We DID get to go!!!

My wish came true and our family did get to go to the Thai temple yesterday for the Songkran festival. As I mentioned before, we had planned to go on Saturday but got rained out and Golf wanted to go the flea market on Sunday morning.

Well, we got an early start yesterday and we finished at the market just before 11 AM and decided to go for it and made the 1/2 hour drive to the temple. As predicted, it was packed with people who also didn't come on Saturday.

As Golf parked the car a mile away and take the shuttle, Aidan and I went onto the grounds and watched traditional Thai dancing. Unfortunately by the time Golf arrived, they had finished. That was at noon and since there was no more dancing, the only thing left to do for most people was line up for the food and the queue was SOOOO long. We decided to make merit in the temple instead, so we went inside and Aidan was such a good boy as we lit incense and made our wishes. The monks were chanting blessings and flicking the holy water with the grass brushes over the packed hall of laypeople who were also there giving prayers and offerings. I felt so good involving Aidan in these rituals. We're establishing these traditions within him right now.

We decided to line up for food, it went quickly and they do it just like in Thailand: You buy tokens - one token per dollar (in Thailand you actually get tickets of different denominations, one, five or ten baht). You then exchange the token for the food for whatever it costs. At the end of your meal, you exchange the remainder of your tokens for your money back.

An old acquaintance of ours was there as we were waiting and we went to their table. The couple was a Thai lady named Bok and her American husband. We met them in Bangkok when Bok was 5 months pregnant with her first baby and Golf and I had been newly married for about a month. Bok now had 2 children, and it was neat seeing her first born daughter who was going on 2 1/2. Her little one was a cutie pie too, a year younger than Aidan.

It was nice catching up with them and meeting their friends, who are also very casual acquaintances of Golf's - his former boss, Benjawan, who authored the Thai language learning books, knows all these folks. The exposure to the Thai language was very good for Aidan and he made hearts melt as he waied "Sawatdee" to everyone. What a great day!

Once we got home, I took my final exam for real estate appraisal and passed that too. Two books down, six more to go. I'm beginning the real estate economics book today, and believe it or not, it looks quite interesting.