Every year there is a festival, called the Loy Krathong Festival, that spreads across Thailand. It is not as promoted here in Phuket as much as the vegetarian Festival, and availability of information, at least in English is very sparse. But the Phuket Gazette did have a writeup that was published before the events, that acted as a fairly good guide.
A guide to the celebrations referred to the origins of the festival as follows:
"Different legends surround the origins of Loy Kratong. The most popular version is it was an expression of gratitude to the goddess of water 'Phra Mae Kongka' for having extensively used, and sometimes polluted, the water from the rivers and canals. It is also in part a thanksgiving for her bounty in providing water for the livelihood of the people.
Some believe the festival originates from Buddhism. They say the offering of flowers, candles and joss-sticks is a tribute of respect to the footprint of the Lord Buddha on the sandy beach of the Narmaha River in India, as well as to the great Serpent and dwellers of the underwater world, after the Lord Buddha's visit to their watery realm.
It is possible that this is derived from a Hindu festival that pays tribute to the god Vishnu, who meditates at the center of the ocean.
It is possible that this is derived from a Hindu festival that pays tribute to the god Vishnu, who meditates at the center of the ocean.
Others believe that the floral kratong is offered to the pagoda containing the Lord Buddha's topknot, which was cut off at his self-ordination and is now in heaven. Another explanation is that it is a way to pay respect to one's ancestors."
You can read more here: http://www.thailand.com/travel/festival/festivals_loykratong.htm
You can read more here: http://www.thailand.com/travel/festival/festivals_loykratong.htm
Clive had been away to Khao Lak for a few days, and on Friday I had taken the time to scout out some of the proposed venues. One that caught my eye was a large temple complex and school just up the road from our home. It had a number of tents erected and stacks of plastic chairs, but no activity. except for a lone monk having a nap on one of the folding tables. The paper advertised this as the sight for a children's beauty pageant. As opposed as I am to those types of events, I was intrigued to see what was involved and made a mental note to stop by at the proposed time slot. I say proposed, as it seems that not much goes on at an advertised time, so I refer to it as proposed or anticipated time. An 8PM event may get going about 9PM. From my post on the Vegetarian Festival you will know that sometimes, they may just move it ahead and if you arrive at the proposed time, find things are finished or well underway. I had also checked out a few sites that give you some step by step instructions on making your own krathong, but with no ready access to a banana tree trunk, jackfruit leaves (as if I would know what they looked like anyway) and some pandamas grass, (which I do actually know what it looks like) I would have to try to find a ready made krathong. But the local shops did not seem to be selling them and Tesco Lotus superstore did not have any on sale either.
So armed, with a rough guide, we headed out on the Scoopy-i's and on Saturday night we went to the Chalong pier to see what was happening. While we live very close, the area had undergone a transformation almost unrecognizable, and was a sea of people wandering around, eating, as you always do here, lots of street foods, and some live entertainment. A large mechanical lotus flower was illuminated and it had petals that opened and closed. The pier itself had light strung down both sides from the shoreline to the end of the pier. A total of over 650 meters, and quite a sight. Long strings of LED tube lighting lined both sides in a rainbow of colours, that reflected off the water. In the sky the nearly full moon was visible and the cool breeze made the 28 degree Celsius night rather pleasant. I must be acclimatizing as sometimes, I felt a shiver from the cool breezes. But I am not complaining, as I see that back in Canada they are dealing with snowfall and minus temperatures. We were back home and in bed by 9PM, being ever the party people that we are. Clive had not had much sleep for the previous few days, and he faded fast. I had checked out the TV and decided that all of the North American influenced television we get here is singularly focused on death, destruction and fear. I think I know of at least 20 possible, might, may, could, and probably will ways the earth is going to explode, a killer fish will eat me, a one meter centipede will sting me to death, or a terrorist is plotting to find me specifically. So better to go to bed and play Tap Zoo on the iPod and cross breed my water buffalo with a gorilla. As I did so, a large heavy rain storm pounded down. I had some feeling of sorrow for those beauty queens on stage getting doused as lightening danced across the water.
Sunday morning was bright and sunny. I had forgotten a dog food dish in the back yard the night before and found it to be filled to the brim with water, so obviously there had been significant rain the night before. But there was no trace of rain this morning. We took the dogs to Laem Ka beach to go for a run, only to find the barricade down across the road. The security guard told us the beach was closed to road traffic because of Loy Krathong, but he pointed to us to park Thunderbird 3 nearby and walk the 1 kilometer in to the beach area. Having been here a while and walking the dogs at PaLai beach, this would have been a normal walking distance for us, so I parked, Byron jumped out and promptly went to the restaurant, lifted his leg and urinated, as only he can. He has an amazing capacity to hold his pee and when he goes, he needs to rest his leg against something as it is a long process. This sight did not escape the restaurant owner, who began a verbal tirade in Thai, but even if I did not understand specifically what he was saying, I knew he was NOT happy with Byron, who by now, being relieved, had pranced away down the road. After the walk, we drove back along Chaofa road and I began to notice card tables sitting in shaded areas, with beautiful floral arrangements on them. I thought to myself, that as tonight was the full moon, this was perhaps the early day pre-sale of Krathongs.
About 6PM, we headed out to the temple to see what activities might be underway since my last visit there Friday. As we had decided to check out the temple, but to also go to some other site that evening, we parked alongside the road and decided we would cross on foot to the temple, rather than park on that side of the road and risk trying to cross back over later. As we parked and tried to find ANY break in traffic, a three legged dog was pacing up and down the roadway, obviously wanting to cross to the temple as well. He was a beautiful dog who had a collar, but no one seemed to be on the look for him, and Clive had decided he would help escort "Scrags" across the heavy traffic. I turned my back, expecting to hear the screeching of tires and see either the dog or Clive going through the air. I knew it would be pointless to try and convince Clive that he needed to let the dog make his own way and it may not be his lucky night. But make it they did. I still do not know how, nor do I think I want to know how, as I could picture him with his hand out stopping those tandem wheeled trucks that fly along at 80KMH. The dogs scooted off to the crowds and we were faced with a literal wall of tables stacked with the most beautiful floral arrangements. These were the Krathongs Each table was full of various designs and sizes and priced according to size. They were resplendent with the tropical flowers of the island, including the most beautiful birds of paradise and orchids. Each of the krathongs were trimmed in borders of leaves, shaped and formed to make a beautiful decorative edge. And the competition for sales was brisk, with each one trying to convince you that you should buy theirs. They were all very pleased that I would stop, and wanted to photograph their work, which everyone graciously said yes. to. I decided rather quickly that whatever I might have attempted would have been very amateurish compared to the elaborate work that had been put into these krathongs. And if this was not humbling enough, we were about to get even more humbled as we entered to see the competition krathongs! We managed to make our way down the main entrance and driveway to the temple. To the right side of us was a large moat style body of water and there were already people floating their krathongs out. A monk stood at the top of the stairs at the temple, full dressed in those saffron robes they all wear, with a microphone speaking non-stop, amplified throughout the site by large speakers erected on 20 meter high towers. Below him, all over the temple grounds it was a buzz of activity. The first area I saw, that had been occupied by the napping monk on Friday was now a long table with many different Buddha statues, and collection bowls at each statue. I immediately thought of the plastic bag I have in the kitchen cupboard that is full of very minor denominational coins such as salung. worth a small fraction of a Thai Baht You will get salung as change when you shop at most of the chain retails stores. But to try to spend them outside of the stores is near impossible. Even the market vendors will not take them. However, I saw that the temples at the prayer stations have bowls and people tend to fill the bowls with the coins, which I assume the temple is able to convert to baht. My steady collection has been growing and I had always intended to take them to the temple at Big Buddha, but never seem to get around to it. So here was a good opportunity to empty the drawer, and I forgot.
Just beyond this were tables that contained the works of people for the best Kratong making competition. The masterpieces were incredible as to what people had managed to construct, made primarily of natural materials and decorated in flowers.
As with virtually any public event, past the statues, were rows of the food vendors. From fish balls to drinks, BBQ chicken to sausages, waffles to noodle salads and much more. I managed to find my favorite item at any of these events, the deep fried potato. They cut a potato in a spiral and put a bamboo skewer through the middle, then dust it with various flavored powders and salts, such as BBQ, Chilli or Cheese. Piping hot and crunchy.
And most of the same things, I commented on in my post about the county fair, were for sale here as well.
We made our way to the large body of water that is in-between the temple and the road, where we found tables covered in Krathongs and one table where they had live eels, fish and turtles. All of the items were for sale and you could get your Krathong, light the candle and incense and place it into the moat type area. Clive could not stop himself from returning to the live animals tables where he eventually decided he had to rescue a turtle and set it free. A better chance for this turtle here than the local market where people buy them to eat. We both set off our Krathongs and having watched his turtle swim to safety in the middle of the ponds, we decided to head to the Chalong pier to see what was happening there. We had already decided that given this was festival time, it would be more prudent to find somewhere to park and walk, than to try and drive into any area where there were events going on. We would find ourselves stuck in huge lines of traffic and people dodging in and out of the roadways. So we wandered down the main road to the pier. Along the roadway many tables were set up and people were selling their home made Krathongs, as well as the paper lanterns. Mixed in with the massage shops and the girls were out in full force trying to entice us to come into the massage parlor or the bar. By now we have been along this road many times and have a laugh and joke with the girls, who tease us and try to physically commandeer us into the businesses. Eventually we made out way to the pier area.
Part 2 will follow....
Sunday morning was bright and sunny. I had forgotten a dog food dish in the back yard the night before and found it to be filled to the brim with water, so obviously there had been significant rain the night before. But there was no trace of rain this morning. We took the dogs to Laem Ka beach to go for a run, only to find the barricade down across the road. The security guard told us the beach was closed to road traffic because of Loy Krathong, but he pointed to us to park Thunderbird 3 nearby and walk the 1 kilometer in to the beach area. Having been here a while and walking the dogs at PaLai beach, this would have been a normal walking distance for us, so I parked, Byron jumped out and promptly went to the restaurant, lifted his leg and urinated, as only he can. He has an amazing capacity to hold his pee and when he goes, he needs to rest his leg against something as it is a long process. This sight did not escape the restaurant owner, who began a verbal tirade in Thai, but even if I did not understand specifically what he was saying, I knew he was NOT happy with Byron, who by now, being relieved, had pranced away down the road. After the walk, we drove back along Chaofa road and I began to notice card tables sitting in shaded areas, with beautiful floral arrangements on them. I thought to myself, that as tonight was the full moon, this was perhaps the early day pre-sale of Krathongs.
About 6PM, we headed out to the temple to see what activities might be underway since my last visit there Friday. As we had decided to check out the temple, but to also go to some other site that evening, we parked alongside the road and decided we would cross on foot to the temple, rather than park on that side of the road and risk trying to cross back over later. As we parked and tried to find ANY break in traffic, a three legged dog was pacing up and down the roadway, obviously wanting to cross to the temple as well. He was a beautiful dog who had a collar, but no one seemed to be on the look for him, and Clive had decided he would help escort "Scrags" across the heavy traffic. I turned my back, expecting to hear the screeching of tires and see either the dog or Clive going through the air. I knew it would be pointless to try and convince Clive that he needed to let the dog make his own way and it may not be his lucky night. But make it they did. I still do not know how, nor do I think I want to know how, as I could picture him with his hand out stopping those tandem wheeled trucks that fly along at 80KMH. The dogs scooted off to the crowds and we were faced with a literal wall of tables stacked with the most beautiful floral arrangements. These were the Krathongs Each table was full of various designs and sizes and priced according to size. They were resplendent with the tropical flowers of the island, including the most beautiful birds of paradise and orchids. Each of the krathongs were trimmed in borders of leaves, shaped and formed to make a beautiful decorative edge. And the competition for sales was brisk, with each one trying to convince you that you should buy theirs. They were all very pleased that I would stop, and wanted to photograph their work, which everyone graciously said yes. to. I decided rather quickly that whatever I might have attempted would have been very amateurish compared to the elaborate work that had been put into these krathongs. And if this was not humbling enough, we were about to get even more humbled as we entered to see the competition krathongs! We managed to make our way down the main entrance and driveway to the temple. To the right side of us was a large moat style body of water and there were already people floating their krathongs out. A monk stood at the top of the stairs at the temple, full dressed in those saffron robes they all wear, with a microphone speaking non-stop, amplified throughout the site by large speakers erected on 20 meter high towers. Below him, all over the temple grounds it was a buzz of activity. The first area I saw, that had been occupied by the napping monk on Friday was now a long table with many different Buddha statues, and collection bowls at each statue. I immediately thought of the plastic bag I have in the kitchen cupboard that is full of very minor denominational coins such as salung. worth a small fraction of a Thai Baht You will get salung as change when you shop at most of the chain retails stores. But to try to spend them outside of the stores is near impossible. Even the market vendors will not take them. However, I saw that the temples at the prayer stations have bowls and people tend to fill the bowls with the coins, which I assume the temple is able to convert to baht. My steady collection has been growing and I had always intended to take them to the temple at Big Buddha, but never seem to get around to it. So here was a good opportunity to empty the drawer, and I forgot.
Just beyond this were tables that contained the works of people for the best Kratong making competition. The masterpieces were incredible as to what people had managed to construct, made primarily of natural materials and decorated in flowers.
 |
| One of the entries in the Krathong making competition |
As with virtually any public event, past the statues, were rows of the food vendors. From fish balls to drinks, BBQ chicken to sausages, waffles to noodle salads and much more. I managed to find my favorite item at any of these events, the deep fried potato. They cut a potato in a spiral and put a bamboo skewer through the middle, then dust it with various flavored powders and salts, such as BBQ, Chilli or Cheese. Piping hot and crunchy.
 |
| Fresh Hot Fried Potato...yummmmmmm |
And most of the same things, I commented on in my post about the county fair, were for sale here as well.
We made our way to the large body of water that is in-between the temple and the road, where we found tables covered in Krathongs and one table where they had live eels, fish and turtles. All of the items were for sale and you could get your Krathong, light the candle and incense and place it into the moat type area. Clive could not stop himself from returning to the live animals tables where he eventually decided he had to rescue a turtle and set it free. A better chance for this turtle here than the local market where people buy them to eat. We both set off our Krathongs and having watched his turtle swim to safety in the middle of the ponds, we decided to head to the Chalong pier to see what was happening there. We had already decided that given this was festival time, it would be more prudent to find somewhere to park and walk, than to try and drive into any area where there were events going on. We would find ourselves stuck in huge lines of traffic and people dodging in and out of the roadways. So we wandered down the main road to the pier. Along the roadway many tables were set up and people were selling their home made Krathongs, as well as the paper lanterns. Mixed in with the massage shops and the girls were out in full force trying to entice us to come into the massage parlor or the bar. By now we have been along this road many times and have a laugh and joke with the girls, who tease us and try to physically commandeer us into the businesses. Eventually we made out way to the pier area.
Part 2 will follow....
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