Appreciate ME now & avoid the rush later: Chiang Mai Part II

Chiang Mai Part Two.

5th Dec 2008: Thai King's birthday.

It was a huge huge event that concerned the entire Thailand. The school was no exception, of course.

The community was invited to the school for the celebration. They brought food along to give to the monks, who also came to the school to say prayers...

After chanting for a long long time, the monks began to walk around the parada sqaure to collect food from the people.

Let me introduce you to my friend from Chiang Mai. His nickname is Lian Jia (= cheek in Mandarin) and he's the same age as MEEEEEE!!!! He's so small-sized right!!! Gosh. No wonder he appears to be more matured than the other kids. *hah!* And erm, he has acknowledged that he's feminine. So I got another jie mei! =)

This is just an evidence to show my mum that I really washed all my clothes and hung them all by myself.

Okie. Trying to be silly here. But the view is breathtaking.

After the procession and celebration, it is a tradition for some of the students to walk around the neighbourhood to pick up rubbish and do some simple cleaning. It was something like a community work, trying to make your community a cleaner and nicer place to live in. Seeing that it is a new experience, I tagged along with them.

Lian Jia, being the prefect, was trying to gather the smaller kids. Too bad he couldnt go out with us.

Bringing a whole bunch of kids out to the streets was quite nerve-wrecking, cos we had to constantly watch out for oncoming traffic. But it seems like the kids knew how to watch out for cars better than us, or me at least. *hehs*

A random dog along the way. Made me think of BeBe...

The kids are not at all afraid of getting dirty. They just use their bare hands to pick up any litter they see on the floor, and they did not whine or whatsoever. They just do. Imagine Singaporean kids doing that... *shakes head* Impossible.

A whole stretch of motorbikes. I was stunned by the number of bikes parked so neatly in a straight row.

Goats running around randomly.

Another pal of mine. And he's 21 too!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!? So teeny weeny small!

Another random dog at the streets.

Me and some of the kids. =)

Went jalan jalan and came across this stall that sells handmade bags that are something like recycle bags. Only they are nicer cos it's painted by this lady.

At night, we went to the Government House for yet another celebration for the king's birthday. This time round, fireworks were waiting for us!!!! =)

The king's gigantic portrait in the middle of the big big field. That night, over 10,000 people were present for the celebration. All of us were given a candle each so we could light it and pray along with the rest of the Thai people.

Pretty pretty hor? *hehs*

Ivan, me, Xinxin, Corrinne and Angela.

Fireworks!!! And you think our fireworks for New Year Day is good? Nah. Theirs was so much better. So pretty!!!

At the end of the celebration, everything was in chaos. Imagine 10,000 plus people trying to leave a place at the same time? Utter chaos. Plus there's no lamp posts, so the carpark area was rather dark. Quite worried that we would lose one another, but thankfully, everybody made it back to the school safely. =)

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The first weekend: no work but play! Our R & R was spent at Karen Village, or the long neck tribe. If I remembered correctly, we had to pay 500 baht to enter the village okie. So commercialised. *sigh*

Saw these three boys at the entrance. The middle boy was so so crude can! Can you see his middle finger pointing at you? *tsk tsk* And he's only four, btw.