100504 Thaikarl - Bang Fai - first day

friends,
we got here early! sorta.  there wasn't much going on today (friday) except for setting up of the stages and more food and vendor booths. so we lounged around the hotel room and i napped some.  i twisted my lower hip somehow, so i'ts painful to get up and down, which is a real drag. slows me down alot. we walked the main road after dinner.  the rocket crews each have their own stage set up.  big concert size stages.  with sound systems that could fill an arena with sound.  tok even bought ear plugs.  your guts jump around when you walk in front of the stages.  jeez. but there are lots of dancing girls, singers, and just crowds of people on stage dancing.  the bang fai floats are at the far end of the road, ready for the parade in the morning. they are enormous, covered in gold painted thai traditional designs on layers of skrim.  very beautiful.

the keyboards in this cafe are awful, i can't stand to type on them more than a few minutes, cause you have to bang the keys. and too slow to upload pictures.

tok just told me there are 5 bang fai (rockets) from japan here for the launch day tomorrow.  wait.  i got that wrong. tomorrow - saturday - is just parades and dancing.  launch day is sunday, the day after.  that happens alot. i only *think* i know what's going on.  what's 'really' going on and when is usually different than what i think it is.  thus i get the joy of surprise all the time.  actually it is part of what i enjoy about being here.  things aren't always  'normal', 'usual', 'regular'... as soon as i think i have it figured out, i find out it's different than i thought to a greater or lesser degree.  amazing thailand.

gorgeous the life!
Nu