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Travel Blog November 2005 Page 5
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In November 2005 we set off on a trip starting in Western Australia covering Brunei, Sabah in Malaysia, Thailand & a brief visit to Cambodia. Whilst away we maintained a Blog for the world to see. Following is a cleaned up version of that original Blog - spell checked and with some trip photos included!
Loy Krathong Festival 2005
We headed to Khon Kaen University (KKU) Campus which hosts that city's annual Loy Krathong Festival. Basically Loy Krathong involves floating little floating boats with a lit candle (krathongs) into the nearest lake or river.
The whole thing symbolises ridding oneself of sins and is an important event all over Thailand.
The parade lasted some 2 hours from 4pm with endless floats, dancers and marchers from various local groups and KKU faculties.
After sunset the parade was over and we entered the large campus ground and headed for the lake where thousands of Krathongs were being sent off into the large lake. Most were small 10 baht affairs but there were many large ones too, some 2 to 3 metres high and wide.
Many are lit up with electric lights (nothing like safety first with people wading in 1 metre deep water carrying live 220v electrical extension cords).
Comically some of the larger Krathongs just weren't seaworthy and sunk.
Aside from the waterside action, there was a huge stage set up with thai dancing and singing all night long. There were also hundreds of food vendors and many KKU faculties offering sideshow games, rock music and all manner of distractions.
The event was attended by many thousands of people and was so crowded it was hard to move about at times.
A great night out. If you are in Thailand in November, try to catch this event wherever you are. Festivities are held all over the country.
Korea BBQ Restaurant, Khon Kaen
Korean BBQ in Thailand
Korean Barbeque restaurants are popular in Thailand and we checked out a large outdoor place near Lake Kaen Nakorn in Khon Kaen for dinner. 89 baht a head covers the food (all you can eat) and "fresh beer" is served up in 3 litre mini kegs for 289 baht per 3 litres of Singha.
You stock up on sliced beef, pork and chicken at the buffet table and cook it yourself in mini steamboats placed over hot coals at your table. The cooking is half the fun and gets harder and harder as the beer kegs run low.
The place is packed with hundreds of diners, there for the food and the live rock band on stage. All up for two kegs of beers and a meal for 4 the bill came to just under 1000 baht. Not bad for a great night out with plenty of food and beer.
Surin Elephant Roundup
We arrived in Surin around sunset without a hotel booking to find everywhere in town fully booked for the three day roundup event.
Undeterred we soon found a Thai style drive in motel on the outskirts of town. Rates were doubled from 700 baht to 1400 baht a night for the festivities (every hotel in town does this) however we argued this down to 1000 baht a night.
A quick drive back into town and we were wandering the streets of Surin, delightfully the streets were full of elephants who's mahouts quickly chase down tourists trying to sell sugar cane sticks to feed their elephants.
A by product are the large mounds of elephant dung gracing Surin's otherwise tidy streets.
We found the evening light and sound show at a local oval. Many tourists had paid 500 baht for "VIP" seating but entry to the event is free so many Thais and others simply turned up and watched gratis.
Many soon ignored the police cordon and crowded to the front of the stage to enjoy the fashion and dancing shows at close range. Although this in no way obscured the views of the "VIP's" some of them rather selfishly complained and the police shortly afterwards swept the crowds back to the perimeter.
The light and sound show culminated with an excellent elephant battle display and parade, with a good big screen video screen, laser lighting and special effects.
Surin Elephant Round Up
Elephants galore
Next morning we hit the roundup show in Surin stadium, 500 baht entry for the premium seats (although there were 300 baht seats and even 20 baht seats, the latter offered poor views and no seating).
The stadium staff appeared totally incompetent, and we were twice asked to move seats with staff aggressively standing over us and obscuring our view for a good 20 minutes.
Get it right next time folks - people don't pay 500 baht for a seat expecting to be harassed by the staff.
This aside the show was good with hundreds of elephants performing in the stadium. Lots of parades, and events like elephant tug of wars, battle recreations, soccer matches and various other stunts.
There was some touristy stuff like elephants painting t shirts which were continually flogged for 300 baht, and the english commentary was by an American with an appalling accent that was quite jarring on most of the westerners present.
A funny moment was when a dozen or so volunteers lay down in a row whilst the elephants walked over them - there were no casualties but hilariously 4 people lost their nerve and ran away so hard they kept going until they left the stadium.
Best of all was the chance to get up close and personal with the many elephants, and here the value of the 500 baht seating was most evident - the organisers made certain those guests had lots of up close and personal elephant time.
The elephants even mounted the stands en masse - mainly to sell elephant rides - but you can't beat the feeling of dozens of these huge gentle creatures all around you (even though i was almost knocked flat by an elephant's backside reversing into me) and it is this experience which most people took away with them.
After the show we lucked out with a flat battery in our van so a big thank you to members of Surin's local military garrison who helped get us running and kindly provided some seats under a banyan tree for several older members of our party.
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