Hi,
Songkran has begun. Today was declared a holiday so everyone has an extra day of whatever. We got an early dose of dousing and our house guests arrived.
The 'Zany Day' song that some of you knew was "Nothing From Nothing" by Billy Preston. Now it's time for some 'Old School Friday'. "Get your motor runnin'. Head out on the highway. Lookin' for adventure, and whatever comes our way. Yeah Darlin' go make it happen, take the world in a love embrace. Fire all of your guns at once, and explode into space.
Like a true nature's child...." Hint: Really? I think you know this one. Even if you're not old you know this. (555)
We spent the first half of the day at the house. We didn't get rain today, but we had a little water drama anyway. There is a misting system that waters the plants around the waterfall. The valve that sends water to the nozzles sprung a leak. Most plumbing here is done with PVC tubing that is glued together. I knew that the valve needed replacing, but I've never learned the art of pipe-gluing. We called our friend Sutheera and she helped us get Khun Mahn to come over and fix it. He wasn't going to take payment but we insisted. It's really the beginning of Songkran, nobody is working, yet he and a helper came out. They were very appreciative and we felt better.
When we left the house to have coffee at Doi Chaang with Khun Jaffee, we didn't realize that Songkran had begun. As soon as we turned onto the main road to town we met a parade going away from town. There must have been a quarter of a mile of pick-up trucks converted to various floats. Some were decorated with lots of ornaments, others just had lots of people and bamboo. We still don't know the significance of this parade, but it was impressive. We also encountered our first splashes of water. Some of the little kids just looked at us as we drove by and I mentioned that they were being selective. Just then a little girl fixed her eyes on us and timed her toss so her bucket of water smacked right into the passenger window. The children are serious about their water. Below are three photos of the first day of Songkran. The first shows a family with a wading pool for the little ones while the older boy has a massive squirt gun. The second photo shows water floating down from the pick-up truck and the final photo shows the payback.
Late this afternoon Tatt's family arrived. They had been driving since yesterday and were happy to be here. There were more people than we expected, but they don't expect us to do anything. The cast consists of Tatt's mother and father, his sister and her husband and their two girls. They brought us a ton of fruit, most of it things we like. A case of Dragon fruit (Lisa's favorite), a bag of mangos (my favorite), something we've never eaten, and a Durian, which we told them had to stay outside. Everyone took a turn at getting acquainted with the dogs and Tatt made us a list of all their names so we could keep up. They have plans for tomorrow, sightseeing around the area. The whole family will leave on Monday and we will close a very interesting chapter in our adventure. Amazing.
Have a Wonderful WeekEnd. Oh yeah, there is laughter.
Peace,
Danny
Gettin' Funky, Thai Style
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