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From Greenthings
Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreign guests as I was to discover when I skilled the Water Festival of Loi Kathong on the island of Ko Chang.
Ko Chang
In October 2003, the travel bug seriously bit me. The signs and symptoms led me to sell my company, pack a little backpack with necessary products and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a major credit card and an attitude. A few days later, I was in Thailand and headed for the island of Ko Chang, situated close to the border with Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.
Ko Chang is a heavily forested island with little towns complete of beach huts. This is what I was specifically what I was immediately after. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. Sadly, I soon skilled the neighborhood bacteria, which was not what I was right after.
Because I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the loved ones operating the location looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon developing fat on Tom Yom Kung and other soups and curries. Immediately after 4 days, I had finally kicked the bug and felt halfway human. This was good news as it was the night of the complete moon water festival.
I had heard of complete moon festivals in Thailand. For challenging partying tourists, this was apparently the night the big beach parties happened. In Ko Chang, it was a tiny distinct as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.
The Loi Kathong Festival takes place every full moon. Offerings are provided to appease the water spirits. These offerings come in the form of banana leaf bowls with flowers, fruit, candles and incense. The candles and incense are lit and absolutely everyone heads down the beach and begins putting them in the water. It is 1 of the much more remarkable light shows you will ever see and beats Las Vegas hands down. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of small lights bobbing on the surface of the smooth ocean.
Right after the bowls comes one of the most visually wonderful factors Ive ever noticed. Everybody is familiar with the paper lanterns employed in Asia. Generally, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Really common with college students considering that they are inexpensive and look greater than a bare light bulb.
For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the top. They would then affix a small this paper plate to the bottom with a candle on it. Light the candle, wait for the heat to do its work and they had an instant hot air balloon. As soon as the lanterns could float, you simply let go and off the slowly went over the ocean. It was a sight to see as there had been thousands of them floating more than the water.
As the festival wound down, the ocean had been transformed. The air was full of gracefully floating lanterns while the water itself was dotted with slowly bobbing points of light.
If you intend to travel to Thailand, make certain you schedule your trip around a complete moon. It is a scene youll never ever forget.
