Yee Peng, Damn fine time

 Here is a link telling all about the Yee Peng event. Check this out to find out what the event is all about and I will go on a tell of my exciting time there and the time after.

http://www.thaifly.com/Home/Hilight/thailand-tour/yee-peng-festival.php

 

The day started out great, I got a bunch of to dos scratched from my list, and however I was still concerned about how the hell I was going to get all the way out to the lantern festival. All of the transportation that I looked up was booked and to get a taxi out there would have been costly. The temple where the event was held was about an hour out of town. All I can say is thank goodness for great friends and Facebook. My friend Susan lived in Chiang Mai for about a month and half and while she was here she met a girl who goes by the Bo, Susan introduced me to Bo on Facebook. And now that I have a phone I was able to make contact with Bo. I gave ol Bo a call and let her know that I really wanted to go to the festival and asked if she would be going. She had never been to this ceremony and she told me that she was actually very excited it and wanted to go. Bo told me that her boyfriend would come by and pick me up at 5 and that she would feed me before we headed to the event, Bo owns a small restaurant just outside of town and I soon found out is an amazing cook.

At 5:00 o’clock her man Golff showed up and we were on our way. Traffic was a site in itself, I tell you it’s amazing what a person can fit on a moped. Now let me say, I was nervous about getting picked up so late since the 10,000 lantern release was set for 7:30 PM and everything that I read said if you want to be there in time for the release you really need to leave Chiang Mai by 3:00 PM in order to make the lantern release. “Mie Pen Ri”, as is commonly said here, which means “it is what it is”. To be honest, I was just happy to go out and meet a friendly face and eat some homemade Thai. I figured I would catch a glimpse of the lanterns floating in the sky either way and if that is all that I could see of the festival then I would still be content in the site of seeing 10,000 small fires in night sky.

Once we arrived at Bo’s restaurant I was immediately accepted as a friend. I thought how amazing it was that a new friend could so ease my restless mind. Bo cooked me up some yummy dish of rice with a fried egg laid across, this along with a very spicy dish of chicken and veggies. It was so nice to finally have some Thai food that actually lived up to the term spicy. Now those that know me know that I love it spicy and this was perfect. There was no need for my standard lathering of Sriracha sauce, just a little crushed red pepper and it was perfection.  

After the meal we headed into a bedlam of people, traffic, and sounds. When we finally parked we paid a fellow 20 baht ($.70) for a ride to the event. And I kid you not, we arrived at the center of the gathering about 10 minutes prior to the big release. It was so very amazing to hear and see. In the back ground were monks chanting traditional prayers over loud speakers, smoke from a large fire in the middle of the throng of monks and the spectators, as well as so many wonderful lit up Buddhist icons. The collective since of joy was contagious and washed over me, refreshing my spirit like the cool waters of Baron Springs on a hot summer day. This refreshment was a needed necessity considering I was still just going on three hours of sleep.

All I could think was that I was really here, that I was really seeing this and experiencing this event. This event that I had been wanting to see in person ever since I first saw the video of it on Youtube.  Then the countdown started, sip haa… sip see.. sip sam, all the way down to neung, then the release of these 5 foot lanterns made of a thin paper that was surrounding  a fiery wax. Hot air and smoke lifted these 10,000 lanterns into the sky all at on time. The lanterns were accompanied by a barrage of rocketing fireworks lighting up the night in a glow that no pictures I took could truly capture. Wow! I kept saying this over and over; I was like a small child experiencing their first fire works show. This was the first moment that I felt I had made the right decision in coming to Chiang Mai.

After the event and after waiting an hour just to get through the traffic leaving the event; my gracious hosts were in no mood to end the evening. And thanks to a little nap I had taken during the sludge of a crawl that it took to get out of the temple grounds, I was game for a few libations and a late night Thai sampler. Bo and Golff dropped off Bo’s mother, Omm, and then we were off to a local Thai bar. When we got to the bar these skinny little 27 year old Thai kids ordered a ton of dishes to go along with our Singha beers. More food than a fat man would consume at the Sizzlers all you can eat steak buffet.  A funny thing about the beers though, was that they brought out a bowl of ice so that we could keep the beverages cool. Beer with Ice was not something I was used to but neither were half of the dishes laid out in front of me, so I went along and enjoyed every minute of it. My new friends were not very fluent in English, well Bo was at least able to speak a fair amount but Golff could hardly speak a lick. And with me being a just little more fluent in Thai than Golff was in English and much less fluent than Bo, there were some lulls in conversation. But we did have the Thai translation book in front of us and had a great time teaching each other the languages of our birth.

 It sure is amazing how beer and good food can bridge the language bearer and change strangers into friends. By the end of the night we were raising our glasses time and again chanting Chon, which is the Thai word for cheers and I think each of us was really enjoying one another’s company. After settling the bill, I was dropped off at my temporary place of residence. An invitation to go to Chiang Rai on Monday at 9 AM was extended my way and I gladly accepted, we then said our good byes. My bed was inviting me in for a nice solid sleep but first I had my evening cigarette and watched the rain that had begun to fall over Chiang Mai. Before finding slumber I smiled from ear to ear thinking of just how the night had unfolded and of how my world is made so much better by the company that I keep and how fortunate I am to have such wonderful souls in my life.

I wish all well.