Loi Krathong

Loi Krathong is a festival held each year on the full moon in November. Across the country, Thais float lotus shaped boats containing a lit candle, three sticks of incense, and small change. Rich and I saw some of the initial festivities when we were in Bangkok- barges were decorated with Christmas lights and were made to look like famous places around the Chao Praya River, like Wat Arun, or barges from the King’s royal fleet. We had to catch the night bus, though, so we missed the launching of personal boats.
Lucky for us this festival is celebrated all over Thailand, not just in the big cities (though Chang Mai is where one of the biggest Loi Krathong festivals is held). Although many Thais from Tung Ka Mang went down the road to Khon San to party, we had our own little celebration with some of our Thai friends at the lake by the generator house. Some of the local women were even nice enough to make each of us a boat. The ones we had seen in Bangkok were made out of bread (very eco-friendly, I think) and looked like lotus flowers, but ours were made out of banana leaves and wildflowers and had a simple beauty. Both Chet and Omnoi came, as well as Piya and Miranda from Team Macaque. We met up with a few other Thais we know and processed to the lake together- everyone was bundled up against the cold (we came back from BKK and the temperature had dropped significantly to 50F or so). We had a fire and wine from fermented sticky rice (a refreshing alternative to the strong rice whiskey the Thais usually drink) as well as grilled sticky rice and roasted potatoes, which were all very tasty! While Loi Krathong is not a new year’s celebration per se, as you launch your boat you can either make a wish for the coming year, or wish away the bad luck from the previous year. The full moon was great and the light from our boats looked so pretty reflected on the water.

Captions for the pictures as follows (if I can figure out how to upload them in the right order!):
The men of Team Langur: Zach, Omnoi, Rich and Chet
An example of a floating boat with banana leaves,
Miranda and her boat . . . in her “animal hat” from the stalls near the sanctuary entrance (I will definitely be buying one the next time I go out for wear around TKM!)
Piya, one of the Thai assistants for Team Macaque, and his boat
Many boats on the water
Khun Wan cooking sticky rice and potatoes over the fire
Children with sparklers- Rich and I got them in BKK and the kids loved them!