Miss International Flower Bloom Beauty Contest

Yes, I joined a beauty pageant. Crazy I know! This past weekend was the Chiang Mai Flower Festival. It's like a huge fair and the Rose parade mixed together into one never ending event. Its super cool though! They have gorgeous flowers in Thailand. So on Friday night they have an international beauty contest. And each year the girls from this program join it. There were 16 of us that decided to do it this year. And there were only 5 other random international girls. We had pretty good odds of one of us winning 1,2,3 place. Us girls were taken to a nice hotel in Chiang Mai to get ready. We got to leave our Friday afternoon field trip early. Which was very exciting to me because I HATE museums...and that Friday we were headed to a few. Pure torture in my opinion. So all 16 of us squeezed into a rot-dang...which seats about 10-11 comfortably, and we drove to the hotel. We were then grabbed by Thai women and squeezed into Thai clothes. They held up a giant skirt and told us to strip . Quite an interesting experience. After we were dressed in traditional Thai outfits, we headed to the makeup station. They applied about 10 minutes of foundation, making me even whiter than ever! Then some interesting blue eyeliner and only a tiny bit of maskara. Oh and then to top it all off, HOT PINK...i'm talking seriously hot pink, lip stick! It was insanely pink! Then they did our hair with flowers. And then we just sat around for a while. We learned a little bit of Thai dance, but the Thai ladies instructions were "do whatever you feel is right!". So we didn't really learn anything. Then they fed us pizza.
After pizza, the tourist police came to take pictures with us. You know this is a tourist event when the tourist police come to take pictures with you. It was quite funny. Then we were escorted by the police in a caravan all the way to the park where the contest was held. It got too crowded in the streets so we got out and walked. But the police were all around us like we were some sort of celebrity. It was a crazy experience. We waved and smiled for pictures the entire way.
We got to the park and had our introductions on stage. We walked out with the "Thai Beauties". They had their contest first. It was like Miss America...only Thai. And so much longer! It lasted a good 4 - 4 1/2 hours! Then it was finally our turn!
We went out on stage and did our Thai dancing. Then each of us was called up to introduce our selves and do a talent. I sang the Thai fruit song. Yes, I sang. It's crazy...but I did. Then I took my walk across the front of the stage and go flowers from Aj Mike! It was super fun! Something I will only ever do in Thailand.
After all 22 girls went....that was 1 French girl, 3 English girls, 1 Chinese girl, 1 New Zealand girl and then all 16 of us....3 finalists were announced. The Chinese girl, the French girl and STACY!! One of our very own!! We were so excited that at least one of us was chosen. Aj Mike was very proud.
They were asked a question...just like on Miss America. Questions like what will you tell people about Thailand. Then the Chinese girl was given 1st place, followed by the French girl in 2nd, and then Stacy in 3rd. We think it was fixed a bit....the Chinese girl was not really international...yes she was Chinese, but she spoke fluent Thai and didn't get ready with us. She had her own outfit and special hair lady. She was definitely in it to win it. I'm thinking she figured she had a better chance of winning against us internationals than in the Thai beauty contest. And then there's the French girl. She was very nice. But her dad is on the local Tourist police. So we're thinking that's why she won. But on the other hand, at least her dad was there and it was really special for him.
1st place got plane tickets! Which when I heard that I really wanted to win...but who knows what the plane tickets were for. Stacy got a night in a luxury suite of a nice hotel, 2 snorkeling tickets at the aquarium, a cell phone, lip gloss, a gift card to the digital imaging store and finally, LOTS of whitening powder....like we're not white enough already.
It was great! Such a unique experience! But lots and lots of fun!! Check http://www.dropshots.com/mkinthailand for pictures!
There are professional pictures on http://www.cm108.com/bbb/25796.html so check that too!! Just keep scrolling down and you'll finally see me!!
Here is the website for the winners pictures! http://www.cm108.com/bbb/25778.html The first picture is the Thai Beauties. The lady in the middle won 1st. And the next picture is the International Beauties. Winner in the middle, and Stacy is on the right. Enjoy!