Rice Grains

Yesterday Thais celebrated a popular holiday called Loi Krathong, a full moon festival held anually in Thailand. Several days beforehand, vendors set up stands selling "krathong", or little rafts made from banana tree trunks and decorated with colorful flowers and intricately folded banana leaves.

If you want to read more about Loi Krathong, feel free to read from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loy_Krathong.

As this event is celebrated anywhere there is a canal or lake or river, Anita and I decided to find a place to go to in my area. While Anita was on the bus heading my way, Luk, the teenage son of my apartment manager, called up to my room and invited me to go with him to a wat (temple) in Nam Deng, not far from here. I was delighted to have the opportunity to go with a Thai, so when Anita arrived, Luk, Anita and I took a songtaew to Wat Nam Deng.

Luk's mom had made krathong for Luk and I; then, in Nam Deng, Luk bought one for Anita so that each of us had one to put in the canal. Crowds of people thronged the street and wat grounds, and loi grathong stands were for sale in every nook and cranny.

Just before releasing our krathongs into the water, we bought (or rather, Lak bought for us) a set of incense sticks and candle to put in the middle of our little flowered "rafts".

Below is a not so great picture of some krathongs floating on the canal; ours are in the mix somewhere (don't ask me to pick them out!:)

After "loosing" our little floating rafts, we ambled around the temple grounds seeing what there was to see, including a beauty contest (my pictures turned out very poorly). On our way out, I attempted to take pictures of a large krathong decorating the middle of the canal. The exposure was too long, however, and the results were not so great. Then Luk took my camera and took a picture that was definitely better than any I had taken, so I've posted that one below, as well as one that I took that I do like just because off the "special effects".:)

We then headed back to the apartment building, where lo and behold, Noy, my landlord's wife, decided she wanted to drive us to Lumpini Park, a large, beautiful park with a big lake. There she treated us to a great meal outdoors, where we had the privilege of seeing a few fireworks. Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE to take pictures of fireworks, so below is one of those pictures.:O

Lak's mom, Ruung, was at Lumpini selling krathongs that she had made, so Noy generously bought some more for Anita and I, and the three of us meandered over to the lake to let our new krathongs go.

Ruung, Anita, Noy (pardon the poor quality--I'm still learning new settings on my camera).

As we reached the edge of the lake, Ruung instructed us to "Pray first", so Anita and I told her we would pray to "Prajao" (God). I think we both sent our krathongs off onto the lake with prayers for the True Light to illumine the darkness.

After our little "send-off", we packed into a taxi and returned to the apartment complex about 11:00 PM. We thoroughly enjoyed our excursions with our friends.