The Village Fair. Tambon Choe Hai, Phrae

[Thetyim]

Today was the annual village fair so I went down to try out my new camera.

I haven't been to a fair for ages and some of the events seen to have changed a bit.
First up we had the Rice Planting Race.
I'm sure we never had that at the Surrey County Show.



Easy rules really just plant rice until you reach the end of the course.
First to finish wins




Our team is the one in red.
We won by miles

[reinvented]

nice sce3nery

seems a sly way to get someone to plany yer paddy for you though

[Thetyim]

Now this next event will need a bit of explaining.
It is called Grab an Eel

The water/mud behind the blue net is full of eels.
You have to grab one, jump over the net and then hand it to your partner who is waiting at the yellow tape.
They then run to the edge and put the eel safely in the bucket.

[Thetyim]

These country folk really know how to enjoy themselves.

Can you think of anything better than running through mud clutching a smelly eel ?

[Thetyim]

Now the next event did catch me out.
It is the Som Tum competition.
So here we are at the line up.
I was expecting them to make Som Tum







These two deserved a prize for the stupidest hats



When the music started everyone started dancing.
The prize goes to the best dancer.
This lady won for the most erotic dance.
She was being extremely suggestive with her utensils

[Thetyim]

On display were various local crafts.

Artificial Flowers

[sunsetter]

nice one mate, keep it coming!
great pics

[Thetyim]

Mushrooms




Khanom

[Thetyim]

Now the Horticultural Section.

This had a surprise for me.
This thing is a Maphrao Dtao or Turtle Coconut
I have never heard or seen one before.
Anyone else got any info on this thing ?




More displays






And this one which is special because my mother in law did it

[NickA]

I hope you bargained her down to 2.

[melvbot]

Good pics but Im still waiting on the gratuitous "fit bird doing something" shot.
Whats the new camera ?

[Thetyim]

No event in Phrae would be complete without Laab Luat Dib.

That's chopped beef in blood uncooked.
Yep, I passed on that one but some folk do eat it and survive

[Thetyim]

This looks nice but I can't help thinking that the carrots deserved a bit more attention

[Thetyim]

I hope you bargained her down to 2.

I think she was explaining that she has three daughters

[Thetyim]

[NickA]

^does she have 2 daughters?

[Thetyim]

Whats the new camera ?

Fuji

It was a toss up between a Canon or a Fuji
The Canon is a better camera but I would have to travel 400km to get it and my old Fuji and the local dealer have been so good to me that I went for another Fuji.

[Thetyim]

does she have 2 daughters?

Nope.
She has two parents who need housing, clothing and feeding
Interested ?

[Happyman]

No event in Phrae would be complete without Laab Luat Dib.

That's chopped beef in blood uncooked.
Yep, I passed on that one but some folk do eat it and survive

I love the stuff!
There is a lady from up your way with a stall down here in Phuket who does it !

Then again I loved the Broodje Tartar in Holland - basically the same thing !

On the other hand they do the same thing in Etheopia but there they pound the meat with some spices - make it into patties and leave them in the sun for a while to go crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Taste great but guaranteed to generate 2 days of the squitters ! ! LOL

[Thetyim]

^
I like the cooked version - Laab Luat Sook
but being a wimp I'm too scared to try the raw meat & blood

[Happyman]

On the rice /eels thing - another rambling I'm afraid !

When I was working in Vietnam the paddy fields used to be full of frogs as well - as soon as they had spawned and the tadpoles appeared , they used to catch the frogs and eat them.
Next stage was to put fish fry into the paddy ( Tilapia) and they fattened up on the tadpoles- they were then caught - the paddy drained and the rice harvested .
Nothing wasted !

[Travelmate]

Excellent pictures. Just sent a green as a reward for your good efforts

[sunsetter]

try leaving the raw meat overnight in pure lemon juice, very tasty^^^^

[CharleyFarley]

It can be tough being the only falang at these affairs, but they are never shy when you pull the camera out.

A nice slice of local life.

[Thetyim]

So is anybody going to wise me up on this beauty ?
I was told Maphrao Dtao and Turtle Coconut so I don't think I have got the wrong name but google gives me nothing.
I have never seen or heard of this thing before.
Have I stumbled onto something unusual ?


That's someone's foot in the background so it must be about 20 inches across