Sorry this post is really long!
So this weekend was the celebration of Loi Kratong which is basically a festival to honor the water spirits. Thai people make beautiful boats made out of banana leaves and flowers and release them into the river as a thank you to the water spirits and also to ask for forgiveness for polluting the water. Loi Kratong is celebrated all over Thailand, however our coordinator asked us to stay in U-thong this weekend for the celebration. I was kind of excited to stay in U-thong because I have done so much traveling on the weekends that it was nice to stay close and explore more of our town.
On Friday, one of the Thai teachers offered to show us around U-thong. Her name is Tu and she is amazing. She teaches the commercial (business) classes at the school. She offered to take us to the Wat (or temple) in U-thong. The Wat is situated up on a hill at the end of the main road in our town. I was excited to go because I have only seen it from a distance as it is too far to walk or ride our bikes.
We showed up at the Wat and it turns out there was a huge market set up for Loi Kratong. Tons of food stalls, people selling souvenirs and clothing, and a huge carnival with games and prizes. The temple itself is huge with different levels as you climb up the stairs. On each level is a different Buddha statue. We walked around the temple for a while and then we saw a huge crowd gathering in the center of the street in front of the Wat. Everyone was carrying balloons. Tu ushered us over to the crowd and bought us each a balloon. We had no idea what was going on but she was able to explain that part of Loi Kratong is also to say thank you to the spirits of the sky so they also release balloons and lanterns during the festival. We waited as a monk made a special speech and prayer and then the whole crowd released their balloons.
After that we went over to watch a traditional Thai dance performance. The performance was an interpretative dance of the history of Loi Kratong. Even though I didn’t understand any of the narrative, the Thai dancing was incredible. And of course the costumes were amazing.
After the performance we sat and had dinner and then wandered the market for a while. It was such a neat experience and I am so glad that we had a local Thai to show us around and tell us about the festival.
On Saturday Tu again offered to show us around. She said that she wanted to take us to a “temple with many Buddha”. We said ok and jumped in her car at 7am. We kept trying to ask where this temple was but the only response we got was “very far”. So we drove through the countryside for about 2 hours. We pulled off onto a dirt road and Tu explained that she was lost and had to stop to ask for directions. So we pulled up into this tiny village and stopped at about every house to ask if they knew where the temple was. Nobody seemed to know so we kept driving. We stopped at one house where a woman was sitting outside weaving a basket. We sat and watched her while Tu was chatting with her in Thai. Later Tu explained that basket weaving was a big deal in this community and that all of the women did it and then sold their baskets at the local market.
We finally figured out that we were in the completely wrong town. So we drove for another hour to another small town. Finally, Tu said that we had arrived. I was expecting to see a magnificent temple however we pulled up to a house with about twenty women sitting outside, all weaving baskets. I was really confused as to how we ended up here. Turns out that Tu gives financial advice to several small businesses around Suphanburi. This group of women had called Tu to come to one of their meetings. Apparently this group of women weave baskets together and then sell them at the market and share the profit. So, Olivia and I got to sit and watch as these women weaved baskets and talked to Tu about their business. Later Tu explained that the women were struggling to keep up with the demand for the baskets. Each basket takes about 3 days to make and they have many, many orders.
It was such a unique experience to be sitting with these local women. There was such a sense of community. We had a delicious lunch with them followed by a photo shoot. They were fascinated by us and all wanted to take pictures with us. It was such a wonderful surprise. J
After lunch Tu said we were going to find the “temple with many Buddha”. We drove around for a long time and had to stop and ask for directions again. Somehow we ended up at the Boonchawa (?) gardens which is this big park and outdoor vegetable garden. We walked around for a while. It was quite nice.
After that we drove back to Suphanburi. On the way back we stopped at Tu’s family restaurant. We were invited into her home and met pretty much her entire extended family. They kept bringing us plate after plate of fresh fruit and then they cooked us a delicious dinner. They kept bringing out more food! I was so full and they kept asking if I wanted more. Her family was amazing. I definitely wish I could speak more Thai so I could have talked with them.
We never did see the “temple with many Buddha” but what we got instead was pretty great.
Sunday was the actual Loi Krathong festival. It started off with a parade through U-thong. The foreign teachers got to dress up in really awesome hot pink Hawaiian shirts. We were all given a krathong (the boats) to carry during the parade. The parade was actually pretty cool. They had floats made out of flowers and banana leaves that were extremely intricate. Our school had a group of dancers dressed in traditional Thai dresses, a marching band, followed by a few classes of students. The parade was a bit awkward for us foreign teachers. I thought we got stared at a lot on a day to day basis but it was nothing compared to parading in front of the entire town of U-thong. I can’t tell you how many times we heard the word “farang” and how many people were so excited to take our picture.
After the parade we went back to the park where we attended another photo shoot. (Seriously more pictures?) After that we were led down to the river where we released our kratongs. The park was lit up like crazy and they had tons of food stalls and other vendors. There were literally thousands of people. I have no idea where all the people came from because I did not think U-thong was that big. We ate way too much food, including som tom which is one of my new favorite dishes and walked around the park enjoying all the festivities. It was really weird to see so many of my students wearing normal clothing. I could barely recognize some of them. After watching some more traditional Thai dancing, fireworks etc, we decided to go back to the temple where there was the carnival going on. We found a group of Elana’s students (M3) who were so excited to see us and wanted to show us around the carnival. So, we followed a group of 14 year old girls around as they explained what different foods were and then led us through how to make offerings to the many Buddha statues at the temple. It was actually really fun and I think they really enjoyed hanging out with the foreign teachers and practicing their English.
I have never seen anything quite like the Loi Kratong festival. There were literally thousands of people around and so many festivities. It was really a lot of fun. I am so glad that I stayed in U-thong for the celebration and was able to get to know some of the teachers, students, and other local people. Such a great weekend!
