Learning Thai

Last Monday Claire and I got up early and went out to the Bang Phli community. Every year at the end of the Buddhist Lent, they have a special festival on the canal there. The main attraction is a Buddha image on a barge, and people attend to make merit by throwing lotus flowers onto the barge. Before the Buddha image came along there was a sort of parade - fancy barges with musicians playing traditional music, funny barges with people dressed strangely and dancing, and in between there were lots of young guys showing off by racing their longtail boats about recklessly.

Unfortunately, this was the morning we were robbed, so we had to leave early. Just as we were walking away we caught a glimpse of the barge with the Buddha image and saw a shower of lotus flowers being flung from the bridge and the banks of the canal.

Here are some of the pictures I took...

The crowd waiting with their lotus flowers. If you look closely, you can see the guy in the black shirt demonstrating a Thai habit that we're still not used to.

Many families came in their own boats and were getting an early start on the picnicking. I saw a man in a little boat selling ice cream before 8:00 a.m.

Waiting on the bridge...

... and along the bank of the canal.

One of the more ornate boats. Claire was impressed by all of the ladies in traditional Thai costumes.

The boat carrying the Buddha image...maybe next year we'll get a better look at it!

-Tom