The Cultural Dinner

  An Experience

We were told that the cultural dinner will be an occasion unique to our experience. 

We looked forward to the treat.

 Apparently, there were 2 batches of dinner time for each evening.

We were booked for the later one ; around 7.30pm.

Outside the restaurant, vendors displayed all kinds of local products similar to the night markets and we seemed to have enough of them; shawls, decorative items, clothes and you name them.

We had quite a wait; eagerly anticipating what the dinner would offer.

 Soon our wait was over and we placed on a table close to the stage. It was indeed quite a scene with hundreds of guests being placed at one large banquet hall. I could easily count a number close to 300 if not more. We were wondering how and what kind of food would we be served. 

Look at the hungry faces waiting to be served.

 This is how food was dispensed. Food was packed and carried around in weaved baskets for a local ambiance and ethos. So the waiters and waitresses trotted around in quick steps to serve the eager guests. Food was served in minutes !

Here they are. That's the food we were served. I would grade it average and the only consolation is they are topped up at every request. We were expecting more local cuisines familiar to our understanding; hot and spicy but it did not turn out that way.

However, we ate to our hearts' content.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was this cultural touch. Young, energetic beauties danced throughout the evening entertaining us to the beat of Thai songs and music. It was appropriate to old eyes but the youth may find it a little too old-fashioned. But such cultural display must never be discontinued and forgotten. But new twists could be introduced though.

So we ended our final evening in Chiangmai with this cultural show and as it is said all good things will have to come to an end as we packed ourselves for home the next day,

A trip for down memory lane.