We have been in a small town outside of Mae Rim for a week now and all of us are having wonderful cultural experiences, in many of our cases they are like nothing that we have experienced before. Last night was a prime example of the intense cultural immersion: we went to a Thai festival held at a temple. The primary reason for us going to this festival was so that the young women in our group could participate in the dancing showcase. All week while the other half of the group were playing soccer with the young boys of the community the other half have been learning Thai dancing. They all worked very hard towards learning the dances to the two songs they preformed and it was quite a spectacle it was also – for me at least- mildly overwhelming.
I arrived at the sight just before dusk in the back of a pick-up truck. There was a smell of freshly cooked meats in the air and we passed by a field where I had a quick view of the vendors. We then parked and the boys that were all packed “like sardines” -as our Thai language teacher Petchara said- climbed out of the bed all with legs that were asleep. There was music blaring in the distance. We came to the road at the end of the small field where we parked, walked down the road and came upon the stage just behind the temple that was hosting the event. The music was loud, and I’ve been to plenty of noisy punk shows. It was almost ear splitting. The dancing had already started, it was wondrous. There was also a voice coming through the speakers doing commentary on the dances. There was a second stage off to the left that had a separate band playing and next to that there was a tent with another person doing commentary. I was sitting in the crowd in a plastic chair trying to absorb it all. The band to the left was music that one of our leaders, David, described as Thai jam music, one of the center pieces being a reed instrument I don’t know the name of. The reed instrument blended into the center stage music and left me boggled. But the dancing was so beautiful. After about an hour and some well needed time away from the stage to see the vendor field it was time for our girls to dance. With the amount of practice they actually had I was more then blown away. They nailed almost every move, mirroring the older participants of the village. Everyone in the crowd stared at all the obviously non-native girls in amazement. I swear they got the biggest applause of all. After their dances were done they were greeted by people in the crowd wanting to take pictures with them. It was indeed a special event. I’m so happy to have shared in this incredible experience.
