Life in Thailand: Loi Krathong at Chulalongkorn University and on the Chao Phraya River

Fireworks for Loi Krathong over the Chao Phraya river and Sathorn district of Bangkok

Loi Krathong is celebrated all around Thailand on the night of the 12th full moon, which this last year fell on November 28, 2012. At dusk, small floats called "Krathong's" are launched on the rivers and ponds, and in Bangkok the evening is crowned with a fireworks display over the Chao Phraya river. If viewed from the right vantage point - the above photo taken from one of the five-star riverside hotel restaurants - the view and atmosphere is absolutely magical. The small river boats with their candles glisten on the river far below, and the bright lights of the sky lanterns flicker in the dark as they make their quick ascent to the heavens. In the meantime, the fireworks begin to explode and burst into many colors over the river. Faint music from the river barges and boats drift skywards, some reaching up to the fortieth floor of the restaurant. Home made fireworks continue to also periodically add their clamor long into the night.

But I diverge! This was my first year to celebrate the Loi Krathong festival with my friends, since for 2011, the immense and terrible flooding dampened the festivities. So this year, with some hesitancy, I talked with some friends and discussed where we could celebrate. We finally decided on visiting the Chulalongkorn University, since the campus tends to be highly energetic with thousands of students converging on the central square, and then moving on to Asiatique for a higher-end experience.

Loi Krathong at Chula University! People releasing small boats equipped with candles into the water

Once we arrived at Chula University, we were taken aback at the number of students around the square, which was much larger than a football stadium in terms of area. Along the pathways, numerous students were waiting around to take part in a parade that would walk through the center of the square. On either side of the square, which was far in the distance from where we arrived, were food stands, entertainment, and several live performances by local bands. Also fun was to talk with the students about which college they represented, about their traditional dress, and just joke around with them. Students ARE cool, after all!!

A small pond is located on the western side of the square and here the students and faculty release small krathongs with their lights (this can be seen in the above photograph). The fish must indeed have a feast! Thousands were released and floating around by the time we arrived. Personally, the skylanterns are more interesting since they are launched and continue skyward and can carry for many miles. The krathongs tend to lose their lights after maybe five minutes, which results in many lights near the shore but dark little boats toward the middle of the pond.

Legend. 1. Shopping in a small store decked out with craft-like holiday treasures 2. Buying food from some of the food stands lining the paths for the festival at Chulalongkorn University 3. Fancy, highly decorated krathongs - floats to be placed in the water for good luck or similar purpose. 4. Numerous beauty pageants are held every year on Loi Krathong. For the various universities, the most beautiful student is selected as representative for the institution for the ensuing beauty competition. This is the 2012 representative at Chulalongkorn University, the number one university in Thailand. I had the opportunity to meet her afterwords; her English isn't bad! 5. The beauty queen is selected from a separate competition between each college of the university, and the winner is carried like a queen around the central square!

Many students were selling light-up accessories (think Minnie Mouse ears for the ladies, etc), sparklers, and noise-making toys. The venders, of course, had such options as buttered popcorn, fried chicken pieces, sausages, pork balls - all Thai-style, and all affordable and delicious!! Coupled with the live music, the environment was quite nice. The parade itself was rather interesting and fun to watch. Each department would walk by the judges situated in the center of the square (I believe one of the judges was the president of the university), and would perform one part of the play. The play appeared to include many different aspects of Thai culture, ranging from farming to sailing to the reaction of youth to rock music. To be honest, even the Thai friend who took me here had some difficulty understanding entirely what the play was about. The ladies from the beauty pageant, such as those shown below from the accounting department of the business college, also took part in the parade.

Beauty competitions are also held at the various university campuses between various departments on Loi Krathong

After several hours, we found it quite difficult to tear ourselves away from the university, but we finally made it over to the BTS before traveling down to the riverside station. At that point, we came to the unsettling reality that everyone and their family was down by the river. Millions of people, all hoping to make it to the riverside, and many of them headed to Asiatique. With the boats filled and traffic literally not moving at all, we decided to walk down to the venue. It's roughly a 2km (1.25 mile) walk. The sidewalks were crowded with people and motorcycles busily heading somewhere and everywhere. At one point, we became quite weary and finally decided to take motorcycle taxis over to Asiatique. Now, the road is typically four lanes, but on this day all the traffic headed towards our destination was filled and not moving. Not only the two lanes usually used to move traffic in that direction, but also a third lane that was supposed to be going the opposite direction. Finally we found motorcycle taxi drivers, and we offered the two of them 200 baht to take us over to Asiatique - ten times the usual fair. Laughingly, they shook their heads and indicated to us that we couldn't make it over their no matter how hard we tried - to busy. At that, we noticed one of the five star hotels located nearby. The venue was one of my favorites with a great riverside restaurant - pricey, but come on, we were desperate! The decision turned out to be the right one by far! Great river views and relaxing. The higher prices also guaranteed that space was available even on such a busy day.

Buffet dinner at Riverside Chatrium. My group stopped here just for drinks before heading to the 36th floor "Silver Waves" restaurant for a stunning view of the fireworks later on in the evening.

The evening turned out to be quite magical, as we migrated from the riverfront up to a Chinese restaurant located on the 36th floor. Faintly, the hustle and bustle of the streets was replaced with the sound of just openness, with music drifting upwards from the numerous barges and dining cruise ships lining the river awaiting the fireworks. We munched on an excellent Peking duck and fried rice, and I also enjoyed the nicety of a long island iced tea to help top the evening off. Then the fireworks began. The journey was unexpected, naturally, but quite enjoyable! Below is a long-exposure shot of the river from the Chinese restaurant. Bon Appetit!

Long-exposure photo of the fireworks over the Chao Phraya river and the Sathorn district of Bangkok. The atmosphere at "Silver Waves" at the Riverside Chatrium was also quite fantastic! Highly recommend to avoid the millions of people crowding the streets far below. Brightly-lit boats coasted up and down the river. The yellow streaks in the photo are not mistakes! Those are skylanterns that are gradually drifting skywards. The smoke comes from the fireworks. Enchanting, to say the least!!!

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Loi Krathong at Chulalongkorn University and on the Chao Phraya River