Loy Krathong Festival Khon Kaen

                                                Loy Krathong is here !!

On Sunday it was finally the day of the big festival. Loy Krathong was here and as the song goes “every body was full of cheer”. We are living close to one of the big lakes on campus and have seen the preparation gone into setting it up over the past week, so it was an easy choice where to head. Regardless of where you went in the city or any where in Thailand, celebrations could be found. The sky was lit up with the Li Khoms ( fire lanterns ). When we arrived at the lake the roads were shut down down and huge markets were running the whole length of the campus.

A parade of floats and singers ran through the streets. We walked the full length getting a few unusual looks as most groups of farangs do. At the carnival section they had parlour games that you wouldnt find at home such as human whack a mole and the lady boy ghost house.. the lines were too long to wait but every one coming out was in hysterics laughing.

They had carnival games like dunk the Thai in a vat of water by hitting the target or just paying a donation to hit Thai men with water balloons which Kristine was very happy to try.. hmmm. They had Ferris wheel and bouncy castles set up for the kids. 

On our way back we found a section of campus holding some big game events involving Thai games one which is like hacky sack with a raised net about 15 feet from the ground, they would attempt trick shots to hit it in without letting it hit the ground.
 They played a game which could be described as football volley ball with a bamboo ball. The player would serve up the ball by kicking it and instead of the usual spiking in volley ball they would somersault while kicking the ball and landing back on their feet ready for the next return. Amazing to watch.

We began to observe a sack race when one of the teams asked if I ( Stephen) would like to join in. "Sure why not" was my reply and I was added to a team. They let me do a test run on my own while the whole crowd laughed and cheered and with my technique down, I was ready for the big race. My team won the semi's and were on our way to the finals. Having a Farang on your team was a huge crowd pleaser and they made me pose for a million pictures possibly for local newspapers and college flyers.. so I may be on the front page of every newspaper after this :) Unfortunately we lost the final by a hop or two but the team was given a cash payout which I was happy to give to the rest of my  team. Only after words I found out I could have gotten a cool 1000 baht but was happy to part of it. 

After that the girls got shown around the arts and craft section and where able to make their own coloured sand candles while we checked out the local guitar stand. Anthony played a few songs on the electrical guitar which drew a crowd of Thais and received a huge cheer. He is playing a gig next week in a bar in town so we are on hand as his hype crew.

We made our way past live music and shows and competitions such as Win free phone credit by popping a balloon with a pump in 15 seconds.. i got 16 seconds and Anthony took away the prize. Again they asked us to hang around while they took 100's of pictures of the falangs. We brought our premade Krathongs and queued up at the lake to drop them in passing through crowds of 1000's but was an amazing feeling standing next to the Thai's enjoying their festival

After we walked up to the stadium where they had a Beauty pageant which goes hand in hand with Loy Krathong. We stayed for a while taking in the show before heading an other lake which was aimed more at adults as the one on campus was very family orientated. 
The other lake was full of groups setting off their lanterns so we purchased one and a few beverages and went to the edge of the lake to let ours go and wish in the new year. We had an amazing night and Anthony even broke his bug cherry trying his first fried insect.



Next week kristine has sports week and I have a week of lesson planning in the sun... its a tough life really