The Sky, and New Year's (early)

One of the joys of having to ride back and forth to dinner is the night sky here in Mae Sa Laung. There is not much artificial light, so now that the moon is just a crescent, and setting early, the sky is beautiful. The last 2 nights have been stunning, as you may have noticed wherever you are, with Venus almost cradled in the moon. With my simple camera, I did the best I could this evening.

Another nice thing about Thailand is getting to look at Orion and the Pleiades overhead without either getting up at 3AM or freezing while I am doing it. Tonight it was the Pleades directly overhead and me comfortable in a T-shirt. But then, tonight, the sky is also peppered with those lanterns I wrote about in the last post. Every once in a while, one gets really high, and it can fool you into thinking that Mars has gotten brighter and changed position (the lanterns have an orangy look). The farm here is in a wooded area, so I cannot see much from my window, but I just went out and there were a few lanterns off in the distance in a perfectly clear sky. There has been a steady beat of gunfire/cannon fire/fireworks/firecackers or whatever since about 7PM. There is loud music coming from at least 2 directions. It is a party.

On the way home from dinner, I saw several large groups (extended families, or neighbors?) eating outside sitting on the ground in a somewhat formal-looking setting. Perhaps there is a religious connection with New year's here. On the other hand, I also saw someone carrying a fifth (or liter or whatever) down the road. I understand that it is even more dangerous to drive here tonight than back in the States. Maybe that is why they need 5 days off- big party.

I will save Lal Lian's news for later...just wanted to give you a flavor of the early nighttime portion of New Year's here.