Itchy Footed Monkeys: Loy Krathrong and daytime fun....

The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (CM) was smooth as could be. The weather was cloudy, so we didn’t get much of a view, but we were just happy to be on our way. We collected our bags once we were on the ground and found a taxi into the center of town to secure our room. Learning our lesson from previous taxi experiences, we had our street address on the ready. Our driver was friendly and seemed very familiar with the city. The brand spanking new Toyota Four Runner weaved its way seamlessly through the streets amongst countless bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, trucks, cars and last but not least, the beloved “tuk tuks.” An important detail is that driving occurs on the left side of the road, requiring the steering wheel to be located on the right side of the vehicle. This driving style has taken a bit of adjustment.

Our driver delivered us directly to our guesthouse. Pha Thai House greeted us with an ornate gate and exceptionally clean reception area. Xi, our hostess, was immediately polite and incredibly welcoming. She showed us to our room and we activated the electricity by sliding a card into a slot next to the lightswitch. This prevents guests from running the air conditioning while not in the room, saving the guesthouse on electricity costs. We dropped our bags in the room and headed out to hit the streets.

The sky was gray, but the city was filled with color. We donned our rain coats and wandered the streets the afternoon before the fist night of Loy Krathong festivities. Buddhist temples, referred to as a “wat,” can be found throughout the city. We walked into the courtyard of the first one we saw. Seeing a temple for the first time is breathtaking. The architecture of these structures is visually striking, with the sweeping roof lines, gold paint, colorful paintings and tall doors. On the grounds there is a temple and a sacred structure known as a “chedi.” These generally have statues of buddha or revered monks at their base. The tiers of the structure represent the journey through life and ascent towards enlightenment. A visitor shows respect by removing one’s shoes before entering the temple. Two rows of pillars stretch from the door to the altar where one or multiple statues of buddhas are placed. Incense, flowers and other offerings are placed at the altar. We found the wats very welcoming and very peaceful.

The Loy Krathong started off with a quaint parade. People dressed in traditional outfits and walked in groups designated by a sign (written in Thai, so we weren’t sure what they said). The floats were pushed by trucks that were outfitted with flood lights, sound systems and gasoline generators to power it all. The floats generally depicted Buddhist stories, while some carried what appeared to be beauty queens. The parade lasted about an hour and we were headed back to the room for the night.

Thursday was a whole other animal. The city had begun to feel much more crowded and taxis were racing all over the place. Vendors were more plentiful than before and so were the tourists spilling out of the cafes and hotels. We visited a few temples and crossed paths with a friendly Thai man who struck up a conversation with us in broken English. “Sing” was in town from Victoria, Australia with his wife and daughter. He had spent a few months at the temple we were at as a young man, training to become a monk. He eventually left the monastery and trained to fight the Thai style of boxing, known as

“Muay Thai.” He eventually went on to win the 1984bantam weight championship in Bangkok. He now runs his own gym and teaches young men to fight and exercise courses. We happily chatted with this native of Chiang Mai, hoping to glean some local information from him. He mentioned he was headed to the jewelry store to get something nice for his wife and asked us if we would like to tag along. Up for an adventure, we jumped in.

Our first stop was the Gem Exchange, a jewelry super store. Busses of tourists poured through the doors. Upon walking in, we were greeted by a Thai woman in her mid 40’s that spoke excellent English. She sat us in a theatre that played a video explaining the mining process down to the manufacture of the jewelry and statues for sale. After the 15 minute video, we walked through a room where workers were carving jade, creating jewelry and setting stones in the jewelry. Stacey was taken back by the craftsmanship and beauty of the pieces. Silver, gold, ivory, diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, jade and many other precious and semiprecious stones filled the cases of the store the size of a small grocery store.

Sing insisted we see some of the many “handicrafts.” We stopped in a store that manufactured bowls, plates, boxes, vases and more out of bamboo. The bamboo was then lacquered and painted with various designs native to the area. The pieces were extremely light and the colors were sharp and contrasting, making for excellent visual qualities. We passed on any purchases and headed to our next stop: rugs! The rugs were made from Thai silk and other natural fibers. We eventually came to the cashmere rugs, containing 1530 hand tied knots per square inch. The designs were absolutely breathtaking, taking thousands of hours to complete.

We departed the rug store and made a quick stop into a leather store on our way to lunch. Sing knew of a noodle hut nearby and promised we would enjoy it. After a short drive, he pulled over and we crossed the road to our lunch spot. Sing ordered for us both. We sat and talked and Sing kept us in stitches with his humor delivered in broken English. Before long, our table was full with large bowls of noodles and condiments to dress up our dishes with. Stacey and I slurped our way through the noodles, vegetables and meatballs in short order. The salty broth and smooth noodles provided the bulk of the soup, while the perfectly numbered three meatballs per bowl provided some savory protein. We think the meatballs were chicken… but what part, we are not sure. With full stomachs, we were ready to get some down time before the parade, scheduled for seven o’clock. We said good bye to Sing and headed back to the hotel, very pleased to have met our friendly host.

Parade float

Darkness fell and the town seemed to just be waking up. The streets were near capacity with locals and tourists rushing to get a good spot to watch the parade from. Vendors lined the sidwalks, selling krathongs (little boats made from banana leaves, flowers, incense and candles), paper lanterns, food and beverages. We walked down the main street and found a nice spot to watch from. The floats began and it was clear that the night before was merely a warm up. These floats were bigger, louder and brighter. The crowd would not be contained to the sidewalk and rushed in front of each float to obtain a better angle to take photos, videos and selfies with the parade participants. Larger floats had guards walking alongside the float pushing the people back onto the streets.

The lights in the water are the krathongs and the lights in the sky are the lanterns not stars

A view from a bridge in Chiang Mai

All over the city people were lighting paper lanterns and sending them into the sky. These lanterns and the krathrongs symbolize letting go of the past year and starting anew. The boats are launched into the river, filling the water with the flickering candle light. At any given moment, we could look up to the sky in all directions and see thousands of lanterns floating towards the heavens. At times, the lanterns resembled the stars of the sky… but mobile. Children were lighting fireworks and some adults were sending up some commercial size ones as well. We took in the sights, sounds and smells as long as our legs would allow us and headed back to the hotel, the festivities still very much in motion.

Friday night was very similar to Thursday, just with more people and more floats. We tried to get down to the river and couldn’t get any closer than about 5 blocks. An American couple we talked to the next night shared with us that it took them 3 hours to get through the crowd. Having had enough of the congestion, we called it a night. Chiang Mai’s Loy Krathrong Festival was an absolute blast!