Ko Chang, Thailand - Water Festival of Loi Kathong

出典: くみこみックス

2012年8月1日 (水) 10:11の版

Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreign visitors as I was to find out when I experienced 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 enterprise, pack a little backpack with essential items and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a main credit card and an attitude. A few days later, I was in Thailand and headed for the island of Ko Chang, located close to the border with Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.

Ko Chang is a heavily forested island with tiny towns complete of beach huts. This is what I was precisely what I was immediately shakeology ingredients after. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. However, I soon skilled the nearby bacteria, which was not what I was immediately after.

Considering that I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the loved ones operating the place looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon growing fat on Tom Yom Kung and other soups and curries. After four days, I had finally kicked the bug and felt halfway human. This was very good news as it was the night of the full 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 diverse as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.

The Loi Kathong Festival takes place every full 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 everybody heads down the beach and begins placing them in the water. It is a single of the far more remarkable light shows you will ever see and beats Las Vegas hands down. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of tiny lights bobbing on the surface of the smooth ocean.

Following the bowls comes one particular of the most visually remarkable things Ive ever noticed. Everybody is familiar with the paper lanterns utilized in Asia. Usually, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Quite common with college students considering that they are low cost and appear greater than a bare light bulb.

For the here 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. The moment 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 more than the water.

As the festival wound official site 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 certain you schedule your trip about a complete moon. It is a scene youll never forget.