Just for Temmy!

Here is a post just for Temmy with a second version of her slideshow :)

Happy Loy Krathong

Shameless copying from Wikipedia:

Loy Krathong (or Loi Kratong, Thai ลอยกระทง) is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand. It is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, in the western calendar this usually falls into November.

“Loi” means “to float”. “Krathong” is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.

The festival probably originated in India as a Hindu festival similar to Divali as thanksgiving to the deity of the Ganges with floating lanterns for giving life throughout the year.

According to the writings of H.M. King Rama IV in 1863, the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the Lord Buddha. Apart from venerating the Buddha with light (the candle on the raft), the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a krathong will create good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha.

The beauty contests that accompany the festival are known as "Noppamas Queen Contests". According to legend, Noppamas was a consort of the Sukothai king Loethai (14th century) and she was the first to float decorated krathongs.

The Thai tradition of Loy Kratong started off in Sukhothai, but is now celebrated throughout Thailand, with the festivities in Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya being particularly well known.

So now that you know what it is... here are a couple pictures of my experience. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was kind of caught up in the spirit of things. :)

Here are our Krathongs:

Becoming a Monk

Anyone that has been to Thailand has probably seen their share of monks, and if you haven't been here you've almost certainly seen the pictures. But, I was fortunate enough to get to experience something that a lot of farang won't see in a typical day here - a young man's ceremony for becoming a monk.

This isn't some rare event or anything, in fact most young men here become a monk for a period of time... 7 days sounds to be the norm for those that aren't doing it long-term... but it is a big celebration and you might find that entire villages attend these events, regardless of how close they are to the family. There's lots of people, lots of food, lots of praying and chanting, and in the end there is one more monk.

The day started with the shaving of the head. At first family members are cutting off locks of hair with scissors, and eventually a "pro" is called in to do the actual shaving. And yes, all the hair on the head has to go... including the eyebrows.




Meanwhile, lots of praying going on in the chapels as well...



In the afternoon the actual ceremony began. The soon-to-be monk is dressed up in white robes, and paraded around the chapel three times. The women and children were all dancing and hollering... it was quite a sight.





There are a couple more formalities, then everyone heads into the chapel. There was a lot of memorized recitation and praying... and then without too much celebrating it was over. The family posed for a few pictures and everyone went home and the new monk began his service. Come to think of it, I believe today would be his last day there. I'll have to check in and see how he did.

Home Life

Am I allowed to post more than one thing a day? haha I just finished moving my belongings into my condo, so I thought I would share a couple of pictures. It's nothing fancy, but it's clean and I'm the first one who has lived here, and I got an AWESOME deal through a friend of a friend... I spent more on food every month (two weeks for that matter) back home than I am now paying in rent. Can't beat that. :) Anyway here it is, pardon the stuff still laying around back there:


Also, something you'll notice after visiting a couple of houses/apartments here is that everyone uses a different kind of AC than we use in the states. In fact, I asked a friend of mine about it and he told me that they used to use those crummy window units about 30 years ago, but upgraded to this type a long time ago! What is so great about these units? Well, you don't need a window or a certain size unit to fit your window for starters. The absolute BEST part though is that the fan/loud part is outside where you can't hear it, like central air. It is connected to the part inside the house with a pipe or something, and all you get inside is nice, cold, quiet air... it's fantastic. Those little blades on the bottom even osolate... ahh, the small things. :) Anyway, I wonder when the US will wake up to these! They don't even use central air here this system works so well, you just put a unit in whichever rooms you want to cool and then you don't have to cool the whole house all day.


And last but not least... the BEST feature of my apartment... I love this location. It's quiet, there's a lot of shopping around, the subway isn't too far (the subway is super clean here too), and the view out my kitchen window:


Ahhh... but I still gotta edit wedding pictures like the rest of yall... so back to work I go! :) Rion

How could I forget?

How could I tease you all like that about the chapel and then not post any pictures of it! Well here are a couple... I think you'll see what I mean about it being just an absolutely perfect place for a wedding. Sure, a beautiful beach wedding sounds amazing... but have you ever stood on the beach in Phuket for more than 30 seconds in anything but a bathing suit? Not fun! The chapel gives you the best of both worlds - you can see the water and be surrounded by it, you can bath in the sunlight... yet you can still be in the comfort of the air conditioning, which will become your best friend when you are not swimming or working on your tan. :)

Here it is in the morning when we arrived. What can I say... you just knew this was going to be a beautiful wedding.


And here is the inside before all the guests arrived. These flowers were so fresh you could smell them as soon as you opened the doors... I will post another time about the flower market here... They even have flower petals in those glass dishes at the end of the aisles which were thrown onto the couple as they left the chapel.



Ok, and now that I feel better about that... I am actually in the middle of editing this wedding and need to get it online by tomorrow, so good night kids!

Getting the ball rolling

I have so much to talk about in this new blog I don't even have a clue where to start! However, since I've been staring at this wedding all night, let me start there.

Can I begin by saying: if anyone out there is considering a destination wedding... get married at Laguna Phuket on the beautiful little glass chapel on the lagoon! Simply the most beautiful place for a wedding I've ever seen, and even though it was indoors in the air conditioning (your guests will thank you trust me), the walls are all glass so there is tons of sunlight coming in making life really easy on your photographer.

The wedding I did there, my first in Thailand, was for a couple from Hong Kong: Gloria and Dicky Wong. Great couple and great family! The entire day was really quite an experience for me... I have said it before, and I'll probably say it a thousand more times... I can't believe this is my life! I get paid to go to beautiful resorts in the most beautiful places in the world and take pictures. Does life get any better? And when you've got a bride as beautiful as Gloria... it makes the job that much easier! :)

Of course... I took a couple days to relax after the weddings were over. If you ever get the chance to visit Thailand, be sure to visit Krabi... if you are coming for the scenery, that is where you want to go. This is just one of hundreds of these kinds of views you will find there...



All for now - thanks for reading! Rion