Loy Krathong – Thai Floating Festival

This past Sunday was the Loy Ktrathong festival here in Thailand. At this festival, Thais pay respect to the goddess of water by floating small offerings on rivers, canals, lakes and ponds all over Thailand. Loy Krathong is celebrated during the full moon of the 12th month in the Thai lunar calendar, which usually means November.

The word “loy” means “to float” and “krathong” means a “raft.” The rafts are typically made from the trunk of a banana tree. On top of the rafts, Thais put flowers, incense sticks, candles, and small coins. At one point, the rafts were also made of Styrofoam – because it floats so well – but that proved to be an environmental disaster. So now the krathongs are either made of banana tree or bread. Bread is also good because it floats at the beginning, but then as it gets waterlogged, it falls apart and becomes fish food.




The krathongs are meant to honor and pay homage to the Goddess of the Water – Phra Mae Khongkha. The festival is also a time to ask for forgiveness for the things that the Thais have done to the waters – traveling on them, fishing in them, possibly polluting them, etc. And, giving the raft a gentle push is meant to symbolize letting go of anger and bad thoughts, and starting over again. According to my Thai instructor, some Thais will also include bits of hair or fingernail clippings to reinforce the idea of letting go of their former selves.

There will be celebrations all over Bangkok tonight – especially along the Chao Phraya River – but Colin and I agreed to meet at Queen Benasiri Park, since there is a very large pond in the park.

It’s also close by both our homes, on the Skytrain, and conveniently close to the Emporium for a quick dinner afterwards.

You can make your own krathongs or you can buy them. We chose to buy them.

I bought two – a traditional one with a banana tree base and flowers and candles on top, and one that was a turtle made out of bread. (Though, now that I look at the picture, the turtle one looks like it’s being stabbed by the flowers. It was much less gruesome in real life.)

You buy a krathong, add some coins or nail clippings if you prefer, and then head to the water’s edge. You light the candle and the incense sticks, make a wish or say a prayer, and then let your krathong float away with a gentle push.

It was a nice event – a good mix of the mystical and the playful. The little kids were into it – especially this little girl with the electric Minnie Mouse headband.

Candles, incense, flowers, and forgiveness – a noble combination. Glad that I was here this time of year to see it and to take part.

Chatuchak Market Redux

Went back to Chatuchak Market today -- the big weekend market. I went there my first weekend here but it was too overwhelming then and I really did not see the appeal. But since I am only here for a few more weekends, I decided that I need to start making a few purchases – things to bring back when I leave. And Chatuchak is a great place to shop because you really can buy just about anything you want there.

To be honest, there really isn’t all that much that is Thai that I want to buy. The two things that the Thais do really well are food and service – and neither one exports well. (Oh wait. I guess I could have some clothes made – they do that very well.) At Chatuchak, there are lots of stores selling t-shirts and pirated CDs and “brand name” jeans and knick-knacks. And for some reason, lots of pet stores. I mean, LOTS. Selling puppies and kittens, but also rabbits. And lots of fish stores – not sure how you would ever decide that you wanted to buy your goldfish at this fish store rather than that fish store. My guess is that, given how many stores there are and that they all seem to be selling the same things, I think you just buy at whichever store you come to first. The market truly is a maze and it’s hard to be sure what direction you’re coming from or heading toward. That’s one bit of advice I remember reading about Chatuchak Market – “If you see something you like, buy it. Because you’ll never find that store again.” And it’s true – even the locals say the same thing. Here’s a typical scene.

There were also several street musicians. These kids weren’t all that good with the music, but they were cute and their sign said the donations went for “Education” so they were doing decent business.

A little farther down the street, these guys were also doing good business. They were less cute but were actually very good musicians. I think they were missing a business opportunity because if they had had a CD, I would have bought it.


But I was in search of a Buddha – a “real” Buddha, not a cast or a copy – and there is a market on the edge of Chatuchak that sells antique Buddhas. There are about 10 or 12 stalls, all selling various artifacts from temples – Buddha statues, fragments from friezes, bells, etc. Some of the friezes were beautiful but would cost a small fortune to ship home. (The friezes are reproductions, not pieces that were pried off a temple.)

But, I did find a Buddha statue that I really liked. The shop owner didn’t speak much English – almost none, in fact – so he had to get a neighbor to translate for us. I learned that the Buddha is made of teak, that it is from northern Thailand, that it is roughly 200 years old, and that it is done in the “Ayutthaya style.” Here are a few pictures – it’s about 15 inches tall, including the base.

The negotiation process was interesting. The shop owner knew enough English to do that, but the standard approach is for the seller to first punch in an amount on a calculator, then spin it around and show it you. To be honest, the price he started at sounded reasonable, but I thought I might as well play the game. So, I walked away and said I would be back later. Of course, he then punched in a new, lower number and showed that to me. I hemmed and hawed and then punched in a number still lower and turned that around to him. He hemmed and hawed as well and then said, “okay.” My guess is that I could have gotten it for even less, but I wanted it and after a while, what’s the point?

On the way out of the market, I passed a store that was just crammed full of Buddha images – paintings, carvings, statues, etc. No originals, but the interesting thing was that, in the middle of all that jumble, there were four Asian boys all animatedly watching something in the middle of the shop. So, I stopped and inched in and they were playing a video game. No Mom or Dad in sight and I don’t think they were managing the store, but it was funny to see that kids are basically the same everywhere.

Soul Food Mahakorn

Colin is back from his trip to the US and I am back from our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia so we met for dinner this past Tuesday night. Went to a new place in Thong Lor – “Soul Food Mahakorn.” It is run by an American who used to be a food writer but now has opened his own restaurant. Three floors – a bar and a few tables on the first floor, the main dining room on the second floor, and the kitchen on the third floor. No dumbwaiter so the staff spends a lot of time and energy carrying plates up and down the stairs. Cool space – narrow and industrial, with grey walls and floor that look like concrete but are actually treated wood. (We talked to the owner – Jarrett – so we got some details. Turns out that he’s from Allentown, PA.)

The food is mostly northern Thai, with some American variations thrown in to keep it interesting. Colin and I split a few dishes – chicken with banana flowers, Chiang Mai sausage, and a beef curry dish. The curry dish was good but different – because it was northern Thai, it didn’t have coconut milk in it so it was almost like a broth. But the best dish we ordered was red curry chicken over waffles. That one was really tasty – should have ordered two of those.

We were ready to leave around 9:00 but just then it started to rain – a real tropical downpour. It used to rain like that every afternoon here August through September, but it hadn’t rained at all for the past month. So, neither one of us had an umbrella. We waited it out for a bit but it didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. So, we made a run for the Thong Lor Skytrain stop. Got soaked but at least it was a warm rain.

One odd thing – people in Bangkok seem to go out to dinner late. There were a few people at the bar and one group at a table when we got there at 7:00 PM. But it really didn’t get busy until later, with most people showing up for dinner around 8:30 or so. Seems kind of late, especially for a Tuesday night. Maybe it’s a carryover from when there wasn’t air conditioning so you needed to wait until it was little cooler?

Amphawa Floating Markets - Sunday, November 14

There are two people in from our Corporate offices this week – Lisa Pereira from Boston and Steven Martin from London. So Tewtip arranged a day trip this past Sunday to give them a chance to see some traditional Thai villages, a few temples, and the Amphawa floating markets. The floating markets are about 90 minutes north of Bangkok so we left early – around 9:30 AM – to avoid the Bangkok traffic. Seemed to work well, since we got there pretty quickly. The fact that the driver was doing about 130 kh/hr didn’t hurt either.

First stop was a temple – I don’t recall the name. But it was interesting to visit since it was “live” – lots of local Thais praying, with incense burning and people banging on gongs and drums. Lots of atmosphere. And lots of people putting gold leaf onto Buddha statues. According to Tewtip, people pray to the Buddha for things and they “bribe” (her word) the Buddha by applying little bits of gold leaf to the statue. It comes on a little piece of paper, with the gold leaf on top. You peel off the back and then stick it on the statue.

Once you get what you prayed for, you then come back to the temple to “pay up” – usually by leaving food or flowers. At this temple, there were lots of baskets of food – especially eggs.

We made a few other stops on our way to the floating markets – another temple with more people applying gold leaf to statues and a weird – and a little creepy – line-up of traditional Muay Thai boxer statues.

But the truly weirdest thing at that stop was a statue of a local “goddess.” Tewtip translated the sign for us – something about a goddess who lived in the forest in this area and how the local people prayed to her. Okay, fine. But here’s a picture of the goddess. Tell me it doesn’t look like Cher? From the 1980s.

And the offerings to this statue only reinforced the Cher theme. There were two, glass-enclosed rooms on either side of the statue. On the left were about 20 dresses – very ornate, in all different colors. On the right were about five or six make-up tables, with mirrors.

And at the foot of the statue itself was a small red basket, with nail polish and fake eyelashes. Guess you want to tailor your offerings to the specific icon.

Tewtip had arranged lunch for us at a local restaurant. The food was r-e-a-l-l-y good – pad thai with shrimp, two huge (and whole) fried sea bass, some tom yam soup with more shrimp, and whole mackerel (smaller than in the US) in a sweet tamarind sauce. Seemed like a very local Thai place – we were the only foreigners there. Here are a few photos of the restaurant. I wish I had thought to snap some photos of the food before we all dug in.

Finally arrived at the Amphawa floating markets – and they were packed. And it was really hot – well over 90 degrees. We got there about 3:00, but the markets don’t really get going until later in the afternoon. I can’t imagine how it could get even more crowded – it was already a sea of humanity when we arrived. The idea is that the vendors are in the river and you walk along the banks and they sell to you from their boats. Most of the vendors in the river seem to be selling fish – mostly squid. There are also buildings along the banks for the river and a boardwalk, with vendors selling t-shirts and candy and whatnot.

After about an hour or so there, with the heat and the crush of the crowds, we were all done and looking forward to an air-conditioned ride back to Bangkok. A long day, but a good one.

Rulous Group – November 4

On our third and final day in Angkor Wat, we went to the temples in the Rulous Group. These were built even earlier than those at Angkor Thom – between 850 and 950 – and were more seriously worn. They were also much farther out from Siem Reap – made for an interesting ride in an open-air tuk-tuk for about 45 minutes along the highway. Got to see some of the outskirts of the town – it’s a different life for sure. We went to three different temples – Bakong, Preah Ko, and Lolei. Here are some photos of the temples.

On our way back, we stopped at Angkor Wat for a quick final tour. It’s one of those places we’d wanted to go to for years and it completely lived up to – and exceeded – our expectations. If you ever get the change, go!