A couple weeks ago, I attended the annual fisherman’s festival in Samut Prakan, in the province next to Bangkok. I was very honoured, as it is a local event that few non-Thais get to participate in. Once a year, the community pays honour to a monk that lived there over a century ago. They take a statue of him covered in gold leaf into the Gulf of Thailand on a boat, followed by around 20 other boats from the community. There’s music, dancing, shouting — oh and did I mention it starts at 7 a.m.!? Since the community is made primarily of fishermen, they all need to go to work afterwards! For good luck, the ships pass by each other throwing gifts back and forth such as sticky-rice wrapped in banana leaf, bags of peanuts and juice boxes. The game is to make a good catch or a good throw and make sure nothing falls into the Gulf. After circling around three times, the main ship carrying the monk’s statue hands out flags to each ship for further good fortune. Here are a few photos from my early morning adventure:
