Shrine at Our Apartment

This is the shrine at the entrance to our apartment building. The garlands of marigolds are there to honour Buddha Day. The tables with the offerings of fruit are especially placed there to mark the beginning of the Chinese New Year.

Goodbye Tiger, Hello Rabbit

 Thailand celebrates three New Year holidays: New Years Eve on December 31, Chinese New Year normally in February in accordance with  the lunar calendar and the traditional Song Khran, the Water Festival, celebrated in April again according to the lunar calendar. 

This year the Chinese New Year falls on February 3. It is a very important day to Thais of Chinese descent and to Thais in general because it is an important Buddhist Day as well. The stores have been full of shoppers getting stocked up for the feast on February 2 where it is customary to stay home and eat with family. On New Years day itself people are out visiting friends and showing off the new clothes and shoes that they have purchased to start the new year off right. 

This ends the year of the Tiger. I was born with the Tiger 60 years ago and this marks the full turning of the Chinese calendar cycle. The cycle begins anew. 

Welcome to the Rabbit.

The Perfect Season

Conversations between strangers often start with a chat about the weather. Why not do the same here?

Bangkok weather is generally considered to have three seasons: the hot season during March, April and May; the rainy but still pretty hot season from June to October and the cool season from November into March. The exact timing and degree of temperature or rainfall will vary from year to year but these are good approximations from my experience. We are now in the cool season although it is still hot for us Canadians. The daily highs are in the low thirties and the nightly lows are in the low twenties (Celsius). There has not been much rain since November. This is the perfect season. It is a pleasure to go out any time of the day or night.

No jacket, no umbrella, perfect.