Trip Report: Pt. 21: Wat Carnival / Fundraiser 1

The festival stage, which competed somewhat noisily with the amplified blessings and message from the monk bedhind where I was standing to take this

Cutting my breaded and
fried chicken breasts into a
bag for my take-away

Along the short stretch of roadway that runs parallel with Laem Sing Beach is a wat, or temple. I wish I'd have taken a photo of some sort of signage there because I didn't make note of it at the time and neither myself nor my friend remember the name of it.

It had some buildings and a small multi-purpose room that was serving as the place of worship, but other than a couple of smaller buildings there was no actual temple structure.  It was a work in progress.

Two of the nights I was in town there was a fundraiser going on to raise money for the construction of a new temple, and we spent several hours there each evening, joining in with the prayer and meditation as well as the games, dancing and other activities.

Boys trying to toss balls into pots to win prizes

I know we didn't eat an organized dinner one of the two evenings because we passed the festival on our way to the open-air restaurant we'd planned to eat at, and I'd fooled myself into thinking I could just stop in at such an event and only stay a few minutes to look around.  My friend knew better, but he went along with it and had a variety of walk-away snacks for dinner along with me.

By the time I was finished with my "few minutes" it was closer to bedtime than dinner time.  I'll post more about the festival tomorrow, including my somewhat extended visit with a monk who was somewhat tipsy and anxious to show me around.