Hi Yeows,

To answer your questions:

1. They stick together and reserve their own traditions (with a few exceptions).

2. The name of the forest monastery is Watpa Buddhayan. It is located in, Sugar Land, the suburb of Houston, Texas.

Watpa means forest monastery. Buddhayan is the religious name of the founder of this temple.

Miss Songkran Pageant

Another Songkran Celebration
 

There are three Thai temples in my city. The first temple in Houston celebrated Songkran festival last week. The second one is the forest monastery. They arranged the festival on Saturday, April 19th.

I made tapioca pudding and donated the dessert to the temple for sale. Believe me, the puddings were delicious. They were sold like a hot cake.

Besides having the food bazaar and the beauty pageant, a professional singer from Thailand also joined the festival. His/Her name is Jern-Jern Boonsoongnern. Jern-Jern can sing songs in many languages. He/She is well-known in Thailand, but Jern-Jern is now living and singing in Las Vegas.

I can prove to you that Jern-Jern is prettier than a real woman. Ummmm....But in the picture I am not sure which one is the real woman. 55555555

Thank you for posting the photographs. Is the Thai people in the US closely knit? What is the name of the monastery there?

Our monks