Chinese New Years in Chanthaburi

I went to Paige's host family for the weekend to celebrate chinese New years with them. Paige lived in Thailand four years ago on a rotery exchange in Highschool for one year. So, she took me to her host familys house to celebrate since they are chinese. It was somewhat difficult since I cannot speak Thai, but Paige speaks Thai so she translated for me whenever it was necessary. The familys father is the mayor of the city and they have a massive family. They live in a 5 story house next to the mercedes benz dealership and the ice factory that they own.

This is the shrine that they have on the 5th floor of the house. There are tons of buddahs here and elephants and in the room just next to here are portraits of their recently passed relatives that they pray. They light incense and pray with them to their ancestors, then put the burning incense in a pot infront of their portrait. Paige and I were allowed to pray and sit in meditation position in front of the buddahs to think about our ancestors. It was a very nice experience.

These are 3 of the neices within the family that we hung out with all weekend. From left to right is: Suwichaya, Paige, Rainny, Kirada, and myself. We are all holding a chocolate that spells out Love <3.

This is a fish they had within their house. I thought he was pretty amazing! Look at those lips and eyes!! haha :)

During the day on valentine's day a group of us went to the beach. Get me a tan!! :) haha Left to right: Pi Jang, Pi Bong, Kiranda, an Aunt, Suwichaya, Rainny, then Paige's arms. haha. We brought a feast with us and ate an feast all weekend!! So much food!!

They served us a fish that was still burning below it! :) haha it was pretty funny, but difficult to get some fish because the flames would flicker out through the bottom and lick your wrist. haha.

This is a picture of the beach that we spent the day on. It was beautiful. The water was SO SO SO warm!! Lovely Gulf of Thailand!! :)

This is me, an aunt, and Paige on the beach! Im not even that white anymore!! :)

This is us bananaboating!!! :) Paige, me, and Pi Wow. It was alot of fun! but everytime we took a corner - we all went down!! haha.

This is Paige and I. Paige's mouth is filled with food. haha What yummy food!!

We went to a toy factory and we got to pick out toys we wanted. I picked a little Pooh bear obviously :) We had to wear masks because of all the dust. Those masks are SO SO hot - you want to pass out they make everything so much hotter. It was already about 33 degrees this day! Ps. I have been climatized!! At night we turned the A/C on and at 24 degrees I was too cold to sleep!!! bahaha! How wonderful!!!

This is a shrine on the first floor of the house. It is pretty. I did not learn more about it.

These are the tastiest treats!! :) They are all multi coloured. and they are like a sweeter bread!! Paige and I got to help make them, we just put the batter into the cups so they could be steamed! :) The family made TONS of food to give to all their employees.

Also! One of the traditions on Chinese New Years, is for adults, or those who are married, to give Red envelopes to those younger than them. These envelopes are filled with money. Paige told me about this tradition, but I did not expect anything from the family, but since they are so wonderful, they gave me envelopes as well! So I made 3,700 Baht ($123) this weekend. :)

So overall - it was a great weekend!