6 months To See The World: Chaing Mai

The sign in front of the old city wall says
Chiang Mai Yee Peng Festival 2016

Mel and I added Chiang Mai to the itinerary because we would be there during the famous Yi Peng festival, which started and is still strongest in this northern region of Thailand. The festival coincides with the more wide-spread Loy Kathrong festival, so there are both balloon lanterns and sky lanterns to release. Fun! Unfortunately this year, they canceled the famous Buddhist event that is known for its balloon lantern release, but did not announce the reasons. Instead, they offered a version for tourists, and tickets were sold out before we ever booked our flights.

River lanterns made by the pros
Evert able Thai was cutting
and pinning banana leaves and
flowers all day that day.

Fortunately, the Yi Peng and Loy Kathrong celebrations are so ingrained in the culture of Chiang Mai Province that there is no stopping this festival. So we still got to participate.

People started releasing balloon lanterns and river lanterns from

Getting the balloon
lanterns warmed up

bridges and the river shore as soon as it got dark. We’d picked our restaurant for the night because it was right next to one of the two main bridges where people release their sky lanterns in Chiang Mai. It was an all-inclusive event with music, food and drinks. We got the best seats in the house thanks to Mel’s negotiation skills! We released our floating lanterns early as well and watched the sky fill with glowing orbs as we ate dinner on our balcony perch.

The floating lanterns set off into the river

The bridge and the river behind the
stage is the major release point for
balloon lanterns and fireworks

The big event was at 9:00 when we released our sky lanterns next to the river, along with thousands of other people in Thailand. You are supposed to pray, putting all your troubles and bad feelings into the sky lanterns, and then release them symbolizing letting go of all of it. It’s a great feeling when your lantern finally catches the wind and floats off into the sky.

A view from our dinner table

This guy offered his "help", which
made Melanie laugh

These things are really hard to photograph

Letting go of the lanterns

In front of
Wat Chedi Luang

The main gate entering
the old city of Chiang Mai

We did get to see a little bit of Chiang Mai, the city while we were there. It's amazing how dense the temples are in this town! I think Mel counted more than 50 inside the old walled city alone, just by counting the ones marked on the tourist map. We dropped into a couple of them, and visited the biggest and oldest: Wat Chedi Luang.
The day after the balloon lantern release held a parade and fireworks in theory, but most of it got cut short by the pouring rain. We got lucky that the main balloon release night was so clear.

Random temple on the way

Buddhist monks getting
ready for the festival

Wat Chedi Luang - rebuilt with
Japanese dollars according to Wiki
Note the elephants around the left edge

The temple out front

The parade passing under the
picture of Thailand's beloved king

Poeple lining up for the parade
before the rain began

Views from the top of the mountain

The 4-wheeling crew

The next day, we did a tour of the National Park outside Chiang Mai on 4-wheelers. Rumbling through the jungle, appreciating some beautiful views, climbing through a huge cave with headlamps, and visiting a local village. We paired up with two other travelers: Justin from sunny CA and Arie (sp?) from Tel Aviv. The final stop was the "Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai" offered by our driver for only an additional 500baht. It turned out to be a big hole in the ground dug by humans and a surprisingly pleasant to swim in. We got some awesome cliff jumping in!