dog days and water wars

This week in Thailand, we were privileged to watch and participate in a bit of the Songkran celebration. It is the Thais celebration of their New Year. Originally they would sprinkle a small amount of water to offer a blessing of good luck for the year, and over time it has become a huge, full on water fight. The locals and farangs load up barrels and big buckets with ice water onto the back or their trucks, drive around and soak anyone in range. People also line the streets with anyone and everyone of all ages getting into the action. Watergun sales must explode leading up to this event. They also toss washable coloured paint on vehicles while many faces are covered by strangers with a zinc type cream. Fun is had by all and it's a happy well respected tradition. Can you imagine back home bombarding strangers with water and putting stuff on their faces as you walk by.....people would be pissed. Here it's all good clean fun! Later in the week, Steve suggested that we needed to spend some quality time together (tee he) and have a date night. He checked out one of the theaters and guess what, the movie "Date Night" was playing. We went out for sushi and then entered the VIP part of the theater. They had snacks of finger sandwiches, chicken satay with peanut sauce, and plates of fancy cut up fruits and beverages included in the ticket price. Once we were seated they brought us popcorn, pop, and water. Now this is like nothing we have at home, but sure wish we did. The beautifully decorated, large auditorium had only 36 seats and these seats were lazyboy recliners, we even had freshly cleaned blankets, sealed in packages like the airlines do! My kinda movie. The sound system was spectacular and the movie was funny... Datenight starring
Steve Carrel and Tina Fey. We had a lot of laughs and totally enjoyed our big phat (or fat) comfy seats with yummy popcorn. Then it was back to the beach the next day! Many jellyfish washed ashore which makes for great photo ops as well as the talented dogs we see everywhere. The waves at our favorite beach Naiharn are growing in size daily, soon I won`t want Steve in the water at all. We watched the three life guards (who are also the men that rent out the beach chairs) literally run the beach with their boogie boards in hand, picking out swimmers from the deadly undercurrents and riptides. They must of pulled out at least a dozen swimmers! We have been warned that at the end of April there will be no life guards on the beach and that every year many people die in this bay. We most likely will be driving up the road to Kata Beach were the undertow isn't so deadly. We also have the option of going to the fishing village of Rawai to one of their safe waveless beaches, or there is always the pool just steps from our bungalow door. Choices, choices, we are so lucky! The next night we hooked up with Theo our friend from Salt Spring Island . He has been living here for over a dozen years and is a wealth of knowledge, speaks Thai, and is aware with whats going on in the community. Went to his (now our) favorite Italian spot and had tasty thin crust brick oven pizza with tuna salad. Great conversation and company. Later we walked over to his favorite movie shop where they sell pirated new release movies for $2.00 each, the back storage room walls were completely covered with a selection that was out of this world. Things are sure done a little different from home (same same but different). We followed Theo back to his place were we enjoyed more time together at his lovely home. It took a couple years to build, but boy is it worth it. So zen like, with a incredible view of the bay and the town of Kata. His home is finished with teak, granite, and a negative edge pool. Really nice digs . I could just live on his outdoor deck! Some of the home construction here is incredible. It's amazing what money can buy. To think that we are now homeless. Hmmm? The only building that we are doing is our memory bank, perhaps priceless!