Loy Krathong

[billp]

Hi gang,

I happen to be in Bangkok at the time of Loy Krathong for the first time ever, and I purposely booked accommodation near the river (off Phra Attit) that weekend so I'd be close to the festivities. Does anybody have any advice of where to go to get the best view - and photos - of the krathongs on the river? Pinklao bridge... or another bridge? Rattanakosin Island or Thonburi side? Near Wat Arun, maybe? Tha Maharaj perhaps? And have I got the date correct, it is happening on Nov. 24th in Bangkok? And would dusk (say from 17:30 to 18:30) be the best time to take pictures??? Thanks for any info.

Edited October 19, 2007 by billp

[billp]

Anyone????

[BalthazarBeefheart]

Hi gang,

I happen to be in Bangkok at the time of Loy Krathong for the first time ever, and I purposely booked accommodation near the river (off Phra Attit) that weekend so I'd be close to the festivities. Does anybody have any advice of where to go to get the best view - and photos - of the krathongs on the river? Pinklao bridge... or another bridge? Rattanakosin Island or Thonburi side? Near Wat Arun, maybe? Tha Maharaj perhaps? And have I got the date correct, it is happening on Nov. 24th in Bangkok? And would dusk (say from 17:30 to 18:30) be the best time to take pictures??? Thanks for any info.

As was talking about this with a Thai friend this morning and she said it was 23rd - it also gets dark around 6pm now. 2 years ago I went to Saphan Taksin and it was dismal - last year a Thai friend took me on one of the public river taxis and then across the river to a small temple and they were launching krathongs from there - all very pleasant. I was thinking of taking a river cruise this year - I will try to find out where I was last year - problem is the lady is now in the states.

Hope that helps a little - I think if you were asking for where to buy the best burger in town or accomodation near Nana plaza then you would get better responses.

Cheers BB

[BalthazarBeefheart]

Hi gang,

I happen to be in Bangkok at the time of Loy Krathong for the first time ever, and I purposely booked accommodation near the river (off Phra Attit) that weekend so I'd be close to the festivities. Does anybody have any advice of where to go to get the best view - and photos - of the krathongs on the river? Pinklao bridge... or another bridge? Rattanakosin Island or Thonburi side? Near Wat Arun, maybe? Tha Maharaj perhaps? And have I got the date correct, it is happening on Nov. 24th in Bangkok? And would dusk (say from 17:30 to 18:30) be the best time to take pictures??? Thanks for any info.

As was talking about this with a Thai friend this morning and she said it was 23rd - it also gets dark around 6pm now. 2 years ago I went to Saphan Taksin and it was dismal - last year a Thai friend took me on one of the public river taxis and then across the river to a small temple and they were launching krathongs from there - all very pleasant. I was thinking of taking a river cruise this year - I will try to find out where I was last year - problem is the lady is now in the states.

Hope that helps a little - I think if you were asking for where to buy the best burger in town or accomodation near Nana plaza then you would get better responses.

Cheers BB

Here are the details as promised - you take the river taxi from saphan taksin to Tatien then you take the boat across to Wat Ra Kang where you can purchase and launch loy krathong into the river. We got to Wat Ra Kang by sunset and it was a very pleasant experience although my judgement was probably slightly clouded by the euphoria that my Thai date for the only time in my experience had arrived on time enabling us to miss the crowds at Saphan Taksin.

Cheers BB

[Cuban]

I think full moon is at 8-9pm this year, Saturday 24th is the day (I did look it up a few weeks ago - I think this is correct). Generally people will be floating from 6pm as it gets dark, plenty of photo oppotunities as many people dress up, expect traffic to be bad everywhere - I generally park on the home side on major junctions during the afternoon to avoid the masses as much as I can. Everywhere near water will be mobed.

Watch the weather for the days running upto the weekend as the wind direction will affect the Kathrongs and fire balloons and so dictate the ideal photograph's backdrops.

If you are doing a photo essay, consider spending some time pounding the back streets and taking shots of the kids/families making the krathongs on the days running up to LK. Many school kids and other organisations gather together to make krathongs and sell them at roadside stalls on LK night to make some money either for themselves or for a charity or other good cause.

I have seen at LKs in previous years small boys taking to the water to "recover" other peoples Krathong's to then resell (at one event the local police were chasing the kids away). Other times kids can be paid a few Baht to swim out with a stuborn krathong that does not want to float away (against the wind) the way they are suppost to do in the mind of it's owner.

Get up early the following morning and capture the floatsum and detritus of the night before. For a festival giving thanks and apologizing for spoiling mother nature Thailand releases a lot of non-bio degradable junk (expanded polystyrene) on LK night.

Also check the newspapers the next day as reports of houses burned down by fires started by the little drops of burning wax/oil as the fire balloons (Thai: "Kom Loi") drift over the countryside.

Some places have areas set aside for the balloons and you may encounter a group that has constructed a huge balloon, last year I was at a LK event in Issan with one that was about 4 metres in diameter and 6 metres tall.

In all one of Thailand's better moments.

[billp]

BalthazarBeefheart thanks a lot for responding and for the tips. Maybe I will try that temple across from Tha Tien. It sounds beautiful.

And Cuban, your response was awesome, exactly what I needed to know. Thanks a lot! Do you think I should stay around Phra Athit or move up- or downriver? I was hoping that placing myself at Phra Athit would help reduce the difficulty of moving around in a crowd-scene.

[PadThaiGuy]

The lake at Queen Sirikit Park is a good place to go.

The Subway drops you off right there.

[think_too_mut]

The lake at Queen Sirikit Park is a good place to go.

The Subway drops you off right there.

Loy Kratong is a family thing. It also marks the end of rainy season.

Thais make the little floats, with such love that I can only bow to that. They whisper their wishes and let the floats sail.

Hardly an commercial event.

[misterme]

Chiang Mai is really the place for Loi Gratong.... if you ask me

[katana]

Hi gang,

I happen to be in Bangkok at the time of Loy Krathong for the first time ever, and I purposely booked accommodation near the river (off Phra Attit) that weekend so I'd be close to the festivities. Does anybody have any advice of where to go to get the best view - and photos - of the krathongs on the river? Pinklao bridge... or another bridge? Rattanakosin Island or Thonburi side? Near Wat Arun, maybe? Tha Maharaj perhaps? And have I got the date correct, it is happening on Nov. 24th in Bangkok? And would dusk (say from 17:30 to 18:30) be the best time to take pictures??? Thanks for any info.

KHLAWNG LAWT คลองหลอด in Banglamphoo (just off Sanaan Luang สนามหลวง) has a quite a nice celebration every year with the usual kratongs and NANG NOPAMAHT beauty contest.

[billp]

Korb khun khrap ขอบคุณครับ Katana. So is it the consensus that Loy Krathong is better to observe and photograph on a khlong, lake or pond than on the Chao Phraya River? Where is Khlong Laht (คลองหลอด) by the way? I can't seem to find it on my map.

[ZukiSuzuki]

It runs parallel to Atsadang Road in the old city. (look for the royal hotel)

[PadThaiGuy]

Korb khun khrap ขอบคุณครับ Katana. So is it the consensus that Loy Krathong is better to observe and photograph on a khlong, lake or pond than on the Chao Phraya River? Where is Khlong Laht (คลองหลอด) by the way? I can't seem to find it on my map.

I viewed Loy Krathong festivities at the river one time. The local kids jump in and rip the floats to shreds before they travel 3 meters, looking for coins.

Much better festivities at the lake.

[billp]

It runs parallel to Atsadang Road in the old city. (look for the royal hotel)

Ah I see - it runs in between Th. Atsadang and Th. Rachini. Thanks.

[BalthazarBeefheart]

Korb khun khrap ขอบคุณครับ Katana. So is it the consensus that Loy Krathong is better to observe and photograph on a khlong, lake or pond than on the Chao Phraya River? Where is Khlong Laht (คลองหลอด) by the way? I can't seem to find it on my map.

I viewed Loy Krathong festivities at the river one time. The local kids jump in and rip the floats to shreds before they travel 3 meters, looking for coins.

Much better festivities at the lake.

Yes I recall a couple of years ago going to Saphan Taksin - it was like JJ market had been moved there for the evening. More farang than I have ever seen in one place before. The one thing that really made me chuckle was the thai kids waiting in the water of the inlet looking around innocently - as soon as the tourists had bored of watching their krathong bobble in the water and had left , like a shot the boys would swim over and carefully retrieve the money placed in the krathongs - carefully I say cos within minutes the krathong with new candles would be on a stall waiting to be resold.

Cheers BB

[lazeeboy]

Chiang Mai is really the place for Loi Gratong.... if you ask me

i'll second that ,they have street parades ,fireworks ,some of the best kratongs i've ever seen ,its a great 2 day event up there .

[Cuban]

>Thanks a lot! Do you think I should stay around Phra Athit or move up- or downriver?

Thank you for your kind words. The basic issue with LK and taking pictures of the event is two fold. 1) The masses need to have easy access to the water's edge to float their offerings.

2) Getting the perfect shot of the eager young faces hoping for peace on earth or a big lottery win as they float the banana tree (bush) discs onto the smooth (polluted) waters means that you need to be at an angle to them and slightly ahead of them - IE in the water at low level is ideal, but you have the problem that your presence there disrupts the scene you are trying to capture. Use a long lens and tripod?

So you see doing a reccy is important to visualize the scene before the event. Also remember the wind direction. If you look at many online pictures they are over the shoulder shots. Low level Piers are good, like Pattaya used to have. Roi Et up in Issan has a great round(!) artifical lake in the centre of town, ideal for any wind direction on LK night.

> I was hoping that placing myself at Phra Athit would help reduce the

> difficulty of moving around in a crowd-scene.

I would suggest sitting down with a few maps and plan your attack based on BTS lines and maybe a boat trip, best ways to cover a lot of ground without traffic issues.

Crowd-scenes will be good camera fodder too, I would set up at the bottom of one of the BTS stations stairs and capture those coming down dressed in their finest and/or from the elevated walkways and get the birds eye view.

LK = Saturday 24th Nov.

[pampal]

Since you are already staying at Phra Athit, the best place is Santichaiprakarn Park which is the park on Phra Athit with the old fort. That's where I go for Loi Krathong.

[billp]

Thanks everybody for the help.

[billp]

Just to re-open this thread, I'm inclined to go to Khlong Lord (lawt) to see Loy Krathong, but it's a longish khlong. Where precisely does the action take place?

[huppe]

The lake at Queen Sirikit Park is a good place to go.

The Subway drops you off right there.

That sounds better than perfect to me. We live 100meters from the lake

I guess you meant lake Ratchada near Asok at Benjakitti-park, on the other side there is Queen Sirikit Convention Centre with same name MRT-station.

We'll go to the lake, I can already see huuuuuuge light-shows from our balcony.

[huppe]

The lake at Queen Sirikit Park is a good place to go.

The Subway drops you off right there.

That sounds better than perfect to me. We live 100meters from the lake

I guess you meant lake Ratchada near Asok at Benjakitti-park, on the other side there is Queen Sirikit Convention Centre with same name MRT-station.

We'll go to the lake, I can already see huuuuuuge light-shows from our balcony.

Actually those lights were coming from far away behing the lake...

Seems very quiet this topic, well, it's easy to check both Lumpini and Lake Ratchada with MRTA.

BTW, there's lot's of security added to MRTA, maybe because of Loy Krathong?

[billp]

Well, I ended up enjoying Loy Krathong at Santichaiprakarn Park on Phra Athit. Very crowded, but nice. Couldn't find anything going on atr all on Khlong Lord.