Chiangmai 3 and Donating quilts

It's Thanksgiving today but there is no sign of that holiday here. Of course one of the biggest holidays in Thailand - Loy Krathong when small boats made of banana leaves and candles in them are floated on water - is this coming weekend. It coincides with the full moon, so you can imagine how pretty it is. There is also another northern festival tradition which coincides with Loy Krathong when paper lanterns with candles in them are floated into the air. We have already seen some of these lanterns in the sky. Some people believe that floating the Krathong is an act of prayer, when they ask that their suffering drift away with the Krathong. Others regard Loy Krathong as a ceremonial rite when they apologize and make wishes to the river, a symbol of the great mother of the Thai people. Many festivities are planned and the streets and buildings are being decorated with lanterns, banana stalks and lights for the celebrations this weekend.

In the theme of Thanksgiving we went to donate 210 quilts to poor families that live in the mountains near here. One of our good friends,Siriporn,wanted to donate quilts to people in the north as winter time is very cold for them as they don't have heat or warm clothes. Through another friend we connected with a retired superintendent of schools and he arranged for us to visit 2 of the 4 schools where the children would receive the quilts. All of the children were from a hill tribe group called Karen. Traditionally, the hill tribes were nomadic but as borders became more controlled they have been forced to stay in villages. Many of them don't speak Thai so these schools give the children a Thai language education.

Buying the quilts and visiting the schools.


We also visited a temple nearby with some strange statues and a lone bat!


Finally, some miscellaneous pictures I have take over the last week: It is said that Chiang Mai has more temples and chedis than any other town in Thailand and wherever you look you seem to see one. Also, there is the contrast of the many, many Internet gaming parlours that are full of kids and adults playing games until late at night.