Ko Chang, Thailand – Water Festival of Loi Kathong
Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreign guests as I was to understand 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 enterprise, pack a little backpack with required products and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a main credit card and an attitude. A couple of 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 exactly what I was following. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. Regrettably, I soon experienced the nearby bacteria, which was not what I was following.
Because I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the household operating the location looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon expanding 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 excellent 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 large beach parties happened. In Ko Chang, it was a tiny different as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.
The Loi Kathong Festival happens each full moon. Offerings are offered 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 starts placing them in the water. It is one of the much more incredible light shows you will ever see and beats Las Vegas hands down. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of little lights bobbing on the surface of the smooth ocean.
Right after the bowls comes one particular of the most visually remarkable factors Ive ever observed. Every person is familiar with the paper lanterns utilized in Asia. Generally, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Very well-liked with college students because they are low cost and appear greater than a bare light bulb.
For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the best. 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. As soon as the lanterns could float, you simply let go and off the slowly went more than the ocean. It was a sight to see as there had been 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 even though the water itself was dotted with slowly bobbing points of light.
If you intend to travel to Thailand, make sure you schedule your trip around a complete moon. It is a scene youll never ever forget.
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