Father’s Day
The people of Thailand know how to manage their
calendars, every few weeks there’s a day off for something or other. Father’s Day is a particularly big one; it
falls on King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday as he is regarded
as the father of the people, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej). Traditionally people wear yellow, the colour
of the day the King was born. Every day
has it’s own designated colour in Thailand. This year was a tricky one with the current
political situation* and some people suggested other colours. I decided to stick with tradition and claim
‘farang immunity’. We celebrated
Father’s Day a day early at school as the actual day is a national holiday when
the school is closed. My school is very
active in organising performances so the children put on a show which included
their Dads performing music and stories.
It was very sweet to see parents, students and teachers all collaborate
to acknowledge the King and their own fathers.
It was even worth having the same music played on loop for a fortnight in an effort to teach the children two songs dedicated to the King. Mothers Day is also celebrated in conjunction with Queen Sirikit’s
birthday in August. Outside of a political
or patriotic agenda, I feel that these holidays bring people together and
remind them of how crucial it is to take time with eachother. I felt the same warm fuzzy feelings around
Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 when communities worked together to
organise street parties and sat down to strawberries and cream with their
neighbours and friends. Yes, public
money is spent and yes, not all citizens are fans of the monarchy but yes, we
need something positive after all the recession and bailout negativity. Sit down and have a cucumber sandwich for
yourself (or, in Thailand,
a kow pad gai).
I had my own selfish reason for
appreciating the King’s celebration, a day off.
I swapped my lie in for a 5am rise to head to Bueng Boraphet, a large
freshwater swamp just 15 minutes away by car which, in 2002, was declared as a
wetland of international importance.
Apparently many species of birds can be seen but, to my untrained eye,
they’re all simply called ‘birds’. One
particular feature of the swamp was our very reason for the early rise, we
wanted to reach it before sunrise to watch the lotus flowers open. We arrived to an empty building sat on the
edge of the swamp and realised the perils of poor planning. We had to call for a boat to come pick us up
so we watched the sunrise from the edge of the water, DAMN! Mai pen lai as they say, I have resorted to
using this phrase when things go awry as, in Thailand, it’s bad etiquette to
throw a tantrum…well, I suppose in any country really but this hasn’t stopped
some… We were collected and set off,
engine spluttering, into the swamp. It
stretched as far as the eye could see with not a sinner in sight, we were the
only visitors. This is the beauty of
living in a non touristy city, no queues, no whinging vacationers, no
Starbucks. 
Above our heads flew flocks of,
erm, birds. We reached a section of the
swamp that was absolutely covered with lily pads and lotus flowers. The pink flowers, luminescent in the
sunshine, made for some beautiful pictures and all you could hear amongst the
camera shutters was the occasional gasp of awe. 
The boat trip last two hours and
delivered us back to the jetty where we had earlier grumbled beneath the
sunrise, our trip had been as magical as we had hoped afterall. We headed to the nearby aquarium where we
were admitted free on account of the King’s birthday. Bueng Boraphet Aquarium is built in the shape
of a ‘krachaeng’ boat, which was the type of boat used to transport goods along
the river to NS. It contains a fish tunnel
where over your head you can see various species of fish. Again, my knowledge and vocabulary on this
subject extends to “fish” but I found the tunnel to be pretty cool indeed. All the information about the aquatic life is
transcribed pretty legibly in English, should one want to extend their
knowledge of the creatures swimming around them. Upstairs there’s a less impressive bird
exhibit housing dusty plastic birds shoved into an unconvincing and poorly lit
display. Some laying on their sides as
if they got so depressed at being such crap imitations. If only plastic birds could fly they could
have escaped such a gloomy fate.
After a delicious lunch of grilled
chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice by the waterside, we returned to NS by
car thanks to a kind member of staff over at the BB info centre. During the hottest part of the day, the seven
of us crowbarred ourselves into this guy’s hatchback with a broken air
conditioner. Imagine a can of sardines
in a microwave…
That evening we paid a visit to
our hard working smoothie man who was offering free smoothies to mark the
birthday of his King. He toiled all
evening blending up refreshing fruit concoctions for nada, there’s dedication
to the monarchy if ever I saw it. We
enjoyed ours under a beautiful sunset which glowed the sky pink and red. Thanks for the free day King Bhumibol, I
kinda like this monarch, and he’s into jazz too.
*I’d suggest looking it up rather than read me waffle on, I
haven’t an educated opinion on the subject and I’m not particularly interested
in politics anyway.
Images: Sinéad Millea.
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