Dec
6
Trip to Buriram
December 6, 2007 |
Yesterday morning our friends Tui and Pun came by and asked if we wanted to go to Buriram with them. They were getting a a new bicycle for their daughter, and wanted to check out the new Big C shopping mall down there.
So we came allong, and loaded ourself and Heart on the back of Tui’s pick-up truck fro the 64 km trip down there.
We did some shopping on our own there. Among items where a plastic Yule tree, lights and decorations for it, a bunch of t-shirts and shorts, and pyjamas for the kids, and loads of farang food. Among others german ham, sausages, bacon and huge bag of chockolate.
Unfortunately the bicycles on display at Big C where a tad to pricey for Tui and Pun, so after a quick lunch at the food court (I have to confess I snuck over to KFC with Heart and got us some chicken and chips), we went into town and found a cheaper place to buy the bike.
I was waiting by the car, watching the groceries while the rest of the gang went to the bike shop. So I got a first hand look at the biggest smile in the history of kids, as their daugher came out of the shop, pedaling her bright pink bike, with all the bells and whistles. Wish I had the camera with me but I left it at home.
On the way home we stopped along the way and got some flowers and bushes to plant around the house. Which we did when we came home.
But the first thing we did was set up the tree. For Norwegians thats a tad early as we usually don’t do that until the day before Yule. But we *cough* had to test if the lights where working.
In the evening we lit candles outside the house in honor of HRH King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand’s 80th birthday. The King is highly revered and loved by the Thai people. For the Norwegians, think of our own King Haakon VII, on his return from exile in England after World War II in 1945, and maybe you are getting close to how popular the King of Thailand is here.
After lighting the candles we settled down on the sofa to watch proceedings in Bangkok as the Thai’s celebrated their King, before going to bed early.
That’s it!
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Comments
4 Comments so far
Yeah, ber in mind that *cough* testing the lights is of utter importance!
How else would we know if they worked. And think abaout the disappointment in the kids eyes if it did not work on the eve itself!
Do the kids understand Christmas, or Yule? Actually Im not sure I understand Yule. It is the same as Christmas, right? I mean with all the PRESANTS? LOL.
They don’t have a clue. And we’ll keep it that way, sans the presents and good food on the evening of the 24th (Yup, in Norway we don’t torture the kids by making them wait until the 25th)
As for Yule. I prefer using that word, since I am not christian and do not celebrate Christmas. And the boys and Nan are of course Buddhist, so they are just allong for the fun
From Wikipedia:
Yule is a winter festival celebrated in Northern Europe since ancient times. In pre-Christian times, Germanic pagans celebrated Yule from late December to early January on a date determined by a lunar calendar.[1] During the process of Christianization and the adoption of the Julian calendar, Yule was placed on December 25, in order to correspond with the Christian celebrations later known in English as Christmas.[2] Thus, the terms “Yule” and “Christmas” are often used interchangeably[3], especially in Christmas carols.
In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term jul is the common way to refer to the celebration, including among Christians. In these countries the highlight of the yulecelebrations is the Yule Eve or Christmas Eve on December 24, which is when children get their yule or christmas presents by a character resembling Father Christmas called julemanden (Denmark), julenissen (Norway), or jultomten (Sweden).
In Finland, it is called joulu, in Estonia jõulud, and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands jól.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule