Loi Krathong

It had been my intention to get dinner at Brown Rice, a vegetarian restaurant run by another chef, but when I encountered Chiang Mai's night market, I went with the flow and browsed the stalls. I could have street food for dinner and go to Brown Rice on Monday night.

Thai Fish Cake was one thing I had not sampled yet. I found a vendor selling them and had a 50B bag which was quite filling. One thing I never understood though, where do the Thai in Chiang Mai dispose of the plastic bags? Street garbage bins were rare. Perhaps it was a deliberate tactic by the city to limit bag usage. I finally found bins near outdoor tables in grounds of wats that had rented out space to food stalls.

This one attracted quite a few devotees paying their respects to the Buddha, including some western ones.

Closing in on the Tha Phae gate. It had taken me over an hour to perambulate the length of the street market.

One thing I wanted to try was mango slices with sweet soy sauce. I passed it over at the market and never got a chance again.

Opposite Black Canyon Coffee, people were taking their photos with the wall.

A cultural performance at the stage set up the night before.

Nearby the decorated stands contributed by Thailand's ASEAN neighbours.

The parade vehicles were waiting at the gate for the start signal.

On Tha Phae Road, cordoned off to vehicular traffic for the parade, the crowds thinned out a bit, allowing a breeze to blow down the street and alleviating my claustrophobia. It got crowed again near the bridge.

On the bridge people were launching Yi Peng lanterns. But I was looking for the Loi Krathong floats.

They were down by the river bank. The floats are much less spectacular than the lanterns because the candles are not as bright and are visible to fewer people. People sometimes put a bit of hair or nail clippings on the float and symbolically let go of their negative thoughts with the float.

The night sky was full of drifting orange objects like so many stars.

The parade that had been expected finally came down Tha Phae Road and turned north. I was trapped and couldn't return the way I came but realised that if I just waited the parade would pass. A metaphysical lesson?

I called it a night. I was quite sick of crowds after two days in a row and looking forward to a quieter excursion the next day.