How did you celebrate this New Year period Dec 2022 / Jan 2023 ?

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Since I am still fairly new here in Thailand as a recent retiree - I would like to share with you my first Thailand New Year's Eve period to get your feedback.

Part ONE - New House Blessing

On 29 December and 30 December - a gay couple (Thai + Lao) that I know bought a new flat in the Life City Park over in Bo Win in Rayong. They can be seen in the below first photo - the one in the green t-shirt making the peace sign and his partner inside the house standing up and pointing.
The monks were coming to the home early on the 30th so they asked me to sleep there on the 29th to guarantee my presence. I still don't have a car or motorcycle and we checked BOLT and its dependability on big distances like this during the crowded holiday period would not guarantee my arrival in time.


So, on the night of the 29th about 30 of their friends and family stopped by or slept there ( 16 people slept in the actual house as they also came from far away ). They finished the food preparation for the next day and we celebrated by eating some of it for dinner on the floor on floor mats. At my age, it takes me some effort to sit like that as my body is now more rigid than when I was young.

Are you able to sit and eat like them on the floor ??

Meal_night_before2.jpg

The food was really good and I ate some things that I NEVER have eaten before. They even warned me to NOT use the hot sauce but I insisted on trying it anyway - and yes I sweated after eating it.


Morning came and the 5 monks arrived and they sat in the living room on the floor on special mats that were delivered from the local Buddhist temple. My friends had to move out of the living and dining room areas all of their furniture. Conveniently, as this is a new housing complex, the house immediately next to them is vacant so they used that patio to put all of their furniture. While the monks were praying and blessing inside the house the most important people of the 40 in attendance were busy preparing the monk's meals in special silver ornate metal bowls - also delivered ahead of time from the local Buddhist temple.

preparation_of_the_meal2.jpg


The part that most amazed me was the "opening of the third eye" - like right out of a science fiction film - as we don't give much attention to our individual third eyes in our Western world. So, the designated Buddha statue is given to the main primary monk where he makes this statue "operational" by opening up its third eye with a special Buddhist blessing. I believe that the third eye is like an antennae to our higher spiritual being (or creator). While the monk was performing this exercise, the hairs on my arm stood up as I found it so moving. I need to discover more about our dormant Western third eye.


Do any of you reading this use your third eye?? I believe that it is located in the center of your forehead above your nose.

Opening_of_the_Third_Eye.jpg

Then the BIG event - the primary main monk got up on a chair above the main entrance of the house to paint / etch with a special golden pen a symbol that, according to my Thai friend, states that this house has been blessed and that evil is not welcome here. This process of etching and then placing seals on the etched insignia took quite a while and the gay couple had to stay on their knees for quite a while to support the chair that the monk was standing on to ensure his safety.

monk_preparing_signage.jpg

Lastly, the monks then went through each of the rooms sprinkling "holy" spiritual water ( it is probably sacrilegious to use the word holy to describe what I saw in the Buddhist religion ) and then exited the house to sprinkle this religious water on each of us to bless us. They used a type of bamboo bundle of sticks to do it and I was told that the religious water is prepared back at the Buddhist temple.

blessing.jpg

Have any of you had similar Buddhist monk experiences in your time in Thailand ?


This ends part one of my lead up to my Dec 2022 New Year's celebrations.


Part TWO - Condo holiday party etiquette

About a week ago the condo where I live solicited for donations to pay for a New Year's Day party for the staff (maintenance, security, gardeners, administration, etc.). What I found weird is that the notice was directed towards condo owners. So I felt excluded as I rent here. So I called the number and I spoke to the organizer and she told me - well we don't include renters - as our past experience is that renters don't want to make donations as they are not owners. I asked her if I could make a donation as I am made to feel VERY welcome here by all of the condo complex staff here. She was quite surprised that I even cared about the condo complex building staff - as she said that they even have difficulties in getting donations from the actual condo owners.

condo_solicitation_for_contributions.jpg

The condo staff offer a great service. For example, if I am having difficulties coming home from shopping they are right at the BOLT taxi to help me get into the elevator and up to my condo - you never have to ask them. If they see you coming for the elevator they hold the door open to make sure that you can enter. Two times that I needed maintenance in my condo - the maintenance team was at my condo within 1 to 2 hours after my request. Every day when I go in and out they are always smiling and saying hello.


We used to have this kind of concierge service in our large condo buildings in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s - before the ravages of self-service in the USA came and all of these types of normal services were either taken away as cost cutting measures or made to be very expensive for the select few who could afford them. Living here in a Jomtien condo building is a real treat - especially if you are a baby boomer who remembers the good old days.


Being in the holiday spirit, I decided to take a personal initiative where I would prepare and give each condo staff member a personal card from me saying how much I appreciated their professional service and as a new retiree here that they make me feel special, welcome, and belonging to a great condo complex. Firstly, I had to find money cards. These are easily found back in Europe and in the USA during the holiday season. I had great difficulties finding something equivalent. I traveled over to Pattaya city and walked around until in a Mr. DIY shop at the Pattaya Avenue complex I found ornate Chinese money cards (as the Chinese New Year will arrive at the end of January) that were perfect and super cheap. Then onto my home computer to write the perfect thank you message in English and then to translate it from English to Thai and then back from Thai back to English to see what could be tweaked to make sure that I deliver a correct and meaningful message. Then the printing of the messages in both English and Thai that would fit into the size of the small money card envelopes. Then the ironing of the baht bank notes that I collected so that they would feel crisp, clean, and new. And then the assembly of the complete package - illustrated in the below photo collage.

condo_gift_messages.jpg

Before heading over to Bo Win for the above mentioned house blessing I went around lunch time downstairs to the main floor where the hive of activity is by our condo workers and I started to distribute them to everyone I could find. And when I could not find someone the staff were already calling them from their work duty station to come to the lobby to collect their holiday note gift. The smiles on their individual faces and kind words in their limited English - truly made my holiday the best!! In fact, one of the security guys - every time he sees me he taps his shirt pocket (as he showed me that he stored my note in his pocket) and says thank you - I will never forget you. Truly a blessing to live here as a new retiree.


So, do any of you who live in a large condo building have any similar experiences?


I am curious to know how your condo building team that takes care of you every day is treated.

Part THREE - New Year's Eve festivities


Around 10:30pm I headed over to the Jomtien Supertown Complex to join my 2 Thai friends at the massage shop where they work - they had already been drinking for quite a while and kept asking me when am I coming to join them. I wanted to start late as I was sure that I would suffer a hangover the next day. They were already dancing in front of their massage shop and I immediately joined in - and got about 20 minutes of dancing in.


We drank until 11:45pm when we headed over to Dongtan beach to watch the local fireworks and the massive launching of the flying lanterns - the sky was amazingly alit and the beach was full of happy people.

Dongtan_fireworks.jpg
-->> sorry about the crappy third photo - as Koh Larn is quite far away - my mobile phone camera did not do a good job of capturing the amazing Koh Larn fireworks - but with the naked eye they were still breathtaking.

What was also amazing to note is that there was a dual firework show put on by Pattaya city with simultaneous fireworks on Koh Larn. From Dongtan beach we could see the fantastic (although distant) Koh Larn island fireworks. However, from Dongtan beach it was not possible to see the Pattaya city fireworks due to the curvature of the beach and Pratumnak hill. So we were truly immersed in 2 sets of fireworks and floating lanterns.


We hugged and kissed at the conclusion of the countdown and remained a little while to take in all of the amazing sights.


Then we walked back into the Jomtien Complex and walked through the main covered section which by now was heaving with a TON of people and there was a blockage in the main walkway as The Palace bar had constructed a dance floor that protruded out into the main walkway. You had to kind of climb over one of the edges of the dance floor to proceed to our destination, which was the Coqtale bar to say hello to our friend Paul and then to hopefully dance in the Double Shot bar.


At this end of the complex - near the Poseidon hotel/restaurant the complex had a reasonable noise level and we could truly talk with each other and hear each other. My fantasy to dance in the Double Shot bar was not going to happen as the Double Shot bar was kind of subdued in my opinion (whereas, on other nights it was more energetic and there were people dancing) - so dancing was not on the menu tonight. The only dancing would be to return to the madness of The Palace and the loud noise so we just decided to remain at the Coqtale bar until closing time. Before I knew it, Paul said to me, hey you need to go as we need to close the bar before the police come. I looked at my phone and it was already 2:30 in the morning. Wow!! the night flew by. So I said good by to everyone and then walked home - and woke up very late today with a hangover. Had I been able to dance - I am sure that by dancing I would have burned off some of the alcohol and I would have had less of a hangover.


How were all of your New Year's Eve celebrations ?

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