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Thailand
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Home
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I'm launched on my India odyssey--which is the way I think
of this trip even though I'm visiting a few other countries.
I flew into Bangkok, and spent the first 10 days chilling out at a guest house in Bangplie, a suburb of Bangkok. Great swimming pool, 24-hour room service, and all for $8usd per day. The swimming pool was the key for me, as I swam vigorous aerobic laps three and four times a day--as I had done in my 6-month stay in Chile. |
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Rub Bua Festival |
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| I arrived in Bangpli at the beginning of a big festival, Rub Bua. Celebrations through the week culminate in a river-based procession and celebration. The river was only a 3-minute walk from my guest house, so a group of us booked space on a boat. | |
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We went down to the river, already lined with hundreds of boats--some tiny, others carrying 20 or more This boat with the red roof was ours, and was brought to our dock |
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Soon we saw this boat approaching our dock
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That's a huge pile of lotus blossoms that people have thrown at the Buddha
and people on our dock threw dozens more as the boat approached
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Looking across the river, and up and down the river, we saw hundreds of boats |
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And as we launched, we passed by numerous boats, whose occupants greeted us and each other enthusiastically |
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And all along the river, crowds hailed us with waves, smiles, and occasional lotus blossoms |
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As we plied the river, up and down perhaps a half mile, we passed hundreds of boats, included elaborate ones like this... |
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...and sleek simple ones like this |
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| But check out the engines on these two speedboats, with their direct drive (seen on the rear of the boat at the right). They roar, they soar--at all hours of the night during the festival | |
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One of the big boats was filled with these young Thai maidens... |
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...photographed here with an old codger, grinning for no apparent reason |
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We even had a band or two |
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And some boogied their way downriver... |
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...while we exchanged smiles and waves and lotus blossoms with people all along the river |
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The whole scene was one of utter gaiety and community celebration |
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