trying to beat the traffic and the sun,
it was the annual long boat race up at the lake,
clear blue skies promised a hot day, this road runs along the main part of the reservoir with stalls on both side of it,
just one of the many stalls, but manly they were selling food and sweets,
there was also a display area where local pupils gave a show of regional dances,
plus of course all the fun of the fair, dart throwing, burst four balloons and win a prize,
Diana decided to buy some sticky rice she loves so much,
mind the boiling oil!
there were so many different types of food being cooked,
behind the stalls there was a seating area for dinners,
and the dance area, I guess these kids are all from local schools,
they brought along their own band,
and gave a demonstration of Muay-Thai and dexterity,
followed by the girls from the school performing a regional dance, well done to the kids, parents and teachers, it must have taken so much practice to put on these shows,
Diana was tempted to win a prize,
but gave the Spiderman slide a miss,
it was here Diana decided to eat, a selection of seafood at the front of the kitchen,
the cook preparing another dinners meal,
I settled for a liquid refreshment,
Diana decided on a pork soup,
look out here comes the train!
that was a close one,
whilst Diana was eating I had a walk around,
still some soup to finish,
then on to the sticky rice she bought before,
so I had another walk around,
then I saw some thing I had only read about, back in the early 1960s I was reading an old American magazine called The Aquarium, it was published in September 1939, one of the articles was written by a writer who had just returned from Japan,
where he witnessed people paying a fee then trying with skill and patience to catch live fish with a net, the ones you catch you keep, it sounds easy,
but....the net is made of rice paper,
almost as soon as it touches water it dissolves! and trying to chase the fish makes it dissolve even quicker,
so lets try again,
oops, to quick,
but this youngster has the right idea,
this is the third fish he has caught and the net is still good for another try,
he is being watched by some of the performers,
another one in the jug,
Diana then got tempted by the cuddly toys,
normally the darts are 7 for 20 baht, but here they were 4 for 20 baht, a bargain, but, the darts were so blunt they bounced off the balloons they were supposed to burst, no luck today,
Diana enjoyed the sticky rice so much she bought some more from the same seller,
then a walk up the stairs to the top of the reservoir,
I stopped half way up and took a couple of pictures to show the size of the event, looking to the left
down the stairs,
and to the right, the stalls seemed to go on forever,
and this was what we had come to watch, the Pattaya Indo-China Long-Boat Race 2011,
the prize giving rostrum,
one of the decorated cymbals,
a close up of the main part of the stage,
then a huge cheer went up from the crowd as the race was on,
it looked like it was going to be a close thing,
but the inside boat seemed to have the advantage,
and just pulled ahead,
the crews start to slow down,
and make their way back to the staging area,
I am not sure how many are in each boat, but it must have been hot work,
Diana kept out of the sun as she does not want to go brown, but the umbrella had to come down for this shot,
as the crews from the last race returned another race was under way,
again it was close,
the crowd and the two announcers on the PA system urging the crews on, we watched another couple of races,
then made our way back to the bike, we did not take the truck as the traffic out here is so bad at the moment with people from Bangkok staying here, but hopefully for them the flood waters should be going down soon,
on the way back we called in at Nick and Maureen's, Ta-Taa was really glad to see us!
the road past the Marine Plaza was very quiet,
but it was still early, about 8.30 or so,
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