My plan for Saturday was to go to the coffee shop and figure out my trip to Kuala Lumpur since I have to get out of town fast.  Then massage, then dinner with Robin.  I got a text from Noi in the morning that she had a plan for my day.  We were going to go to Tak for lunch, then I could work on my computer while she went to a seminar and then there was a thing going on that Kru Chelon was doing her history display at and we’d go to that until about 7:30pm.  Does she forget I’m sick?  That sounds like a long day.  Wasn’t I on the say yes to everything plan?  I rearranged massage and dinner and told her I’d go if we could leave earlier.

She was late picking me up so we didn’t have lunch.  The hotel she was doing the seminar in had good enough wifi, but no air conditioning.  I was able to book my flights to Kuala Lumpur, but felt so sick within a couple hours as the heat was making me feel feverish.  Lack of food or drink was not helpful in this situation.  Oh god, why did I say yes?  She texted to check on me and I told her I was hot and hungry.  She was hungry too so she skipped out of the seminar early and we went to the mall for “lunch”.  By now it was after 3:00pm.  Lunch was unexciting, but after being sick for a week, unexciting food was perfect.  We wandered around the mall.  I bought new flip flops since Teva has fallen down on the job and the pair I bought in the US before I left are useless if there is a drop of water on the ground.  The ones I bought are pretty ugly, but Noi told me they make me look younger.

Then we headed to the thing where Kru Chelon was.  Several students and teachers were there.  It was youth day.  Many students from schools all around had displays or were doing dance or music performances.  Thai dancing bores me, but there was a band that played on wooden and bamboo instruments that was so fabulous.  I really enjoyed that.  Noi told me the style of music was from North East Thailand.  It had a great beat and a lot more passion than most Thai music I’ve heard.  She said their music was faster because their history is war so they are not a relaxed people.  She likes Northern Thai music better because Northerners are more laid back and don’t worry about anything.  I found this funny coming from the tiny lady who has more energy than 5 normal people combined.

Ok, now time for another story lost in translation.  On the way home Noi asked me if I would be here in December.  There is a natural firework in Northeast Thailand and Laos.  It’s more like a fire bomb than a firework.  It comes out of the ground.  It only happens near the full moon at the end of the enlightenment season.  Legend is that it’s the fire bomb from a dragon.  Scientists have not been able to figure out how it happens, but they have verified that it is not a human prank.  She wants to go.  I asked her when it was, when is the end of the enlightenment season?  Maybe October.  None of this makes sense, but I’m pretty sure I want to go see fire shoot out of the ground from an ancient dragon.  If I google NE Thailand Fire Bomb, will I get a clearer picture?  That didn’t go well.  It was just about the recent bombings in Thailand.  More digging I found there is a festival before the rainy season called Bang Fai (Rocket Festival).  It sounds fun, but there was no mention of dragons or a mysterious firework.  It was in May.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Festival

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore