18-03-2008
Relaxing After the Meeting
Maureen and Garry Metcalfe (above, relaxing after Garry's presentation) went to Thailand to see Mai get married. Gary's presentation was well-received, particularly after he was able to reassure Club members that Mai had married a really nice guy. Parts of Garry's presentation appear below.
- Mai Yanagihara (as she then was) was an ambassadorial scholar from Japan studying here. A very nice girl.
- Maureen and I went to her wedding in Thailand in January when she married a Thai.
- We stayed with Louis, her fiancé, in a house he had bought for Mai.
- They hired a 12-seater bus to transport everyone.
- I've never seen so many flowers and plants as they have in the gardens and everywhere.
- The wedding was in two parts. The first was a civil ceremony, just paper filling that took hours as Mai was a foreigner.
- After staying a couple of days in Bangkok, we flew to Phuket for the Buddhist ceremony.
- The resort used was chosen because it was wheelchair accessible to accommodate Mai's brother.
- They have a theory there that old Europeans are pickled in brine (sea water) before being displayed (on beds on the beach). They are wheeled out every morning and taken back in in the evening.
- They had a baby elephant to bring up the rear of the wedding procession.
- The Buddhist wedding ceremony was done in Sanskrit, so no-one could understand it.
- When Mai's brother asked to have his picture taken with the baby elephant, the elephant put his trunk aroundthe brother for the photo.
Last changed: 03:21:32 04-10-2008