BoettcherReider821

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 modest backpack with essential products and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a key credit card and an attitude. A handful of 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 little towns full of beach huts. This is what I was exactly what I was after. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. Regrettably, I soon knowledgeable the local bacteria, which was not what I was right after.

Because I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the loved ones operating the spot looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon growing 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 very good news as it was the night of the complete moon water festival.

I had heard of complete moon festivals in Thailand. For difficult partying tourists, this was apparently the night the huge beach parties happened. In Ko Chang, it was a tiny various as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.

The Loi Kathong Festival occurs every single complete moon. Offerings are provided 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 starts placing them in the water. It is one particular of the more wonderful 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.

Following the bowls comes 1 of the most visually incredible factors Ive ever observed. Every person is familiar with the paper lanterns utilised in Asia. Normally, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Very popular with college students given that they are inexpensive and look much better than a bare light bulb.

For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the leading. They would then affix a little this paper plate to the bottom with a candle on it. Light the candle, wait for the heat to do its work and they had an instant hot air balloon. Once the lanterns could float, you merely 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 more than 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 positive you schedule your trip around a full moon. It is a scene youll in no way forget.