We Were Up Early Today,

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,

but then the net finally fails, one thing the writer did mention, in Japan where he witnessed this happening, it was not a game played by children, all of the people taking part were elderly, his thinking was that it was people showing their patience in catching the fish, but for me what a surprise, to see some thing that was written about in 1939, that I read in 1964 and seen here today in 2011! not to mention great fun for the kids!

 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!

it was hot out there so a cold beer to cool off was just what was needed, we chatted the afternoon away, then back to 388, feet up and watch a DVD, well at least we started to watch it but then it was time for me to go, Juu had kindly said he would call round to pick me up and we would go to Champions, for a drink or two,

 the road past the Marine Plaza was very quiet,

 but it was still early, about 8.30 or so,

suffice to say we had a great time in Champions, also Slim Jim called in, I had to look three times to make sure it was him, he looks super fit, losing so much weight has made him look 10 years younger, also Peter called in to say Hi which was nice, working in Champions full time now is Wut/Wood who used to work in TQ2 so it was just like old times, then time to head off home to 388,

when I returned home we continued watching The Island at the Top of the World that we started to watch earlier, the story is that a Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished whilst searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions, the gentleman being in question being played by Sir Donald Sinden, Diana did not recognise him, to be fair we normally see him in Judge John Deed or Midsomer Murders, but this film was made in 1974, so he has aged a bit since then! 

a bit off track, but whilst at Nick and Maureen's we were chatting about some of the things that Diana liked about our trip to the UK, the subject of Kettle's crisps came up, we both said how much we enjoyed them, the good news is that Nick and Maureen told us they were available at Foodland, so that was it, we stopped there on the way home and bought 4 packs, well throwing my diet to the wind we ate two packs watching the film, they were absolutely delicious, if you are in Foodland they are 40 baht a pack, give them a try, they are sooooo nice! for us the sea salt and crushed black peppercorn was number one, if you want to know more, like how the very first potato chips were created, (it happened in Saratoga Springs, New York, by Moon Lake House chef George Crum in 1853), have a look here, but then for us off to bed.