All Work and No Play...... Great Wedding

All work and no play makes a dull life. We have also been having a little fun. A few days ago, our neighbor came by and gave us an invitation to his Daughter's Wedding. This is the same neighbor who's Mother passed away in the Fall. To read that story titled "BIG BARBECUE" just CLICK HERE. It just reminds me that when one thing stops something else starts.

Well, about dawn this morning we

heard a lot of noise. We looked out the window and they were setting up shade canopies beside our home. Our neighbor had ask us if it was okay to set up part of the 80 tables in front of part of our home. We just did not realize the size of 80 tables with shape tents over them. They closed down the whole street for the party.

By 9:00 AM the party was underway with music and lots of folks. I worked with Mi painting the back room, under the second floor cooking area until about 11:00 AM. I showered, dressed and met Daeng as she was already partying with some of her Bingo buddies. She loves to play Bingo.

Her Bingo buddies are a happy

group of ladies that live in the neighborhood and most days meet up the street at the noodle soup shop. That is a little restaurant where you can get a bowl of rice noodle, vegetable soup for 15 Thai Baht, about 45 cents in US Dollars.

I sat and eat with Daeng and her buddies and I'm glad I did.

They were a fun Bunch. The food started out was some spicy fried peanuts and a a large plate of fruit. One of the family members came around and put a bottle of whiskey and a couple of liters of LEO beer on the table.

The next course was an appetizer plate with won tons, pickled eggs, small sausages and nuts. After that a large plate of this crispy fish dish was put on the table. It was very light but you could tell it was deep fried. I have no idea how it was made.

Then a huge, steamed fish and spicy vegetables was put on the table. This fish was the easiest fish I have eaten. The meat just came

off the bone in large pieces and all the bone stayed on the plate. It was a pleasure to eat.

All during the meal folks that Daeng knew would come over and talk with her and give her big hugs. Daeng know a lot of folks here as she has lived in Mae Sai for over thirty years.

The only negative of this party was they served a bottled water with the brand name of "Yellow Surprise". Now, I don't know about you

but in my mind "Yellow Surprise" is not a good name for drinking water. Maybe a name like "Yellow Snow" drinking water would have been better.

Moving right along, the lady sitting right across

from me at the table thought I was funny and laughed at me most of the time. I thought the meal was over with the fish but then a huge plate with a pork leg was placed on the table with another plate of noodles and ham. I made this expression of "I can't eat anymore" and she just cracked up.

We had been eating for almost two hours. Everyone was talking about how we all eat too much and we would not have to eat again for a week.

Mode and Nan, the Groom and Bride, came by our table to thank us for coming and celebrating their union together. We thanked them for sharing with us and wished them a wonderful life together.

The party lasted, with singing and dancing, until almost dark, about 7:00 PM. The music stopped, most of the folks left, they moved the tables and took down the canopies and reopened the street.

A good time was had by over 800 people at this wedding day!

Good-bye Pattaya - Hello California

Pattaya is a beautiful place to hang out with the warm ocean, great sunsets, delicious food, friendly people and just about anything you could want on a holiday.

To see more of Pattaya just CLICK HERE.

In Thailand, Pattaya is the second most visited city by tourists with Bangkok being first.

Pattaya is about 120 km south of Bangkok. It is very easy to reach and has thousands of hotel and guest rooms starting as low as 300-400 TB ($9.00-$12.00 USD) a night. Mid-range rooms starts around 1000 TB ($30.00). After that the sky is the limit, so to say.

You can find almost everything you could want in Pattaya with the beach, sun, food, fishing, diving, boating , dancing, shows, movies, shopping and entertainment of all types.

I also would say that if you are a single male, Pattaya is a "Must DO". I don't want to spend a lot of words about the "Girls of Pattaya" or "Boys of Pattaya" but there are thousands of ladies in Pattaya to entertain the single male. For more information about the working ladies in Thailand CLICK HERE.

Remember, the best looking girls are probably boys!

We are going to spend the day resting as tomorrow we check out of the small hotel we are staying in. then we take a taxi to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

Our plane leaves at 5:50 PM and we arrive in Los Angeles about one hour later. That always messes with my mind and of course causes "jet-lag".

Over the last two months Daeng and I had a wonderful trip and will be back in California Monday night.

Back in Pattaya with the FLU

We took a Tuk-Tuk to the Airport and flew on Air Asia to Bangkok. When we arrived at the Bangkok airport we called the taxi driver, Su-chai. We had used his taxi service in the past.

By the time we got our bags and walked to the upper deck Su-chai pulled up to pick us up. It was great timing.

We spent the next hour and a half relaxing on the way to Pattaya. Pattaya and the Jomtien Beach area is some of the nicest beach area in Thailand. Because of this, many long-term expatriate live here, also.

We checked into a very old hotel, named "Honey Lodge" at the end of Beach Road where it meets Walking Street. It is old and very inexpensive even though it has a fresh water pool that they keep clean and sparkly.

We also like it because it is in the middle of everything and easy to get anyplace in the Pattaya area for 10 TB on a Baht Bus.

We stopped to ring the bells with the school kids at the Temple just north our our hotel.

As the day went on Daeng and I both felt tired, bodies started hurting, we have runny noses and a slight fever. We turned in and stayed in bed for the few days.

The only reason we got up was to use rest room and have something to eat. We took turns going out to get food and eat in room. We figured we need to eat well in order to recover even if the food does not taste good while we are sick.

And chicken soup is always a good thing. This is one of our favorites, chicken soup cooked in big copper pans.

I like the "kabab" sandwiches that the guy on the corner makes, too. As you walk by he always says: "Hello Kabab". He told us he hoped we feel better, too.

We also like the food at this local place a little ways up the road on the right hand side of the street across from the Temple.

It is a local place so the prices are really low. As you can see Daeng in the background, we have been careful not to get to close to anyone so they don't get sick, too.

Then the air conditioning in our room stopped working so we did go through the process of moving into the room next door. That was all about all we could manage.

We don't know if it is the H1N1 or just the regular Flu but it kicked our butts for the last couple of days. We think it is just the regular old FLU as it only lasted a few days.

We will be sure and get the H1N1 shots next week when we get to California.

Church, Food, Childlife Kids & Flowers

It's Sunday again on the border in Northern Thailand.

Today is a special church day for two reasons: first, one of our friend's daughters is having a birthday.

For her birthday Daeng did flower arrangements for the service today.

The second reason today is special is the kids from CHILDLIFE are at church.

Hlong, Daeng's sister-in-law, is doing much of the cooking for over a hundred folks, mostly kids.

That is a lot of noodles!

Because the church is small and will only seat about 70 people many of the kids stayed outside, sang hymns and played.

Daeng and I hung out in the cooking area and played with the kids, as well. At my age, I'm pretty much back in the child stage, again anyway.

The other nice part of being old is I now can do things that people criticized me for in the past and now they just say: "He's old, leave him alone."

After the service the big folks ate inside the church area and us kids ate outside. The noodle soup with pork and vegetables was wonderful.

I watched as many of the kids ask for seconds and thirds. There was plenty of food for all.

I spent a little time talking with Pastor Lota about his plans for the week.

We did get a call from a family member that, let me try and get this correct, Daeng's sister-in law's Father was very ill. He was about three hours drive north of the Myanmar (Burma) border.

We had made arrangements last week to go into the mountains to see the kids and the shelter in the AKHA village of Ban AYO. We talked it over and decided to go into Burma with a few other family members to see him.

We'll make the trip on Tuesday.

04-03-09 BIG Buddhist Parties

It was Friday morning and Daeng told me we were invited to a party. I asked what time is the party and she replied 9:00 o'clock. I said: "Sure, that will be fun tonight." She responded with: "No, now!"

When I ask what kind of party started at 9:00 AM on Friday morning she cocked her head and gave me that don't understand look and told me to get dressed as I would see.

So I showered and put on shorts as it was warm along the Myanmar (Burma) border this morning.

We hopped on our motorbike and went up the hill behind the water company that looks over this small border town. As she put the motorbike in first gear to get up the hill, I could hear music.

When we came to the top of the hill we could see a big shade tent at the top of the knoll. We parked and walked up the rest of the way. There was another tent for shade higher up and a DJ was playing Thai rock-n-roll. It was about 9:25 and at least 50 people were already eating and celebrating.

Yes, that is 9:25 IN THE MORNING.

I had to find out more and Daeng explained to me that this is a celebration as the son, "Som-Pet", age 12, (spelled phonetically) was going to be cleansed on the outside of his body as well as the inside of his body. How this was done is he already had all the hair on his body shaved and had been bathed. Now he would fast sixteen hours a day, eating food only between the hours of 4:00 AM and 12:00 Noon each day.

To cleanse him spiritually he would spend the next seven to thirty days at a Buddhist Temple with the monks meditating and studying. This is not only to help him in his life but to also help his Mother and Father along with the whole family. That is in this life and the next.

That is why the BIG celebration.

A celebration it was. Food everywhere! Singing karaoke! More food! Dancing! More singing! More Food!

The next thing we could see was the son on his father's shoulder being carried from the lower area of the party to the higher tent and then into the house. They also had a set of gongs that were all together so that one handle rang them all at the same time. They were striking these gongs while others were beating drums and cymbals, too.

Inside the house were several "Money Trees". They look like trees with money for the leaves. I was told that they would go with the son later, when he went to the Temple. They were donations for the Temple.
Som-Pet was placed on the floor inside the home and everyone visited him giving him envelopes with money and wishing him the very best.

Outside, the party was going full blast with people eating, drinking, singing, dancing and eating more. All this before 11:00 in the morning.

And More Dancing.......

I'm told it will last all day, into the night and maybe the weekend.

And More food....

More Dancing.....

More Food........

And more Drinking at 10:30 in the morning... What a party!

And with all that food, someone

has to do the dishes!

Daeng told me that we had to leave as we needed to go to another home, too. We said good-bye and wished everyone the best.

We hopped on the motorbike and went down the hill and over to the Temple of 207 steps. On the road to the top of that Temple was another family celebrating the same thing for their son, "Kay" (again spelled phonetically). He is also age 12 and doing the same thing as "Som-Pet".

Yep, more food, dancing and partying. It was a fun morning. The party lasted well into the night, too.

03-31-09 "Akha" Wedding

It was a nice warm day in Mae Sai, Thailand. Daeng and I had been invited to the wedding of "Charlie & Gon-ya" I spelled "Gon-ya" phonetically as I have only seen it written in Thai.

The wedding invitation had their pictures in "Akha" outfits.

Daeng wore a skirt and put on her gold. This is the first time I have seen Daeng ever wear a skirt so I got the hint that it was a big deal to dress up. I got out the black leather shoes and dress pants.

When we got to the road the Baptist Church was on, it was blocked off and two guards were asking questions. Daeng told them we were there for the wedding and they waived us on. I knew then it would be a BIG wedding.

We parked our motorbike and walked into the church compound to be greeted with "Akha" ladies giving out programs.

The church was full, actually more people were there than the Church could hold. Kids were sitting on the floor and people were standing outside the open window looking in.

The wedding started on time with two ladies lighting the candles, two

little girls throwing rose petals, a little boy with the rings and the groom coming into the church with the ministers.

The father of the bride escorted the bride to the alter. The bride was dressed in a full length dress and she glowed with happiness

It was a happy service with people singing and everyone wishing "Charlie and Gon-ya" Love and Happiness.

There were several groups that sang including Pastor Lota and some of the kids from Ban Nana.

Double rings were exchanged with some laughter.

A great wedding and now lots of food.

And Girls, Girls, Girls!


And like all weddings more pictures, pictures, pictures.

It was a great wedding and we want to wish "Charlie and Gon-ya" the very best in the years to come and much happiness in their lives.

It's time to load up and head home.