Banana Leaves, Body Paint and Ladyboys

Last weekend saw the Thai festival of Loy Krathong (the ‘h’ is silent) when Thai people apologise to the river goddess for polluting the rivers. Now this is a bit ironic as they say sorry by floating little boats made out of polystyrene and banana leaves with candles and incense in, on the river which inevitably adds to the pollution. Anyway, while this is going on, big paper lanterns are and floated up to the sky and people perform traditional Thai dances in traditional Thai dress. Anna and I included. Thai dancing consists of a lot of walking around in group circles, making pretty hand gestures and tilting your head this way and that. It’s harder than it sounds, believe me! Your wrists and fingers are bent in unnatural and often painful ways while you have to smile away and step in time to the music. We’d been having dance lessons at the primary school, and all the children kept sneaking out of their classes to watch the two farang stumble around trying to appear graceful. Performing in front of big audience was going to be daunting.

The day finally dawned and we arrived at the dress shop to be transformed. The place was chaotic as pretty much every girl (and a few boys actually) in the town was getting dressed up for Loy Krathong. First, our arms, hands, shoulders, upper backs and upper chests were covered in a kind of flesh coloured body paint. On Thai people, it makes them look pale. We on the other hand looked a little like Morph. Next, ladyboys piled heaps of foundation on our faces and led us away to get changed. Thai traditional dress consists of a tight, ankle length skirt and a one shouldered top. After trying (and failing) to find skirts the right size, they ended up being altered in the shop which was fairly embarrassing. Then more ladyboys set to work on our hair. It was all backcombed ‘til we looked like flintstones and pinned up on our heads. They added fake, bun-shaped extensions which unfortunately (but of course logically) were only available in black so my appearance was just getting odder by the second. Add a fake lily and a tiara and the next step was complete. Another team of ladyboys (man, those guys are skilled) finished our make-up and the finishing touches of earrings, belts and beads were added before we were driven off to the river.

The performance went well (though my clip on earrings fell off) and my lovely male dance partner kept issuing words of encouragement. Afterwards, practically everyone in the entire town wanted photos of us and we obliged while watching lots of little banana-leaf boats drifting down the river. And because it was dark, this was quite a spectacle.

Also this week, we got a visitor from Project Trust (the charity we work for) and it was nice hearing another English accent for once. (Anna of course is Scottish) Nick,-that's his name- came bearing the beth gift ever. What was it you say? News from back home? Better teaching materials? The meaning of life? It was none of these. It was a jar or Marmite. I've never been happier!

Sawat Dee!