The morning after the Loy Krathong

I almost missed Loy Khrathong! I had checked an online date and time site for this years date, but it was wrong and the party was last night. Fortunately, I live next to a temple and it was loud, a friend called and asked if I wanted to go and that was that.

I took the walkway along the canal to the back of the temple where people were lighting and launching their khrathong and taking family pictures. There were kids swimming in the canal taking the coins out of the khrathong, old alcoholics slipping out of the temple grounds to take a pull on there stashed bottle, lots of sparklers, and some very well fed fish. So well fed by the time I got there that they weren’t very interested in the bread I tossed.

Inside the temple grounds it was a full fair with people selling small fish to release for merit, food vendors of all kinds, a film projector showing a comedy on a big screen in front of some tables and chairs they had set up, a handful of people vending random odds and ends, and all the pop the balloon or shoot the target for a stuffed animal things you’d expect from a fair. And, of course, all of the sacred objects and prayer.

I had a crepe, a durian popsicle, a bite of some yum, and a jelly drink. It was all really quite nice and I’m really looking forward to the next temple fair now. This is a relatively small temple, and this makes me wonder if there aren’t comparable celebrations at countless locations around the city. For the traveler this means a whole new array of quieter ways to celebrate the holiday. Maybe at a temple within walking distance of your hotel.