The Dubliners

St. Patrick's Day in Thailand??  Yes, indeed!  The annual St. Patrick's Day parade marched down Beach Road, with traffic zipping by on the outside lanes.  The newspaper said the parade started at 2 p.m., so I had Mick drop me at Central Festival around 1:15 p.m.  This mall is the midpoint of Beach Road, so I thought it would be a good place to hang out until the parade passed by.   Did a quick bit of shopping, then headed out into the steamy afternoon sun to wait...and wait...and wait. Workers were setting up stalls right in the road, filling the outside lane, and it was amusing to watch the motor scooters zipping along under the canopies of the stalls.  I watched a huge tour bus try to come out of a side street and couldn't make the turn with all the stalls set up.  It blocked all lanes of traffic as it tried backing up, inching forward, backing up...some of the workers finally came and moved some stalls out of its way, then put them right back after the bus had passed, as if that would be the only bus trying to make that turn!

By around 3:30, I was wondering if I'd gotten the time wrong.  I went back into the mall to cool off with a cold drink, then found a place out front where I could watch the street from the shade of the building.  Two fierce chess matches were taking place on the level below, so I enjoyed a little spectating.  Tim was back in India, and watching chess made me feel a little closer to him.  One pair of older farangs was playing with a chess clock, and I watched a young Thai woman challenge a second pair of old farangs to an intense battle.

Finally, around 5:15 p.m., the sound of a marching band drew me back to the road.  It was not your usual St. Patrick's Day parade.  Although I suspect farangs were the reason for the parade, nearly everyone in the parade was Thai.  Some wore green t-shirts or face paint in the colors of the Irish flag, but everyone was there for some "sanook."  Any excuse for a party in Pattaya. Several of the local Irish pubs were represented in the parade, along with some charity organizations.  Some of the resorts were in attendance as well.  It was a nice mishmash of smiling faces, colors and sounds.

I didn't hear a single Irish tune until a couple of drunk farangs wandered past, singing "The Black Velvet Band" at the top of their lungs.  I shouted to them that it was the first Irish song I'd heard in the whole parade, and they slurred, "God bless ya!"  Yep, you can find crazy Irishmen all over the world.

See the little one standing in front of the
driver?  Very common sight here.

One group of young Thais performed some hip hop dancing - not sure how that fit in with the theme, but they were very entertaining.  We were also entertained by some Thai dancers in their traditional garb.  Several pushy tourists from a particular unnamed country were jumping out in front of the groups to take selfies - when did this become so important to people??

I was contemplating following the parade down to it's terminus, where there was supposed to be music and dancing.  I asked Mick to drive past the school where the festivities were being held before he dropped me at the mall.  He kept telling me, "Madame, I think it's too far."  Well, by the time the parade finally made its way past, I was ready to head home.  I hated admitting that he was right.

I was back home in good time, heated up some dinner and listened to a little "Waking Ned Divine" to satisfy my craving for some good Irish tunes.  Erin Go Bragh.

Wishing a Happy Birthday to my Michael - I love you so much!