Merry Christmas!





Merry Christmas, friends and family! We are of course not up to our current location in posts, so this one is a non-chronological exception.

Christmas is not a very big deal here, but since we crossed back into Thailand a few days ago, we've been surprised by the number of public Christmas displays - of the tree and lights variety. No creches or mangers or anything else of the sort. Aside from a few market stalls selling Santa hats and Mr/Mrs Claus clothing, it doesn't seem to be a commercial power. I think it's just a popular seasonal decoration.

On the 24th, we took a 50k detour to the town of Thailand's most holy wat (temple). Wat Phra Tat Phanom apparently houses a piece of the Buddha's breastbone. (It did not house any inkling of Christmas decorations, thankfully.) From the roof of our hotel, we could see the illuminated golden wat to one side, and the Mekong river behind us. The hotel was much nicer than usual, thanks to the ironclad dictates of Jove's advent calendar. We were instructed to stay at the fanciest place we could find, which in this smallish town cost about $30.

Jove and I each independently had the idea to secretly procure fancier clothes for ourselves. Jove's is a handmade shirt from a silkworm farm in Laos. It was a funny co-surprise, and a very nice brief break from our months of wearing the same two shirts. The clothes were mailed off today, sadly. Bike weight demands always win.


Dinner was river fish, tom yum soup in a flaming bowl, and fried shrimp donut things. We followed it up with a tasteful, delicately proportioned dessert at a cafe across from the wat.



This morning we opened our stockings - instead of bike socks, I bought some Hmong batik cloth in Luang Prabang and asked the shop owner to sew it into stocking shapes on the sly. We ate a huge thai breakfast at the hotel, and hopped back on the bikes to cross back into Laos.

Other holiday sightings of the past week: no shrimpy potted poinsettias, but full grown poinsettia trees; and Italian santa.




Comments

  1. tofusuluDecember 25, 2017 at 6:46 PM

    ironclad dictates of Jove's advent calendar???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 25, 2017 at 6:47 PM

      The 24th was for the fanciest hotel we could find, which was a nice spot on the mekong not overly fancy. They had a nice indeed breakfast

      Delete
    2. Gary GrahamDecember 26, 2017 at 7:20 PM

      I forgot to congratulate you on your engagement anniversary 2 years ago on the 24th, advent calendar driven too. Cool ways to spend Christmas and swell looking clothes. Everyone in the Sullivan house says Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. BTW, Fory and I are going to see Last Jedi in 3D Imax tomorrow. Love, Dad - Gary

      Delete

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