a thing i am currently obsessed with
i think i’ve watching this 5 times already:
WHENBESSATTACKSblog
random snippets
some performers on some random stage somewhere during festival weekend:
minivan equipped with crazy laser show on the inside… along with a kitchen – a lady in pink pigtails was selling food out the back:
another late night
went out with nathan, sellli, and another lil’ lady to a couple of clubs/bars. first place was called fashion paris (located under kad suan kaew), it was swankier with v.i.p. sections, fun lighting, and whatnot. there was a dj, and a band. it wasn’t very crowded, which was a-ok with me. nathan doused me and shaun in body glitter at some point.
fashion paris stage:
nathan and shaun:
shaun, you just got glitter’d:
toooooongs:
whiskey and soda (that’s selli in the background):
ladies:
more pictures:
after fashion paris around 5am we went to some other bar, i think it was called lucky club or something? i don’t remember. this is a super cute picture of nathan and selli… unfortunately i accidentally covered the flash with my finger. dang it:
misc
cool looking costume shop:
eating some thai food at this rad place near the southern gate:
loy KRATHONG, LANTERN FESTIVAL, PT. 3
yesterday we wandered over to tha pae gate (eastern side of the old city) and down the road to the ping river, to the heart of the lantern festival. we followed a parade to the bridge, there were lots of cool floats and colorful costumes… unfortunately i didn’t get many good pictures since it was dark. but i did get a couple of pictures of the floats. on the way, we bought and released a couple of big lanterns into the air. people were setting off fireworks constantly, everywhere… which was pretty cool looking but rather loud.
lanterns at tha pae gate:
parade float… this one flapped it’s wings:
another float:
people everywhere were selling lanterns of various sizes and colors (mostly white though) that you could buy and float into the air. they’re made out of very thin paper with a thin bamboo circle at the bottom that holds a round lump of stuff that burns. some lanterns had a tail that released sparks, which was really pretty. we didn’t see anything that caught fire from the lanterns, though i did see one that was caught in a tree. here’s shaun waiting for a lantern to fill up with hot air so it’ll float into the sky:
the view from the bridge was fantastic! fireworks and lanterns everywhere you turned:
there were a fair amount of river boats floating up and down the river, which seemed a little treacherous on account of all the fireworks people were shooting off of the bridge into the water:
there were also these cool floats on the river:
we went down to the river’s edge to set off some fireworks and let loose a little candle/bamboo/leaf boat into the water, like a bunch of other people were doing.
we crossed back over to the other side of the river via a ridiculously crowded walking bridge:
one of the many fountains that were being set off everywhere:
here’s a little ferris wheel with tiny little cages for people to get in… we didn’t ride on it:
that’s it for now, i’ll post a video later
chinese temple
while roaming around during the lantern festival, we came across this super badass chinese dragon temple.
entrance:
one of the roofs:
shrine:
exiting the temple:
Loy KRATHONG, LANTERN FESTIVAL, PT. 2
really awesome llama-type costume at a lantern festival demonstration by the chiang mai three kings monument:
some photos of the dancing ladies in the above video:
big rotating lantern:
some lady (the colors are wonky):
some lanterns in the middle of the three kings square:
the sunday walking street:
more pictures of the actually festival on the ping river later!
loy krathong, lantern festival, pt. 1
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.
a very thai halloween
so i wasn’t sure if they really celebrated halloween here or not, so i didn’t really give much thought to a costume until day of. shaun talked to our friend nathan and he said that they were all planning on dressing up. me and shaun went to the kad suan kaew mall to look for ideas… if nothing better came up i was just going to buy a sheet and cut some eyeholes in it. we went the the 1 baht store (not really accurately named – most everything is around 15 baht – but still super cheap) and i picked up some devil horns. i brought to thailand one of the dresses i made, a red one, so i figured red dress + devil horns = adequate halloween costume.
the place was pretty well packed out, there were a lot of people chilling in the street between all the bars. a little over half the people were dressed up, and refreshingly there weren’t a lot of ho bag costumes. i saw maybe two scantily clad ladies… and i didn’t see any store-bought looking costumes at all! it was awesome. there was an american indian, jesus, a couple of devils, pirates, nurses, skeletons, ninjas, and a bunch of other stuff. throughout the night people i didn’t know took pictures with me (i don’t really know why, i wasn’t really dressed up that great). there was a fantastic blues band playing for most of the night, and everyone was having fun. first halloween i’ve had in a long time where i didn’t see a single fight break out!
me drinking a cheap chang beer:
shaun (who didn’t dress up, so nathan slapped some makeup on him) and justin (another zoe dj):
nathan in his thai costume with some ninja chick:
the zoe band room:
i didn’t really take many pictures… i should have but i was too distracted i guess. i did take this little video at the beginning of the night (plus there’s a second or two clip at the end of me that shaun took when he thought he was taking my picture instead of video). it’s a little dark, unfortunately: