Loy Kratong at Sukhothai - November 2010

Each year one of the nicest holidays of the year is called Loy Kratong. This year we decided to go to the place where - according to history - the festival was started. Click here to read more about the festival We spent 3 days visiting many temples but they were just the tip of the iceberg as there are probably 1000s of Wats (temples), but many are lost or in ruins. On our way there we visited our good friend Dwaila who has a nice resort near Phrae called Punjen Hideaway. See http://www.ruralthailand.com We had not visited for 3 years and she has made many improvements, including a beautiful swimming pool, and the gardens are more mature and beautiful. After a short visit we headed on to Sukhothai and just happened on to a boat race in a nearby town called Wang Chin. Apparently these races happen every year during Loy Kratong. Here is a video of the races: The Sukhothai kingdom (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรสุโขทัย (Pronunciation) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438. The old capital, now 12 km outside of New Sukhothai in Tambon Mueang Kao, is in ruins and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage historical park. In Sukhothai the Loy Kratong festival is a 3 day affair getting bigger and busier each day. They have Light and Sound shows, fireworks and other activities every night. There were ceremonies to make merit with the monks too. The approach roads, ponds and ruins are lighted with torches which makes the scene magical (at least until the crowds grow too large :-). There are many, many shops selling all kinds of clothes, handicrafts, demonstrations of traditional crafts, food, food and more food (this is Thailand after all). Their efforts to make this a memorable experience is impressive, and our only complaint was the competing sound systems that were ten times louder and closer than they needed to be! The ruins which are located in what is called Old Sukhothai are surrounded by double moats and there are lots of other ponds throughout the site. Loy Kratong means "float Kratong" and so the whole purpose is to create a kratong, decorate it with incense and candle, wish for forgiveness for the years' sins and float those sins away. Traditionally it was a simple affair where a banana stalk was cut to make a round disk and then it was decorated with various leaves, flowers, some money and other natural products. Of course with time comes change and now you see everything from the most basic banana stalk styles to some huge gaudy plastic enormous ones. Here are some photos from the trip: Here are some other photos ... Now a video of the parades. The last day (Sunday) had the biggest parade and it was HOT. We had to wait about 45 minutes in the HOT sun just to get a semi-decent location for watching. There are a lot of villages that participate in the parade and people from all those villages come to see the parade. Some of the older, more "mature" groups had the best dancing and music whereas the "fancy" ones seemed more contrived and created for the Kodak moment and the tourists. If it wasn't glitzy it was probably more genuine. I liked the music and drum playing the best.