Lots of
things to do today. We first drive well
into the countryside to do a raft ride on a small river. It was adjacent to/part of an Elephant Camp
but as we have ridden elephants before we opted out of visiting them. The river was fairly small and chocolate
brown from all the sediment.
We did end up seeing some of the elephants from the elephant encounter as they ambled along the river.
Next was a visit to the Baan Tong Luang Village.
This village focuses on the preservation of the culture of six different hill tribes. One of the tribes is the Padong people, also known as the long-necked people.
Others were the Hmong (which we previously visited in northern Vietnam),
Yao (which we previously saw in southern China),
Lahu,
Sgaw Karen,
and Palong.
Next was a visit to the Baan Tong Luang Village.
This village focuses on the preservation of the culture of six different hill tribes. One of the tribes is the Padong people, also known as the long-necked people.
Others were the Hmong (which we previously visited in northern Vietnam),
Yao (which we previously saw in southern China),
Lahu,
Sgaw Karen,
and Palong.
The
village had examples of the small homes from each of the tribes and lots of
craft stalls selling their wares. The
Padong certainly were doing a brisk business with pictures. They had half collars that looked like the
neck rings that the women wear (only the women wear the rings) and for 20 baht
you could don one and get your picture taken with one of the women.
Since we
weren’t spending time with the elephants that freed us up for other sights so
June and our driver conferred and we ended up at an eco-agriculture station
with a great view-point. The eco center
is part of work done by the King to bring modern farming practices to the
area. We didn’t spend any time with the
agriculture part of this location…just enjoyed the view.
We then
headed to an orchid farm for lunch. They
had a large buffet, lots of orchids for viewing, a butterfly house and a shop
with lots of lacquered orchids made into jewelry.
There was also a butterfly building there at the orchid farm. We wandered inside and had a grand time trying to photograph the flighty little things.
After a rest at the hotel we headed out in the evening for a major highlight of this trip, the Yeepeng Lanna Festival, the major Thai traditional Festival of Lights. It is held during the full moon (incidentally, tonight was a super-moon) and coincides with the Loi Krathong festival where floating krathong (lanterns) are released into rivers and lakes.
There was a large "fairground" type area with many vendors selling food and items...and a very large crowd enjoying the festivities.
At the entry there was a huge sculpture of four birds lifting a large net carrying a treasure chest of rocks. Not sure of the significance but it was a pretty awesome piece of art.
The first hour
and one half of the festival was a Buddhist service honoring Buddha. There was chanting and meditation (they did
such a good job with the meditation mantra’s that Mary almost went to sleep
sitting up in a chair).
Next was a Circumambulation Ceremony where many monks and a large number of the observers were given lighted candles and they circled the entire ceremony area three times.
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Watch video of monks circling the area.
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Then there was then a ceremony to light the lantern sticks (basically torch lanterns), followed by everyone lighting their own sky lantern (Kho Loi), one lantern for three people. At a specific time all lanterns were to be released. The release is a symbolic act of releasing your worries and letting them float away. In actuality, a number took off early and there were lots of stragglers.
But oh my, oh my, oh my!!!
When the bulk of the lanterns took off all at once it was breathtakingly
magical. Really, really magical! Joyous, magical, exuberant, uplifting!
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Watch the release of the lanterns.
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In the video, right at the release of the lanterns, there is movement of the camera. This was caused because Paul was holding onto our lantern and shooting over his shoulder, and when Paul let go of the lantern his body turned.
It looked like there were thousands of lanterns released just from the ceremony site alone but they were also being released all around the area.
A sight to behold (and all air traffic in and out of the Chiang Mai airport was grounded for this evening.) Fortunately we were told that all parts of the balloon are biodegradable (but there was wire connecting the lantern fuel disc to the paper lantern so at least that part is not).
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Watch the release of the lanterns.
-------------------------------------------------
In the video, right at the release of the lanterns, there is movement of the camera. This was caused because Paul was holding onto our lantern and shooting over his shoulder, and when Paul let go of the lantern his body turned.
It looked like there were thousands of lanterns released just from the ceremony site alone but they were also being released all around the area.
A sight to behold (and all air traffic in and out of the Chiang Mai airport was grounded for this evening.) Fortunately we were told that all parts of the balloon are biodegradable (but there was wire connecting the lantern fuel disc to the paper lantern so at least that part is not).
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