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From Ianreadgood
Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreign guests as I was to discover when I knowledgeable the Water Festival of Loi Kathong on the island of Ko Chang.
Ko Chang
In October 2003, the travel bug seriously bit me. The symptoms led me to sell my company, pack a tiny backpack with necessary products and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a key 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 tiny towns full of beach huts. This is what I was precisely what I was immediately after. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. Regrettably, I soon experienced the nearby bacteria, which was not what I was following.
Since I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the household running the spot looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon expanding fat on Tom Yom Kung and other soups and curries. After 4 days, I had finally kicked the bug and felt halfway human. This was good news as it was the night of the full moon water festival.
I had heard of full moon festivals in Thailand. For hard partying tourists, this was apparently the night the big beach parties happened. In Ko Chang, it was a tiny diverse as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.
The Loi Kathong Festival occurs each and every complete moon. Offerings are given 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 everyone heads down the beach and begins putting them in the water. It is one of the a lot more wonderful 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 amazing factors Ive ever observed. Everyone 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 popular with college students because they are inexpensive and look greater than a bare light bulb.
For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the leading. 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 function and they had an instant hot air balloon. When the lanterns could float, you simply let go and off the slowly went over the ocean. It was a sight to see as there were thousands of them floating over the water.
As the festival wound down, the ocean had been transformed. The air was complete of gracefully floating lanterns although the water itself was dotted with slowly bobbing points of light.
If you intend to travel to Thailand, make confident you schedule your trip about a full moon. It is a scene youll by no means forget.
