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Loy Krathong Festival - Full Moon in November
Ko Pi Pi, Southern Thailand
December, 2004
A sad note before I post this story: KO Pi Pi was completly destroyed by the December 26th Tsunami. I hope for the best for my friends on the island especially those nice girls that run the RS Guest house. I will try to return next year to see what happened...
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After a week in Bangkok I was ready to head south for the islands and beautiful beaches. I was also lucky that the Loy Kratong festival would take place in a couple days which I was really excited about.
Loi Krathong, a tradition influenced by the Indian Lantern or Diwali Festival, in which floats are made to worship of the three Brahmin Gods: Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva, reflects the belief adapted to fit in with the Thai farmers' way of life depending upon the flow of water.
On the islands of the south the festival is celebrated on the day of the full moon in November that co-insides with the highest tide of the year. The locals make these incredible floats that they push out to sea just after the turning of the high tide. The Krathong floats are normally shaped as a lotus made of locally available materials and is decorated with incense and candles.
I had, by chance, seen the festival a few years back on the island of KO Samui and it was really incredible so I decided to make that my destination.
I bought a ticket to KO Samui for the overnight bus/ferry on Khao San Road for 300 Baht (US $7.50). The bus ride took 10 hours, and was bearable, but when I arrived in Surat Thani, I found out that there was a typhoon in the Gulf of Thailand so the ferries weren't running. There were lots of people going to the famous full moon festival on KO Phangan and they were stuck too. The whole lot of us at the spur of the moment decided to change our plans and go to KO Pi Pi instead. Pi Pi (pronounced Pee Pee) is located on the other side of the Thai peninsula in the Andaman Sea and was not affected by the storm.
It took us another 7 hours to get to Pi Pi, a 4 hour bus ride to Krabi and an 3 hour ferry to the island. Entering the bay for the first time is really quite an experience. The island has 500M shear rock cliffs going straight down into the deep blue waters. The cliffs are lined with lush vegetation and palm trees. A tropical paradise. I guess it was even more incredible before it became such a big tourist destination. Lots of the movie "The Beach" was filmed there and it became quite popular after that.
Pi Pi is one of the most expensive places in Thailand. The cheapest room is 400 Bhat which is well over twice the amount of most places in Thailand. But, the amazing scenery and incredibly clear waters (over 30 meters visibility) make it worth it. Pi Pi is famous for its twin bays that slice the island in two except for a small 100 Meter stretch of land that keeps the two half's together (see photo in photo section).
When you arrive, there are about 50 touts that try to entice you to their resort. The minimum rate for their places are 1000 Baht, so I quickly slip through them and head to my favorite place on the island, the RS Guest House.
I really like the RS because it is on a back street and you live among all the locals. The place is surrounded by one room huts, some that don't even have a front door. When I stayed there 3 years ago the rate was 350B, but when I arrive this time the girl said, "Now it 600 Baht." I couldn't believe it! I negotiated her down to 500B, which was OK because the places that were 400B were real dumps. The RS rooms have a fan with en suite toilet and shower. The place is well kept, new white paint on the outside and very clean.
I was really tired from two days on the bus so I went out, ate, and then came back and crashed for the night. The next day was the festival, so I figured I would rest up for the big night.
The next day I asked around to find out when the festival would begin. The answers varied from 8:00 PM to Midnight. I then found out that the high tide was at 11:30 PM. Since the object is to have your float go out to sea, it only made sense that they would have to start around midnight so the floats would go out with the tide. There was a festival and Beauty Pageant that started at 8:00PM so I would have to check that out too.
I had all day to explore so I hired a Kayak, grabbed my snorkeling gear, water and some bananas and paddled towards Monkey Beach. The scenery is really excellent. Towering cliffs, lush green vegetation, and the clear water. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Monkey Beach is one of the better Snorkeling spots on the whole of Pi Pi. It also has a long beach where monkeys visit early in the day. It only takes about an half hour to get there by kayak.
When I arrived, I paddled to the far point of the cliff in front of the beach and jumped it the water. Instead of parking my Kayak on the beach and swimming all the way out, I had a better method. I went out to the farthest point of the cliff and swam back towing my kayak with me, that way I never had to swim back along the same point on the reef. The visibility was about 30 meters. The cliff drops right into the sea and I followed it along towards the beach. Snorkeling along the rock face was awesome. The cliff drops about 25 meters to a sand bottom. Along the cliff grows colorful red and purple coral, there are 6 to 10 feet reef fans and an enormous amount of Tropical fish. I counted over 25 species on my way, including several kinds of Parrot Fish, Angel Fish, large and small puffers, gropers, barracuda, tube fish, Clown Fish in their anemone, Morey Eel and various other.
After spending about an hour along the cliff and the reef I hopped back up on my Kayak and paddled to shore. When I arrived, there were lot of people taking pictures of the monkeys. I got out my camera and Video and did the same. The monkeys are little brown guys, not over 2 feet tall and quite aggressive. After videoing a few of the young one's playing, they got frustrated with me hanging around and not offering food. All three of them came over, started hollering and rushed at me showing their teeth. I kind of kicked at them and that was enough to move them back, but I was really surprised.
I went back to my Kayak for lunch (which, of course, consisted of bananas and the monkeys went so crazy that I put then back in the dry pouch. I waited until they wandered off before resuming lunch. I did give the monkeys a banana when I was finished which they all fought over. The biggest monkey ended up with the prize.
After lunch I paddled over the the other side of the bay to another great snorkeling spot, but I'm not sure of the name. More fish, more beauty, and this time I even spotted a black tip reef shark that was off in a quick second. It was a great day out on the water. It was getting late in the afternoon so I paddled towards home and prepared for the big night ahead.
When I got back I had just enough time to shower when I heard a commotion on the street below. There was a big parade of the local villagers carrying the floats they had prepared for the last week. They were all dressed in traditional outfits. The men wore head wraps made of colorful flowers and Sarongs. The women wore gold tops and pink sarongs and also had flowers in their hair. First came the men with drums and flutes, then the ladies with their beauty queen in the center, then the men carrying to floats.
These floats were incredible. One was a fancy house with great landscaping. It was very colorful with a gold roof, bamboo walls surrounded by pink and yellow flowers and various shrubs. It was large, about 4x4x3. It took 6 guys to carry it. The other was a dragon boat that also was impressive. I had time to run for my camera so you can see a shot of the house in the pictures section.
After sunset and dinner I went over to the Festival on the south side of the island. There were some tourists but mostly locals. They had food stalls, concession stands selling toys lotus floats, and candles and a big stage with various shows. There was also a large area where all the fancy floats were displayed. By the time I arrived they had already been judged, and the house float I mentioned above got first prize.
The stage was always active and had a wide variety of events. There was a baby beauty pageant, a Karaoke Contest (almost unbearable), some traditional dances, and a adult beauty pageant. I got lots of fantastic pictures. I even got a photo of myself with the lady that won the adult pageant (see photos). Oddly enough, she wasn't even from Thailand. She told me she was from Hong Kong and she was only visiting. All of the ladies, except the winner, were wearing really elaborate costumes. I wasn't sure, but they all seemed to be dressed as Hindu goddesses. The had red and gold wrap around dresses with various head dresses ranging from gold pointed crowns to bright red turbans.
The main part of the festival, the actual launching of the floats, was a great disappointment. There was an on shore breeze blowing and the water was rough. When people launched, the candles were immediately blown out and the float was blown back to shore. I was really bummed. A few years before, when I saw the festival on KO Samui it was one of the most fantastic spectacles I had ever seen. The water was filled with glowing candles and floating wreaths. This was dark and dismal. The locals were disappointed too, it was a sign of bad luck for the upcoming year.
Overall the festival was great, but I will have to return to KO Samui some day to see the true sight. I'm sure the festival wasn't any better on Samui this year, because it was raining with 20 mile an hour winds.
I ended up staying on KO Pi Pi for a few more days enjoying the incredible water. No better place for kayak/snorkeling in the world. I will definitely return someday.
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