สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sawatdii pimaï) is Thai for Happy New Year. For those following the Gregorian calendar welcome to the year 2011. For the Buddhists welcome to the year 2554.
December 31st is a public holiday here. It makes some sence to me, when I harken back to my working days and the staff who would be lining up to go home early to get ready to go out for New years. I figure very little actual work got done anyway as they were hard to find after 11AM, and I think if I had a choice I would prefer to have December 31 and January 1st instead of December 25 and 26. Most businesses are closed today except for the shopping malls. Like idiots we decided to go to the mall today.
It is a sea of people. All carrying large fruit baskets or wrapped gifts to take to the New Year celebrations. The temple grounds at Wat Chalong today were also bustling with people going to temple to pray and make merit for the new year. The police are setting up roadblocks in an effort to stop drinking and driving, with the sober-up tents already hoisted alongside the roads. We will head to a New Year party at Layan beach in the north of the island. As the driver, it will be a dry celebration for me, and I am more worried about the condition of the other drivers on the road. Most days are a challenge, but with more impaired people, it could prove more challenging than normal. According to my Thai friend, there are various stages of being drunk. Having literally crashed a police check-point himself a few years ago on New years, his theory was that the more drunk you were the slower you drove. According to him, drinking and driving is not a problem as long as you go slow. So I shall be more aware of anyone driving slowly tonight!
Little did I expect the number of people to look at this blog, as has materialized over the past 5 months. Now readers from 19 countries read this and I probably know less than 10% of you in person. I hope you enjoy my ramblings and I appreciate your interest. I hope you have a safe and responsible New years Eve and look forward to entertaining you in the new year.
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