Riverbank Stone reflects on Nong Khai's annual boat races.
When everyone knows
everyone and is in some way related, and the out-of-towners are friends,
you get a festival mood that no 'city' festival can duplicate!
First, the mis-management committee (aka the local government) actually
issued a schedule of events. That should have started the alarm bells ringing!
Sept 29: The big day arrived. Off I went to the start site of "The
Longest Boat Races in the World" (5 km) to find the place totally
deserted. Back home went I to wait for the next scheduled event at 13.00hrs.
Arriving at that location 20 minutes early I was told there was a change
in the schedule. The event had already taken place! Best thing to do at
a time like that is to drink, and that's what I did. So much for day one.
Evening one was to be the first night of the light-and-sound show. As
these things are usually difficult to photograph I decided to check it
out the first night, do a bit of filming and be ready for the following
evening. The show was a total wash out. First of all, for some reason Thai
people feel any show must have at least one, usually 2 or more, spotlights
behind the stage. These are used to shine in the eyes of the audience and
to screw up any metering your camera is using.
Next, "orderly movement" cannot be translated into Thai and
any chance of filming is virtually impossible unless you are doing a study
of backs-of-heads. And finally, the visually impaired - or someone who
has found the most Amazing chemicals to imbibe - must have designed the
lighting scheme.
The advertised illuminated boat parade did take place. Instead of the
usual 5 to 8 boats, 3 made part of the advertised journey. Later, once
everyone had given up hope, they finished their trip.
Day two: I contacted the municipal office to check if that day's races
would start at Wat Meechai as scheduled, and was told that they would start
at Wat Pho Chai. Well, Wat Pho Chai is about 2 km from the river so I assumed
that this represented more confusion.
As it turned out, the 5km races were starting from Wat Pho Sai, which
sits about 1km from the race's finish line. Hmmm! Day two's crowds could
be identified by their lack of enthusiasm! Food and beer stalls sat pretty
much empty. The only enthusiasts seemed to be the punters who had more
than they could afford wagered on the outcome of the races.
While searching for something or someone interesting to shoot, I passed
the site of the light-and-sound show and noticed that the place had been
cleared out. I guess they read the reviews and skipped town.
JUST LIKE THE REAL THING?
Almost! This metal bas relief of a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero-Sen actually
represents an aircraft of the 64th Sentai, wich was stationed here at Chiangmai.
Framed in dark Thai timber, each piece is numbered and only 1000 pieces
will ever be produced. Made by Thai craftsmen with care.
Day 3: Pretty much a repeat of Day 2. I heard that most of the Thais
thought this year's races were the worst ever. Still no word on why the
5km races shrunk to 1km. But on the bright side Nong Khai did manage to
hit 100% on one aspect. The published schedule managed to have absolutely
everything wrong! But as always, we westerners managed to enjoy ourselves.
The beer vendors found us willing and frequent customers. I began work
on my new photo project "Thais in the Millinery" ("Gotta
love those hats")! Off to Nobbi's Restaurant to ingest a bit of Norwegian
smoked salmon and pate (who'd a thunk it in Nongers?). He's also added
all sorts of imported German beers to his drinks list.
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5 October: Dateline Ban Pha Ko (10km upriver from Nongers). Headline:
Boat race enthusiasm saved by another Isaan village!
We arrived about 2 hours before the races. As I hadn't had time to visit
in a few months I was obliged to stop and visit (read "have a beer
with") half the village. Technical problems, as always held up the
start, but who cared? The music, dancing and drinking had already begun.
Those guys in the party picture (far right) run the place! When everyone
knows everyone and is in some way related, and the out-of-towners are friends,
you get a festival mood that no 'city' festival can duplicate!
If you see 3 Nissan pick-ups arrive here from Bangkok
in a blaze of publicity, you'll know they are on the first leg of a 200,000km,
6 month journey to test the efficiency of diesel-with-palm-oil fuel (...).
Riverbank
Stone
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