snakes and temple continued

ok continued from last entry. after we left the snake village we went to a very beautiful and peacefull temple. the temple is believed to be why khon kaen was built where it is. it is told that men on their way east were going to build a temple to buddha on their way they stopped and made camp one night at a dead tamarine tree. they continued on their journey and when they reached their destination somone had already built the temple before they got there. they made the return journey home thinking they would simply build a temple closer to their homeland. they traveled the same course back home with the intent of staying the night once again at the tamarine tree. when they got to the tree it was full alive and budding with fruit. they decided that this was the place that they would build the temple. we explored the area around the temple left and offering of lotus flowers which is the flower of the buddha. we also lit candles and insense at the outside shrine facing the large and beautiful temple. after that we headed back into khon kaen to the apartment. on the way we passed a village that was celebrating the rainy season to come. they buld fireworks out of pipe and bamboo trees. they resemble giant bottle rockets. they meaning behind them doing this is when it is time for the rainy season they will shoot these rockets, which they call rocket fire into the clouds. or in this case heaven, when the rockets reach heaven they alert the rain god that it is time to send the full rainy season to them. the village shoots off many of these rockets. they also have a competition to see whose rocket will stay in the air the longest before it returns to the ground. the record while we were there was just over 5 minutes. i also learned that some villages closer to the airport have to alert the airport a week or so in advance because some of the rockets have been known to fly past planes. although it is very safe most of the time more people are hurt when the rocket falls of the laucher and are crushed by its wieght than victims being burned. some rockets have also been known to land on a house and come completely through the roof or bring the roof and a second floor with it. we watched the festivities for a long while and continued our journey back to khonkaen. we arrived back in khon kaen at a grocery store when Lek and Chelumchai had to pick up a few things. once again Lek grabbed plenty of food for our aparment including 3 different kinds of fruit and wouldnt you know it...... more ice cream. after that we dropped the food off at our apartment and went out to a dinner of noodles from a street vendor. they were good but the very different and a little nerve racking ingedient in this cuisine was cooked chicken blood. the blood is cooked in the chicken when they are boiled. when the chicken is taken out the blood aparently is thinker and sticks together. they collect the blood in a container and put it into a refrigerator where it then becomes like gelatin. and voila cooked chicken blood cubes on top of your noodles. I will say that getting ast the blood aspect of the meal was difficult but it was actually good. i ate the whole bowl and then a second. but thank god Lek did not take us out for ice cream. we returned back to the room stuffed and with a few minutes to mess around on our computer. then fell asleep and that was that. ok that was yesterday now when today is over i will do another one cause it would be very short if i started now.