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In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  30/11/2004  No comments

We arrived in Chiang Mai during the Yi Peng Festival (also called Loy Kratong Festival). Before the trip I had read about the festival in the country, so we tried to schedule that in our itinerary. The festival is based on the lunar calendar; it is commemorated on the 12th full moon of the year.

The first day there we met a Thai family (Pracha, Jam e Gik) in the hotel. They took us for dinner and told us about their culture and the festival Together with them we bough “Krathong” (floating offerings made of flowers where in that top we put a candle and an incense). These are offerings to the mother water as an apology for polluting the waters. We put our offerings on the Ping River in front of the hotel and did same wishes. Another symbol of the festival are the hot air lanterns. Some say that when the lanterns go up they take with them our problems, bad luck, sins… Others say that they are an offering to the Buddha and the light represents illumination...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  24/11/2004  One comment

Bangkok was the arrival and departure place in Thailand. An impressing city, full of paradoxes and surprises. Usually when I travel I don’t like big cities, but Bangkok seduced me. Many things in Thailand reminded me Brazil. The mixture of rich and poor, modern and antic, high technology and obsolete, nice people, heat, informality, chaotic transit… Bangkok is like São Paulo, although more beautiful, for its temples and palaces.

We spent almost two days visiting temples. They are impressive: golden Buddha, palaces, gold, ornaments. The city is a mixture of Buddhist temples and modern architecture. The high buildings catch the eye as much as the temples.

The transport here it is already an adventure. The tuk-tuk taxi are everywhere, they are like a 3 wheel motorcycle with cabin for passengers, a cheap way to move around town. Another interesting taxi is the river taxi, a ferryboat that connects the two margins of Chao Phraya. There are about 20 stops of this boat taxi...