Ever since I got here, I have been hearing about the festival that is coming up in early November called Loi Krathong. Everyone speaks about the paper lanterns(Kom Loi) that fill the sky during the festival. Kom Loi, incidentallyin what is yet another example of the proliferation of booby traps within the Thai language is only a slight mispronunciation away from the word that means lady boyan catch-all phrase for transvestite, transgender, etc.a fact that amuses the Thais to no end. Lucky for me, in Northern Thaia discrete language that sounds almost nothing like Thai, and one in which there seem to be markedly less opportunities for non-native speakers to make a fool of themselvesthe name of the festival is Yee Ping, which is both easy to say, and not easily confused with any sort of transgender-taxonomical classification. The purpose of this festival is somewhat unclear, and Thais have given me a broad range of meanings, but what is clear is how one celebrates Loi Krathong. In addition to letting Kom Loi float into the sky, the Thais create small banana leaf boats(Kratong) set them on fire, and send them out to float (and burn) in the river/moat/insert your own body of water here. In modern times the Thais have taken liberties with the ways in which they celebrate, and small burning boats, and paper laterns, although still figuring prominently, have been largely overshadowed by fireworks, fireworks, fireworks.
It seems that many residents of Chaing Mai share my own affinity for all things that go boom, and as a result they (and, in turn, I) have been unable to wait until the true start of the festival to begin the fun. As I write this, still almost a full week before Loi Krathong, I have become totally desensitized to bone rattling explosions occurring at all hours of day and night without warning. Last night, while playing basketball under the lights, the night sky was suddenly filled a huge red Fourth-of-July-style flower fireworka truly impressive display of amateur pyrotechnics, and one it would seem would be better served during the actual festival. However, I have been unable to discern whether this state of affairs comes as a result of the insatiable need to deploy fireworks when one possesses them, or a desire to work out all the kinks, so all can go off without a hitch next weekend.
While it has taken only a few days to get used to living under blitzkrieg, there is one element to all of this that has remained novel and breathtakingly beautiful, and that is the Kom Loi. Out on my balcony, overlooking the moonscape, I watched as fireworks rose like comets over the Chaing Mai sky line, and then showered the ground below with reflected light. I watched as one such comet moved in slow motion, patiently overcoming the tallest building, and as I continued to stare, waiting for the inevitable explosion, the second shoe refused to drop. This was either the slowest moving firework in history, or else I had somehow managed the marginal super-power of so many B-grade movies, and could now will time to slow down. As it turns out, neither was true, and I was in fact seeing my first Kom Loi.
A Kom Loi consists of a large white bag with what looks like a sterno dish from a puu-puu platter at the center of a cross of wiring at its opening. The large lantern fills with the hot carbon dioxide pouring out of its flame, and rises majestically into the night skymajestically that is, unless it has been adorned with dozens of fireworks hanging below on a long fuse. I was overcome with this my first Kom Loi, and started to get really excited for the festival, where Ive been told hundreds of these Kom Lois adorn the sky.
