Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas from Thailand!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Celebration!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Parades! Lanterns!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Loi Krathong & the Festival of Lights
There were beautiful lanterns displays all over town.
This is just a small part of the spectacle at the 'Three Kings' monument.
And... there are the Three Kings - behind the cute girls posing for a picture.
More Krathongs - a very pretty design, with orchids.
These were awesome, made with - can you guess? Yup, ice cream cones!
I bought my krathong from a couple of young girls who only had a few left - it was a bit scruffy looking, but I didn't mind! We lit the candle & incense, made our way down the steps to the river's edge, and with Sada holding on to me, sent the little raft off into the river! Lots of other rafts were floating by and mine joined the procession. A lovely moment.
The weird & funny-ish thing is that down stream, there are often people/kids looting the krathons for any cash, like in the picture above. But... you send off your raft with blessings, wishes, beautiful flowers and money... and it is received by 'someone' on the other end, right? Does it really matter that that 'someone' is a kid up to his knees in the river checking out the little rafts! As Sada said - you give your offering to the Buddha, and the Buddha passes it along to the children.
No one seemed to mind - the fish can't use the cash, can they?