Senior Day Celebration

On our final morning in Lampang, Nirund and Petcharin took us to a meeting of the Lampang Senior Citizens Association. The meetings are held in a large conference room of the Lampang General Hospital, an 800-bed public hospital. The seniors meet monthly but Thursday's meeting was a very special one as it was in conjunction with Thai New Year celebrations. 

Today's festivities were a celebration of elders and the blessing of younger members similar to what we participated in at the Lampang Baptist church the previous  Sunday.  However, this celebration was on a much grander scale. 

Nirund graciously lent us clothing so that we would be appropriately attired for the morning: a beautiful woven stole for Beth and his National Defense College shirt for me. And upon our arrival in the decorated meeting room, we were each given a ring of beautifully woven flower blossoms.

For those of you whose Thai is a little rusty, the sign behind us says Happy New Year (or something close to that)

Two members of the seniors association provided beautiful Thai traditional dancing. When they finished their dances, we were all invited to join them. Beth and I tried to beg out but to no avail. 

There were several speeches and then the ceremonial recognition of the eldest members of the group took place. These men and women, seated at tables at the front of the room, were presented with a tray of gifts and flowers. Beth was given the honor of presenting a tray to one of the oldest members of the group.

Once each of the elder members had received his or her tray of gifts, everyone else lined up and processed by the tables stopping before each elder to be blessed with a sprinkling of water and words of wisdom and well-wishing for the new year to come.

While not one of the eldest members, Nirund was honored and given a seat on the "blessing side" of the table. It was a lovely time with lots of laughter, singing, dancing, and sharing the blessings of friendship.

A luncheon concluded the morning's events and while everyone ate several people took turns going to the front of the room where a computer was set up and connected to speakers for the singing of Thai and English karaoke. I tried to beg off but Beth and Nirund insisted I participate. So I sang "Eidelweiss" from The Sound of Music and "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young. 

Nirund and Petcharin then drove us to the Lampang airport to see us off. Much to our dismay, we learned that our luggage was slightly over the weight limits because Qatar Airways permits more checked baggage than does Bangkok Air.  But with the assistance of the very helpful and gracious ticket agents at Bangkok Air our issues were resolved with no extra costs to us.

We hugged and thanked Nirund and Petcharin for their gracious hospitality during our week in Lampang. Then we walked across the tarmac, boarded the little prop jet with the painted palm trees and fish, and sadly flew away from Lampang to the big city of Bangkok.