Do not be mistakened by the title of this post; it has got nothing to do with the Tai-tais who are well-versed in enjoying the finer side of life. This "Tai-tai" here simply means "very Thai" (authentic Thai you can call it too), a phrase I got to know from my Thai friend Oh.
Well you see, my friend Oh is not a typical Bangkokian, for he isn't one to start with. He actually came from a village in Nakhon Nayok province, but had been out of his villages for over a decade due to his travelling work with his ex-Teochew opera troupe. Now he had quitted from Chinese opera, and is taking up a musical career in Suratthani province. As it has been ages since he had returned home, and that his birthday was just around the corner, he decided to invite me over, to see how his hometown is like, as well as to experience how a true Songkran Festival is like, other than all the water splashing.
I arrived at Phuket International Airport at around 3.15pm local time, and my friend OH had just arrived. I originally didn't know he really intended to bring me back to his hometown, but soon after I saw him, he told me that we'd be taking the next available flight to Bangkok, from there we'd be taking another transport to his home. I was taken aback, for although the flight from Singapore to Phuket wasn't exactly long, I was already quite tired. So it took us a few more hours before I finally arrived at his hometown in Nakhon Nayok. It was there I got another big surprise of the day: Oh's going to bring me attend a funeral! Well, the father of one of his mother's workers had passed away, and the entire family would be attending the funeral. This is the true blue spirit of the village people, as everyone's so close to one another that funerals get attended by everyone in the village, despite the fact that it is their New Year.
I think Oh and I became the instant highlight of the event the moment we turned up, due to our dressing. I was told later on that people would usually wear only black or white to funerals, but Oh and I were actually wearing floral shirt, and somemore we had not removed the flowers from our neck before we left his house. His mother told us that many people thought we were either drunk or simply mad (many of Oh's fellow village mates couldn't recognised him already since he'd left long ago), but of course she stood to our defence as she knew this wasn't intentional. However, I was still blaming Oh silently in my heart for making such a blunder!
The funeral was an eye-opening, although I didn't really got the chance to get near the place where the coffin was placed. We were all seated outside this wooden house on higher grounds, listening to the monks chant prayers. It was a rather unbearable experience sitting outside because there were lots of mosquitoes. The funeral rituals ended after the participants to the funeral were treated to supper, a kind of wanton-mee-lookalike dish, except that it doesn't come with any noodles.
Oh and I excused outselves to return back to his house to pack some stuffs before heading to check in at a nearby guesthouse. Having left his hometown for over a decade, he wasn't too used to staying in his own home, and therefore decided to put up elsewhere for the night, and my first night in Nakhon Nayok ended right here...
Well you see, my friend Oh is not a typical Bangkokian, for he isn't one to start with. He actually came from a village in Nakhon Nayok province, but had been out of his villages for over a decade due to his travelling work with his ex-Teochew opera troupe. Now he had quitted from Chinese opera, and is taking up a musical career in Suratthani province. As it has been ages since he had returned home, and that his birthday was just around the corner, he decided to invite me over, to see how his hometown is like, as well as to experience how a true Songkran Festival is like, other than all the water splashing.
I arrived at Phuket International Airport at around 3.15pm local time, and my friend OH had just arrived. I originally didn't know he really intended to bring me back to his hometown, but soon after I saw him, he told me that we'd be taking the next available flight to Bangkok, from there we'd be taking another transport to his home. I was taken aback, for although the flight from Singapore to Phuket wasn't exactly long, I was already quite tired. So it took us a few more hours before I finally arrived at his hometown in Nakhon Nayok. It was there I got another big surprise of the day: Oh's going to bring me attend a funeral! Well, the father of one of his mother's workers had passed away, and the entire family would be attending the funeral. This is the true blue spirit of the village people, as everyone's so close to one another that funerals get attended by everyone in the village, despite the fact that it is their New Year.
I think Oh and I became the instant highlight of the event the moment we turned up, due to our dressing. I was told later on that people would usually wear only black or white to funerals, but Oh and I were actually wearing floral shirt, and somemore we had not removed the flowers from our neck before we left his house. His mother told us that many people thought we were either drunk or simply mad (many of Oh's fellow village mates couldn't recognised him already since he'd left long ago), but of course she stood to our defence as she knew this wasn't intentional. However, I was still blaming Oh silently in my heart for making such a blunder!The funeral was an eye-opening, although I didn't really got the chance to get near the place where the coffin was placed. We were all seated outside this wooden house on higher grounds, listening to the monks chant prayers. It was a rather unbearable experience sitting outside because there were lots of mosquitoes. The funeral rituals ended after the participants to the funeral were treated to supper, a kind of wanton-mee-lookalike dish, except that it doesn't come with any noodles.
Oh and I excused outselves to return back to his house to pack some stuffs before heading to check in at a nearby guesthouse. Having left his hometown for over a decade, he wasn't too used to staying in his own home, and therefore decided to put up elsewhere for the night, and my first night in Nakhon Nayok ended right here...
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