Every year, around this time, I hear about the huge candle festival in Ubon that just happened the week before. And every year I say to myself, I have to remember to go next year! So, at the end of my fourth year in Thailand, I finally made it to see what it was all about.
After arriving back in the city of Ubon last night after our tour of the countryside, most of the huge candle floats were lined along the streets waiting for tomorrow's parade. Finally, we were able to see what we came 600 km to see -- huge wax floats!
Each float was intricately carved will all kinds of Thai symbols made from wax -- elephants, Buddhas, garunas, kinnaree, monks, nagas, and even (at least) one life-sized wax King. We were exhausted after our day of driving, but we decided to walk around the parade area to get a close look at the floats anyway.
And I am glad we did. The actual parade this morning was a bit of a let-down. The floats went by our hotel, but did so very slowly. And each float had all kinds of Isaan music blasting, so you could hear the music from four floats at a time. It was certainly not a peaceful and relaxing place to be. After about 30 minutes and seeing 4 or 5 floats, we had seen enough and we decided to hit the long road back to Bangkok.
Tonight we had decided that instead of going all the way back to Bangkok, we would stay at a resort outside of the Kao Yai National Park. And it was another great decision. By the time we reached this area, which is about 160 KM from Bangkok, the traffic was just about unbearable. It probably would have taken us four or five hours to make what should be a two-hour trip the rest of the way.
But instead, we stayed at the very relaxing and quiet Bonanza Resort, and had a delicious steak dinner at the brand new Outlet Mall nearby. (Both are highly recommended, by the way.) It was a perfect ending to a very fun 5-day road trip through eastern Thailand.
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In lieu of my own pictures, which I will hopefully be able to post soon, I will point you to the " Life and Times in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand" blog. The author, an American living in Ubon, posted tons of picutures of the festivities. See the following links:
A Festive Morning At Tung Sri Muang Park Ubon
I just saw that you linked to my blog to provide your readers photos of the Candle Festival. I appreciate the recognition. I hope your readers enjoyed.