July 4 Post Mortem?

[Saan]

OK folks we are all waiting to hear the post mortem on the various celebrations around Chiang Mai.

Did Nancy dance the cancan? Was the beer properly chilled. Not enough food - too much food. Come on out with it. Don't spoil the tradition. It couldn't be that good that no one has a complaint.

Or is everyone just nursing a hangover.

[FolkGuitar]

It was a nice evening where we were celebrating with friends. Some of the best fireworks displays we saw last night were those set off over Huay Kaew Road, near the Lotus Hotel. There were another 20 seconds worth that we saw fired from near the river, but I don't know who was setting them off. There may have been more from that location that were closer to the ground, so not seen over the roof tops where I am. But we're on the 15th floor and get a very nice view over the entire city. There were a few single rocket bursts sent up in different parts of the city, but for the most part, it was a quiet evening. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

[northernjohn]

We went to the River Market. The whole thing was good for me. It was an experience that I will remember on my death bed with a good feeling. I will not be thinking I saved a 1,000 baht. It was more the experience of roughly 200 people all enjoying the same thing. It had a fantastic fireworks display that was not in the middle of high rises. You could see every thing. It included some fireworks that did not shoot up that high. Those in my opinion were the most beautiful. The high rising ones were choreographed not just shot off. The Star Spangled Banner was sung and most every one stood up for it. There was a lot of gift certificates given out by raffle.

The combination of games for children and adults along with the bands and the food was outstanding. Friends I can share things with year round but not often do I get to share a common experience with almost 200 people most of who are strangers. For me it was a keeper. I am glad the wife decided to go when she heard they were also having Thai food. With out her to be honest I would have stayed home.

It was an experience second only to the Fourth of July 1976 when I took a group of Canadians Scouts to the 200th bicentennial Scout Campout in Portland Oregon. There was about 6,000 Scouts there. They even had 50 Scouts there from Japan. It rained the whole time and every one had a wonderful time.

Experience at times is well worth the money.

[JingerBen]

We went to the River Market. The whole thing was good for me. It was an experience that I will remember on my death bed with a good feeling. I will not be thinking I saved a 1,000 baht. It was more the experience of roughly 200 people all enjoying the same thing. It had a fantastic fireworks display that was not in the middle of high rises. You could see every thing. It included some fireworks that did not shoot up that high. Those in my opinion were the most beautiful. The high rising ones were choreographed not just shot off. The Star Spangled Banner was sung and most every one stood up for it. There was a lot of gift certificates given out by raffle.

The combination of games for children and adults along with the bands and the food was outstanding. Friends I can share things with year round but not often do I get to share a common experience with almost 200 people most of who are strangers. For me it was a keeper. I am glad the wife decided to go when she heard they were also having Thai food. With out her to be honest I would have stayed home.

It was an experience second only to the Fourth of July 1976 when I took a group of Canadians Scouts to the 200th bicentennial Scout Campout in Portland Oregon. There was about 6,000 Scouts there. They even had 50 Scouts there from Japan. It rained the whole time and every one had a wonderful time.

Experience at times is well worth the money.

It rained the whole time and everyone had a wonderful time.

That sounds like Woodstock.

Sometimes it takes more than rain to spoil a parade.

[northernjohn]

We went to the River Market. The whole thing was good for me. It was an experience that I will remember on my death bed with a good feeling. I will not be thinking I saved a 1,000 baht. It was more the experience of roughly 200 people all enjoying the same thing. It had a fantastic fireworks display that was not in the middle of high rises. You could see every thing. It included some fireworks that did not shoot up that high. Those in my opinion were the most beautiful. The high rising ones were choreographed not just shot off. The Star Spangled Banner was sung and most every one stood up for it. There was a lot of gift certificates given out by raffle.

The combination of games for children and adults along with the bands and the food was outstanding. Friends I can share things with year round but not often do I get to share a common experience with almost 200 people most of who are strangers. For me it was a keeper. I am glad the wife decided to go when she heard they were also having Thai food. With out her to be honest I would have stayed home.

It was an experience second only to the Fourth of July 1976 when I took a group of Canadians Scouts to the 200th bicentennial Scout Campout in Portland Oregon. There was about 6,000 Scouts there. They even had 50 Scouts there from Japan. It rained the whole time and every one had a wonderful time.

Experience at times is well worth the money.

It rained the whole time and everyone had a wonderful time.

That sounds like Woodstock.

Sometimes it takes more than rain to spoil a parade.

You would have had to see it to believe it. pouring down rain 6,000 scouts having a blast. Trading badges and what not. We camped with a roll of plastic and took staffs to build are lean-tos. There was a local group next to us who used plastic and did not have a clue. They nailed three corners to the ground and put up a pole to hold the other corner up in to the air. Facing the wind and rain. They decided to go home as they were a local group. The kids said no called their parents and had tents brought down to them.

I can see a great deal of the same spirit there as Woodstock. Only a different source of inspiration.

[chingmai331]

What inspires Boy Scouts? Girls?

[NancyL]

The event at River Market turned out very well, but I'm not exactly an objective observer since I was involved in some aspects of organizing it. I wish more people had come right at the beginning, when it started at 3 pm because the first band, a bunch of amateur Thai guys from Chiang Mai Rotary North Club were great. Most had some part of their education in the U.S. and they love U.S. music, esp the California surfer stuff from the 60s and 70s. They're business owners, doctors, university professors, etc by day so they were thrilled to get a chance to play for a bunch of Americans and really did a great job. They stuck around for the entire event to get a chance to hear the other two bands who performed,too. Those band members were mostly Aussies. See -- it really wasn't "all about America".

Also, some of the parents were slow to show up with their kids and the CM International Rotary Club guys who were organizing the kids games were sweating bullets about having enough activity for the time allotted for games. So, they started with games for adults and people from the crowd were really good sports about coming down for tug-of-war and water-balloon toss. Then a few families showed up and didn't mind at all when their kids were hustled off for games even before they got to their tables.

As Northern John said, the mood was very good and upbeat.

Everybody got a chance to eat the copious amounts of food while the VFW guys called off winning tickets for the seemingly endless parade of raffle prizes during the breaks between bands and the games. There was appetizers right at 3 pm -- nachos, onion rings, tacos, etc then and endless parade of all the stuff that the Dukes empire serves at all their restaurants in numerous buffet lines, with the main course items like pizza, ribs, etc appearing around 5:30 pm. There was a nice selection of dessert items, too. No one went hungry and the food and beer was still flowing when we left around 9 pm.

I think about 200 people were there, but I didn't count noses. It was a nice size crowd, without seeming jammed packed. The staff did a great job of keeping the food and refreshments flowing and the dirty dishes off the tables. Really good job. Dave was in a good mood as was everyone I interacted with yesterday evening. Maybe I had on blinders, but I had a great time and am looking forward to next year.

[ksamuiguy]

Happy Birthday America

Turn up the volume and enjoy the music!

http://biggeekdad.com/2015/07/the-texas-tenors/

[mesquite]

The fireworks display was quite good.

[northernjohn]

The fireworks display was quite good.

Yes I had seen that one. It was a pretty awesome display.

Do you know where it was. The display at River Side had at least one with the heart shape in it.