Loy Kratong

Last weekend was Loy Kratong, which is a crazy awesome Thai festival. In trying to write about it, I find that I can't quite do it justice. "Loy" means float. "Kratong" is the name of what they float. They're kind of hard to describe. They are about the size of a plate and made of banana leaves and "wood." They are usually many colors and have candles and joss sticks. The purpose of the festival is to honor the river by floating the kratong on it. This is interesting because all the kratong end up as a lot of debris in the river, so it doesn't make 100% sense to me. However it is a very beautiful festival and a lot of fun. Not only do people float kratong with candles, but they also light up the sky with fireworks and lamps. The lamps were maybe my favorite part. They are kind of like miniature hot air balloons and literally filled the sky all weekend. It is so gorgeous and almost eerie. Imagine looking up in the night sky and seeing the stars move around. It kinda looked like that.

The preceding week was marked by an increasing number of premature fireworks in anticipation of the big event. The actual festival went for four nights, starting Friday. I had originally planned to head up to Mae Jo with my roommate Sarah and her friends, but things didn't work out transportation wise so I ended up hanging out with the other CVs down by the Mae Bhing River.

I remember talking with someone about the Fourth of July and laughing about how Americans celebrate their independence by blowing stuff up. Well, let me tell you folks. The Fourth of July is positively tame compared to Loy Kratong. We have cute little fireworks shows in controlled, "safe" settings. But I think I've explained that safety is a foreign concept here. So people just set off fireworks at random all over the city. And by that I mean they just light them, hold them in their hands, and point them in whatever direction they want to. I can't believe the entire city wasn't set on fire. It was madness! But it was also loads of fun.

We went down to the river purchased our own lantern (the first of several) and a handful of relatively tame fireworks. I might mention that these were technically contraband, but the cops only seemed to shut down people whose fireworks were excessively unsafe. Which was a rather liberal guideline. Down by the river people were launching their kratong and fireworks while on the bridge many people were lighting lanterns. There were rows of market stalls selling kratong and plenty of fireworks stands. We found a spot and took turns launching our fireworks over the river (they were the kind you swing around and throw, they're pretty fun and fairly harmless). Some of us were better at this than others. I hid behind a tree when I wasn't the one throwing. We succeeded in getting our lantern to take off. Unfortunately we almost set a tree on fire in the process. But never mind. By the end of our attempts, the Thais sitting nearby seemed relieved that we were leaving.

Since we'd just received our paycheck, the others all wanted to go get massages. Massage is very popular here and the others are regulars at one of Chiang Mai's establishments. I am not a big fan of strange people touching me, but I went along anyways. I guess I can see how some people would find it relaxing, but I still don't like strange people touching me. I kept flinching and I think my masseuse got annoyed with me. So I don't think I'll be going back. They are expensive anyways.

I think it was about 2:00 a.m. when I got home, which continued to be the norm for the rest of the weekend. The problem with late nights on the weekends is that the nursing dorm has a curfew. Luckily Esther has opened her home to all of us and we are welcome to spend the night there when we need to. I pretty much lived there for the entire weekend.

 Saturday was more of the same, only bigger. All the lights and sounds were intoxicating to the point of being overwhelming. There were food stalls everywhere selling everything imaginable. I should have taken more pictures. I bought a coconut drink that was simply coconut juice inside a carved coconut shell that was maybe the size of a bowling ball. It was so good. But they also had shishkabobs and noodles and seafood and teas and ice creams and even fried bugs. I did take a picture of that. It was like a huge carnival. There were people everywhere and all around the constant boom of exploding fireworks while lanterns hovered above.

Sunday we again went down to the river and this time bought kratong to float on it. But the closer we got to the water, the crazier things were. I remember a firework (an m-80 perhaps?) going off so close to me that I could feel the blast. This happened a couple of times. Ozzie got hit in the head with a firework, but luckily it wasn't the kind that exploded and the sparks didn't burn him. Nawarat bridge was insane, crowded with people looking at the river and the sky. We went up to the top of the Porn Ping (a common name) Hotel to look over the city which was incredibly gorgeous with fireworks going off all around. It was great to get a better view of the skyline. Chiang Mai is a small city (about 200,000 people live there) however it FEELS big because during the day about half a million people work there.

On the final day, Monday, there was a huge parade featuring amazing floats and various Thai costumes. We had Conversational English class until 5:00 but afterwards a group of us went to check it out. At first we just stood on the sidelines, like you would at a parade back home. It was frustrating though because people kept crowding in front of us and running into the middle of the parade to take pictures. The police had to keep pushing everyone back to the sidewalk. The parade was so long and moved so slowly that we decided to walk along the route so we could see everything. To give you an idea of the size of it, it started at 6:00 p.m. and went until midnight. Earlier that day we ran into a couple of students at lunch. "Teacher, tonight we walk from six to twelve" they said. We thought they meant they were taking a walk and had gotten confused in their English. No, they meant they were in the parade and literally were walking from 6:00 until midnight. I felt bad for them.

Being at the parade made me feel like a little kid again. The Lilac Parade in Spokane used to be one of my favorite events growing up. We walked so far that my feet felt like they were on fire and my knees felt like they were going to buckle by the time we made it back. But it was so worth it. I tried to take lots of pictures but it was really challenging in the dark and with the crowds. I wish I'd taken more of the costumes, which were stunning. I felt like I was in the movie "Anna and the King."

So yes, I had an insane amount of fun although I also feared for my life at certain points. Every weekend from now on is going to be a bit of a letdown after that one. The following pictures of us lighting our langern are courtesy of Glory Crocco, Ozzie's younger sister.

My own snaps can be found on facebook. Here's the link.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048604&id=59401445&l=780a092abb

Also, if you want to learn more about Loy Kratong, you can click here.