It all began last Thursday at the Sofitel. For the past year, Joe has been reminiscing about their Thanksgiving dinner. Some of the promised vegetarian offerings included real cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes (western style potatoes are relatively rare here), and PUMPKIN PIE. As you can imagine, we’ve been dreaming about this for weeks. Come November 22, my mouth was literally salivating all day, especially for that pie. We left school as soon as both of use were finished with classes and rode the motorbike straight to the hotel to meet a few of our friends. As we rushed past the giant 3-D cardboard turkey in the lobby, the hostess didn’t even need to ask “ThanksgiVING, mai ka?” She took one look at eager eyes and led us to the nearest table. Alas, after a short perusal of the buffet, a sinking feeling came over me. Where’s the cranberry sauce? I do see potatoes, but they’re roasted. There’s pie, but that’s way too yellow to be pumpkin. The only change from their normal extravagant buffet was the addition of Turkey. Great. Turkey. Making the best of situation, we ordered extremely overpriced wine (the first we’ve had since March when we ate with my parents at an Italian restaurant in Chiang Mai) and I attacked the cheese and bread. I suppose I can’t complain too much, there was enough western food to fill me up, if not overstuff me. And nothing tempers food-disappointment like good conversation with friends.
Later in the week, the Loi Kratong festival gave us the Thai version of Thanksgiving; thanks to the water as we give it lots of Kratong boats. Loi Kratong marks the end of the rainy season, when the waterways are at their fullest. It is also the most beautiful time of year since all of the freshly watered plants are in full-color bloom. The festival is celebrated by building small boats out of leaves (palm, banana), flowers, incense, and candles. Sometime between sunset and midnight, everyone lights candles and incense, makes a wish, and releases their boat into the nearest waterway. If your boat stays afloat (hopefully moving toward the center of the lake) and your candle stays lit, your wish will come true. The effect overwhelms your senses. As you approach the water, you are crammed together with so many other people, but it is wonderful because the air is thick with sweet incense and the water is so breathtaking with all of the tiny pricks of light illuminating the flowers covering the lake. 
The floating of the Kratong is just one part of the festival. There is a parade, which is the first Thai parade I’ve seen since. The main part of the festival is run by university students and takes place on campus, and we recognized a lot of our students in the parade. Most of the groups in the parade were various faculties or departments from the university performing Thai dances. It was beautiful, but I didn’t envy the groups that decided to go the traditional route and forgo shoes. Each group paraded with its own huge Kratong to enter in the University competition. Most departments also had their own booth at the festival where participants could play games for charity. There was also the usual abundance of street food and night-market type booths selling everything you can imagine. 
The entire experience was more breathtaking and emotional than I could have ever imagined, and although I can’t wait to be back for the typical tofurky American Thanksgiving next year, this year’s festivities were definitely an experience I’ll never forget. 
No comments:
Post a Comment