Thai school sports day fun and games.

Apart from all the marching, and dancing there were some sports to be played. Well more fun games. The first being a simple relay race using a pink scarf. Ten people in a team and you run down around a chair and back to the next person.

This girl was rounding the chair for home.

A year 1 girl was still in her marching outfit racing.

A small year 1 boy was flying along.

Now, the parents also get to have some fun. Here some parents are playing musical chairs. My mate Keith was the only male in the game.

Keith was very happy when he hip and shouldered this lady out of the way.

Here Keith seems to have his hand in an interesting place, luckily there was a chair next to her and he wasn’t eliminated.

Here the contestants are making for the chairs with vigour.

Soon it was down to three people, Keith was one of them and here even though the lady looks like she has beaten him, she was wrong. Keith bumped her about 5 metres across the ground and happily sat down.

The last two were making for the last chair.

And Keith was the quickest.

Team red went wild and celebrations were underway. Out of the 10 contestants there were 3 broken toes, 4 broken fingers, one broken wrist and two fractured hips. These were all inflicted by Keith.

Keith hadn’t had enough and lined up for a 3 legged race. Have you ever seen a happier guy? This too was a relay race, 3 couples in all but Keith didn’t know and started celebrating after they came home in front.

These are some of team red’s cheer squad and are senior students; they too look like they are having a lot of fun.

Next up was a water balloon relay race. This was fun for the kids as trying to carry overfilled balloons were difficult for small hands.

Here a girl in pink carries a pink balloon.

Here team red cheer squad is in action.

And disaster did strike some times, another balloon would be delivered and the student could carry on the race.

So that was the sport side of the fun day for the small kids.

Brunty

All is well in sleepy Ubon, Thailand.

A few people have asked if I am safe here in Ubon. Even in Bangkok it is safe if you keep away from the nutcase mob, they think they are doing the best thing for the country. I cannot see how they think taking the international airport is good for the country.

I am in no way worried with what is happening, all I can say is that no country in the world would allow this to happen and if a mob tried they would be dealt with swiftly and they should use extreme force on the yellow wearing tools, whatever the outcome of that may be. If this means a large loss of life then so be it. I will not lose a second of sleep over it.

I don’t support either party and have no interest in politics here. The current government should run its term and the yellow hand clappers should offer a voice of opposition in parliament. Only one prime minister has run a full term since Thailand became a democracy, not a good record.

Obviously this situation cannot go on much longer in Bangkok as it is crippling the country; tourism is Thailand’s life blood, so something has to give and very soon. I will watch in interest but the country is going to hit many more lows before things look like getting better.

I would not plan on visiting Thailand for the near future, not at Christmas even if things clear up in Bangkok. When Thaksin, the ex prime minister returns we will see an Armageddon of sorts. He will become prime minister again as he has said and then he will wage a war on all the people who have hunted him, well that is my prediction.

Wonder what the odds might be with a bookie?

Brunty

Thai school fun, dancing and fancy dress, Thailand.

At school we had our sports day for the little kids. One of our Brothers was on hand to start off the opening ceremony.

The small students lined up ready for the opening ceremony fun; they looked great in their outfits.

These are some of team red’s team.

And some of team white, they looked dazzling.

Our Brother started the ceremony by addressing the King and then the royal anthem was played.

All the kids and parents were crowded on the footsal court.

Then Brother banged the large gong and we were underway; for dancing that is.

The first competition is dancing; the three teams have to dance. It is very entertaining and amusing to see.

A small team red girl was dancing along with the music.

This young fellow looked very handsome in his outfit with his happy mum.

Then it was hula girls on the stage.

A young hula girl looked very beautiful.

Some young dancers had swimming goggles on.

A very handsome year 1 student.

Looking very cool with his goggles on.

Making a funky dance move.

Some more dancers doing their thing.

Another young student in a lovely outfit.

Two very happy year 1 students with ice cold orange juice drinks.

So all the dancing was virtually out of the way, so the sport events could start. But that will be another post in the near future.

Brunty

Thai School Sports Day, Thailand.

Last Saturday on kindergarten and year 1 to 3 students had their sports day. They all gathered in the car park of Tesco Lotus to assemble in their teams. Sport’s day is about some sports but mostly it is a chance for the young students to be dressed up by their parents.

These handsome boys are some of my year 1 students, they look very dapper indeed.

This is a year 1 girl, doesn’t she look amazing.

This is a year 2 girl and looked very beautiful in her lovely dress. She has a great personality as well and is always really bubbly at school.

This is one of my year 1 students, he is a very big handful as his attention span is about 10 seconds but I love him to death as he makes me laugh so often.

Our school band was on hand to lead the marchers on their parade to the school.

The students filed out of the car park and onto Ubon Ratchathani’s main road. We had 3 police officers to help controlling traffic.

This is one of the very few police who are lucky enough to have a police issued motorcycle. Most police have to use their own motorbike and get a really piss poor petrol allowance a month; they even have to buy their own handgun. I have seen some police carrying handguns that are from many years gone by.

This parade was taking place at peak hour traffic time at around 8.30am. This road gets very busy for about an hour a day and it would have been wise to maybe have the march a little earlier.

The traffic was banked up a long way down the road as people tried to merge into the one lane.

The best way to travel, some garbage collectors sitting on top of the truck, we pay 200 Baht a year to have our bin emptied about 4 times a week.

The marchers made it to the school entrance, the walk is about 200 to 250 metres only but it took a long time and I was happy when they finally arrived.

The red team was first through the school gates.

The blue team was next to make their entrance.

And bringing up the rear of the march was the white team. They filed past Saint Louis De Montfort statue and toward the assembling area.

The students and parents gathered on the footsal court waiting for the opening ceremony to take place and then the fun and games to begin.

To see any of the pictures in larger sizes just click on one and go to my Flickr account.

Brunty.