Waking up in an empty house felt a little bit strange, but I knew everybody would be at 'Owerrrouse', so I showered and wandered round to see what was going on. I was a little bit surprised to see so much activity; a group of builders was frantically finishing off the roof to Khamma's 'Kitchen Thai'. This is basically a spacious outside kitchen open to the fresh air and a common feature in this part of Thailand. In fact it is a pretty good idea because most of the wet work is carried out here and small charcoal fires in clay tubs help save on the gas bills. Another group was fixing a leaking water pipe and there was a small whiskey drinking group sat around the tables under the gazebo.
Clare was the centre of attention with many of locals peering to get a closer look and 'pressing the flesh' of the farang white skin. She was also being plied with Leo beer, not bad for 9.30am on a Friday morning!
As I joined her Khamma appeared with breakfast of rice and the freshest beef ever cooked in a fragrant spicy sauce. I realised the beef I was eating was walking around about three hours earlier and when I enquired the butchering group consisting of about six or seven of the 'senior' menfolk was pointed out to me. Before dawn two fine specimen cows were slaughtered and now the meat was being taken from them and passed to a group of ten or so womenfolk that was cutting the meat to cook in different recipes over about three or four open fires. Another smaller group of women was preparing vegetables, spices and other exotic pastes and two heroines were continually washing up.
Meanwhile the 'senior' women were preparing a flower arrangement for the central feature of the blessing.
Amongst these groups were children of all ages running around and having fun. The party had already begun and it was a continuous 'sanuk' (fun).
The morning passed quickly and soon lunch was served. We were not surprised that the only choice was beef. The whiskey and the brandy were in free flow and it was fairly evident who could and who could not take their drink!
I had no idea what the order of events was other than the party officially started at 3pm and the band was due to arrive around the same time. In fact Khamma told me that the abbot from Thamuang temple was not going to be there and the blessing was not going to the spiritual Buddhist experience I was anticipating. As usual I hadn't got a clue what to expect and I was just going with the flow.
During my previous visits to the village I had shown a great interest in the gloong niaow (drum band). This is a group of menfolk playing various types of bongo type drums with one of them playing a 'pin' which is a three string electric guitar that has been tuned in the key of 'curious', but actually can sound good. As it was the week of my birthday and Khamma bought me a gloong! I was invited to join the band.
I followed the preparations of kneeling in some kind of prayer, but had no idea what to do. I expect I looked gormless. Then we wiped talcum powder over our faces and the drums, again I had no idea why, but then the band burst into a pulsating beat and hypnotic rhythm, it wasn't exactly the samba from Rio, or the Blind Boys from Alabama, but WE are the Gloong Niaow of Thamuang!
It was great fun and the audience danced and clapped and took the sanuk to higher levels.
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