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| Tuesday
16th March |
Awoke
at about 4am, great sleep, feeling very refreshed & just can't
wait to get started. The street is deserted, a pile of rubbish
on the road that has been swept up by stall owners, no animals
or people yet. All the flash cars are still here, no overnight
damage to them even though there were loads of people around last
night. Plans for the day are breakie & walk around 6.30am
than meet Damien & others at 9am.The
street is starting to come to life, very first signs of life
are some westerners coming out of an alley & peeing in the street,
great example in another country. A monk is now walking up &
down the street carrying something, part of a morning ritual?
before collecting food. A woman has just put out some incense
on the footpath near where her stall is, another woman is sweeping
the footpath, their strawbrooms are nothing like ours but appears
extremely effective. A drink truck has just pulled up & the
driver & his offsider have laid out mats on top of the truck.
They have settled down for a doze with a 6 pack of softdrink for
a pillow while waiting to make their delivery. The activities
on the street start off slow with people & animals arising,
the clean up & reset up of stalls has begun as to has the
cooking of breakfast out in the streets. A real family & friends
affair with people chatting as they work. |
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| I
could think of more comfortable places
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The
street slowly coming to life |
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| Still
sleeping |
A
bit more activity on the street |
A
young girl making Jasmine bud garlands |
| No
one can spend much time in Thailand without encountering the
ephemeral but exquisite art of Thai floral decoration, whether
in the form of an intricately woven wreath of flowers presented
like a sweetly scented piece of jewelry as a welcome gift or
in the form of the even more complex creations that turn up
as both table decorations and religious offerings.
The
term arrangement, though often used, could be misleading to
a Westerner, implying as it does a more or less natural configuration.
The Thai achievement, on the other hand, is actually to turn
flowers into beautiful objects that have no counterpart in nature
but rather proudly proclaim the artistic skills of man.
Such
creations can be roughly divided into three general groups.
The first consists of those made by the Roi method, which
means that the flowers are threaded into garlands of many
types. Mostly used are colorful mixtures of jasmine, roses
and other flowers. These garlands are sold outside almost
every temple and shrine and they serve as offerings. Sometimes
garlands are hung at the windows and doors of homes or suspended
like chandeliers from the ceiling. They are also used in
taxis & other vehicles
for good luck or to keep them safe. Drivers also quite often
have a Budha facing towards the back or drawn the inside
roof of the car. These are also for protection from accidents. |
A
few of close ups, beautiful, interesting faces, click for larger,
more detailed photo. |
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| Around
6.30 we had a light breakfast & then we wandered the streets.
The street markets were up & running by 6am so it's getting
very crowded now. There are just so many people cooking &
eating their breakfasts on the sidewalks. There is raw &
cooked foods for sale, bowls of curry pastes, steamers of fish,
vine wrapped food, skewered meats, chopped & wrapped
fruit, an amazing variety of food. The monks also are doing
their rounds for their daily donations of food. Middle photo
on right is an alley where people appear to store their belongings
for the next day. |
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