Although it's a mess throughout the Bangkok area I still wanted to take a moment during this festival for the spirit mother of water to send my best thoughts to everyone there who has had to deal with the problems.

 

It's a sad state of affairs all around, and if I were there I'd wish for the situation to come to a decent resolution soon.

 

I took the somewhat blurry photo below one year at the zoo in Bangkok.

 

 

If anyone has a story of a time they were in Thailand for Loy Krathong, I'd love to read it.

Am in your town, ChMai now, and enjoyed the festivities here. Much larger-and nicer! as that 1 evening affair in BKK. Yesterdays eve parade along Tapae-with the good people of the north also providing ample male beauties on the floats was very nice. This time really sorry I do not take pix, nor even have that mobuy with camera ready.

Amusing story in our branch- 2/3 days ago at Pantip they wer preapring for a kind of show on a stage. Loads of small ''nopparat''=beauty queen. A sizeable group op ladyboy looking males. And 2 fierce males-with San Yont tattoos on the back-and 1 with an interesting looking same around waist-they looked like having longer trousers, but that was painted on the thighs and they only wore a small sarong around the hips. They were repeating for a kind of sword-dance. I overheard them-and (oh really-the Kham Muang people here speak so good Thai-slow-it is so easy to understand) they were talking among them about;; "now we get all those white gays asking us........."" and sure enough, whithin 5 mins a couple arrived and asked.

If anyone has a story of a time they were in Thailand for Loy Krathong, I'd love to read it.

No story I'm afraid, but a different kind of photo! Taken 4 years ago in Isarn on Loy Krathong night. It seems to have been a typical small town affair staged in an out-of-the-way village. I would imagine these sorts of beauty shows are common in various parts of Thailand.

 

Amusing story in our branch- 2/3 days ago at Pantip they wer preapring for a kind of show on a stage. Loads of small ''nopparat''=beauty queen.

Is 'nopparat' the Thai word for a beauty queen? It sounds like a similar type of show to the ones I've seen a few times in Isarn.

 

They were repeating for a kind of sword-dance. I overheard them-and (oh really-the Kham Muang people here speak so good Thai-slow-it is so easy to understand) they were talking among them about;; "now we get all those white gays asking us........."" and sure enough, whithin 5 mins a couple arrived and asked.

What are the Kham Muang? Are they an ethnic minority or Hilltribe people?

1.Is 'nopparat' the Thai word for a beauty queen?

2.What are the Kham Muang?

@1. seems to me a tipical ChMai expression-for a (fe)male beautyqueen/miss, clad in the usual long slender dress from here and with an extensive hair-juwellery on. have only heard it (here) in relation to YiPeng=LOyKrtg festival

@2-was adressing the OP=jaafar/baobao (=softx2). He lives here. KHam Muang is the old name for the then apart kingdom of the north around ChMai. Thus they are tipically NOT chao doi=people from the hills. Kham=also word in Thai, also signifies the tipical dialect spoken here. Most chao doi have their own dialect/language, often with Tibetan roots. The biggest group-debatable if they are realy chao doi, are the Shan/Karen (THai Yai for Thai) who mainly live in Burma=Myanmar=Phima and sneek over borders. They speak mainly a version of proper Thai (also in BUrma!

I believe jaafar may live in Chiang Mai - I do not - and we're two different people. Lovely place, though.

 

Thanks for the photo, Rogie. Seems most anything over a Sunday is a reason for a beauty contest in Thailand LOL