Terry's Stories: Loy Krathong

Yesterday was the full moon in the twelfth lunar month and the day of the big Loy Krathong celebration. Loy Krathong is sometimes spelled with a "i" instead of a "y".

If you turn the sound on your computer and CLICK HERE you can hear the Loy Krathong song.

We tried to make the most of the day as this morning Daeng got another call saying that Newt's and Hlong's Father passed away in Myanmar. The family is going to make the trip tomorrow to pay their last respects.

Daeng spent the afternoon making floating flower arrangements, KRATHONGS, for the evening festivities. There are several ways to make them. Just click on underlined to see another way from a Pattaya story.

I liked the ones Daeng made much better that the Krathongs that were for sale on the street.

Daeng made two, one for me and one for her.

When it got dark we made our way under the bridge that leads to Myanmar (Burma) and lite up our candles placing them on our Krathongs. We made it through the crowd down the steps to the river bank. We both said a little pray and placed them in the river.

They floated away together. I was very happy because the saying goes that if they float together you will always be together.

As our two Krathongs rounded a little corner under the concrete wall I saw a boy reach out and grab the two Krathongs, take out the money that Daeng had put into the Krathongs and just threw them back into the river without caring if they were still lite or even floating.

I yelled at the kids but they just gave me the finger and kept stealing from more Krathongs. I did take their pictures.

If you know these kids please help them to learn the right from the wrong ways of life.

Remember, if we do good we get good. If we do bad we get bad. If we do nothing we get nothing!

I was kind of disheartened about the incident but Daeng said don't worry as someplace down the river someone else would be taking the money out, anyway.