The village fair

[billd766]

This week from Thursday to Tuesday next week is the annual village fair out in rural Thailand.

In the old days it was where family and friends met once a year for a reunion and men/women and boys and girls looked for new partners fo their lives.

Now of course it is done with mobiles and social media.

I first went about 10 years ago but it is gradually getting smaller and the stalls are much the same as ever.

40% were 3 darts for 20 bt and pop the balloons, 3 bingo stalls, the odd BB gun and cork gun stalls, 4 or 5 bouncy castles/trampolines for the younger kids, dozens of stalls selling the usual fairground tat, dozens more food stalls, 3 or 4 Chang beer stalls with beer about 150 or 180 baht for a serving full, a Chinese/Thai opera with less customers every year.

There was a "dance floor" where you could shuffle around with some of the "dancers".

There was also the Chang supported singers and dancers, both male and female and possibly the third kind as well.

For once I was gald to be partly deaf as the music was too loud for me and I was about 100 metres from the stage. I could however feel it but talking was hard.

We took our own whiskey, soda and ice and as we got there around 8 pm parking was hard to find but there still was some. We walked down to the fair and the local village "Scouts"/security guys were stopping all motor bikes and checking them for booze etc but we just walked straight past with the cooler without a problem.

I sat at a table where friends were selling food and my wife and friends went off with the kids for a while. They came back later and stood a little bit away from me which was fine. I got fed khao pad tap moo or fried rice with pigs liver and quite tasty it was too. My wife checked on me now and again to make sure I had enough to drink and the kids came to talk to Daddy too, Daddy can I have 20 baht sort of conversations if you know what I mean.

The background singers and dancers went on all night with 8 to 10 dancers at any one time and getting a brief rest when the next team came on. Time enough for a quick drink, change of clothes and a pee was about all the time they had. I figure that there were between 20 and 25 dacncers and 4 or 5 singers in total.

The younger kids were enjoying themselves into tiredness, the parents were much the same. Young lads from probably 13 to 16 or 17 in 2s, 3s and clumps strutting their stuff. Young girls much the same in shorts and tight tops doing their bit like honey attracts flies. Not too many drunks compared to before. My 9 year old was dressed in jeans, a hoody and dark glasses and looked as smart as a guards van.

No fights that I saw but around 11.30 there was a loud bang and a flash near the stage and a big cloud of smoke. Did someone shoot a gun, I don't think so as it was too loud and too much smoke, my wife said it was a homemade bottle bomb but nobody seemed to be injured. Personally I think it was a big fire cracker.

It certainly was a show stopper as the singers and dancers who have probably seen this happen many times cleared the stage, the cavalry aka village volunteers were quickly there and it was sorted out. 15 minutes later the show restarted but we went home anyway.

The main problem was as usual a lack of toilets but for men there was a lot of dark spaces and that left 2 or 3 for the women.

A good time was had by all but as I get older I feel that I will be going less often.

Not a patch really on the fairs in the UK when I were nobbut a lad.