I've been back in my second home since early November. Very lax about writing this blog as I notice the last post was from Italy and from there I drove to Ireland, to my home near Kenmare and that is where my camper van is now spending the winter housed in my garage.
Lovely to arrive back to find my little room all cleaned up with curtains washed and pillows etc aired out in the sun thanks to Khun Nei my wonderful landlady. Slipped right back in to the easy rhythm of life here although it is, again this year, much hotter than in the past years. Always around 30 degrees and a lot of humidity.
So many of the old friends are around and it is great to visit the little local markets and have a good bowl of various great Thai soups, roti, mango sticky rice and other favourites. Of course things here change too like restaurants closed down or changed hands. There's so much more traffic and there will be even more with the lack of city planning and several new malls erected in already jammed areas. These malls are so glitzy and huge, all sparkling chrome, light and glass. Monuments to materialism. Awful places where the music is so loud and appealing to the young to spend spend spend.
I do love it here and stay in a little oasis of peace in the old city. I arrived in time for a big fair and for the festival of Loy Kratong when the city goes mad for days with fireworks, hot air balloons floating through the sky, home made "Kratons" floating down all the rivers and moats - they are made with banana leaves and are alight with candles and burning incense.
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Learning how to make the Kratong
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mythical animal
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japanese festival offering
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Ready to perform the dance
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