RawlingsSinger284

Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreign guests as I was to discover when I experienced the Water Festival of Loi Kathong on the island of Ko Chang.

Ko Chang

In October 2003, the travel bug seriously bit me. The signs and symptoms led me to sell my organization, pack a modest backpack with needed items and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with a key credit card and an attitude. A couple of days later, I was in Thailand and headed for the island of Ko Chang, located close to the border with Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.

Ko Chang is a heavily forested island with small towns complete of beach huts. This is what I was exactly what I was following. Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel. Regrettably, I soon skilled the local bacteria, which was not what I was right after.

Given that I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment in advance, the family running the location looked me upon favorably. They took pity on me and I was soon developing fat on Tom Yom Kung and other soups and curries. After four days, I had finally kicked the bug and felt halfway human. This was great news as it was the night of the full moon water festival.

I had heard of full moon festivals in Thailand. For hard partying tourists, this was apparently the night the massive beach parties happened. In Ko Chang, it was a small distinct as the night was tailored to the actual Thais, not tourist.

The Loi Kathong Festival occurs each and every full moon. Offerings are given to appease the water spirits. These offerings come in the form of banana leaf bowls with flowers, fruit, candles and incense. The candles and incense are lit and absolutely everyone heads down the beach and starts putting them in the water. It is one particular of the a lot more remarkable light shows you will ever see and beats Las Vegas hands down. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of small lights bobbing on the surface of the smooth ocean.

After the bowls comes 1 of the most visually amazing items Ive ever noticed. Absolutely everyone is familiar with the paper lanterns utilised in Asia. Usually, they come in the form of a rectangle form with a bamboo or light wire frame. Quite popular with college students since they are inexpensive and look much better than a bare light bulb.

For the festival, Thais would take these paper lanterns and close off the leading. They would then affix a tiny this paper plate to the bottom with a candle on it. Light the candle, wait for the heat to do its function and they had an instant hot air balloon. As soon as the lanterns could float, you merely let go and off the slowly went over the ocean. It was a sight to see as there were thousands of them floating over the water.

As the festival wound down, the ocean had been transformed. The air was complete of gracefully floating lanterns while the water itself was dotted with slowly bobbing points of light.

If you intend to travel to Thailand, make sure you schedule your trip about a full moon. It is a scene youll never ever neglect. truth about abs review small blue arrow vince gironda