Today I did not want to get up.  I almost missed the free breakfast at the hotel.  I was supposed to get up and take a bus to the bus stop near Sam Ngao.  Then Noi would pick me up and take me to school.  She didn’t have any classes until 11:00am.  I missed that.  I guess I don’t really want to go to school.  I guess that makes sense since I didn’t really want to go to school when I lived there either.  I also didn’t want to deal with getting a bus at the Tak bus station since I had such an unpleasant time last time I tried to get a bus out of there.  Eventually I made a new plan.  I took the bust to the highway bus stop and Ging picked me up and took me to her new coffee shop. She looks so happy.  I spent a couple hours with Ging and Tip there.

Then Tip took me to school.  I got to see some of the students, but not as many as I would have liked.  I got to see very few of the teachers.  A lot of teachers had left for a seminar?  Some of the students were making flowers out of ribbon and they helped me make one.  Pat explained that you but coins in them and then give them to the boys who are just starting out as monks.  I met the new western teachers.  Apparently there was some issue with Robin so he is gone and there is a young Filipino woman teaching math and science now. Noi asked them if they wanted to join us for Loi Krathong and they said yes.

Noi really wanted to go to Sukohthai instead of Tak.  If she is ok driving – it will be a late night for her, then it’s fine with me. I imagine it’s real pretty since it’s held at the historical park.  It was real beautiful.  There were so many people it was sometimes difficult to walk.  There was no rhyme or reason to the floating of the krathongs, just put them in a lake when and where you wanted.  There didn’t seem to be a program either, just food stalls, krathong sellers, people selling other stuff and lots of people taking pictures.  The only time everyone seemed on the same page was when they played the King’s song.  Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood still.  We wandered around, took pictures, ate food and floated krathongs.  If you make a wish before you float it, that wish will come true.  Since it’s a super moon, the wish is definitely going to come true.  I used the krathong that the hotel in Tak gave me.  The wick on it was a rope.  Within seconds, the krathong became the the floating sun.  I could barely hold it long enough to smile for a picture and get it in the water.  It might still be lit tomorrow morning.  If the krathong didn’t kill me, the pork balls tried to.  Once again, too spicy, tried to make my lips bleed.  One of the vendors was selling bags of fish, frogs, and turtles.  You can buy the bag and release them into one of the ponds.  Since you saved their lives, you will get good luck, merit and a long life in return.  What?  They wouldn’t need saving if someone hadn’t taken them out of a pond to sell so you could save them.

Overall, it was a very beautiful night!

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore