Thai Rides and Thai Brides

Week 3 of the second half of the semester is upon us and now I can say that I've started to settle back into school life. Okay, well not completely. I still sometimes see myself falling back in to the honeymoon period after what was a great Christmas break but then the thought of having to sort out lesson plans, washing my uniform, bracing myself for my 'naughty' Secondary 2 students etc soon brings me around. That being said, we have all been eased back into school life rather gently as a lot of school events are planned for this half of the semester meaning the fluidity of my lessons haven't quite gotten into full swing. The first week of classes were affected by Secondary 2 going to Scout Camp and then the following week having Secondary 3 finish exams. This was then all topped off with me being hit with tonsillitis; I was practically in bed for 3 days recovering, missing half of my week in classes and missing some opportunities to go party with the other teachers or extend my trip to Bangkok for our second long weekend...IT SUCKED. But more about that later.

Air Force Show on Childrens Day (10th January) (Photo credit: Grace)

The first celebration of the year came from Children's Day (known as 'Wan Dek'), a national holiday which celebrates the Children of Thailand and their importance on the future development of the country. During this day, parties are thrown and children can enjoy many attractions and public transportation for free. At Assumption, plans were cancelled due to an upcoming inspection but the following day, Grace and I decided to venture to the nearby Air Force Base , which is particularly known for hosting events for Children's day. We were lucky to witness an air show put on by the base with several planes acrobatically soaring through the sky. It was by bad luck that we ended up at this show actually, as the motorbike taxi driver misunderstood where we wanted to go. But it did work out and it was a nice way to spend Saturday afternoon. Also, my faith in humanity was restored when Grace and I were given a ride home by a lady from Bangkok who was visiting Korat for the day. It really is true about Thai people and their friendliness -- the fact she went out of her way to help us because we literally were stranded, it really made me fall in love with Thailand even more.

The second of our long weekends followed that next week due to teachers day (yes, they actually celebrate the hard work teachers do over here!) but unfortunately I was struck with tonsillitis mid week. A trip to the hospital lead to paying for meds that didn't even work and leaving me in bed on and off for 3 days. I had to come in on Thursday to finally get our work permits sorted before going straight back to bed again. Thanks to some advice from my friend Aloy, I spent 500 baht (£10) on some meds that cleared my infection up within 36 hours...success! Sadly, that meant my initial plans to spend the entirety of the long weekend in Bangkok were cut short whilst I rested. However, I did manage to make my way down on the Friday afternoon and meet up with my friend Grit. That night, he decided to take me to dinner at a restaurant near the national monument called Pathe. It just so happened that this was the exact restaurant that I visited on my first night in Bangkok during my orientation! (Which seems like forever ago). I don't know if I mentioned it in a previous post but their Lemon Chicken dish at this restaurant is divine (even though none of the other westerners took a liking to it) so Grit and I decided to share three dishes of that, with some Pad Thai and this Japenese style pork salad (which was rare meat in a tomato soy sauce...wasn't the best thing I've had in Thailand but tasty enough.) 

Grit and I at my first Thai wedding.

The next morning, I was lucky enough to be a +1 to a traditional Thai wedding being held in downtown Bangkok. Grit and I went to the second part of the marriage celebration which was the ceremonial part (this still meant us leaving the house at 7:30am!) and we were able to witness the main part of the wedding where the rings were exchanged and the marriage became official. The Thai wedding is incredibly different to western style weddings and is laced with beautiful traditions that build up to the final part of actually becoming husband and wife. The first part that I saw was the groom's entry. Known as 'sanuk', this is a ceremony where the groom must make his way to the bride, who is hiding in the house or the venue where they are getting married. In order to do this, he must pass through a number of doors/gates to prove that he is worthy and financially able to take care of his bride. To pass each gate, which in this case was a gold piece of string/necklace (pratoo tong), the groom must present a 'key' which essentially is an envelope full of money. As he reaches each gate, the groom will give the gate bearers more and more money (and apparently the amount is decided before the ceremony) until he passes them all and can then enter the venue.

'Sanuk' ceremony - the passing of the gates.

After the presentation of gifts to each other's families, the next part of the ceremony is conducted by an elder (who I initially thought was a priest but traditionally it will be a member of the bride's family). When this is happening, the bride and groom place a white plaited thread upon their heads which is connected in the middle (known as 'sai monkhon') and this represents their two lives coming together and one and that their destinies are linked. It was a really cute symbolism and something which I thought represented the two becoming husband and wife incredibly well. After this, the bride and groom places their hands over a bed of flowers and the elder pours water over their hands in a sea shell (Rod Nam Sang). After this, the guests also pour water over their hands and say blessings and wishes to the couple. I didn't think I was allowed to do this as I was not friends of either the bride or groom, but in typical 'being a farang' (and only farang at the wedding...) style, I was encouraged to go and do this. This was then followed by group photos and queueing up to have a photo taken with yours truly!

'Rod Nam Sang' -- pouring water over the Bride and Groom's hands.

Grit and I left after lunch and went our separate ways; I was planning on meeting my friend First that night for a few beers and then meet back up with Grit the following afternoon as he was busy in work. The last day of my long weekend consisted of walking around, trying some AMAZING avocado and passionfruit juice (thanks to Grit's awesome knowledge of great stalls!) and grabbing some food before heading back to Korat once more.

So long, Cowgirls!