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Hello everybody!! thanks for all the birthday messages. on my last entry i think i told you all that i was going to pai, well things didnt exactly turn out that way as we have just got back from Ubon Ratchathani which is in eastern thailand near the laos and cambodian border. the reason i was there was that aroon (carls girlfriend) kindly invited us to her home village where a weekend of festive activities calling for rain were about to get under way. we didnt need much convincing to go so on thursday we all set of on our 14 hour drive to the village (roads through the mountains in thailand are crazy!!). upon arrival it soon became apparent that aroons village was not the sort of place that westerners usually travel to and we all had celebrity status instantly printed on our foreheads. sounds stupid i know but let me give you an example of how crazy the locals went when they saw us- when walking around aroons village aroon thought it would be a good idea to show us her old school. not thinking much of it me carl and chick walked onto the school grounds only to stop every single activity that was going on in the school at that particular time. we then spent the next hour or so posing for pictures with every member of staff and one where the entire school had to gather behind us. this sort of thing went on for almost the entire trip but to be honest we all loved it.
the festival itself was probably the best day. everybody in aroons and surrounding villages were out in force getting completely mortal. as most of the villages around Ubon Ratchathani are rice farms there was lots and lots of rice whiskey just getting handed out at each and every house- being western everybody wanted us to try theres so we were pretty smashed very early. marching through the parade as if we were part of the act was something i will never forget. waving at people just for the sake of it did make me feel like a bit of a nobhead but it was just being polite and the party atmosphere took control. sam and dang later joined us in the day but as we were all w***ered sam had some serious catching up to do...turned out it was too much as he ended up giving aroons floor a new colour.
next day it was time to experience some real life thai farming. aroon had given us all jobs to do which turned out to be so much fun. chick and carl had to go out and catch a chicken and then make dinner, me and sam later had to catch and kill a duck, and then me carl and chick had to make bamboo sticky rice (involved going into the forest and chopping our own bamboo which is harder than it sounds). the slaughtering of the chicken and the duck was harsh but necessary however the slow and painful way in which the duck died was not- a certain sam mcdonough's fault. it all started when me and sam agreed who would do what in the killing, it was agreed that i would hold the duck while sam kills it. aroon then showed sam exactly what needed doing and how to do it- simply cut the ducks throat and then snap its neck straight after so that it dies quick. so sam steps us and then mutters to me 'stu i dont think i can do this do you wanna swap' and at this point carl was calling him a f***** so sam just said f*** it and then went in for the kill. so im holding the duck after sam had cut its throat and snapped its neck.....then a couple of minutes later carl mutters from accross the room 'i think that duck just moved its eyes'. we all gathered around and then the duck went f***ing crazy! luckily i still had a hold of it but was struggling cos these little b******s are strong on deaths door. anyway there is me trying to control this crazy duck shouting at sam to snap its neck, snap it f***ing neck. i then looked over at sam and he had completly frozen, mouth open eyes not moving and completely none responsive to what anyone was saying. carl then had to jump in and finish the job. when it was over and the feathers had settled we all turned to look at sam and give him a look saying 'what the f*** just happened'. in the end it was all to much for sam and he went to lie down. next morning he woke us all up cos he'd been having nightmares about a gigantic duck chasing him for revenge. anyway it was all a good experience and the food tasted great. oh we also caught and ate a snake which tasted exactly like chicked.
overall the whole village trip was an excellent adventure and was a great way to spend my birthday. we did do much more than i have wrote about e.g. made our own fireworks, got mortal around camp fires at night in the middle of the countryside, went to a concert but these can all be told later. now i am back in chiang mai and ill be staying here for the next week so that i can go to carl and sams leaving do. before any of you start thinking im staying in chiang mai too long im not. me and chick are just using it as a travel hub as we keep renting morpeds and travelling to different places in north thailand e.g. Don Ithanion. im gonna get carls memory card and put some more pictures up which contain me in the next few days so until then enjoy the ones from around ubon ratchathani
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