The Yi Peng festival was one of the main reasons I wanted to come back to Thailand and I wasn't disappointed. Apart from the fact I lost my travel buddies in the masses of people (!!), there was something so cool and special about seeing the amount lanterns and lights lighting up the sky and literally floating like something out of a fantasy movie.
'Yi' means two and 'Peng' means full moon day and it is celebrated annually and is also known as the Loi Krathong festival. It's celebrated on the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar and was also the same time as the supermoon which is only seen now and again from earth. The lanterns, boats and ornaments that are set adrift and lit and meant to honour Buddha.
Earlier in the day, we had a lesson on how to craft and decorate your own lantern. This was one to sail down the river and is made of flowers, bamboo leaves with a candle in the middle. Needless to say, mine certainly didn't look as fancy as the lady's one who was showing us how to make it!
We walked into the town over the river with our lanterns and by this time (between 8pm-midnight), there were already thousands of people and the lanterns could be seen high in the sky. It was pretty impressive when you first see it, like tons of stars shining brightly, but just moving! I loved watching groups of people as they lit theirs and sent it on their way. Some failed to make the height and came back down or floated in to a neighbouring tree! The opposite bridge to the bridge I was on, there was a huge '1,2,3' as about 12 lanterns were let off at the same time and everyone cheered. It was pretty cool to watch and the atmosphere was amazing. The highlight was the guys I was travelling with, lighting a few of these and sending them in to the night, each cheering as they made it and not land in the water or get caught in the trees.
If you didn't have a lantern to light up, the other one was the floral decorative lanterns that you could light, say a prayer and float down the river which was equally nice to watch but not as impressive as the lanterns in the sky in my opinion.
It was a really cool experience that I won't forget in a hurry. You can see my vlog of this event here.
