Today was the first day of the Festival of Sunflowers, the wackiest, most colourful yet wonderful festival I have been to, bar none. Essentially, the town hosts and flood of people selling everything from chickens to light sabres, from smoked squid to egg pancakes. Supplementing the food stalls are lines of food stalls preparing fresh noodles, curry, sweets and meats.
The Royal Thai army arrived by Hueys, a sight I won’t forget, tried my best to get a ride but no go. The focus of the festival is the beauty contest. It takes five consecutive nights to judge and takes about 3 hours a night, a lengthy business. Rounds of the competition are punctuated by local acts; we were treated to a Karen choir that was wonderful, a rock band that were interesting, traditional dancing and the Thai People’s great passion, Moi Thai boxing.
We had the national champion boxing and the whole thing was televised. I accidently sat in the wrong place and ended up in the VIP tent and met the major of Khun Yuam, nice chap.
After a lot of snacks, tasty tidbits and some beers I relaxed to watch the fun. We had a 2 hour downpour that turned the field to mud but no one cared. Squelching around in mud with your flip flops on makes you so feel so native!!!
Highlight of the day for me was the traditional Thai dancing with echoes of imperial Siam. Beautiful to watch and strangely hypnotic, it is reminiscent of films like the “King and I” and speaks volumes for the traditions and grace of this amazing country.
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