Maurole Welcome
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Fri 26 Aug 2016 22:57
Maurole
Welcome
We settled
promptly at six but didn’t move to the stage
seating for over an hour. A dragonfly sitting
on Gin’s knee gave us a respite during the long wait.
A man who looked and sounded like
Deputy Dog stood and gave a very long welcome speech
in a voice that sounded like a young lad mid voice-breaking-time. The translator
was good in as much as he did quite a bit of paraphrasing, then came the local dignitary. Thank heavens the
beer fridge was restocked.
The entertainment (all local school
children) began by a chap cantering around, stopping
to pose in a threatening stance before being joined
by a group of young ladies.
More young men
joined in.
The hand
gestures were very Thai-like and the finale
brought an almighty cheer from behind.
Turning, we could see most of the inhabitants of the two villages had massed into a
frenzied and loud crowd.
We had the privilege of presenting
the signed rally flag to the
headman who wore incredibly shiny shoes. Bear gave a little speech and
after translation we were followed by a Jackson Five group
of youngsters dressed to the nines.
Next, a very nice
dance explaining how rice came to be.
This pair received cheers and whoops
that would have them believe they were Nureyev and Fontain as they finished
their modern dance. A delicious
supper was served at ten to nine – sadly, no one took the microphone from
Deputy Dog who wailed loudly all through the meal. The interpreter gave up and
went for a smoke or three. After we had finished eating the
dancers had us all join in.
ALL IN ALL A GREAT EFFORT BY
EVERYONE TO WELCOME US
INCREDIBLE SO MANY LOCALS TURNED OUT FOR
US |