I could have stayed a lot longer at Cave Lodge and surrounding areas, but the Loi Krathong festival was about to start in Chiang Mai, and according to many people this was worth attending, the biggest festival of the year (though some say the water bombing as part of the new years celebrations (?!) is bigger).
Loi Krathong is held on the full moon usually at the beginning of November, and thai people release little baskets made of banana leaf with various offerings in them to the river, to get rid of bad luck and honour the gods. A more spectacular sight however are the thousands of candle light paper lanterns floating into the sky.
And what makes it crazy and feel like a war zone is all the kids, teenagers and many adults setting off huge amounts of big and small fireworks late into the night!!
Walking over the iron bridge through it all was terrifying at times, some loud ones were set off very very close to me (a few metres) and hurt my ear drums!
This goes on for about 4 nights, and there are also parades, official ceremonies and beauty contests. On one of the nights the people I was with (including Dae who I’d met through couchsurfing in Australia last year) decided to try to get on top of the roof of a large hotel next to the river. It turned out to be very easy. Just wander in, take the lift to the 16th floor, then walk two staircases to the roof, where we were all alone with the solar hot water panels! A great view of the river and fireworks at eye level! Occasionally a lantern would fly past, some still on fire!
Another night, Dae and Rita decided to go to Wat Doi Suthep, a temple on a nearby mountain, about 20km from the centre of Chiang Mai. I joined them, but we didn’t get there until 6.30pm as we had some food and then the crazy but friendly sorngtaau driver we met drove us halfway across the city to swap for a normal car.
But the temple was beautifully lit, and very peaceful in the evening. We also had a great view over Chiang Mai, seeing more fireworks very small in the distance!
