Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is a Thai festival that celebrates letting go of sins, mistakes, and all negatives things in your life.

To honor this "letting go" people float Krathong, made from banana tree, banana leaf, flowers, or bread.  They also light lanterns to release into the night sky under the full moon. The festival is also a time to be with friends and family, enjoying each other's company and making well wishes for the coming months and year.  .

In Ubon there was also entertainment. There were different music shows and beauty contests. As well as street vendors selling anything you could imagine.  I loved my evening down at the moon river, floating my Krathong and lighting a lantern. It was both peaceful and joyful with so many people celebrating together.

It is a truly beautiful sight and I hope these pictures can give you a glimpse of what it was like.

My Krathong that I picked out. 

There's something beautiful about the simplicity of this photo that I love. 

Krathong bread, so you eat it right? Actually no….. we found that out a little late though.

Make a wish

Guess the food?

Yup, bugs!

Look tasty??

Beauty Pageant Contestants 

So many people!!

Family Time :)

Laos

I made a quick day trip into Laos in order to get my non-immigrant visa.  My Laos trip lacked a bit in culture and authenticity, but nonetheless I got a taste of the country and am excited to return. I actually did quite a lot in my day there.  I rode in my first tuk tuk (although paying too much),  relaxed and sipped mocha at a coffee shop, saw dinosaur bones and replicas being made, ate a nice meal along the Mekong river looking over to Thailand, did some souvenir shopping, sipped Beerlao, which I found quite tasty, spent the day with a friend, and of course actually got my visa.

I was thankful to have Nui come along with me, and her language skills in Isaan dialect, which although different than both Laos and Thai is a language known by people in the area.  She also has a great
knack with translating prices, which for some reason continued to leave me baffled.


Here our the pics of our short and sweet adventure.  I'm sure you'll see more which highlight more of the country's beauty.

Yup I'm a dinosaur bush with awesome hair!

Lunch on the river!!!

The embassy. Everything was taken care of. 

Sand Be On Every Beach, Where The Elephants At

I got to see my first elephants in Thailand!!

My weekend trip to Surin the see the Elephant roundup began bright and early. We caught the 6:30 bus to Surin.

It was a three hour ride, with ac, water, and loud Thai TV.  I tried to take a nap, although it was to a chorus of laughter and ridiculous stunts on the Thai comedy show. LUckily though the ride wasn't too long and we soon arrived in Surin.

Once we arrived I called the woman we were supposed to to bring us to our accommodation.  As it turns out a friend of a friend had a husband in the army and they rent out extra guest rooms.  So this kind woman picked us up at the bus station, showed us to our army camp room, then took us to see some elephants. It was amazing to see them simply lumbering down the street.

The experience was also humbling as you remember that these majestic animals are spending their lives confined to cities, rather than roaming free.  That they do circus tricks and give people rides on their back rather than relaxing and doing whatever they please in the wild.

The experience inspired me to learn more about elephants in Thailand. The next time I spend time with elephants I plan for it to be at a camp that takes good care of them, where they can live with more freedom.

The two highlights of our trip was our fun night out on Saturday and the elephant show on Sunday.

Although no taxis were available in Surin we eventually hailed (had a woman call for us) a tuk tuk to pick us up, and then rode home in the back of a  pick up truck.  The evening included sipping drinks at a Thai reggae bar,  walking towards the sound of music, and then happening to stop into a Thai concert.  We relaxed and enjoyed the individuality of our trip and as Julia put it, "sand be on every beach, where the elephants at" All in all, a great night and wonderful company.

The following morning was the elephant show.  Again our host picked us up, this time at 8am and with bottles of water for us all. The elephant show featured, a welcome ceremony, circus tricks, elephant soccer, thai traditional dancing, and a battle re-enactment.


The highlight by far was the final dancing and battle reenactment. The English commentary had ended so it was a bit difficult to know exactly what was happening, but it was so interested, and the dancing was beautiful.  Sadly my camera battery died so I couldn't attempt to capture the finally, not that it would do justice to the experience.


After the show we simply had a meal and returned to Ubon.  Rather than waiting 3 hours to travel back with the same bus company we took first a van and then a smaller bus.  It seems with Thai travel you never know exactly what you will get.

A different kind of street traffic. 

Snack Time??

Often temples are easier to find that stop signs. 

Elephant Show!!

Elephant Painting

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