Rally Caps On

After a pretty uncomfortable night, and a valuable lesson learned too late (the seats in the main areas at Bangkok airport are bare metal, but at the gates, they are padded and look much more comfortable for sleeping), the sense of relief that comes with finally arriving in Chiang Rai overwhelms the exhaustion and we are surprisingly upbeat on the drive to the hotel. We are here at what is normally the start of the high season, but things still seem pretty quiet. We have no problem checking in early, and head directly for much needed hot showers and a change of clothes. The hotel beds call to us like sirens, but with a final effort, we leave the room and head off for breakfast.

Today is the Loi Krathong festival in Thailand (which we also come to learn coincides with the Yi Peng festival in the north), so other than making our way to town for that, we have absolutely no definitive plans for the day, other than to try and stay awake to force our bodies to adjust to local time. We try a little time at the pool (which doesn’t work that well for me as I promptly fall asleep on a deck chair), followed by a little time back in the room catching up on email (which doesn’t work well for Angela who crashes hard on the bed), before finally putting the rally caps on and getting a ride into town.

Chiang Rai doesn’t seem a whole lot different than any other Thai city we have been to, with a mix of shops, market stalls, restaurants and massage parlors (not the sketchy kind) all jumbled together. It’s a completely new experience for Nick though, and he finds the chaos interesting. We try a few street snacks here and there, but he wants to keep an empty stomach for the food stalls at the festival. We also try to tempt him with a $6 foot massage, but he seems a little wigged out by the idea of strange people oiling him up, so he occupies himself watching Thai TV for an hour while Angela and I partake in one of our fondest Thai memories (which I guarantee will be repeated many times in the days to come).

As night starts to fall, we buy a few krathongs (small rafts made out of banana leaves that are filled with flowers and candles) and head to the main park where thousands of locals have already gathered. As there are actually two festivals in one, two separate traditions are happening at the same time. For Loi Krathong, people are walking down to the river, and once the candles are lit, launching their krathongs to float down the current. This symbolizes letting go of ones negative feelings so that life can start the new year with a clear mind. There are also plenty of fireworks being set off (without a whole lot of analysis as to the merits of holding a roman candle vertically versus horizontally), which combined with all the people and lights make for quite a show.

At the same time, people are also launching giant paper lanterns to celebrate Yi Peng. We buy a few of these for $1 and join in, lighting the candle in the bottom and waiting for it to heat the air inside the paper envelope until it has enough lift to take off. There are literally hundreds of these in the air at any given time, and are amazingly tranquil to watch slowly float away.

Spirits unburdened, we hit the food stalls, trying an array of different things. We find a place selling tiny grasshoppers (Nick has said he will eat one if I do), but they are sold by the shot glass full, which seems a bit more than we need (although the lady next to us loading up a plate with 4 servings might disagree), so decide to pass for now. Later in the evening, we come across the bigger ones that are sold as singles (right next to the giant cockroaches), but can’t muster the courage to try those ones either, so agree to put off the grasshopper challenge to another day.

By 9:00, after Nick’s first ride in the obligatory tuk-tuk, we finally make it back to the hotel, there are still celebrations going on there as well. Nick and Angela decide to stay up a bit longer to watch more fireworks, but I’ve hit the wall, and fall asleep somewhere between leaning over to get into bed and when my body actually hits the mattress.