We were in Thailand for the Loi Krathong - Festival of Lights. This festival happens on the night of the full moon in the 12th month of the Thai Lunar Calendar, which usually falls in November in the western calendar. In 2010 it happened on Sunday November 21. For the festival our mom taught us how to make our Krathongs. They are made from a piece of banana tree trunk, banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense. They're decorative rafts that are placed into a river, canal or pond/lake. The festival originated from an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters. Some Thai people still pay this respect quite seriously, other's simply are having fun.
Our mom took us out to the local market that morning and bought the material that is needed to make our rafts, then she taught us how to make them and we spent an hour or two being creative (and trying to make our rafts correctly :P ).
We went out to dinner with mine and Emily's parents that night at a hotel on the street of the night Bazaar. Our dad is friends with the hotel owner so we had our own room set off of the main dinning area of the restaurant. It was a really nice buffet style restaurant, which means we all ate too much! But it was great! After we had finished eating they let us go out and walk around the night bazaar. Cara, Chelsea, Emily and I split into pairs as it is easy to push through the masses of people in a smaller group.
When we returned to the restaurant at the time meant to meet, our dad was in there with a bunch of men. At first we didn't realise our dad was in there and were sorta put off by the fact that where we were suppose to meet was now taken over by a bunch of strange men but luckily our dad spotted us and called us over, introduced us to his friends and had us take our seats. It was interesting to see these friends banter back and forth, they were quite interested in us, where we are from and how we were liking Thailand and such. There was of course some comments made towards us about how beautiful we are and such cause we could never seem to avoid that in Asia. (totally not trying to be conceited here... Just stating it as was). They kept offering us drinks and more food (which I could not eat!). They were quite nice. I don't know how it happened but at one point I found myself being pulled from the table into the main room to dance with my mom to the live music that was being played…talk about an embarrassing moment of the trip. I think I may have been as red as a tomato…the men were staring, laughing and clapping. My mom was totally enjoying her self, huge smile on her face so I just went with it. The moment probably wasn't near as long as it felt….
After dinner we went back home quickly to drop off our dad then mad our way to the river to put in our rafts and watch them float away. We stuck candles in them first, fought to light them and keep them lit, (some were successful, others not so much). There were many people there doing the same as us, tourists and locals. Some of the rafts we saw were so elaborate. It was so obvious many people spent hours of their day on making their raft with such care and intentionality. They totally knew what they were doing. It was quite the experience to be apart of this festival. We spent a long while just sitting at the river side watching others put their rafts in, watching them float away, watching the fireworks and lanterns light up the sky and simply enjoying each other's company.
this takes alot of concentration!
pc: Chelsea
All of ours together
pc: Chelsea
this is what happens when we had to squish 7 of us in a car....I end up squished on the floor...on the way home from dinner
Chelsea's on the seat, I am on the floor
pc: Chelsea
Just some of the rafts in the river
pc: Emily
Just a few lanterns in the sky
pc: Kelly - one of The BEST pictures of the whole trip in my opinion! great shot Kelly!
Sunday, our dad took the four of us as well as 6 other students from CMU to Maesa Elephant camp. I can't remember exactly where they were all from but some came from Korea and others from China, one boy was from Thailand and I think one of the girls may have been from another country in SEA but I am not sure….failed memory….
It was such a great day! It was the first time I saw elephants up close (well besides in the zoos back home but that doesn't count). From that day on it seemed normal to just see elephants around….crazy! We were able to feed them bananas and sugar cane, pet them, sit on them as well as watch them do some work of hauling plants and such from place to place in the camp. We saw them swim in the river, where the workers also gave them a sort of bath. It was such a neat experience. For most of us students it was the first time being there. It was also interesting to make friends with these other exchange students, talk about our different lives and culture. It was a day full of fun, good conversation, laughter and elephants!
Elephant poop is HUGE!!! :P
no zoom.....just sayin'
one of our new friends! she was a lil unsure about the whole elephant thing...
baby elephants are SOO cute!
at first I was a lil unsure about the whole elephant thing but it didn't take me long to get use to making friends with elephants. I bonded nicely with this one...obviously after this picture was taken...
getting there...
just before the baby started playing with Em's hair! too funny!
Cara
Emily
Chelsea
just cause her face is the greatest! Still not so sure about elephants....
sugar cane!
feeding the elephant some sugar cane
Chelsea feeding an elephant sugar cane
I Love new friends!
Homestay dad and a couple of our new friends :)
Elephant Swim!
I hope this hasn't be photo overload....there's just so many!
