Loy Krathong

Last night was Loy Krathong, a festival to celebrate and thank the Goddess of Water. Loy means to float and Krathong means raft. Loy Krathong is originally an Indian tradition that the Thais have adopted. Basically everyone goes down the the water, so in Bangkok it is Chao Phraya River and sets afloat a Krathong made from banana leaves and is decorated with flowers, candles, and incense sticks. You light the candles and the incense and then put it in the water, making a wish for something bad in your life to float away and saying a prayer of thanks for water.

We decided to do a dinner cruise, so that we would be on the water the whole time. First we went down the the river, and it was total chaos. There were people everywhere, which is normal but this was madness. We finally figured out what boat to take in order to get to the pier that our ship was leaving from. Once we got to River City Pier we took another smaller boat in order to get to the Chao Phraya Princess which was the name of the big boat we were cruising on.


When we were on the boat a woman walked us to our table. First she took us to the upper deck and we were so excited because we really wanted to sit in the open air outside. Then, she kept walking further and further to the point of the ship. When she finally sat us, we literally had the 2nd best table on the boat. We could see everything, it was amazing.

The cruie served dinner, they had an international buffet. So, there were mashed potatoes, which we have not had for a long time. They had lots of Thai food, seafood, desserts, and fruit. The food was okay, the Thai food was actually not that good and the farang (foreign) food was better. Usually it is always the opposite, most farang food here is not that good, especially American food.

The cruise went up and down the river, showcasing Wat Arun and Grand Palace. It also stopped in front of the Oriental Hotel for a fireworks show. The Oriental Hotel is the best hotel in Thailand and ranked second as the best hotel in the world. Anyway, the fireworks show was great and it was awesome because all of the boats were floating out in the middle for the show.

The cruise also had a singer, who was a bit crazy. She acted like she slammed about 10 red bulls before taking stage. She was all over the place, and desperately trying to get people to dance. They played some real hits: "Tequila", "La Bamba","Hero". Basically all the classics. All in all it was one of our best nights here.