everyone tied string around the wrists of the boys. I am not sure of the meaning but I think it is tying the family and child together with a good future.

Daeng figured I was hungry so she bought me an ice cream sandwich. It was a real one with two scoops of coconut ice cream in a slice of white bread. It tasted like Wonder Bread.

Daeng said we could go and have some lunch as the ceremonies were over although the families would hang out all afternoon.

We stopped and had a little typical Thai lunch. When I say typical, it had steamed white rice, vegetables, water along with whatever you wanted like pork, chicken, etc.

We headed back to the hotel. I could tell Daeng was a little restless so I ask here if she wanted to go back to the Temple to party with the family. She asked if I would be alright. I told her not to worry as I would shower, write this story and take a nap. She took the room key so she could get back into the room without waking me.

I’m going to take a little nap, that’s pretty typical, and then we’ll go out on the town tonight in Chiang Rai.

I slept until about 5;30 PM and Daeng came back to the room. She said the family hung around until Jack graduated from a white robe to an orange one. She took a lot of pictures and jacked was smiling and looked pretty happy about everything.

Daeng said she was very tired and laid down for a rest. I got up and walked over to an Internet Café to do some emails as I have not been connected to the Internet is three days. When I walked into the Internet Café our friend, Charlie from Canada, was there.

We talked for a few minutes and agreed to have coffee at Jan’s, his girlfriend, coffee shop in the morning around 8:00.

I worked on the 107 emails that I had and did a bank transfer. I then walked over to the night bazaar and had some sushi and spring rolls. Daeng’s sister and a few family members were relaxing and drinking a little beer. They seemed happy about the day.

It was cooler now so the walk back to the hotel was nice. I walked by the golden clock tower which had the dancing lights and music for the 9:00 PM show. It is quite impressive.

Daeng was a wake watching Thai television. It was not a typical day and we will both sleep good tonight.

We plan on getting up in the morning, have coffee at Jan’s with Charlie, come back and check out of hotel and head back to our typical life in Mae Sai.

Good-night!