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| River Festival 2021 |
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| When dark fell, we took the MRT out to Sanam Chai Station in the old town, and walked to the nearby Wat Pho, where we checked in, and received a map of the free shuttle ferry route and stations of the festival. |
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| The evening started at Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This historic old royal-grade temple is one of the most beautiful and iconic sites in all of Thailand. |
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| There is usually a fee for foreigners to visit Wat Pho, but because it was Loy Kratong Day, none of the temples charged any sort of entrance fee. I hadn't been to the temple in years - recently because of COVID, and before that because I never really felt like paying any sort of entrance fee. |
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| One of the most special moments of the festival was the chance to enter the Chapel of the Reclining Buddha - one of the most sacred and famous places in the kingdom - entirely alone. |
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| A woman was working on one of the murals - carefully restoring it with an extremely delicate brush. |
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| A monk walks down a long corridor behind the Reclining Buddha, dropping satang coins into the row of alms bowls lining the wall. This is considered both a meditative practice and an act of donation and good karma. |
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| Vendors had set up shops and stalls on the temple grounds selling crafts, handmade goods, and lots and lots of food! The food is sometimes the most fun part of a Thai festival! |
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| The full moon rose over the Grand Palace. Even though it was cloudy, it was a beautiful sight to see. |
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| The night was cool, and we didn't mind walking through the Old Town to the second station. |
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| Ta Maharaj is one of the most popular community malls on the riverside. This pier is one of the busiest on the riverboat line, and is also home to shops, restaurants, art galleries, and more. |
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| People were enjoying their food on the steps outside of the mall, and others were taking the opportunity to float their kratongs in the river from the side of the pier. |
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| We decided to do something a little different. We bought a pair of tickets on a boat (just 30 baht) to take us out onto the river where we could float our kratongs on the water. |
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| We boarded the boat. During the day, ferries like this carry people across the Chaophraya for 3 baht per trip. During the festival, however, they were used to take people out to float their kratongs. |
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| The boat ride took about 20 minutes. The old ferry carried us up the river to the beautiful Rama VIII Bridge, where another huge Loy Kratong party was taking place. |
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| We lit our candles and incense, and one of the boat attendants helped up place it in the river using a long-handled net. |
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| After that, the boat turned around beneath the beautiful bridge, and brought us back to Ta Maharaj Pier. |
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| After that, we took the free festival ferry across the river to the next stop: Wat Rakhang, the Temple of the Bell. |
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| Read more about Wat Rakhang: https://michaeldesrosiers.blogspot.com/2020/06/freeing-fish-at-wat-rakhang.html |
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| The temple was lit up at night, and looked beautiful both from the river and up close. Visitors were enjoying the evening to the loud sounds of exciting traditional Thai music. While we wandered through the shops and stalls (and after having a snack, of course), we stopped by to watch visitors floating wax candles and kratongs in a pool outside of the main temple hall. |
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| Here, a monk offers blessings and helps people place their kratongs in the river. Right now, the river is very high due to flooding up country, and the tide is extremely strong. Temple staff had to help people by carrying their kratongs down the steep stone steps and wading into the fast-moving river to float the kratongs. |
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| Finally, we took the boat one more stop to Wat Arun, the world-famous Temple of the Dawn. It was fun to see so many monks and novices out and about. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves! Usually, monks must keep a very strict schedule, and typically sleep and wake up very early. I guess the night of a festival is an exception! |
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| It's pretty amazing to be able to see all of these famous temples up close at night. Usually they are closed to visitors after dark. |
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| To me, the most special thing about this year's festival was seeing how things are finally starting to return to normal after COVID-19. Of course, it's not completely back to the way things were. |
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| We had to take our temperature at every station, and masks are still mandatory (good thing, too!), but it seems as if the worst of this wave is behind us, and Loy Kratong was not the super spreader event that some feared it might have been. |
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| Wat Arun is one of my favorite temples, but I don't get out to visit it very often, partially because it's kind of far away, and partially because I don't like paying an entrance fee to visit. It's so amazing to see it at night, though, especially after it has been closed for nearly two years due to COVID. |
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| We visited the temple complex, walking through the spires and chedis covered in beautiful pieces of porcelain, a favored architectural style of King Rama III. |
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| Before leaving, we saw a small chapel that we hadn't noticed before. Perhaps it's not generally open to the public. The chapel housed the bed of King Taksin of Tonburi, the first and only king of the post-Ayutthaya Tonburi Kingdom, who built his capital on the western banks of the river. |
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| There was also a shrine to King Taksin, who is revered as the man who saved Siam from total destruction after the Fall of Ayutthaya. |
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| We had floated our kratong already, but we also bought a pair of candles - pink and yellow to represent our respective colors of the day - to float in the pool outside of Wat Arun for a little extra luck and blessing in the coming year. |
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| Happy Loy Kratong! |
