October 14th was the end of the Thai vegetarian festival, and it just so happened that our ride intersected with a tiny village between Phayao and Chiang Kham, whose temple was having their very own celebreation. we stopped for what we intended to be a short water break, and barely made it out sober enough to ride.
There were dancers of various types, from these ladies with freakishly long fingernails (above), to fire baton-twirling boys (below).
The audience seemed to be mostly the village elders, and as soon as somebody figured out that four random foreigners had strolled into town, we started getting thumbs up, first from little girls (below),
Then some little boys came around collecting alms for the temple,
Then free iced tea!
...and when inebriated middle-aged women started sharing their wine coolers with us, we knew it was time to get the hell out of dodge, lest we end up in a drunken stupor in a karaoke room somewhere.
(Above) Me and Mick, and Mick's wine cooler. And Mick's mom.
I'll be the first to admit to being ignorant of the import of the vegetarian festival, but it seems to be like a kind of Buddhist Lent or Ramadan, where the religious hold to a strict dietary regimen for a period of time, and then binge at the end. Whatever the deal, it certainly looked like a lot of fun!
