Thailand Festivals and Events 2010

The other day I was in Chonburi for the Buffalo Racing. This is an annual event that happens at the end of the Buddhist Lent in October. Also at this fair is this event I want to show you today. It is climbing the greasy pole competition. The rules are simple. Climb up this bamboo pole and try and reach the flags with money attached. The higher you can climb the more money you can collect. Right at the top of this pole is a 1,000 baht bank note. The man in the photo below on the left is only halfway to the top. The women on the right are already three persons high and had collected some money already. They were next trying to reach the 500 baht note. They couldn’t get it while I was watching.

This was a lot of fun to watch as they kept falling down on top of each other. They failed many times. Notice the picture on the right where the woman is breaking one of the “do not’s” that all guidebooks tell foreign tourists. Do you know which one? Yes, all Thai people are taught that the head is sacred and you shouldn’t point your feet at the head. Now here is this woman with her foot standing on top of her friend’s head!