In addition to Mother's Day and Father's Day, Thailand celebrates Children's Day. Like many Thai holidays it extends through the weekend with plenty of food, activities, and all of the Thai style bubble gum music you can handle. There was so much to do and eat that you have to wonder how the kids drag themselves to school on Monday. Here's some photos from the event in the village where I live. Some pictures were taken by me, and some by my assistants.
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| Assistant photographer Tawn Wah |
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| Assistant photographer Chip |
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| The Children's Day event at the village was sponsored by the Kaset Mai Enduro Club. Good work guys! |
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| The grand prize: a shiny green bike for boys, pink bike for girls. |
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| Yep, I'd really like to win that bike! |
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| Oh, the pink bike is so cool! |
Here's some pics of a few of the villagers and their kids arriving for the festivities.
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| This boy was like the energizer bunny. He just kept going and going and going... |
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| Wow! That's a lotta prizes! |
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| Thai kids love french fries as much as kids anywhere. Plus, there was plenty of ice cream, coke, fish balls, sausage balls and noodles to go around. |
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| Who needs a napkin? |
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| Games galore and prizes for everything. Darts, ping-pong, dancing, singing, musical chairs... |
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| Sometimes the rules were adjusted. |
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| He didn't win the dancing contest. But as you'll see, he still went home a winner. |
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| He didn't win the dancing contest either, but he was trying. |
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| Dancing to one of the most popular songs in Thailand. I don't know the name but I could almost sing it word for word. Part of the lyrics are about calling on the phone... |
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| Singing solo. |
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| Another soloist. |
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| Winner! |
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| Not dead, just napping. |
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| One of the most endearing aspects of Thai culture is their respect for each other and gratitude when given something. This gesture is called a wai, and you will see it all over Thailand. |
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| Filled with junk food (remind you of Christmas and Halloween?) it's time for the grand prize drawing. |
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| Gee, I hope I win! |
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| A day of triumph. He didn't win the grand prize, but he had won plenty of other stuff. |
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| Oh man, I don't think I have the winning ticket. |
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| Remember me? I finally won big. This toy is bigger than I am!! |
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| Not a grand prize winner, but all kids went home with plenty of loot. |
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| ...and the winner is... |
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Lucky boy.
(I didn't take a picture of the winner of the girls bike. Some Thai girls don't like to be photographed.) |
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| Happy winner. |
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| Thank you! |
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| Should we do this again next year? Oh yeah!! |
