I was so pleased to find out that I would be in Chiang Mai for the Lantern festival. Just like in the movie Tangled, it was breathtaking seeing these lights float upward in the Northern Thailand sky. I was caught in the moment, taken away by the beauty and I wasn’t even in the midst of it all. It will certainly be a life long memory.
Yi Peng is an annual festival that just happens to coincide with the Khmer’s water festival, hence why I had a holiday. During this time a multitude of lanterns are released into the air. My mind whirled with thoughts after seeing these lights and the flashes of fireworks travel across the sky, so I recorded them in these simple words:
“Floating lanterns are like radiating jewels in the Chiang Mai sky. They drift upwards towards the heavens and joys are left behind.”
At the same time the Loi Krathong festival is also occurring in Chiang Mai. This is when couples release together small boats of flowers, along with a lit candle, at the edge of the river and watch its course. It is said that these crowns of flowers can predict how the relationship will travel during the coming year. We watched as a couple drew near to the water’s edge and released their boats. Slightly bemused we started to commentate on the direction of these two floating vessels. It could nearly be the plot of a new Hollywood movie, the path that these two took, but thankfully they drew near to each other once again and were carried away by the current to whatever else awaited them.
Wish I could have taken some amazing photos of my own but have resorted to images that I have found on the Internet to capture just a snip-it of what was to be seen. Definitely something amazing to add to the bucket list – and I’m totally planning my next visit for 2013.
