Lai Ga Tong Festival

One of the first cultural festivities here was the Lai Ga Tong Festival or festival of lights. It symbolizes rebirth and to properly celebrate, every makes little boats out of sliced banana trunk, covered with banana leaves and flowers. Then we forgive the world for all the bad things of the past year and set them free down the river in the nearby village. What a creative and beautiful way to start the new year!

Then the party begins! And there is a parade of young thai beauties, one from each small village in the area and each with their own float and pick-up truck loaded down with speakers playing her music. It's quite a scene! I felt like I was at the fourth of July celebrations back home. There are also a lot of vendors selling yummy snacks, most of which are chopped hot dogs or meatballs deep-fried on a stick. There are also these amazing fresh marshmallow crepes, which I'm not sur how else to describe. The woman makes a small crispy crepe and then tops it off with beaten egg whites, then curls it off the griddle and sprinkles with brighly colored flakes. Delicious! Especially considering I was not that into trying the fried pork. Music continued late into the night and eventually the 'francs' (white people--of which we were the only ones there) had to call it a night.

The other amazing thing that defines this festival are huge paper lanterns that are lit and let lose into the sky. As they float, they get smaller and smaller until they just seem to disappear. We definitely had to try a few of our own. These continued to be present in the night sky for a whole week following. I wish I could have photographed them floating away. Truly beautiful experience!