Loy Kratong 2010 in Kao Lak

Loy Kratong 2010 in Kao Lak

This year I'm in Kao Lak during the Loy Kratong celebrations since I'm teaching an IDC here and have to float a Kratong on behalf of my family, since in Samui there was no celebration this year in the local Wat Plai Laem.

Loy Kratong ลอยกระทง takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
"Loi" means "to float" and a "krathong" is traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk.

In Kao Lak there was however a big party on next to small river and a wooden construction was build so everybody could get close to the rive and float his or her Kratong.

The water was relatively rapidly moving which worked out great for the Kratongs and they were swiftly taken with the current after being launched.

There were plenty of Kratongs for sale at various stalls and the average price was around 50 Baht.

This is a picture of my Kratong this year, but this was the second version, since the first version was a very small Kratong made out of a lotus flower and was very cute, but after I added some of my hair, a small piece of my nail and 9 Baht in coins, it was off balance and unfortunately capsized immediately, so it was time for a second Kratong. This one floated just fine!

At the party ground all kinds of activities were going on with lots of food and goods for sale and in a corner near a big stage I found some very big Kratongs, made by hotel staff and students of the local schools, which looked like a competition. Above shows a proud student from a local school with an over sized Kratong.

That;s it for this years Loy Kratong, if you were in Thailand, I'm pretty sure that you participated in the festivities and if you're outside Thailand and know Thai people there, you may well have participated in a local festivity and otherwise, I hope you enjoyed these pictures.

Camille