The annual Buffalo Racing Festival recently took place in Chonburi City. I have been going to this event for a few years now to watch the spectacle of buffaloes racing down a track with riders perched precariously on their backs. This is now the 137th buffalo racing event. Every year the races seem to be getting more popular as word starts to spread. This year was no exception with larger crowds. There were also many more foreign tourists than I have seen before. I think most probably came up from Pattaya for the day. The Buffalo Racing Festival is still not in the Lonely Planet but news of this event is obviously spreading on the Internet. The date is fixed by the phases of the moon. It usually takes place the day before the full moon in October. The full moon day is also celebrated as the end of the three month long Buddhist Retreat.

The annual "Lotus Receiving Festival" (rap bua) took place this morning at Bang Phli, Samut Prakan. I have been going for a number of years now and I have always been moved by the crowds of thousands who line the banks of Samrong Canal to throw lotus flowers onto a boat carrying an image of the Buddha. The event is held towards the end of the Buddhist Rain Retreat on the morning before the full moon of the 11th lunar month in the Thai calendar. This is usually in October. I try to go early in the morning but I always find it difficult to find a place to stand on the banks of the canal near Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai. The boat carrying a replica of Luang Pho To was due to arrive at 8 a.m. but there was no available space when I turned up at 7.30 a.m. So, this time I decided to park my car at the nearby Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang and then walk to the Tetsaban administrative offices alongside the canal. They also had many activities here for the festival, including demonstrations of Thai traditional games and Thai music.

The route for the boat carrying Luang Pho To goes from Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai westwards to Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang. It usually takes about 90 minutes as there is a ceremony about half way at the Tetsaban offices. You can take part in this festival anywhere you like along the canal. Most people will wait at Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai as you can see in the picture above. But you will have to go early if you want to get a good spot. There is no need to bring lotus flowers as you can easily buy them once you arrive. The canals around this area grow them in abundance. Many people also crowd the bridges in order to get a good view. However, be warned, the police will probably tell you to get off the bridge once the boats arrive. This is because you cannot stand directly above a Buddha image as your feet will be pointing towards the Buddha's head. The same goes for any member of the royal family as they drive down a road. The police will block every pedestrian bridges across the road and all vehicle u-turn bridges.

For the first time this year I decided to take pictures of the event from Tetsaban. This is the administrative office for the Bang Phli Sub-District. By the time I arrived, there wasn't that much space to stand and watch the boat parade. However, I was lucky that a member of the Thai media recognized me and came over to escort me into the VIP enclosure. This then enabled me to get a very close view of the events. Leading the ceremony was H.E. Dr. Mun Patanotai, the Information and Communications Technology Minister, and Mr. Anuwat Methiwibunwut, the Governor of Samut Prakan Province. They gave speeches and handed out some awards. Then, when the boat arrived opposite Tetsaban, it was moored here so that the distinguished guests could pay respects to Luang Pho To. In the picture above, the Samut Prakan Governor is praying after throwing the lotus flower onto the Buddha image. You can see that by this time the image is more than half buried.

The boat then continued on down the canal towards Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang where there were more worshippers waiting. Following the Buddha image were four or five large boats that were also part of the parade. At Tetsaban, a team of judges were waiting to give points to each boat. None of these were motorized and relied heavily on the oarsmen that were often women in beautiful Thai costumes. To watch this, I walked down to Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang. There is a bridge here where I always find it easier to shoot pictures of the boat procession. For most of the time, the boats have the sun behind them so I have to be careful with my camera angles. Another good reason to wait at this bridge is the drama as they try to negotiate the arch as it is the lowest on the canal. There is no problem if they go dead center. But, if they let it drift then the current could crash them into the side of the bridge. This is what happened again today. This resulted in all of the girsl on one side falling into the water. It of course could have been serious as they weren't wearing the best of swimming gear. But, there were support boats nearby and one of the girls had to be rushed off to hospital with what looked like concussion.

If you are planning on visiting this festival, that hardly any foreigners go to, then please make sure that you bookmark our Samut Prakan Forums as we will post dates and details there as soon as we have them.

After nine days and nights of eating a vegan diet and keeping the 10 precepts, the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand is finally over. For the first time this year, I became more involved, by not only taking pictures of the various events around town and at the local shrines, but also by eating a strict vegan diet until the very last day. It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought once I had worked out what I could and couldn't eat. In Paknam, there were many roadside stalls selling a large variety of vegetarian food. In the evening I was truly spoiled for choice. I am not sure how the detoxing went and whether it was actually good for my body in the end. Most people were worried about doing this vegan diet as many of the dishes are fried and they didn't want to put on weight. I didn't particularly pay any attention to their worries, though I was careful to have as much of a balanced diet as I could. And strangely, I actually lost four kilos despite the fact that I wasn't trying and was full for most of the time. Maybe I should do it again next year.

The end of the Vegetarian Festival in Samut Prakan was celebrated early on the tenth morning with a large parade through the town. In fact it was very early as it was scheduled to start at 6 a.m. from Rongjae near Taiban Circle. It was still a little dark when I left home and drove over to Taiban. There was a bit of activity going on with some people preparing banners for the parade but not a lot. I decided that as Paknam has a one way road system, It would be better if I drove ahead to the city hall and wait there for the parade to approach. I guess they left late as I didn't hear them approaching until close on 7 a.m. At the city hall they quickly prepared a shrine for some chanting while a gigantic "krathong" was hoisted over the river wall and down onto a makeshift raft. People then threw onto this paper lanterns and lotus flowers.

While a dragon danced up an down amid the sound of firecrackers, the floating krathong was towed out into the middle of the river where it was set on fire. This ceremony, called "Loy Krathong Jae" was performed as a way to make merit for ancestors and the dead souls in the water. A few minutes later everything was being packed up and people started to prepare for the parade back to the shrine at Taiban circle. What I didn't realize until later, was that this was in fact the start of the main parade which would circle the town and finally come back to city hall. This time there were several marching bands and hundreds of people. There were also many more people lining the streets watching the parade.

At first I stood in front of the Police Station to take pictures but then decided to follow them along the street for a while. I am so glad that I went as far as the city pillar where there is a Chinese shrine, as there were quite a few activities organized there. Here are some of my pictures.

There were about three or four of the large Chinese dragons in the parade. As you can see from this picture, the guys holding up the dragon must be very athletic as they have to dance back and forth along the two kilometre long route.

Outside the Chinese Shrine at City Pillar, two tall poles were set up for a kind of performance. I presume this was as much for the Gods and spirits residing in the shrine as it was for the hundreds of people watching.

I have never seen this performance before and it was quite amazing to see how this very large dragon manages to go up the poll. Not only that, it was twisting and turning and reacting to someone on the second pole who was teasing the dragon with a stick. Back on the ground, the dancing dragon dashed into the shrine to pay respects. At the same time, very large firecrackers were going off.

While this performance was going on, the rest of the parade was waiting patiently to proceed. Then, as they passed the shrine they all paid respects. This went on for seemingly a long time. The last group passed the shrine at 8.45 a.m. I then walked back to the city hall where I had parked my car. By this time, the front of the parade was already arriving to complete their circuit of the town. It was all over by about 9.15 a.m. I have been to a number of different parades but this one was certainly the liveliest. Though, next time maybe I should bring some ear plugs. And I certainly would like to shoot some video next time as there was so much going on to entertain all of your senses. Pictures alone cannot clearly paint a picture of this parade.

The next parade through Samut Prakan will probably be the one to mark the start of the Phra Samut Chedi Temple Fair on 19th October 2008. Please visit the www.ThailandQA.com Forums as we always post news of upcoming festivals and dates over there. We have just posted the dates for events and festivals in 2009 if you are planning a holiday to Thailand.

Quite a few people, Thais included, didn't believe me when I said that I was going down to the city hall in Samut Prakan to take pictures of the Loy Krathong ceremony. "But, Loy Krathong isn't until next month!", they said. "Are you crazy?" The phrase "loy krathong" means to float a bowl shaped container. It is not a festival like Christmas which celebrates a particular event. You can actually float a krathong at any time of the year. The annual event I went to last night was called "Loy Krathong Jay" and is part of the ten day Vegetarian Festival that we are having in Thailand at the moment. The ceremony started at Rongjae, near Taiban Circle in Paknam, and then all the participants walked all the way down to the Chao Phraya River at the city hall. They were accompanied with musical instruments for their fifteen minute walk through the town. This wasn't the main parade for the festival and so I waited at the city hall for them to arrive.

There was a steady drizzle of rain as everyone huddled together on mats, sheltered by a scattering of umbrellas. A table was set up with candles and a food offering for the ancestors. Five monks led the chanting. The idea behind this ceremony is to change your misfortune and to float away your bad luck on the krathongs. But, this ceremony was also held to transfer this merit to the dead souls in the water and on earth. Each krathong had incense sticks which were lit before it was floated on the water. One horse-shaped krathong was also set on fire which is a common thing in Chinese ceremonies to pass merit onto dead ancestors.

The whole ceremony was over within 15 minutes. After the last krathong had been floated on the water, everyone then set off for the walk back to the Chinese temple. We are now more than half way through the Vegetarian Festival. There are more ceremonies to make merit for ancestors. On the last day, Wednesday 8th October 2008, there will be a big parade through the town. I will be bringing you pictures of this parade next week. Now it is time for me to go down to Racha Market to buy some vegetarian food. I am actually surviving quite well on this vegan diet. I am pretty confident that I can make it for the full ten days.