The flower festival this weekend was great...no wonder people come from all over to see it. There was entertainment every night: all types of singing (from thai pop to traditional), all types of dancing (breakdancing to hill tribes), fireworks, drums, firebreathing. There was a parade on Saturday with marching bands and floats decorated with thousands of beautifully smelling flowers and women and men dressed in costume. When the floats came down the street all of these people would run in front of it to get a picture. Some people were actually climbing into the cars and onto the floats to get pics with them! The cars and floats would have to stop so they didnt run over the people....eventually a policeman would come by with his whistle and make everyone move out of the way. The float would only go about 10 m then more people would mob the road! At this pace, what would probably be a 1.5 hr parade was over 4 hours long!
It was also the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chang Mai on Sunday so there was another parade with a giant dragon and dancers and people in costume. The procession would go down the street until they saw shops who had money hanging from the roof...then they would make a human pyramid and get the money and the dragon would dance in front of the shop and they would sing. It was awesome to watch.
Today is Makha Bucha day...a holiday for Buddhists that takes place on the day of the full moon of the third lunar month. The ceremony at the wat tonight was beautiful: nearly one hundred people following a monk in a chant, then following in a procession behind the monks, with flowers, candles and incense in hand, circling around the pagoda chanting.
It looks like I will be staying a little longer than I expected in Chang Mai because this weekend I started volunteering at the Disabled Center. Don, the founder/owner is from Canada and has been living in Thailand for over 20 years. One part of the centre makes wheelchairs out of PVC
piping and bicycle tires and gives them for free to those in need living in Northern Thailand. I am working at Bann Piranan--the Disabled Centre's resident home for children with cerebral palsy. I went to the centre on Sunday and met the kids and the thai OT that works there. Don says that in Thai culture, people with disabilities are seen as having bad luck or being associated with ghosts and thai people dont want to have anything to do with them. He says that they havent been able to find a housekeeper for the centre because people are afraid to be near the children. I will be doing hands on work with the kids and running education sessions for the staff at the centre. It is a bit overwhelming and I dont know really where to start since these kids have grown up recieving no treatment and have permanent deformities because of it. I was talking with a man in an upper class at the massage school who is a physio in germany and has worked with Project Hope in Armenia treating kids (many with CP) and educating. He says he will come see the kids with me and work with me on the lesson plan for the staff, which is so great! Don wants me to stay 6 months and was disappointed that I will only be with them for two weeks. There was supposed to be a physio coming from Britian but she never came...as a result, one of the children may not get a surgery to correct the bone deformities in his feet so that he may be able to walk because there will be no after care/therapy. It doesnt feel very good, but I have to leave....
the centre's website: http://www.baan-piranan.org/
(and also http://www.freedomwheelchairs.com/ ...it really is incredible what they do...they even publish books educating on how to make mobility aids out of what is available materials, like bamboo)
Oh, I am in a new guesthouse--really nice! Its called Malak and has a better bed, is cheaper and has free internet in the lobby! (where I am now) There is also a hot shared shower in the lobby that I might take advantage of tomorrow morning :) Chilled out at one of the other students hotels this afternoon by thier pool.... tough life eh? A group of us found a wicked rooftop bar on Friday called THC (its in Lonely Planet) that I think I will be spending a lot of time at. Did you know that the bars here close at midnight? LOL luckily the 7-11's are 24 hours and sell cheap beer :)
It was also the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chang Mai on Sunday so there was another parade with a giant dragon and dancers and people in costume. The procession would go down the street until they saw shops who had money hanging from the roof...then they would make a human pyramid and get the money and the dragon would dance in front of the shop and they would sing. It was awesome to watch.
Today is Makha Bucha day...a holiday for Buddhists that takes place on the day of the full moon of the third lunar month. The ceremony at the wat tonight was beautiful: nearly one hundred people following a monk in a chant, then following in a procession behind the monks, with flowers, candles and incense in hand, circling around the pagoda chanting.
It looks like I will be staying a little longer than I expected in Chang Mai because this weekend I started volunteering at the Disabled Center. Don, the founder/owner is from Canada and has been living in Thailand for over 20 years. One part of the centre makes wheelchairs out of PVC
piping and bicycle tires and gives them for free to those in need living in Northern Thailand. I am working at Bann Piranan--the Disabled Centre's resident home for children with cerebral palsy. I went to the centre on Sunday and met the kids and the thai OT that works there. Don says that in Thai culture, people with disabilities are seen as having bad luck or being associated with ghosts and thai people dont want to have anything to do with them. He says that they havent been able to find a housekeeper for the centre because people are afraid to be near the children. I will be doing hands on work with the kids and running education sessions for the staff at the centre. It is a bit overwhelming and I dont know really where to start since these kids have grown up recieving no treatment and have permanent deformities because of it. I was talking with a man in an upper class at the massage school who is a physio in germany and has worked with Project Hope in Armenia treating kids (many with CP) and educating. He says he will come see the kids with me and work with me on the lesson plan for the staff, which is so great! Don wants me to stay 6 months and was disappointed that I will only be with them for two weeks. There was supposed to be a physio coming from Britian but she never came...as a result, one of the children may not get a surgery to correct the bone deformities in his feet so that he may be able to walk because there will be no after care/therapy. It doesnt feel very good, but I have to leave....the centre's website: http://www.baan-piranan.org/
(and also http://www.freedomwheelchairs.com/ ...it really is incredible what they do...they even publish books educating on how to make mobility aids out of what is available materials, like bamboo)
Oh, I am in a new guesthouse--really nice! Its called Malak and has a better bed, is cheaper and has free internet in the lobby! (where I am now) There is also a hot shared shower in the lobby that I might take advantage of tomorrow morning :) Chilled out at one of the other students hotels this afternoon by thier pool.... tough life eh? A group of us found a wicked rooftop bar on Friday called THC (its in Lonely Planet) that I think I will be spending a lot of time at. Did you know that the bars here close at midnight? LOL luckily the 7-11's are 24 hours and sell cheap beer :)
