A few nights ago, Samart who runs Next Step Thailand decided to host a party as part of the Loi Krathong festivities at his home in Chiang Mai, for all his volunteers and the local couchsurfing community.
Loi Krathong (which translates as “floating crown”) is an anual festival, comes from the tradition of making crowns using banana trees, bamboo and flowers and then floating these down the river. To find these supplies, first of all we headed off down to the local market.
Flower picking duties were delegated to the girls!
While the men took charge of any chopping required.
Making the floats, everyone was able to add their own personal touch, from the sublime to the.. er.. ridiculous?
Some of the participants used this to showcase their artistic skills!
Aside from the float preparing, the jungle juice was definitely flowing..
After we had finished preparations, we all headed down to the river and set off our floats, and once that was done it was time to set off some lanterns.
The tradition of releasing lanterns together is done in order to let go of all negative energy. A very magical experience, although some of the fireworks felt a bit dangerous! The whole scene eventually resembled something like a battle ground!
Image by Nat Brunt
Today’s post is from Maria, a couchsurfer/volunteer. If you are also interested in volunteering with us, please let us know!
