Loy Krathong In Saraburi

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in Loy Krathong, which is the annual celebration of water, and rivers, in Thailand.

As well as celebrating the river, which was of course played a critical role in civilisation before the advent of mass transport, the festival is a personally spiritual experience. Thais build rafts from leaves which are adorned with flowers, candles and (sometimes) money, they are then released into the river to give good luck to the sender.





This makes for some incredibly beautiful pictures (see here, here and here) but the most spectacular sight has to be the floating Khom, which are set off to lighten the soul's load and cast away bad memories.

It is a truly beautiful scene to see a river sparkling with candle-ladden rafts, fireworks, traditional dancing and floating Khoms.