At the temple, there was a crowd of people all releasing paper lanterns balloons

Although Loi Krathong is Thai holiday, Chiang Mai has put a special twist on this celebration. Because Loi Krathong also coincides with the Lanna (Northern people) festival called Yi Peng, this tradition also launches thousands of paper lantern balloons into the sky like embers rising from a flame. So along with the thousands of Krathongs floating down the river, you have the mirror image of the paper lanterns floating up in the sky. It truly is a Festival of Lights!


How do you get yourself a paper lantern? Well one way is to donate some money to the temple...


The lantern is called a Khom Loi, and like the votive candles, you write your wish or dreams on the side of the lantern balloon


Here's a Hello Kitty Khom Loi. Not sure what the wish here is... Maybe a pink bowtie for Christmas?

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The Khom Loi are lifted up by a wax disc that's set on fire. It is also capable of setting your head and hair on fire if you're not careful. True story...


You hold the lantern upright until the candle has filled the inside with hot air, then as it becomes light, you let it go...


Looking up, it looks like something from an astronomy textbook!

If you think this is not entirely safe for airplanes, you're right. On the night of Yi Peng, you're only allowed to launch lanterns within a small window of time in the evening of the full moon. During that time, all flights are routed around the Chiang Mai area. If you launch a lantern outside of this window, you face stiff penalties up to and including the death sentence. Yes, you can actually be put to death for having too much fun.


But nobody here is thinking anything remotely close to that

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Iva launches her own wish up into the sky


Although Loi Krathong is the main national event, in Chiang Mai Yi Peng is by far the more popular activity


Throughout the night, thousands of these lanterns are released

After all the tourists leave at the end of Loi Krathong, it's up to a cadre of local volunteers mostly made up of university students, to scour the dam's reservoir of Krathongs and hiking up the hills around Chiang Mai to collect the landed Khom Loi. It's not a job that's much-publicized, but an essential part of the lifecycle of the festival.


Fireworks explode, providing a brilliant backdrop to the rising khom loi



Paper lantern hopes and wishes
Held high with both hands
Lit up from inside with
equal parts imagination and willpower

Dream hard and let go
And let's see where it flies off to

- Yi Peng, Chiang Mai 2558 BE / Toronto June 14th, 2012

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Hey Guys, It appears your a bit behind in real time on your reports but I can recommend Tony's Big bikes in Chiang Mai if your still there for bike rental and tips for routes, we rented 2 x 650 Kawa's there Nov 2014.
Enjoy

Gino & Fiona

Epic trip guys! So jealous every time I see this thread pop up!

Would you mind if I ask how you fund your trip - by all means tell me to bugger off!!

Damn do I wish I could do that! I guess living vicariously through others will have to do ... for now.

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The full moon celebrations are still in full swing in Chiang Mai. Typically throughout the rest of the year, the population here numbers around 400,000 people, but during Yi Peng, an additional 200,000 tourists flock to the city, exploring every nook and cranny during the week around the full moon. We arrived a few weeks before all the mayhem, but because we're travel fatigued, we didn't venture out too much. Now with Iva pulling us out into the city during the few short days that she's here, we're astounded at just how many people are here.


The old town of Chiang Mai used to be walled off in a square. You can see the configuration in the map above.

Today, most of the walls have crumbled away, only the four corners and a few bits exist along the moat that still surrounds the old city. We still don't know the city very well, but we use these corners and wall bits to orient ourselves when we're navigating through Chiang Mai.


Wat Lok Moli. This is the closest temple to us and we pass it all the time when we head to the old city

Tonight, we're walking to the Sunday Night Walking Street Market, which is held near the Tae Phae Gate, on the other side of the city. As we get closer to the old town the crowds become a lot thicker.


Lanterns at Wat Lok Moli. Some of these smaller, lesser known temples are not as crowded during Yi Peng, but they are still decorated quite nicely

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Thanks Gino!

No big secret. We funded it the old fashioned way. Saved up for many years, then sold our home and now we're living very frugally off the proceeds. Kinda boring story, I know. Sorry.

Can't wait to see you out here as well! Hurry up!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Sounds fantastic! Massively happy for you - been following this thread for 4 years or so and am very envious!

Good luck for the future - whatever that brings...or perhaps I should say wherever that brings you!

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Sawadee Kruhp!

A lot has happened in the last while! Firstly, we've been kicked out of our awesome apartment...

No, we weren't throwing wild parties or trashing the place. We didn't foresee that we would stay in Chiang Mai this long, so our AirBnB lease expired. When we went online to renew it, we found out the landlord upped the prices for the holidays - it was more than double what we were previously paying! So we opted to move out of Nimman and find other accommodations. We're now staying clear across the city, in the north-east quadrant called Fa Ham. We're staying in a high rise apartment right behind a huge, new mall called Central Festival.

Although this change of scenery is kind of a bummer (we really, really liked our old apartment in Nimman), it allows us to explore a new section of Chiang Mai. It's like researching all the different areas to live around the city, so if we end up buying a place here, we'll know the best neighbourhoods. I have a feeling it's still going to be Nimman...


This is the lobby of our new apartment building. Very festive!

So this is where we spent Christmas. We don't really like our new accommodations. Although this building is newer, it's a lot smaller than our old apartment and it's right beside a highway so there's a lot of noise and dust from the traffic. We have to keep the windows closed and use the air conditioner all the time, which Neda isn't too happy about.


Our new place does have a swimming pool though. We make use of it a lot just to get out of the tiny apartment.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Oh, oh Gene, you've been outed how far behind you are

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My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

But that's November 15th, 2025.

I'm actually so far ahead, I'm reporting from the future!!!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/275.html



Sawadee Kruhp!

We've been in Thailand for just over a month and not too much has happened. Iva was only with us a for a few days longer in Chiang Mai, so the girls took a cooking class just outside of the city.


First stop before cooking class is a trip to the local market to pick up ingredients


I also took a cooking class, so there are some pictures interspersed of my trip to the market. This is our cooking instructor Phern

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Neda is getting some good tips on which are the best spices and sauces to use


About 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, our cooking school is in the middle of the farm. Cool!


Fresh ingredients are picked from the garden just outside


The class is set up so that all the ingredients are brought to you and all the pots and pans are washed after you're done with them.
We should go to cooking school every day! 55555!

Oh yeah, I also picked up some Thai Internet lingo. The number "5" is pronounced "ha".... so "55555" = "hahahahaha"

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Neda's cooking up some delicious Tom Yum Soup.


I'm only attending cooking class for all the eating at the end. And because I look so good in an apron...


Before this class, I had no idea what went into green curry. Basically you pound a bunch of ingreendients and you end up with a paste. Neat!

My green curry paste is on the right, Neda's is on the left. Mine's smoother... 555. The only thing I'm better at cooking than Neda is brute force mortaring and pestling.


The format of the class is that for each dish, our instructor shows us what to do
and then we are off to our individual stations to make magic

I found out that there are just a handful of ingredients that you use for Thai cooking: coconut milk, lime, fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, shallots and basil. It's the combination and amounts you use to come up with a variety of dishes.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com