Elaine had a reprieve on Sunday from her methotrexate routine, since she was still on antibiotics for her infection, which, unfortunately, was struggling to abate, but she felt well enough, nonetheless, to get the laundry done; we were tired of waiting on the forecast rain to collect water, so on went the watermaker too. Then, after a coffee onboard, Elaine dinghied Roy ashore on the high tide so that he could enjoy a nice long walk around the bay, following which she collected him from the marina. We also enjoyed a phone call from Keenan, but the highlight of our day was the family get-together on Zoom, which included Keenan, Brooke and the grandsons for the first time, given that we’d scheduled the meeting to accommodate the best possible time zone differences and with Keenan actually being at home for a change, much to the delight of the rest of the family. It had been years since they had spoken to Keenan, most of them had never “met” Brooke nor our beautiful grandsons, although plenty of photographs and videos have been shared over the years. Unfortunately, Capri was with her dad, but hopefully we can arrange something for her to participate too at some point in the future.

Another video call from Keenan was enjoyed yesterday before Roy dinghied ashore to get dinghy fuel and drop off the garbage, while Elaine got stuck into the passage planning of alternative routes, required due to the medical logistics which recently surfaced. Unfortunately the option of using a reputable international online pharmacy proved fruitless, since, not only was the medication actually more expensive than what we are paying in Thailand, they wouldn’t guarantee delivery, although they deliver to Thailand and anywhere in the world. Fat lot of good that is!

Solving one problem always seems to create another one, though, but at least we now have a high level plan of options with rough timelines and pros and cons for each. Then, today Elaine spent most of the day delving deeper into one of the options, as this is a completely new route for us, an exercise that is still going to take some time to complete. Fortunately all the ground work for the other options were completed in New Zealand back in 2017, when Elaine was bed bound for months on end after tearing all the ligaments in her ankle.

Yesterday was also “Asanha Bucha” Day, also known as “Asalha Puja” or “Dhamma Day”, a special Buddhist holiday in Thailand, marking the event of the Lord Buddha delivering his first sermon at Benares in India over 2,500 years ago. The exact date of the holiday is determined by the waxing moon and the lunar months, but normally occurs in July or August of each year.

Further research revealed that “the Buddha preached his first sermon at a deer park and from this sermon the “Dharma”(Doctrine) of the Buddha was symbolised as a wheel.” This “Dharmachakra” is also known as the “Wheel of Life”, the “Wheel of Law” or the “Wheel of Doctrine” and the symbol can be seen on flags all across Thailand. Similarly, pictures or models of deer can often be seen at temples or in depictions of the Buddha.

“Asanha Bucha” is usually a day when Thai buddhists will “make merit” and visit the local “wat”. Traditionally, candles are among the items donated to the “wat, dating back to times before electricity, where extra light was needed at the temples during the darker days of the rainy season. Also, ceremonies would normally be held in the temples, monks would chant mantras and preach the first sermon of the Buddha, worshippers would “wian tian”, which involves walking clockwise around the main shrine in the “wat” with a lit candle, lotus flowers and incense and many would return to their ancestral homes to donate offerings to their temple and listen to sermons.

This holiday is followed by “Wan Khao Phansa”, which was today, referred to as the “Buddhist Lent”, and marks the start of the three-month “Phansa” period, where monks are required to remain in one particular temple, a tradition originating from when Buddha stayed in one place during the rainy season to avoid killing insects or harming the growing seeds. It is a period for study, meditation and teaching of new monks, but two important activities occur in which the monks are presented the candles, as well as the garments they wear, particularly the bathing robe. The important tradition associated with “Wan Khao Phansa” is the “Khao Phansa Candles Making Ceremony”, where people bring white and yellow candles to make the large “Khao Phansa” candles. In addition, the “Candle Festival” is usually a major event on this day, the most famous occurring in Ubon Ratchathanee province, at the Thung Sri Mueng temple, where local artists express their artistic talents and techniques through crafting Thai patterns on the candles, following which they are presented to the local temple. These magnificent candles also demonstrate the link to local custom and religious beliefs.

However, sadly, with the current lockdown and restrictions, these activities were all curtailed, something we would have loved to have seen, but, in many ways just researching and learning about these customs can be half the fun, at least!

With not being able to enjoy these special traditions of Thailand, we spent another day onboard as Phuket recorded its highest daily number of COVID-19 cases since we’ve been here and more restrictions were imposed with immediate effect yesterday, including the closure of the Central shopping mall. Roy did, however, dinghy ashore to meet the Marina Manager, Derek, for a morning coffee and to also update all our Navionics charts for Europe, as well as download a few additional pilots that we may need. This afternoon Elaine took a break from having her nose buried in books when her Mom called for a chat.

We also had some of the forecast bad weather move through earlier, but the rest is expected tonight and to continue for the next few days.