Ko Chang, Thailand - Water Festival of Loi Kathong

Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic vince delmonte fitness tastes for foreign visitors as I was to learn 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 organization, pack a tiny backpack with essential products and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a key credit card and an attitude. A couple of days later, I was in Thailand and headed for the island of Ko Chang, positioned close to the border with Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.

Ko Chang is a heavily forested island with tiny towns full of beach huts. This is what I was specifically what I was right after. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. However, I soon knowledgeable the neighborhood 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 place looked me upon favorably. They like us on facebook 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 lastly kicked the bug and felt halfway human. This was good news as it was the night of the full 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 small various as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.

The Loi Kathong Festival happens each complete view site 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 every person heads down the beach and begins placing them in the water. It is one particular of the a lot more amazing 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 one particular of the most visually amazing issues Ive ever noticed. Everyone is familiar with the paper lanterns utilized in Asia. Normally, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Really well-liked with college students considering that they are inexpensive and appear much better than a bare light bulb.

For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the best. They would then affix a tiny 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. When the lanterns could float, you just 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 down, the ocean had been transformed. The air was complete of gracefully floating lanterns while the water itself was dotted with slowly bobbing points of light.

If you intend to travel to Thailand, make positive you schedule your trip about a full moon. It is a scene youll in no way forget.