so this weekend is the thai lantern festival (it doesn’t really have a set date, it’s just held on/around the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional thai lunar calender). it’s really awesome! these past few days people have been setting off fireworks everywhere, and lighting the big lanterns and floating them into the sky all over the city. it’s really cool to look outside and see all these lanterns floating around in the sky above chiang mai! like hundreds of drifting stars. the city’s also been heavily decorated in colorful paper lanterns, and there’s tons of bands and traditional thai dance demonstrations everywhere. all the temples are decked out with lanterns, parasols, and banners, and have cool stuff like mazes you can walk through.

a band on a street:

the entrance to some temple (i don’t know which one, there’s so many!):

at this temple, you pay 10 baht for a small bouquet with incense and candles that you leave as an offering to one of the many statues scattered throughout the maze:

video snippet of the maze (unfortunately the memory card filled up before we could film more):

this temple has been under construction since we’ve been here, it’s been really cool walking by and seeing the progress they’re making on it. the buddhas haven’t been moved, and there’s usually people praying and making offerings even when the workers are building it. it’s all decked out for the lantern festival, here’s the outside:

here’s the inside, where the buddhas are:

here’s one of the lanterns (the inside rotates with the wind):

some lantern clips thrown together:

i’ve got some more photos and videos, i’ll post ‘em later.

Filed under: buddhas, chiang mai, festival, temples, thailand by Administrator