Loy Kratong and Dripping Cultural Sentimentality

I celebrated Loy Kratong with Siri and Caro on Saturday evening at Queen's Park, which is sandwiched in between Emporium and Imperial Queen's Park Hotel. I haven't celebrated Loy Kratong for ages; I believe the last time I ever 'loyed' was way back in eighth or ninth grade.


For those of you who are unfamiliar with Thai celebrations and traditions, Loy Kratong is an ancient ceremony where people go down to the nearest body of water, whether it be a klong (canal), lake, river (or even your bathtub, lol) to make a wish and float their kratongs. Loy Kratong literally means "Floating Kratong" and Thais celebrate it on the night of the full moon every November, and so it therefore falls on a different day each year. Some people also say that Thais used to traditionally believe that the kratongs represent bad luck and misfortunes from the previous year, and that they would be washed away with the releasing of their kratong into the water. Of course, most people nowadays don't believe that. But whatever the case, Loy Kratong is still a fun tradition all Thais celebrate every year.

The traffic that night was crazy and I didn't want to have to deal with parking-space-hunting and deranged drivers, so Jason and I decided to take the BTS, which was extra packed that night since everyone was out celebrating.

Click on the pics to enlarge them.


Waiting for the skytrain...

We hopped onto the skytrain and I have to say that nothing beats public transportation. It's fun doing people-watching, and observing everyone's various quirks and actions. I felt kind of sorry for this one guy standing next to me. The lady in front of him was talking on her cell phone (and rather animatedly to say the least), and everytime she shook her head or nodded or swayed from side to side, this colossal feathery hair acessory thingy in her hair would slap him across the face. LOL. Being the polite person that he was, he didn't complain or say a single word in protest and went on getting feather-slapped until he finally got off at the Siam Square station. There were also these two French gay guys on the other side of me, who - in very rapid French - complained about how horrible American men are and how much better European guys are. Aw, c'mon, I know they're not perfect, mais je ne pense pas que les hommes Americains sont cela mauvais.


The view from the BTS Station at Emporium.

Jason and I went our separate ways once we reached Emporium. He went to watch Matrix Revolutions with his buds and I headed to CD Warehouse (formerly Tower Records) and bought some CDs (two of Jay Chou's older albums and Blue's first album). After that, I went to Kinokuniya Books to wait for Caro. Being the book fiend that I am, I couldn't not buy any books. I ended up leaving with Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret (do not read this in public unless you're extra adept at containing uncontrollable laughter), The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (about time I finally got this book), and two Nora Roberts books (Key of Light and Birthright).

Caro finally arrived, but we still had to wait for Siri who was having dinner with her family, and so we headed back to CD Warehouse because Caro wanted to get Jay Chou's latest album (bwahaha, she finally succumbed to Ye Hui Mei). Unfortunately, Ye Hui Mei was sold out, and so we perused the aisles a bit. I came across the latest album by this Irish artist, Malachi, (I hadn't noticed it earlier) and decided to buy it on a whim since I'd seen his music video the other day and loved his voice. I don't know if it was Loy Kratong luck, sheer coincidence, or what, but when I approached the counter to pay, the lady asked me if I could speak Thai before reaching under the counter and pulling out two tix to his gig this Wednesday night at RCA! AHHHH. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful. She said that when they usually give out tix, they draw names randomly out of a box, but seeing as how it was Loy Kratong and all, she was just going to hand them over... anyway, wow, that was really nice of her. I thanked her profusely and practically skipped out of the store in glee. Yippity yay.


The Malachi tix, the Malachi tix!
Oy. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to curb impulsive shopaholic tendencies?

We met up with Siri, and on our walk over to Queen's Park, this Japanese couple asked us to take a pic of them with their little son in front of Emporium. He was soo adorable and was dressed in this traditional Japanese outfit. Aw.


Siri, me and Caro unashamedly acting like tourists again.

The outside of Emporium was completely lit up with lights, and the entrance to Queen's Park was literally jam-packed with kratong vendors and sellers who were all shouting out various numbers. I noticed that they would call out prices and then quickly lower them a few seconds later so that they were maybe a baht or two cheaper than the prices of other neighboring kratong vendors. They also called out cajoling remarks to the oodles of passing tourists, who - perhaps easily charmed by such honeyed words - were unknowingly charged higher prices for the kratongs than the locals were. There were also hordes of enthusiastic kids running around after one another whilst waving little fluorescent glow-sticks, and whole extended families out celebrating and simply relishing in the nighttime merriment. Bright smiles and loud laughter were abound that night - this is what festivities should be all about!


The entrance into Queen's Park.
Sorry for the fuzzy pic, my hand was a little unsteady (Patrick: "Were you drunk???", hehe) since there were a lot of people bumping into each other left and right.


Kratongs galore!


A kratong vendor in front of Emporium.
One of the things I love most about Bangkok is how the ancient traditions and ways of the past can co-exist seamlessly with the burgeoning modernity of the present.

So we bought our kratongs (which were dirt cheap considering the gorgeous handiwork and time that must have gone into making them), lit those babies and then proceeded through the entrance of Queen's Park. On the way in, Caro and I overheard these two farangs (foreigners) behind us say, "I'm really glad we came... think of all the girls we're gonna meet!!". This made the both of us turn around slightly, and - eek! - we nearly doubled over when we saw that one of the guys was the spitting image of this prone-to-bitching English teacher who used to teach at our old high school. It was kind of weird hearing that come out of a guy who looked exactly like stuffy old Mr. Hawkins, lol.

Walking through the crowd made me realize just how culturally diverse the people of Bangkok truly are. There were families of every possible nationality you could think of, all decked out in their national costumes. I saw people dressed in Japanese Kimonos, Chinese Qi Paos, Indian Saris, and, of course, tons of little kids in Thai traditional costumes. Tourists and expats from all over Europe were there, too, and I heard conversations uttered in everything from German, to Spanish, to Danish and Italian.

We approached the lake and the scene before us was absolutely stunning. The entire body of water was ablaze with fiery light and kratongs, each and every one bearing the wishes and hopes of the many Bangkokians who were out celebrating that night. The cool thing was that these people were all from various cultures and backgrounds, and yet there they were to commemorate this beautiful Thai tradition that's been celebrated by Thais for centuries. This is going to sound so disgustingly sentimental (get ready to whip out the kleenix) but I felt really proud to be Thai at that moment.


Queen's Park Lake lit up with kratongs.


Imperial Queen's Park Hotel from across the lake.

At one point, the candle on Caro's kratong set her incense sticks on fire. Yikes! I had to pluck them off her kratong and throw them into the water before her whole kratong caught fire. Poor Caro: "I haven't even 'loyed' my damn, bloody kratong yet and it's already on fire. Is this a bad sign?". Of course not, hun... grr, damn wind.


Caro and I with our kratongs.


Siri, me, and Caro.

We all made our wishes and then finally released our kratongs into the water. Walked around a bit, just soaking in all the festivities and fun going on around us as fireworks lit up the night sky. We spotted some kids dressed up in Thai traditional costumes and asked their mom if we could take a pic with them. Hehe, after assuring her that we weren't psycho pedophiles or anything, she happily obliged and took this pic for us.


Front (L-R): me, cute little girl in her Thai traditional costume, Siri
Back (L-R): Caro and the little girl's brothers
The girl eagerly grabbed my camera after taking the pic because she was so excited to see her image appear on the screen of the digital cam. Hehehe. Do I see a future Nang Ngam in the making?


Caro had to leave a little later, and so Siri, her mom and I strolled around Empo a bit. Both Starbucks and Au Bon Pain were closed a little earlier than usual, and so we ended up in the food court on the top floor where we watched the Loy Kratong scene from above while eating some homemade Italian Cookies & Cream ice-cream. Needless to say, the scene below was absolutely picture-perfect.

I later met up with Jason (who couldn't and wouldn't stop raving about Revolutions), and we caught the late night skytrain back to the Moh Chit station. Apparently there had been a kratong competition earlier, and so there were some great kratongs set up on display at the skytrain platform.


Check out the intricate handwork.


"And the winning kratong goes toooo...!"
A kratong of the Bangkok skytrain.
Anyone up for a ride?


2nd Runner Up


A kratong of HRM the King's Suphannahong Royal Barge. The real Suphannahong Royal Barge has a golden swan figurehead and first appeared in Thai history during the Ayutthaya period.
Purdy, ey?


A Matrix Revolutions AD at the skytrain platform.
Jason freaking nearly peed his pants; he was dying to blab the ending to me, haha.

The ride back was rather amusing. There was this couple and grandma with these two super cute luk krung (Eurasian) kids sitting right across from me. The younger of the two boys kept scratching his poor mosquito-bitten legs and his grandma would gently swat his hand and say in Thai, "don't scratch, don't scratch!" everytime he reached down to scratch. A little while later, obviously very bored and in dire need of something interesting to do, he suddenly grabbed his grandmother's cane and - right there smack in the middle of the train - performed this one scene straight out of Lord of the Rings where Ian McKellan brings down his staff and shouts defiantly, "YOU. SHALL. NOT. PASS!!!" (OK, so maybe it doesn't sound so funny, but I guess you had to have been there to appreciate it, hehe.) His grandmother couldn't quite understand what he was hollering about and tried to grab her cane, but he kept moving adroitly out of reach. When the skytrain suddenly came to an abrupt halt, he lost his footing and accidentally fell at my feet and started bawling. His mom apologized profusely, grabbed her son and started scolding him the rest of the way. Aww, poor kid, he was just having some fun!

Loy Kratong this year was freakin awesome. If I'm still in Thailand next year, I'm definitely going to celebrate again. Maybe I'll try something a little different and celebrate in Ayutthaya where I bet the ancient setting and magnificent ruins will make for a very memorable Loy Kratong experience.

Happy Loy Kratong, everyone!



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