Samoeng Strawberry Festival

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a celebration of strawberries?! February 14, we set out for Samoeng, a little village up in the mountains a couple hours from our house, determined not to let sickness stand in our way of finally getting out and exploring (even though I was still not fully recovered from my bout of pneumonia and My Man wasn't feeling well himself). We got ready early and were in the car by 8:30, ready to hit the road. It was a very, very windy, narrow road, but it was beautiful and in spite of the dramatic ups and downs and twists and turns of the road, we made it safely to Samoeng a couple hours later. The place was hopping!  In fact the main road into town was completely blocked off and all visitors were ushered straight into the parking area (I didn't need to worry about how to find the festival! I did, however, have to worry about how to get gas since the road was completely blocked off and we drove in just above empty. . . ).

Not sure exactly what to expect, we followed the crowds. There were vendors selling food, so of course we had to sample some.  The boys especially loved the crepe-wrapped hotdogs on a stick.

There were a few places to pose for corny pictures.  The kids were good sports and humored me.

And of course, no Thai celebration is complete without a giant picture of the king and queen!

There was a stage full of musicians emitting a raucous cacophony of sound (aka traditional Thai music).

And then there was the parade! There was a marching band, lots of groups marching in traditional costume, huge floats, and more.

Apparently they don't throw candy in Thai parades, but I think the costumes make up for it--they were beautiful! And of course, there is always someone carrying an honorary portrait of the king.

After the parade, we walked the gauntlet of strawberry vendors, sampling a few things as we went along.

The chocolate dipped strawberries were our absolute favorite (the actual strawberries themselves, unfortunately, are disappointing. I think after Korea, no other strawberries will ever compare)! A few stalls down from the chocolate strawberries was a vendor selling lots of varieties of fried bugs.

There were piles of fried larva, grasshoppers, crickets, and giant water beetles. I've actually always wanted to try fried grasshoppers, so I bought a few and popped them in my mouth, reveling in the oohs and yucks from the kids. I cajoled them into trying them too. They weren't great, but they weren't too bad. Kind of a satisfying crunch to them. :-) My Man was not interested. He will eat almost anything and is one of the most adventurous eaters I know, but for some reason bugs seem to cross his line. He, in fact, was fixated on the giant water beetles.

They were huge! Each one was bigger than my thumb! As we were standing there staring and grimacing at the large bugs, another lady came up and bought a large bag full. "Very delicious," she said in Thai. Then in English to reinforce her point, "chop, chop, put in food, very good." But in spite of her assurances, we weren't convinced. She was so enthusiastic about the bugs that I gave her the rest of my bag of grasshoppers (two for me and one for each of the kids was more than plenty--that left almost a full bag full for her). She was delighted. She tried to return the favor by offering us some fried larva, but I'd met my quota for the day so we politely declined. Then My Man turned back to the kids and declared, "$10 bucks if one of you will eat a giant water beetle." The kids stared blankly. No response. "$25?" Nothing. "Seriously? No one wants to eat it for $25? What's your price, $50?" Nope. I mean, they were seriously big. But My Man had his heart set on seeing one of his offspring eat a water beetle and had to find out their price. At $75 there was a bit of wavering but no one agreed. At $100, Darling Daughter bravely stepped forward. "OK, I'll do it." Mind you, this is our very pickiest eater. She won't eat chocolate icecream if it happens to touch the cake you serve it with, because, you know, they touched. So we were curious to see if she could do it. She also happens to be our most determined child, though, so once she set her mind to it, there was no going back. She ripped off the wings and legs (choking hazard), then bit off the head.

Her brothers' eyes bulged. Pure admiration filled Funny Guy's visage. My Man kept egging her on, "come on, just spit it out!" and "how does it feel to be chewing up beetle guts?" but she kept on and finished every last bit. Seriously, sign this girl up for Fear Factor! Funny Guy was so impressed that he wanted to try. After all, if his sister could do it, how bad could it be?

He took a huge bite, swallowed, and said, "Not too bad!" took another bite, then promptly puked. I'll save you the visual except to remind you that most of what he had eaten before that was strawberries and milk . . .

And that was the finale of our outing. Happy Valentine's Day!