The last days have become a bit of a blur. There are activities to experience interspersed with protracted periods of absolutely nothing. I don’t know how the locals do it.

One of the major events of the week was a three day eating and drinking fest at the mayors house. His son is in the process of becoming a Monk and he was also honoring the passing of his other son some four years ago.

Of course as it goes here, any excuse for a free feed and a drink. Marquees were setup along with the mandatory sound equipment of course. This is where it pays to be the mayor of course as now the street was going to be impassable for the next three days. Not that anyone minded. If one happened upon the scene and determined they couldn’t get through they simply stopped and had a drink instead.

The last night was basically the coup de gras, as now the remaining intersection was taken up with a huge stage making ready for some live entertainment. The locals refer to this extravaganza as Lum Sing. Given that Isan has somewhat of a culture all of its own along with a strong dialect they have a stage show to show off these facets. Singers, dancers and of course the bamboo instrument (Can) players were in fine form.

Yours truly arrived and was given a VIP spot along with an ice bucket full of ice and a bottle of beer. Having performed live music myself and having a background in sound engineering I soon concluded that the sound dude for this show was deaf. Just like Beethoven used to lay his head on the piano to feel the vibrations, this guy used the kick drum as his cue. Every time the drummer hit the pedal on his kick drum the woofers of the sound system threatened to launch themselves into the crowd. I could actually feel the air pressure waves passing me each time. (Must bring ear protection next time). The locals didn’t seem to mind or notice. Then I remembered, they’re all deaf as well. My brother in law cuts floor tiles with an angle grinder without ear protection.

So given that we had put in a solid two hours listening to the diverse range of music I asked a very naive question, “When does the show finish?” This was around twelve o’clock and I was told that it would continue to at least three. So with that they gave me another bottle of beer. (warm of course). How do you ask for more ice in Isan?……