e 'a' & 'o' in 2nd kor's name are not actually written. their presence is 'implied' by e consonants that flank them. last line has 'kren bawnruum' (grand ballroom) in it.
written Thai gets e cat's whiskers & tail all tangled up. 44 consonants, 35+ vowels, plus hundreds(?) of rules. e cat's Thai CFM lecturer (a native Thai linguist) has to recite some poem to recall which are e 20+ words that use one of e 2 characters for 'ai' (ไ). e cat can only recall one of them, which is e word 'Thai' itself =P
e cat still can't remember e entire alphabet, & probably never will. but e cat can remember that one of e first few words added to its Thai vocabulary as a kindergarten kid was ตด dtoht3 aka. fart(n,v), after Ae & An drew a picture that had a fish with bubbles rising from it, but not from its gills. e first word learnt was probably khwaai1 (buffalo), which was what we used to insult 2nd kor.
here guests flip through e wedding album while queueing for their turn for 'official' photos with e bride+groom+parents, after signing e guestbook & surrendering their ang pao.
groom's sis-in-law, bride's friends & some of e longest-serving staff from e groom's family business helped to man e guest reception. for e staff, it was an honour to be involved in 大少爷的喜事. was so happy to have e longest-serving employee with us at e Soi Langsuan dinner e previous night. his hair has turned all white, & he can remember e cat as a kitten sorting buttons into 12 piles of 12 to pack them into packets of 144 & sitting atop bales of textiles trying to find colour matches for customers' samples.
photos taken 20 years apart: 2005 [L] & 1985 [R]
e groom's grandma is already 90+ & showing signs of senility. most of e time it's minor stuff e.g. she will happily talk to you, hold your hand, then start asking others who you are (jik4 si3 di3 diang1 lai1 eh3?) as if meeting a new relation for e first time (this process loops several times through e day), or forget if she has already eaten, or after getting ready to go out for dinner, ask worriedly why is everyone leaving e house.
interesting how everyone handles it with a big fat dose of good humour, laughing at all e strange things she says, even trying to test her memory & getting her all puzzled. maybe e stress is divided up into tiny bits between e huge no. of relatives & shop staff, so her caregivers don't feel overloaded? she's delighted when people come to visit, & eager to go out for dinner (she usually refuses to step out of e house) whenever e cat's family comes to Bangkok. & she loves all e pecks on e cheek that her granddaughters give her (hua2 hii2 sii4!) =)
Mem & Mee = M&Ms as door gifts =P they walked together like this so that e bride wouldn't trip on her gown. she is super PL, so perhaps e whale & e duck might want to consider Thai PLMMs ;)
3 brothers - videocameraman, groom & emcee =)
e guest of honour & his wife came on stage to place phuang malai garlands around e bride & groom's necks. e 3 VIPs then each gave a speech. each speech ended with all those on stage wai4-ing (e tradition Thai greeting) with heads bowed & eyes closed while all guests stood up, as e speaker said something about asking for e couple to be blessed by e Buddhist equivalent of e 'holy spirit', e Royal Family & all guests (as translated by Phii Jim). after which everyone raised their glasses & shouted 'chai1yo2!' thrice, e Thai equivalent of yam seng toasts....just that e same 'chaiyo' appears in e King's anthem but yam seng isn't part of Majulah Singapura =P
afte cutting e wedding cake, e bride & groom had to kneel down to serve cake to e guest of honour, VIPs, their parents & e groom's grandma. they also included e cat's parents in this, which was a big fat surprise =)
emcee's jacket to e rescue - grandma feeling cold. he & e groom were brought up by her in Thailand & then by e cat's mum in Singapore.
kors + luuk4 muu2
as a kid, 2nd kor could eat up to 3 plates of rice for dinner. e cat's family had to use 2 rice cookers every night. sometimes e cat would reach home after school only to find its dinner inside his stomach. any food left unattended in e house would never be seen again.
but tonight, for e first time ever, 2nd kor couldn't finish his food....so we jumped at e chance to help him =)
300 baht catsuit from Phahurat
[to be cont'd - waiting for lots more photos from Thailand]
[ filed under: thewanderingstraycat + bangkok_2005 + thai1 + 9_lives_2005 ]
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