Loi Krathong

Each of us has a holiday that we seem to relate to better than others. For people that love spending $400 for a dozen roses this may be Valentine's day, if you are into free candy than probably Halloween is more your thing, and if your last name begins with the letter 'O' or has an apostrophe anywhere in it chances are you have a ridiculous affection for St. Patrick's Day.

I am overjoyed to announce that for the heretofore ignored group that a.)never saw that career as a pyrotechnician materialize, or b.)stills thinks back longingly to the days when charcoal grills were more abundant we have discovered the perfect holiday. It is called 'Loi Krathong' and is really very simple: thousands of people gather together and release 3-foot tall mini hot air balloons (powered by large open flames) into the night sky. My simple description begs several important questions such as: 'isn't that a lot of fire', 'isn't that dangerous', and 'do people ever lose limbs during this holiday'. To which I would answer 'yes', 'yes' and 'it has been known to happen'.

With that in mind a couple of pictures to prove that I'm not full of it (at least in terms of what I'm describing here):


Hot air balloons. Each comes equipped with its own mini bonfire (yes I recognize the oxymoron--you had to be there to understand)


Those are lanterns. Lots of them. At this stage the risk of losing a loved one to third degree burns decreases by 30%. Word.