Kuen Ban Mai, a house blessing, Yasothon

It's going to a quiet little affair, nothing special... or words to that effect. So I have been regularly informed about the forthcoming marriage ceremony this coming August in Yasothon, somewhere in the depths of Isaan that I have yet to visit. I always get a bit worried when my wife-to-be repeats herself several times, it usually means I've got something that she knows will seriously worry me coming my way, but to spare me the trouble of pointless anxiety, she is altruistically 'keeping the whole truth from me'. So kind and thoughtful...

Kuen Ban Mai, Yasothon, May 8th

Having just donated to the worthy cause of a 'little' kuen ban mai house blessing ceremony for Ploy's aunt, I asked for a few photos. "How many people came?" "Oh, four hundred dah-ling." "A little ceremony, you said?" "This is Thailand, dah-ling!"... as if that explained everything. Well, in a way, I suppose it does.

Just a few tables being laid out...

I asked a few more probing questions, and was increasingly confused by the answers. I ventured that I didn't understand. "Why you not understand me?" came the reproachful response. A pause as I searched for something tactful to say, before she offered this follow-up... "but it ok dah-ling. I not understand what I say either". Time to surrender - end of conversation!

'Jerm', marks that will bless anyone passing through the front door...

But the longed-for return to Thailand is fast approaching, so spirits in France are lifting and being drunk in celebration at the same time as they are being appeased and invoked in my aunt-in-law's house blessing ceremony. A little more than a month to go, and it's au revoir - but sadly not adieu - la France, and sawat di krap Thailand for six more months.

Four months since I've seen the little one, now five months old...

Not so impressed by big get-togethers, apparently...

Chewing one's little toe off is much more fun...

And even that gets boring after a while...