Lickay – Thai Pantomime

Lickay tonight, but more about that later. The weather first as according to tradition.

Well, it’s so hot today that it is unpleasant to go to the toilet because the water coming out of the bidet is almost boiling!

It’s forty-seven outside, but probably more in, if it were not for the fans and the aircon. It’s a good job that our area is too sodden to suffer from scrub fires or whatever they are called. Prairie fires? Not that there are any prairies around here, just thousands of acres of rice fields (I don’t like the expression ‘paddy fields’. What is paddy anyway? They just grow rice in these fields). They are not flooded knee-deep either, and are only slightly damp most of the time. Perhaps there are different types of rice requiring different growing conditions. I think so.

No more contributions to ‘Asian Shorts’ for a while. I have come to the conclusion that it is easier to write a book myself, than rely on other people’s promises. I can write 3,000 words a say, for 50k takes seventeen days and job done, whereas this way, I have spent nineteen days and am only 53% through it.

There is a Lickay in the village tonight. That means that someone is putting on a show for the village people free of charge in celebration of something. I don’t know what the occasion is, but these Lickays are held in the village Temple grounds on a fairly large stage. The nearest I can get to it is pantomime, but there is only one storyline. Good troupes will work in topical references though to keep every performance slightly different. In general, Thais find them hilarious.

My wife is up there now cooking, but for whom I don’t know, since monks may not eat after noon and I have never been given food at a Lickay. Perhaps there is a private party before the public performance.

A performance costs about £400 or more and the best troupes need to be booked well in advance as they tour the country. The gowns, if not the sets are lavish, often costing £2,000 each, which is a fortune in a country where most people earn £5-£6 a day.

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Lickay – Thai Pantomime