World Blog Surf Day: Remember, remember…

…the fifth of November!

If you’ve clicked over from my dear blogging friend Just A Plane Ride Away welcome and welcome to this edition of World Blog Surf Day!  World Blog Surf Day is a round-the-world blogging trip where expats talk about a certain aspect of their life in their new country.  It is a fabulous event because not only do you get to visit different countries, you also get the benefit of the different cultural backgrounds that we bring to our new countries.  The idea is that I will link to the next blogger at the bottom of my post and you can click through to 41 bloggers as you surf around the world!!!

The theme for this edition of WBSD is:

Holidays & Celebrations--What is your favourite new holiday and how is it celebrated?

Well, America has Halloween and South Africa has Christmas (albeit a hot and sunny one) so I would say that my favourite celebration that is unique to England is Bonfire Night.  Actually… who am I kidding?  Bonfire Night has always been my favourite since I was a little girl.

Lewes Bonfire Night 2007 - Bonfire Onlooker, originally uploaded by Dominic's Pics

The Legend of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

Queen Elizabeth I persecuted Catholics and many had hoped that her successor James I would be more tolerant of Catholics as his mother was one.  This was not the case however and in 1605, 13 young men decided to take the matter into their own hands.

They came up with the brilliant plan (she says sarcastically) to blow up the Houses of Parliament, thereby killing the King and the Protestant nobility who were bringing misery to the Catholic people.

Robert Catesby led the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes was put in charge of the execution.  They obtained 36 barrels of gunpowder and stored them in a cellar under the House of Lords.  The problem was that many innocent people would get harmed in the explosion as Catholics and Catholic sympathisers would also be at the Houses of Parliament.

Of the 13 conspirators, several fled to Dunchurch but one of them sent an anonymous note to Lord Monteagle warning him of the impending attack.  The note was reported and Guy Fawkes was arrested in the cellar before carrying out the attack.

The Tradition of Bonfire Night

On hearing of the deliverance of their King, Londoners immediately lit fires in thanksgiving and the tradition of Bonfire Night began that year.  Modern day celebrations include the burning of a “Guy” on a huge bonfire and impressive fireworks displays.

[Image Source]

My favourite has to be the Catherine Wheel.  This is two big sparklers that are put on a wheel that is then spun.  My only complaint about the Catherine Wheel?  It is over too quickly.

Bonfire Night, originally uploaded by mattwillshawphotography

My… how we grow up.  As a pet owner, I hate fireworks and find myself staying in on New Years Eve to look after my poor, traumatised dogs. (Don’t feel too sorry for me – I did enough partying in my twenties to last me for the next couple of New Years!) 

You can’t deny it though, there are few things as exhilarating as a good fireworks display!!!  I’ve seen two displays that I will never forget – one over Westminster on VJ Day in 1995 and one over Melbourne on 31 December 1999.  My favourite displays, however, are those using the smaller (and more dangerous) fireworks that whistle as they go up and pop in the sky.  Feeling the heat on my cheeks from the bonfire and the electricity in the atmosphere around me, Bonfire Night has got to be my favourite celebration of all!

Lewes Bonfire Night, originally uploaded by sussexmike

Continue along on your World Blog Surf Day trip to Annuca at Rantings from Afar.  Annuca is another blogging friend of mine and we met during the first WBSD.  I just know that you’ll love her post!

An Eternal Tourist in Washington DC

I’d spent most of the morning travelling to DC and by the time I set off after brunch it was already noon.  I had a lot of touring to do in one afternoon so you’ll have to forgive me if most of what I did see was traditional tourist sites.  Oh, by the way, “travelling” is spelt with two elles in UK English!

If you look at Washington, DC on a map, it looks deceptively small and it looks as if you’ll be able to navigate all of the most important sites on foot with relative ease.  I mean, look! This was taken right in the middle and you can see the Capitol a the other end!

Freedom Plaza

Well, I can confirm that it can be done but that I would never choose to walk it all in one day again nor would I do so in 33°c heat.  My day trip to DC was one of the most amazing, rewarding days of my life but it was also one of the hottest, longest and most tiring!

The Willard InterContinental Hotel // Pershing Park

I walked across Western Plaza which was renamed Freedom Plaza in honour of Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Willard InterContinental is where he wrote his famous “I Have A Dream” speech which he delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  I can’t begin to describe the feeling I felt in looking at the hotel and thinking, “there walked a man who was taken from us far too early”.  You can read or listen to his “I Have A Dream” speech here.  The beautiful Pershing Park is adjacent to Freedom Plaza and across the road from the Willard InterContinental.

I continued up E Street NW to the White House. 

The White House

Isn’t it pretty?  I must say, it felt a little bit surreal standing there.  You’re pretty far away and it would almost feel like it were on television if it weren’t for the security agents all over the place!

Washington Monument // National World War II Memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the distance

I took several photos of the Washington Monument.  I couldn’t stop!!  In fact, I took so many more photos than I actually landed up keeping because they got repetitive even for me!  The second photo above was taken from the foot of the Washington Monument.  I can’t begin to express how hard it was to walk up there in the searing heat and how hot it was.  Seriously! I am an African who seeks hot and sunny weather but I don’t know if I’ve been that affected by heat before!

 
The fountain at the National World War II Memorial

Naturally the fountain at the National World War II Memorial proved too much for me to resist.  We weren’t actually allowed to swim in it but I came pretty close as I sat at the edge and submerged my legs. 

Americans came to liberate, not to conquer; to restore freedom and to end tyranny

I really love war memorials and this has to be the most beautiful, the most well designed memorial I have ever seen.  The southern side of the memorial is dedicated to American forces in the Pacific theater and the northern side is dedicated to those in the Atlantic theater.

 
Under the arch on the Pacific side

The states involved in Pacific theater

Finally, I managed to tear myself away from the memorial and I made my way towards the Lincoln Memorial.

 
The Lincoln Memorial as seen over the Reflecting Pool

I could sit and stare at my photos of the reflecting pool for hours and hours.  It really was a beautiful place.

Vegetarian Festival Procession Photos

Well, the 2009 Phuket Vegetarian festival is now over. As normal, wish I had more time to see all the different events, visit more shrines, but work and family do just about come first! During the week I had no time, but on Saturday and Sunday woke early and headed to the processions. The street processions in Phuket Town happened every day from the 20th to 26th October. I cannot recommend enough that, should you be in Phuket during the festival, you should make the effort to see something... something that you will not have seen before!

I managed a full 9 days on the vegetarian diet, eating food only from the restaurants and stalls selling the "Jae" food, no meat, no dairy, no garlic (it's smelly). Oh, and no alcohol - 9 days without a beer is something of a miracle for me! There are still events that I have not seen, not photographed such as fire walking, and the final night (which was last night) in Phuket Town, where the streets are packed with people and the air is full of firecrackers. The local TV channel was showing live pictures, it looks mad. If going on that last night, ear plugs and a facemask are a must. Taking photos would be hard work - camera would need some protection too. And feet in sandals would maybe get a few little burns. Next year....!

Talking of cameras, my Canon lens screwed up on the very first day of the festival, stopped functioning on wide angle - exactly what I need for festival photos! Oh well, I did manage to get some pretty good pictures anyway. Maybe by next year will have upgraded the camera again.

All the photos below were taken on the 24th and 25th. On the 24th I was at Jui Tui Shrine by about 6:30am and chased the procession around town for a couple of hours. The Jui Tui shrine is I believe the biggest in Phuket, and the crowds were considerable. I hope this big farang did not get in too many peoples way :).. On the 25th I went to Kathu Shrine, also around 6:30, before they all started walking. Some participants were still being pierced. I stayed with the procession through the village, but did not follow all the way to Phuket Town.

For more general information about the vegetarian festival and links to many articles on the blog and photos from previous years see here:

• The Amazing Phuket Vegetarian Festival

The photos below are just a selection - I have (so far) uploaded about 50 to my Flickr account - Phuket Vegetarian Photos - Jamie Monk on Flickr.

Saturday morning - Jui Tui Shrine is just to the west of the market in Phuket Town, in the old town area. The area is crowded all week with foodstalls - we went on Friday night and it was a battle to get along the street! Similar scenes on Saturday morning. I could hardly get inside the shrine, so waited outside the main entrance for the Ma Song to emerge. If you are at all squeamish, look away now. Too late :)





I believe the guy above is regretting his choice of piercing. How the **** did he get those in there??!



There were quite a few females this year with piercings but others stuck with smaller items. This was the only girl I saw with something extreme. But the colour matches her dress, how lovely.





There are many ladies like her, dancing along the streets. Many of them really do appear to be entranced.





The guy cutting his tongue was a favourite of mine. Good ol' fashioned purification by pain! The dude below him seems to be going for some kind of record. How many really sharp things can you stick in your face? Actually I think his record was beaten next day at Kathu :)







Some of the metal rods through faces were long - hard to move in a crowded space when you have a 2 meter long spike in your face. The piercings come in all shapes and sizes. I saw guns, model boats, a propeller shaft, bathroom fittings....





That'll do for now - as I say, more photos on my Flickr page.

Sunday morning - Kathu Shrine is only about 1km from my house. We can hear noise from the shrine during the festival. Sunday was their procession day. They actually walk from Kathu to Phuket Town, about 5km. Try that barefoot with a sword in your head! This is why they start early - doing this in the midday sun would be foolish.... Yeh, maybe foolish already, but anyway...

At Kathu, the crowds were much less, still pretty busy, but easier to walk in the temple grounds. The rituals start very early. I was there about 6:30am. I think next year will try for 5:30am. Ma Song were being pierced in the temple grounds. Entranced mediums were exiting the shrine shaking heads and shouting. It's all a bit surreal. Another world.







Maybe taking the name Vegetarian Festival too literally? The metal spikes and small knives are more traditional, but in recent years there is a tendency for more elaborate piercing. Bigger or weirder - more likely to get your photo in the paper!







Groups of friends often seem to do the procession together with similarly bizarre piercings. Would you like to see a close up? I thought not. But it's my blog, so...





Ah yes, this Kathu dude beats the Jui Tui dude hands down in the sharp-things-in-your-face contest.

The procession walked out through the village, the god statues being carried by groups of young men accompanied by thousands of firecrackers. You have to be right in the middle of it to appreciate the noise, the smoke, the feeling of tradition. This is something the local people believe in, this is no show, no tourist attraction. In Kathu, how many foreigners did I see? Just me and about 5 or 6 others with cameras - some were pro photographers. I would have liked to follow the procession to town, but of course had to go to work :(





Don't think I will ever get tired of the vegetarian festival. Phuket has beaches, nightlife, diving, great scenery, 5 star resorts, but for me it's some of the history and traditions that makes Phuket something a bit special. Might upload some more photos later. Meantime, just a few days until Loy Krathong, which is on Monday 2nd November.

• More Vegetarian Festival photos (Flickr)
• More information about Festivals in Phuket

Where I Work: Autumn arrives

If I had to pick out my absolute worst habit, I would have to say that it is neglecting to take lunch breaks.  I get into work around 9am and work straight through until 5pm before running off to catch the train.  I’m terrible!  The last time I took a lunch break was in August and before that I think it was May when I had lunch at Joes!   

One of the biggest differences between England and South Africa is that we have four seasons here.  In Johannesburg, we had 9 months of scorching hot summer and 12 long weeks of ice cold nights and dry, hot days (that is winter!)  All Jo’burgers complain bitterly about the winter and we take for granted the fact that there are more dry, warm, sunny days then the whole of the English summer!

So, combining my rare lunch break and noticing the seasonal changes, I thought I’d post some of the photos I’ve taken on my Nokia N70 over the past 6 months.  All of these photos are taken in the recently renamed St George’s Churchyard Gardens in SE1.  You can read a bit more about the history of the gardens here.

Spring / early summer

This was taken on the 1st of May this year.  Spring was in full bloom and all the beautiful shades of green were starting to emerge.  I love that heady, balmy early summer feeling in England.  We didn’t get that in Jo’burg – it was freezing one day and then summer arrived the next. 

Late Summer

This was my third straight summer in England and in my opinion, it has been the warmest, nicest summer so far.  The first summer in 2007 was alternatively freezing and boiling (as in freezing all the time except when I was on crowded trains) and last year was pretty miserable.

This photo was taken on the 18th of August.  I’d managed to tear myself away from the office and made it about twenty minutes before running back inside!  (I’m shaking my head ruefully right now).

My building is the ivy covered building in the background.  A year after I first posted about the gardens, we are still waiting for Southwark Council to cut back the ivy!!!

Autumn

Taken today.  The leaves are turning orange, red and brown and falling to the ground and autumn is definitely here!  Despite the fact that it is nearly the end of October, I was sitting there today with a sleeveless shirt and a lightweight mac on! 

I managed to sit for a whole half an hour in the gardens today.  I’m reading a really good book (Marked) and I simply had to read as much as I could!

Winter

It has been a long and glorious summer and hopefully I’ll have enough sunny memories to last me through the winter.  I got really bad winter blues the past two years (last year it was exacerbated by having flu for two months) so I am coming out fighting this year!!  Every time I feel blue I can look back on these pictures and start planning my trip to Europe next summer. 

Next Summer

We were planning a road trip around Italy but now I am toying with driving from Dartford (in England), taking a ferry to France and then driving to Portugal.  Sheila from A Postcard a Day posted some gorgeous postcards from Portugal lately and I follow an awesome Portuguese photo blog Photo PT.  Going to Italy is still one of my biggest dreams but going to Portugal next year might just work better.  And the biggest reason for going to Portugal?  I could get to meet one of my best blogging friends Blue Kermit.

Some Photos from Kathu Shrine - Vegetarian Festival

The vegetarian festival is underway, there have been a couple of the street processions in Phuket Town already, I have been eating the special Jae diet for 4 days now and driving home last night past the Phuket Brewery I was gagging for a beer.. but part of the festival is purification, cleaning the body.. so no beers until next week.

Would have uploaded a few photos earlier, but the Gremlins struck twice this week. Our wireless internet modem at home suddenly stopped working, and then.. as I was taking photos at Kathu village shrine on Saturday 17th October for the opening ceremony of the festival, my EOS 20D decided to **** up. I got some photos of the people as prayers were said, incense was burned and the Go Teng pole was blessed, and then just as I hoped to get some action shots of the pole being raised, I got "Error 99". Won't bore you with details... looks like a lens issue, so the lens will need fixing. Oddly, it was working just fine a couple of days later.. but can't be 100% trusted, so I have now been and bought a new 75-300 zoom which will see action at the weekend!

The opening action of the vegetarian festival is the raising of the Go Teng pole, a 20 meter high wooden pole - this happens at all the participating shrines. Later at night the gods are invited to descend the poles into the shrines. So here's some pictures around the shrine just before the pole was raised...



Images of the gods were being carried to the shrine as I arrived, and plenty of people were carrying large bunches of incense to say a prayer before the pole was raised.





The Go Teng pole is rather large - it's attached to ropes, and a long line of people were waiting to pull while others were waiting to help push with long forked sticks. Meanwhile the pole was blessed with incense and sprinkled with water.







I imagine the guy below to be one the "village elders". He said a final prayer at the small shrine next to the pole before the pole was hoisted to the sky. It's a big piece of wood - took a while to get it fixed into place... It's held steady by a wooden peg and guy ropes attached to several points around the temple grounds.





The festival is now in full swing - I will get to at least one of the street processions at the weekend, hopefully on Saturday (Jui Tui Shrine) and Sunday (Kathu Shrine). Been too busy this week to get to any of the early processions.

I took another walk in Kathu village and into the shrine with my daughter on Tuesday evening. This evening will take a walk in Phuket town near Jui Tui Shrine which is a very busy area compared to the relatively quiet Kathu. But since Kathu is our "local" it's convenient to head there to get some food and photos!

It was a rather drizzly evening on Tuesday as we headed to the village. Every year at festival time they erect a fancy entrance outside the municipality offices:



We just reached a little Phad Thai stall as the rain fell more heavily. Good place to stop - had a tin roof and tasty Phad Thai (vegetarian, of course). The owners little baby granddaughter kept her big dark eyes on the big foreigner...





Next stop - fireworks. I promised to buy some for the kids. We spent about 100 Baht on various firecrackers, fountains, small rockets etc... Guess we'll get some more today! All the very best in cheap Chinese fireworks. I am careful not to let the kids too close, but they are a bargain. Rockets for 10 Baht!



I find the Chinese shrines fascinating at this time of year. With firecrackers going off all night, everyone (almost) dressed in white, the incense and rituals, it's like another world. Plus for a week the whole area converges on the temple to sit and have a chat. All the old dudes sit on benches in the temple. All the kids throw firecrackers outside. And I love all the lanterns...





Candles and incense were still being lit and prayers being said next to the Go Teng pole...





Also outside the shrine is the burner - a place where people burn prayer sheets and "money" which is to wish good luck in this life and the next. If anyone reading knows more about why people burn things and say a prayer do let me know!



Inside the shrine, expect plenty of noise, banging drums, lots of smoke from the incense, if you are visiting try to keep out of the way of the locals who wish to pray. Oh and dress properly if you visit a shrine. It's not the beach. My daughter and I watched one of the Ma Song as he said prayers inside while kids banged away at drums and a black flag was waved around his body. It's in the shrine where the spirits of the gods are said to enter the bodies of the Ma Song. This guy (with no shirt, see photo below) seemed quite exhausted when he finally left the altar. It's all quite intense and is certainly no show. I mean, if it's a show, who's it for?!





I hope to be at street processions on Saturday and Sunday, plus find time for some firewalking somewhere in the next few days. Work does get in the way, though! For now, here are some tasty spring rolls (vegetarian).