Chiang Mai (continued)

Sunday is Loy Krathong day(1st full moon of Nov). So every year a mini Krathong parade is held on this night. This is a preview to the Giant Krathong parade that will be held on the next day. So, you'll see a smaller scale of the brightly decorated trucks, floats and participants in costumes. Even so, they still draw a big crowd, especially near Thapae Gate. And as promised, here're the babes on the "krathongs".

This guy here is a chronic fire breather. He'll walk/dance a few steps, then spit his mouthful of oil, gasoline, whatever into the flame he's holding. (That's why I could catch this big fire!) And he had to do this for the whole length of the parade.




Other than launching krathongs on the river, u can also launch kom fy (hot air balloons). This is alot of fun, especially when u launch one with your friends. Holding the kom fy up together, waiting for the balloon to fill up with hot air, and then release and see the kom fy rise up into the sky. Every loy krathong, the night sky is lit up full of these kom fy and it's really a wonderful sight.



Accidents do occur, and quite frequently too. I was watching the Miss Yee Peng beauty contest. This kom fy came flying in at a very low altitude and landed right in front of the audience, and caught fire! Lucky the security personnel was well prepared and put it out quickly.


Oh, talking about beauties, here're some of my favs:



By the way, u can click on the photos for a bigger view.