Pattaya Orphange

Recently Esso awarded money to employees for safety accomplishments. The group of employees that won decided to contribute all their winnings to the Pattaya Orphanage along with some personal donations of toys. It was a privilege to be at the orphanage when the gifts were presented to the site. Esso also cooked and served dinner to all the children. An amazing giving day!

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Royal Barge Procession

Yesterday I was excited to attend The Royal Barge Procession to celebrate the King's birthday here in Thailand. It consisted of a flotilla of 52 traditional style barges arranged in 5 columns, based on a battle formation from ancient times. There were 4 major royal barges. A total of 2,311 sailors from within the Royal Thai Navy served as oarsmen.

Once a year these amazing boats are taken from the Royal Barge museum to participate in this amazing ceremony down the Chao Phrayo river through Bangkok. The King presents robes to the monks at the Temple of Dawn. This year because the King's health is so poor, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn did the honors.

It was a beautiful day, the riversides were flooded with people witnessing this parade. The barges all look brand new which is amazing considering some of them were built in the 1800's and all are still sea-worthy. All the oarsmen, chanters, signalmen, Royal Regalia bearers...were outfitted in traditional costumes.

I was thrilled to be able to take Khun Nok (my housekeeper) and her mother to the festivities. They have always watched the procession via TV and were so excited to have front row tickets to the event! Before the parade there were several performances. At one point a performer was playing the mournful sounding flutella and I was looking across the river at the Thai landscape, the Thai flags flapping in the wind and I became all teary. We know our time is winding down here in this amazing country and there are so many things that I will miss. So happy I was able to witness this special event before moving.

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Chiang Mai

Picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox Our last two days were spent in Chiang Mai as we begin our drive south towards home. It's really appropriate too. We spent our first October break over 4 years ago in Chiang Mai with the Clarkson family. We don't see them as much since they have moved to Bangkok and we miss them. It was great to be travelling some with them. It was different because all our older guys were not there with us this time. Drew and Dustin stayed at home. Dustin is incredibly busy trying to finish all his course work for IB and college applications and of course Nathan is in Virginia at the military academy. So it was just our younger guys. We reminisced about how much all our boys have grown up in the last 4 years. When we moved here Ethan was 10yrs. old, the same age as Carter now-such a difference!   Knowing that our time here is drawing to a close we spent a lot of time shopping for remembrances of Thailand. Mark finally found an elephant carving that he was happy with. Dave Clarkson commented on the number of trips they have been with us while Mark was looking for that illusive carving. We also purchased some other specific things that speak 'Thai' to us. We have a large elephant bell that is mounted, what a conversation piece. We also bought a Celedon elephant to put with my Celedon nativity set that Karen and Mary purchased for me when they visited here last Spring. I just googled this short explanation of Thai Celedon.    "Behind this modern stoneware from Thailand is a story that goes back more than two thousand years in time.  Celadon is known as the aristocratic Oriental ancestor of the pottery family and takes its name from the elegant glaze developed by the master potters of China to duplicate their beloved jade.This exquisitely glazed Celadon was known only to the Far East until the 9th century A.D. when a few pieces found their way to Europe to be displayed with the most priceless treasures on the continent."   Those were our main purchases. It was so fun to be back travelling with the Clarkson family, it feels like we have come full circle. We even stayed at the same hotel, The Tamarind Hotel, na rak-lovely!