Vegetarian Festival. Why the blood?

I am getting myself prepared to see the annual vegetarian festival that commences in about 10 days. In our naivitee, we thought this would be a celebration of the vegetarian community. Lots of interesting foods and products all began based. Apparently this is not the case. It is instead a 10 period of time where people practice self mutilation, in an effort to release demons. I am all set to go to do the photography, as I think it will be of real unique interest and spectacle. Clive was looking forward to the evening festivals, where they would have great tables laden with food. Apparently, there is not vegetarian food, but with all Thai events there will be plenty to eat. It looks like Gary and I will go to see the body mutilations and Clive and Deb will go for the evening events. Stay tuned for my coverage of this event. In the meantime, this is a link to the events site. http://www.phuketvegetarian.com/index_eg.htm

Princess's Cup - Kho Samui

Clive and Adam at completion of the Samui Marathon

Koh Samui

Living in Thailand gives Clive the great opportunity to participate in the marathons that seem to be happening in some country or location not far from us, 12 months of the year. Since our arrival getting settled, the Koh Samui (Samui Island for the anglo’s) was the first local event he could do. We had looked at many ways to get there, but flying was very cost prohibitive, as only one airline serves the island, they apparently own the airport, hence no competition. We had heard of horror stories about taking public transit. And renting a car to do the drive seemed less practical, so we decided to brave the public transit system and be prepared for whatever may come.

Cooking With Bruce

I have been doing Thai food cooking for a few months and decided I would put some of my creations on my blog.  This entry is a versatile dish, Thai Peanut Sauce.
This dish usually accompanies satay of chicken, pork or Tofu. But it has many more possible ways to be used in cooking.  It is a good veggie dip and you can add it to hot or cool noodles for a salad or a meal. I spread some on BBQ hamburgers and think it is fab! I can usually get three different dinners per batch.

A Monk and His Dogs

While on Kho Samui, I noticed that the dogs there seemed to be better looking than most of my Thai dog encounters. When we walked along the street, we were amazed at how friendly these dogs were and how they approached you with tails wagging and nudging your hand for a pet. We also noted no obvious signs of skin rashes or ticks and it was also evident that they were not lacking in adequate feeding, some of them being outright fat.

One evening I had seen the dogs at low tide walking along the beach and they all seemed to be frolicking and running about. I then noticed that they were accompanied by a monk in his saffron robes, picking up litter along the beach. Our friend Adam commented that there was a solitary monk who lived not far from our hotel along the beach and he had a collection of dogs and there was some sort of cemetery there. At one point, not being much of a beach person to be able to just go and lay still for a few hours, i wandered the beach and found the said monk, living a solitary existence in a single room hut, and an assortment of dogs, all of who came to greet me. Behind his hut was a small cemetery with a mausoleum type structure as well as full-on cemetery plots. The area was meticulously maintained, including the sweeping of the sand walkways and no garbage or tree debris to be seem. He spoke no English, but was happy to see me and took me to view the headstones.

On race day, as I looked to the beachfront, a rainbow appeared and there was the monk with his dogs out doing beach clean-up.

Take A Moment

Take a moment to look at this video in recognition of world peace day.
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=LPaaUY9_j80

Koh Samui

I am getting my camera equipment cleaned up and checking the batteries as we prepare to head to Kho Samui http://samui.sawadee.com/  an island on the Gulf of Thailand tomorrow for a few days. Clive will run in the Samui Marathon, doing the 1/2 marathon portion of the run. We will travel by inter-provincial bus and make the 8 hour trip crossing the bridge off of Phuket to the mainland, across to the port of Surat Thani to board a ferry across the waters to Samui. I am looking forward to the bus trip just for the experience of riding in one of these super coaches, usually bright pink or purple and of course to experience a water crossing on a Thai ferry. Our friends Adam and Win have already got plans in place for us to see the sights, take in some entertainment and of course then there is the run on Sunday. I am sure this trip will prove a mother-lode for the basis of a kite. Speaking of which. I have not gotten what I had hoped to post before today, back from my "editor" (HELLO Clive) , so sorry for no new kites yet.

Fiddling Around

Well I think I am finally done the major "fiddlin' and fartin' around", as my dad would say, with this blog and getting it established. I am amazed with the number of hits from around the world. So far I am being looked at in Thailand, Tiawan, South Africa, Canada and the US. Thanks for those of you who have written to give me some good feedback and encouragement. I have one set of Kites in for review and a second one I am just finishing writing before I send it to Clive for his feedback.