Koh Lanta

November 6 we celebrated Loy Krathong festival here on Koh Lanta. Loy Krathong is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand and parts of Burma and Laos. The name could be translated as “to float a basket”, and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets, which are then floated on a river. Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the Western calendar this usually falls in November. The traditional krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree. On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The festival may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits. People sometime cut their fingernails or hair and place the clippings on the krathong as a symbol of letting go of past transgressions and negative thoughts. Many Thai people use the krathong to thank the Goddess of Water. In school the children and parents made beautiful Krathong´s from banana tree trunks, banana leafs, candles and lots and lots of flowers. In the afternoon we went to Old Town to watch the Loy Krathong parade and visit the market. After dark we put the krathongs on the water.

Lucas working on his krathong

Lucas’s class with their beautiful krathongs.

From the parade in Old Town

Food market in Old Town

From the market. You could buy different types of krathongs.

The krathongs in the water.

Lucas and his friends from school.

Today three buddhist monks came to Sanuk to bless the school and the school year. They chanted and blessed the kids and adults with holly water. Yesterday the children learned how to behave around buddhist monks. Cover shoulders and knees, hide the soles of your feet. Do not stand up tall so that you are taller than the monks , etc. Better than learning from a book.

The monks

Lucas’s classmates and teacher after the ceremony.

Parents and kids were blessed with water.

Tomorrow we leave Koh Lanta to go to Saigon for 5 days. We will keep you posted.

Almost forgot the sunset.

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View from the beach on Koh Ngai.

We are counting the days until Bos arrives Koh Lanta. Only 7 days to go. Six weeks is to long to be separated from someone you love. We have a lot of stuff going on here so the days fly by. I will bring you up to speed on some of the events now. We have met a lovely norwegian family with two boys that we spend a lot of time with. Thanks to Stine I have been exercising more in these 5 weeks than in a year. Thai boxing and yoga several times a week must be a good thing. Lucas is still going to Thai boxing and will be going to children’s yoga classes when Oasis yoga starts up in high season. Last week some of the parents of Swedish school went to a Thai food cooking class together. We made spring rolls, masaman curry and fried rice. A fun and delicious way to spend a day when the children were in school. Sunday we spent all day on a long tail boat going to four different islands close to Koh Lanta. Two different snorkelling places, the Emerald cave on Koh Mook and lunch on the beach of Koh Ngai. We have never been into the Emerald cave before. You have to swim 80 meters through a dark cave to reach the beautiful laguna inside the rock. There is a small beach in a hall like cave without roof. Since we do not have an underwater camera, no pictures for the Emerald cave. I guess you need to go see for yourself. Despite the fact that the snorkelling gear had not seen soap and fresh water for years and there were a lot of people on the snorkelling sites, it was a nice day on the water.