Loy Krathong

Lots of people at our temple

Full moon, as good as my camera will get it...
More news! Saturday night, we had the full moon of November, which is the 12^th lunar month (don’t ask me why). In Thailand, this day the Loy Krathong festival takes place. “Loy” means to send away and a “Krathong” is a little boat made of banana leaves. To celebrate it, I went to our local temple with my host family (about 10 minutes away by foot) and everyone “sent away” such a little boat, on the Temple’s pond. Before sending it away, we lit the candle on the Krathong and made a wish. On the Temple grounds, there were many people, pretty much everyone from our neighborhood. Some monks were speaking to the people, there was a lottery, some shows and of course A LOT to eat (we’re in Thailand). After the temple, I went to downtown Bangkok to catch some of the atmosphere at the Chao Phraya River, the main river of Bangkok. But we got stuck in traffic, so we didn’t have much time once we were there.

On Friday morning, my school had its own Loy Krathong festival. In first period, there was a show with some singing and dancing. Thursday, the head of the English department had asked me if I wanted to sing the Loy Krathong song in English on stage in front of all students. Sure, why not, some Thai students sang with me, so it was no problem. They even gave me some traditional Thai clothes to wear.
That’s it for now
Klaus