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Oct 7, 2014
Loy Krathong in Mae Jo: Really an Adventure
See the location on Lanna Dhutanka Temple ธุดงคสถานล้านนา and Meditation Centre Google Map
Khom Loy lanterns in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์
In Mae Jo แม่โจ้ (about 20km North from Chiang Mai) the a ceremony with mass release of Khom Loy lanterns is usually hold at the Lanna Dhutanka temple (behind Mae Jo University) on Saturday night of the weekend before Loy Krathong. At our visit two years ago it was magical: The full moon rose just in the middle of the round place in front of the wat, where far over tenthousand people gathered for the event.
Picture marhas1
Full moon over the temple in Mae Jo
Everybody sat on the floor for hours, taking part in long Buddhist prayers. Patience was needed, before the highlight of the night arrived:
Picture marhas1
Preparing the hot air ballons
Thousands of hot air ballons, called "Khom Loy", were launched at the same time. You cannot imagine this moment of joy shared by thousends of people around you.
Picture marhas1
Up they go - all together.
What followed, was not that joyful: Everybody tried to get home through a small street leading out of the temple kompound, for around one kilometer there was no more room between the bodies moving to the exit very slowly. And afterwards of course the streets back to Chiang Mai were full of traffic. One lesson learnt: You should not do this trip without a good guide, who is able to get contact with your driver and get you back to the car in all this traffic. And: We were grateful, that all people on the way out kept calm - it's hard to imagine, what could have happened, if some people would have got a panic attack.
See this video from 2009 by chipoisonphoto.
Loy Kratong in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์
Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai
Update for 2013:
In 2013 Yee Peng Festival at the Meditation Center in Mae Jo is schedulded for Saturday November 23, from 5 pm as you can read here. It is specially arranged for international visitors. In the ticket for 100 USD a shuttle bus and food is included. The full moon day - the offical Loy Kratong day - is on November 17. For some days around this day Chiang Mai will celebrate the Loy Kratong and Yee Peng Festival. And in Mae Jo a religious ceremony is held on Saturday November 16. For more details read the following comments.
Update for 2014:
This year the full moon will be on November 6. The Yee Peng Mass Lantern Release with a religious ceremony at Mae Jo for locals is on October 25. The International event is on Nov 8.
Khom Loy lanterns in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์ In Mae Jo แม่โจ้ (about 20km North from Chiang Mai) the a ceremony with mass release of Khom Loy lanterns is usually hold at the Lanna Dhutanka temple (behind Mae Jo University) on Saturday night of the weekend before Loy Krathong. At our visit two years ago it was magical: The full moon rose just in the middle of the round place in front of the wat, where far over tenthousand people gathered for the event.
Picture marhas1Full moon over the temple in Mae Jo
Everybody sat on the floor for hours, taking part in long Buddhist prayers. Patience was needed, before the highlight of the night arrived:
Picture marhas1Preparing the hot air ballons
Thousands of hot air ballons, called "Khom Loy", were launched at the same time. You cannot imagine this moment of joy shared by thousends of people around you.
Picture marhas1Up they go - all together.
What followed, was not that joyful: Everybody tried to get home through a small street leading out of the temple kompound, for around one kilometer there was no more room between the bodies moving to the exit very slowly. And afterwards of course the streets back to Chiang Mai were full of traffic. One lesson learnt: You should not do this trip without a good guide, who is able to get contact with your driver and get you back to the car in all this traffic. And: We were grateful, that all people on the way out kept calm - it's hard to imagine, what could have happened, if some people would have got a panic attack.
See this video from 2009 by chipoisonphoto.
Loy Kratong in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai
Update for 2013:
In 2013 Yee Peng Festival at the Meditation Center in Mae Jo is schedulded for Saturday November 23, from 5 pm as you can read here. It is specially arranged for international visitors. In the ticket for 100 USD a shuttle bus and food is included. The full moon day - the offical Loy Kratong day - is on November 17. For some days around this day Chiang Mai will celebrate the Loy Kratong and Yee Peng Festival. And in Mae Jo a religious ceremony is held on Saturday November 16. For more details read the following comments.
Update for 2014:
This year the full moon will be on November 6. The Yee Peng Mass Lantern Release with a religious ceremony at Mae Jo for locals is on October 25. The International event is on Nov 8.
Aug 3, 2014
Thailands Military Junta plans two Highspeed Railway Lines - serving as Connection with Southern China
The plans for highspeed railway lines in Thailand are back on track: Thailand military junta, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), first put on hold the projects, when it took power in May. Now it has approved two high-speed train projects at a total cost of 741.4 billion baht according to Bangkok Post. The two routes will serve as a transport link between Thailand and southern China.
One route would travel 655km from the border town of Chiang Khong to Ban Phachi in Ayutthaya province in central Thailand. Another would see freight carried 737km from Nong Khai, across the Mekong River from Vientiane prefecture, to the Thai port and industrial estate of Map Ta Phut, as The Nation reports. The former project of the Shinawatra government included lines from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Padang Besar.
Map by Bangkok Post
The NCPO intends to bring down the costs of the projects from 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per km. Therefore the railways are planned for a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour instead of 200 kilometres per hour, announced permanent secretary for transport Soithip Traisuth according to Bangkok Post. This was to allow a possible shift to a higher speed train system in the future after more investment were put in,she said.
The construction of the two routes should begin in 2015 and be completed by 2021, said Soithip.
Also endorsed by the NCPO were six more metre gauge dual-track rail routes for a construction budget of 117.4 billion baht with construction to begin next year. These routes are from Chira junction to Khon Kaen (185 kms), from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon (167 kms), from Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin (165 kms), from Mab Kabao to Nakhon Ratchasima (132 kms), from Lopburi to Pak Nam Pho (148 kms) and from Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan ( 90 kms ), as Thai PBS reports.
Read older stories:
Chinas Railway for Laos: Waiting for Thailand
Chinese money brings big change: A railway from the North of Laos to Vientiane and Thailand
One route would travel 655km from the border town of Chiang Khong to Ban Phachi in Ayutthaya province in central Thailand. Another would see freight carried 737km from Nong Khai, across the Mekong River from Vientiane prefecture, to the Thai port and industrial estate of Map Ta Phut, as The Nation reports. The former project of the Shinawatra government included lines from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Bangkok to Rayong, Bangkok to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Padang Besar.
Map by Bangkok PostThe NCPO intends to bring down the costs of the projects from 500-600 million baht per km to a range of 350-400 million baht per km. Therefore the railways are planned for a maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour instead of 200 kilometres per hour, announced permanent secretary for transport Soithip Traisuth according to Bangkok Post. This was to allow a possible shift to a higher speed train system in the future after more investment were put in,she said.
The construction of the two routes should begin in 2015 and be completed by 2021, said Soithip.
Also endorsed by the NCPO were six more metre gauge dual-track rail routes for a construction budget of 117.4 billion baht with construction to begin next year. These routes are from Chira junction to Khon Kaen (185 kms), from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon (167 kms), from Nakhon Pathom to Hua Hin (165 kms), from Mab Kabao to Nakhon Ratchasima (132 kms), from Lopburi to Pak Nam Pho (148 kms) and from Hua Hin to Prachuap Khiri Khan ( 90 kms ), as Thai PBS reports.
Read older stories:
Chinas Railway for Laos: Waiting for Thailand
Chinese money brings big change: A railway from the North of Laos to Vientiane and Thailand
Apr 17, 2014
Are people in Chiang Mai really annoyed by Chinese Tourists?
Picture by Chinese TouristsA reason to be annoyed? Chinese tourist posing in Chiang Mai
"Anti-Chinese feelings in Thailand high as influx of tourists angers locals", writes Hongkongs South China Morning Post. Chinese tourists are said to have "clambered aboard student buses at Chiang Mai University, made a mess in cafeterias and sneaked into classes to attend lectures". They are said to be "loud, uncouth, culturally unaware".
Do people in Chiang Mai really have a problem with Chinese tourists? "The number of Chinese tourists visiting Chiang Mai is huge — last year it was over 200 000, and the percentage of troublemakers among this is tiny", writes Peerawat in Bangkok Post. And remembers: "Three or four years ago, Chiang Mai’s tourism industry was facing a big problem. Oversupply of hotel rooms put operators in the red. Hotels were mostly empty, and the room rates were pretty low." Restaurants, souvenir shops, and other businesses now enjoy the Chinese boom.
And Chiang Mai traffic police is now learning Chinese. A photo showed on their Facebook Page shows, that the police members not only learn words as "red light" and left turn", but as well phrases like "you’re cute" and "I love you". Therefore Chiang Mai City News asked: "Chiang Mai Traffic Police Learn Chinese to Reduce Accidents... and Date Chinese Girls?".
There is another point: Chiang Mai has its own Chinatown near Warorot market and its own Chinese temples. "The old, local Chinese have established here for a long time and have lost a lot of their original culture and (...) mixed very well with the Thai locals. Many Thai have some Chinese blood in their veins and those who claim to be fully Chinese are in fact not really Chinese anymore in their behaviour, but more Thai", writes Chiang Mai Locator. For example: Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra, the present and former Prime Ministers of Thailand, are the children of a Chiang Mai family of Chinese descent. And Thai-Chinese people control a big part of Thailands economy, as Paul Richard Kuehn notes.
Picture by marhasPung Tao Gong temple in Chiang Mai
Picture by marhas
Picture by marhasSo, may be, the anger of Chiang Mai people about Chinese tourists, is reported by newspapers, who don't exaclty know the influence of people of Chinse origin in Thailands society. And some readers remember, that American und European tourists can be loud, uncouth and culturally unaware as well. And may be many people in Chiang Mai are just happy, that the Chinese comedy film "Lost in Thailand" (see on Youtube) has been turned here and became a blockbuster in China (read more). And this is the reason, why tens of thousands of Chinese people now flock into Chiang Mai.
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