Young people sing and court. Older people chat, smoke, and drink home made rice liquor, a mild or potent brew depending on the brewing's skill and the ingredients at hand. There may be a phyming song contest and a lot of friendly banter between old and young as individuals try to outdo each other in composing choruses with familiar themes. Local musicians may play reed instruments, bamboo flutes, hand cymbals, and drums to accompany singers, providing both inspiration and humour. Ordinations, particularly when a number of families pool resources for a group ceremony, are often celebrated with similar festivity.
Enormous feasts are prepared.
Electric generators may be rented, a band organized, and a folk dance drama troupe engated to keep revellers spellbound until the early hours with satiric comic opera performances featuring outrageous puns and double entendres, sly ribaldry, and popular folk song. With many, gambling is a passion. The national lottery excites imaginations in every province, as do cockfights and such exotic competitions as fish and beetle fighting. Card games are a pastime favoured by both sexes and almost everyone can play Thai chess. Pai theio by foot, boat, bus, motobike, or rail is a favourite way to relex when time allows, Travelling make the villager less insular and personal relations with family and friends are treasured as much for the opportunities they afford for travel as for the affection upon which they are based.