11/4/98: I showed Peter the design layouts, and he liked them, so we are moving ahead… Dinner out with Peter and his family at the Night Market, a sort of outdoor food court with a huge variety of food vendor options to choose from… Then, after dark, we all headed down to the river to watch the culmination of the Festival of Lights… Parade watchers light candles on elaborately decorated floats and set them adrift in the river. The floats are cross-cut sections of bamboo, about eight inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, and set about with flowers and woven palm fronds, with a candle set in the center. The slow-moving river becomes bespeckled with the candle flames and colored flowers drifting away into the darkness… At the same time the night sky, full moon hanging overhead, becomes ablaze with thousands of rice-paper lanterns floating up into the heavens… The lanterns resemble upside down potato sacks with a flaming chunk of fuel fixed underneath, causing it to function like a hot-air balloon…
NOTE: The photo above shows the moment one of the festival goers lit and released a sky lantern into the night sky in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
