Thai Tourism Festival
- Apr 1, 2017
- 3 min read
So much of our trip was about being in the right place at the right time and that was certainly true of our first day wandering around Bangkok. We had been trying to get to the Vietnam Embassy to get visas to go visit Ha Long Bay and Sapa valley Hmong villages, however, the Embassy was closed due to Chinese New Year celebrations. Txi and I were disappointed at the time, but this turned out to be fortuitous in the long run because it allowed us to spend more time in other parts of Thailand without having to rush through a jam packed itinerary. Besides which, Niam did not really want to go to Vietnam at all. Although it's been over 40 years since the Vietnam War, she still harbors fears (as many older Hmong Americans do) about how the Vietnamese as well as the Hmong in Vietnam would treat a Lao-Hmong who assisted the Americans during that conflict. So, it was a relief for her that we weren't able to go to Vietnam in this trip. Txi and I plan to add it to the itinerary of our next SE Asia trip, and instead of being annoyed with the setback, we chose to see it as an opportunity to focus more time in the various regions of Thailand...
Niam and I in the central park of downtown Bangkok, Lumpini Park, where we happened to catch the Thai Tourism Festival!
There were still some peaceful spots even in the middle of this huge festival in the center of a bustling city.
We were just in time to catch the parade! This was a celebration of 5 major tourism regions of Thailand including a variety of Thai regional fashions, music, dance, and history.
There was even a nod to the Chinese New Year celebrations within the parade...
The festival also included some activity centers, like this sewing table where people could come practice Thai sewing techniques...
Watching Thai weavers operating the loom...
Hip Thai band on one of the side stages
Main stage performance (at the time we arrived) was a cock fight! While Thailand is famous for these rooster fighting matches, this was the only one we saw during our whole trip...
Yellow rooster showing off...
In red rooster's corner...
The epic battle!
There was even police presence at this cock fight!
Caught these performers on a break and they were kind enough to take a photo with Niam.
There were several market areas within the festival...
Varieties of sticky rice, fresh tamarind, dried fruits...
And all the pork rinds you could ever want...
Niam made a friend (and got a complimentary rub down) when she bought some medicine for achy joints from this lady.
Hmong coffee booth!
With so many delicious food options all around us, we decided to eat at the place that had the most unique dish we could find...Although laab is something familiar to us, none of us had eaten duck laab, so we tried it out and were not disappointed!
Our lunch in the park: duck laab, kab yaub (fried eggrolls), fawm kauv (steamed rice rolls), chicken satay, and mov nplaum (sticky rice).
Wandering around the festival with some Thai iced coffee...
An artistic representation of an Akha woman...
Niam in one of the decorated archways that leads guests into another region of the Thai Tourist Festival...
Dance performance on one of the side stages...
Niam and I in the archway leading to the Northeast region of the festival (this is also the area of Thailand with the most Hmong villages)...
These magnolia flowers were dropping all over this lovely park...
Flowers in her hair...
Niam's photo shoot in Lumpini Park...
End of the day for us at the Thai Tourism Festival, Lumpini Park
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