Yesterday was Loy Kratong - the annual Thai festival where you float your bad luck away by pushing a kratong out to water. A kratong is a little float made from banana leaves, flowers and such, with a candle on top. It is a charming little festival. Thais gather after dark at rivers, lakes or the sea to join in. We usually make the effort to join in somewhere. Previously we have gone to restaurants by lakes, the lake in the park in Phuket Town or Saphan Hin.
This year, we decided to give it a go at the reservoir at Bang Wad Dam in Kathu. When we got there, I was surprised by how many people were there - it is the biggest Loy Kratong gathering I have seen in Phuket. Literally thousands of people must have come and gone during the evening. They had a little stage show, food stalls, beer tents and of course lots of stalls selling kratongs.
We did our little kratong thing, lighting the candles and pushing them out on to the reservoir. We did it just in time as 5 minutes later the heavens opened and it poured down. We took cover in a small beer tent. It was standing room only as everyone crammed in but the mood was good and everyone was laughing. We had a beer while we waited for the rain to pass. It carried on raining so we had another and another.
Ben is good at finding new friends. He quickly found a girl about the same age as him and they happily played in the rain all evening, soaked to the skin and loving it. Jenny fell asleep.
3 hours later and I was fairly hammered. The rain finally relented but Nick had arrived so it seemed only decent to stay for a few more beers before staggering home. I made the effort to wake up at 3am to watch Spurs play Liverpool. It was a real struggle but worth the effort as we continued our remarkable revival with a 4-2 win.
I failed to get the kids into school this morning. Good to know I have my priorities right. I can manage 3am in the morning to watch Spurs but 8am for school is beyond me.
This year, we decided to give it a go at the reservoir at Bang Wad Dam in Kathu. When we got there, I was surprised by how many people were there - it is the biggest Loy Kratong gathering I have seen in Phuket. Literally thousands of people must have come and gone during the evening. They had a little stage show, food stalls, beer tents and of course lots of stalls selling kratongs.
We did our little kratong thing, lighting the candles and pushing them out on to the reservoir. We did it just in time as 5 minutes later the heavens opened and it poured down. We took cover in a small beer tent. It was standing room only as everyone crammed in but the mood was good and everyone was laughing. We had a beer while we waited for the rain to pass. It carried on raining so we had another and another.
Ben is good at finding new friends. He quickly found a girl about the same age as him and they happily played in the rain all evening, soaked to the skin and loving it. Jenny fell asleep.
3 hours later and I was fairly hammered. The rain finally relented but Nick had arrived so it seemed only decent to stay for a few more beers before staggering home. I made the effort to wake up at 3am to watch Spurs play Liverpool. It was a real struggle but worth the effort as we continued our remarkable revival with a 4-2 win.
I failed to get the kids into school this morning. Good to know I have my priorities right. I can manage 3am in the morning to watch Spurs but 8am for school is beyond me.
No comments:
Post a Comment