I have lived in Bangkok with our family since the beginning of August. We arrived 6 months after my husband had started his new job here, after selling the house & finishing off the school year. We fell in love with it immediately, by far our best expat posting to date: lovely people, delicious food, fabulous weather, wonderful new friends, great community both at school & on the moobaan, interesting culture, I mean, what’s not to love?
One of my favourite evenings so far (& we have packed in a lot of fun nights already…but that’s another story) has got to be Loi Krathong. Loi Krathong is celebrated on the full moon of the 12th lunar month in the Thai luna calendar – this year it will be November 15th. The festival, one of the most popular in Thailand, celebrates the water spirits & basically means to float a basket.
Baskets are traditionally made out of banana tree trunks or spider lily plants & elaborately decorated with folded banana leaves, flowers, incense & a candle which are lit & floated on a river or lake as wishes are made.
The kids were allowed to dress up for school. I was so excited for my 4 year old daughter, having the chance to wear one of the beautiful intricate Thai costumes. She had other plans: she wanted to be a Disney Princess. I explained patiently numerous times that it wasn’t fancy dress it was Loi Krathong & we had to wear traditional Thai costumes. Eventually I managed to persuade them both to wear t-shirts from Chatchuk market & as I was reading in my daughter’s class that day I also got dressed up much to the teacher’s surprise.
Our moobaan annually hosts a Loi Krathong party. All around the pool were street-style food stalls offering an delectable array of Thai treats: Pad Thai, chicken satay, fish soup, green curry, pork on a stick, you name it, it was there. The pool was decorated with lights & both Thai & expat families mingled to enjoy the festivities. It was fabulous.
The kids couldn’t wait to light their Krathongs, which were being floated on the baby pool in lieu of a more natural water feature. My daughter had changed into her maxi dress dismissing my objections with ‘it IS a party, Mummy’. Before I knew it, she had thrown off her dress & was cavorting around in the baby pool in her knickers. She was having a ball but her resultant Tsunami waves were capsizing or drenching all the Krathongs. As incense & candles fizzled out, her little face glowed in the pool lights with pure delight. I was horrified, goodness knows what that has done to our karma for 2016.