Chiang Mai, Thailand
Friday, November 7, 2014
We had had a long trip to get here via Bangkok and when we arrived our hotel had lost our booking which we made a month ago!
As they were full they taxied us over to their sister hotel SK 1 and we stayed there the first night with the promise of being moved back tomorrow. We were quite glad they could move us back as our room here was a bit dingy. Clean but dingy.
After a brief rest and a freshen up, we walked the half mile or so to the area where they hold the festival.
Some quick background on this festival for you -
Yi Peng is the name of this, a Lanna festival and is celebrated throughout northern Thailand. Yi means "two" and peng means a "full moon day"
pretty lanterns everywhere
Anyway, the streets were full of people and when we turned a corner, there were just 1000's of people everywhere.
The streets were all lit up by lanterns hanging off just about everything and candles had been placed everywhere by shop and stall holders, even along the footpaths. You had to be careful where you were walking so you didn't set your trousers on fire!There was a lively vibrant atmosphere.
Amongst all this there were people selling the sky lanterns ready to light and send up and away.
Of course we had to buy one each and we set off trying to find a place to light it.
We were a little bit at a disadvantage here as we realised we had neither lighter or matches with which to light them so thought we would be better off looking for an area where lots were going up and we could borrow a light from someone
monks helping out
.
We walked around with a bit of difficulty as it was packed and to add to it there was a procession right down the middle of the street. It was like a carnival procession with big floats, musicians and dancers.
We turned down Tha Phae Rd and there was a temple all strung up with lanterns and it looked beautiful in the flickering night light. These temples are beautiful at the best of times but they really seemed magical now.
We walked a bit further and came across another temple - Wat Upakhut, and the monks inside were selling lanterns and helping people get them up in the air. We know it was a bit cheeky but we walked in and mingled and got some help to get our own lanterns up.
It was a really magical atmosphere especially with the silent monks all in orange going around lighting lanterns. Really beautiful.
We watched our lanterns go sailing off into the night sky along with all the others. There were thousands of them.
It is no exaggeration when we say there were thousands in the sky at any one time. There were so many they looked like stars.
We walked back to our hotel really glad we had made it to this city in time to see this festival and as it was on for another night we hoped to see more the next day
up......
.
Well the next day we had moved back into the correct guesthouse and the evening saw us back in the centre byt the main gate of the old city wall. Lanterns were strung up everywhere still and we stopped to watch other people lighting their lanterns and sending them off. There were some novelty lanterns out too this evening.
One of the nice things we noticed was the real camaraderie amongst lantern lighters. No pushing and shoving and people helping each other.
Where the moat was alongside the old city wall, there was also a lot of trees, quite tall trees. Some of the less observant lantern lighters didn't plan their release spot very well and some were getting caught in the trees and just catching fire.
When the crowd could see a lantern heading towards the trees, a big almost coordinated gasp would go up and then a lot of shouting and egging on of the lantern to miss the trees. When they did miss the trees a huge cheer would go up and when they didn't - then a big ohhhh! would sound out. It was really funny
1000's of lanterns fill the sky
.
At the end of this second evening we went back to our hotel and up onto the roof. The view of the night sky from there was amazing.
At first you think the sky is full of stars and then you realise they are all moving and it is lanterns you can see. It was incredible.
We tried to estimate how many had gone up just in the two nights we had been there. As each lantern only lasted between 6-10 minutes (yes we timed them) and over 6 hours each night there had constantly been thousands, well you do the maths.
Hopefully that gives you some idea of the incredible sight they were.
Our main reason for coming to Chiang Mai had been to find a special elephant but we are so glad we timed our visit to coincide with this festival. It was amazing and will be imprinted in our memories for ever!
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