Phrae

Standing outside the indigo shop in Thunghong and a funeral procession comes by. As with most things here both beautiful and interesting. I asked one of our guides if it was okay for me to record and he said it was okay. So the body is in the cart but not on display. Instead they have a photo on the front of the cart. Apparently the family can keep the body as long as they want. Always an odd number of days because odd numbers are for the dead and even for the living. Typically 3 to 7 days. After that the body is cremated either at a temple in larger cities or at home in smaller ones. Monks accompanying the procession (always an even number because they are living) chant usually in the evening each day for about an hour until the body is cremated. At that point a mortician collects the ashes. The family typically keeps a small portion and the rest is sprinkled in waterways. Was a privilege to witness.

Stopped by a place that makes indigo items. Kind of fascinating process for how they create the dye with plants and ashes and put wax designs on clothing to reverse dye items like dresses and shirts. Learned a little something.

Lunch today was "in the middle of nowhere" according to Udom. We did kinda have to walk down several backroads to get to it. Was pretty delicious though. Appetizer was some vegetable soup. Main course was grilled chicken with jade rice, noodles and some pumpkin cooked with eggs. You might be asking "why is the rice blue?" Good question! They cook the rice with butterfly pea flowers which colors the rice blue. All very good...but then...the dessert! Dessert was a three course meal itself. First dessert was fresh fruit. New and unusual ones. Second was a nut cookie that tasted a lot like peanut brittle. Third was for one of our tourists birthdays. It was some sort of coconut gel surrounding shredded coconut and some other flavor. All of this was chased by Chang beer. In all a great lunch.