Hey, blog readers!  I notice when I get this blog in my email it only seems to show single pics.  Some of the sections of most posts have a slideshow imbedded.  Please let me know if you are seeing the slide shows.  If you are not, try viewing the blog in your browser.  This is easy to do by clicking on the title of the blog in your email.    
You can always visit our website- www.sailgirldesign.com  and check out the last page of the site which is the blog.
Thanks!!  Just wanted to make sure you were seeing all the fun pics.
Cheers,
Peggy and Corey

Vesak Day is celebrated by Buddhists in a variety of forms and on slightly different dates across SE Asia and beyond.  It is the celebration of the birth, enlightenment, and death of Guatama Buddha.  The dates are based on the different Asian calendars and it is usually celebrated in related to the full moon.  Wikipedia has a nice summary of Vesak Day.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak 

There are some basic aspects of Vesak Day that I really admire such as bringing happiness to others, especially children, the elderly, and handicapped.   Worshippers plan a trip to the temple that day to buy incense, pray and offer flowers in worship.  Traditionally animals have been let free on this holiday in a symbolic act of liberation.  This is to signify the liberation of those in captivity against their will.  Singapore had a government announcement to encourage people to let bugs go as a gesture instead of any other animals.  Vesak is also a day where many Buddhists will eat a totally vegetarian diet.

I really like this description of how to celebrate Vesak Day and pay homage to Buddha from Wikipedia:
 " Tradition ascribes to the Buddha himself instruction on how to pay him homage. Just before he died, he saw his faithful attendant Ananda, weeping. The Buddha advised him not to weep, but to understand the universal law that all compounded things (including even his own body) must disintegrate. He advised everyone not to cry over the disintegration of the physical body but to regard his teachings (The Dhamma) as their teacher from then on, because only the Dhamma truth is eternal and not subject to the law of change. He also stressed that the way to pay homage to him was not merely by offering flowers, incense, and lights, but by truly and sincerely striving to follow his teachings. This is how Buddhists are expected to celebrate Vesak: to use the opportunity to reiterate their determination to lead noble lives, to develop their minds, to practise loving-kindness and to bring peace and harmony to humanity."

So, I do keep a fairly regular blog on this site.  It's primary purpose is to keep family and friends up to date on our wanderings.  As a somewhat regular "tweeter" I ran across a contest for amateur photographers and figure, why not?  
The mission is to create a blog with photos that fall under these categories...  
Let's see what Black's thinks of my examples of Wild, Fast, Panoramic, and Epic:

WILD!

FAST!

PANORAMIC! 
This was taken from a beach in the Similan Islands, Thailand.  We were on a live aboard dive boat over Christmas.  
A gorgeous place, where even mermaids may be spotted...

Songkran is Thailand’s lunar new year’s celebration and has been going on for centuries.  It is celebrated across the country, from small villages to the alleys of Bangkok and there are two main themes- water and powder!  

"The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100 °F or 40 °C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles. 
Although many people are focused on dousing each other with water, there is another way of marking someone and blessing them, by putting powder on their face. 
Songkran is traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends, neighbors, and monks. 
Thais often travel back to where they grew up for family reunions and especially to visit and pay respect to their elderly.  A visit to the temple is always important to ensure the upcoming year is blessed and bountiful." (Wikipedia)

This year’s Songkran found Corey and I in Phuket.  Corey had been lucky enough to experience Songkran once before but it was my first.  Hopefully it will not be my last.  We packed a supposedly-waterproof bag, dressed in clothes that we hoped may dry at some point,  and jumped on our scooter.  I have to mention here that we both were wearing flowery shirts as this is another symbol of Songkran.  

As we rode carefully into Patong from Kathu, armed with super soaker water guns, Corey kept a steady hand and navigated past a few “wet” spots.  Families and neighbors, including kids come down to where their side street meets a main road and set up soaking stations.  Many put ice in their water.  The first ice water splash definitely got my attention!  On the way to town we stopped by our last apartment.   The kids we had befriended were standing on the side of the road, they recognized Corey and started yelling "Mac, Mac!"  They truly enjoyed soaking us as we feebly attempted to give them a bit of a watering down.

The town of Patong is a crazy frenetic place at the best of times, at Songkran it is absolutely nuts.  We again carefully made our way past multiple soaking stations to the WE Hotel, our hangout for the night.  The WE is on Bangla Road, but the calmer section.  It was a perfect place to play from, and use as our home base.  We had a rooftop pool and our rooms looked out over Bangla Road.  We were only on the second floor so we sprayed people from our window.  

After getting settled at the WE, we took our first stroll up Bangla towards the beach.  Throughout the day it just got crazier.  You can see the pics, which although fun, don’t really do it justice!  You really have to experience Songkran at least once yourself.  

After we wore ourselves out playing in the waterfight in front of the WE and cruising Bangla, we made our way to the clubs, ending up at the TaiPan.  Since we were also celebrating Mon’s birthday, we had champagne and not sure what else.  Long story short, I ended up being invited up on stage with the performers.  Luckily there are NO pictures of this…  

Enjoy the photos.  This is one festival that has to be experiences in person.  Preferably on Bangla Road!