Sydney Road, a few miles north of downtown Melbourne, December 20th.
Category: Street Photography
Categories
Melbourne
Here are pictures from a week ago, shot during the Yi Peng Festival here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There was a parade, but I only saw people and floats standing still, presumably waiting for instructions to begin? I don’t know, I shot for at least an hour, and never saw the parade roll. It did start to rain heavily; some of these photographs show parade participants getting shelter nearby.
Yes, that child is on a leash, and yes, those do appear to be Mormons in a country that’s nearly 95% Buddhist; there’s an LDS church in Chiang Mai.
Loy Krathong is the Thai festival that takes place during the full moon on the twelfth month, according to the Thai lunar calendar. Chiang Mai’s version of this celebration is called Yi Peng, and involves launching paper hot-air balloons called sky lanterns. This is one of the most enchanting, magical events I’ve ever laid eyes on. All over the city locals and tourists ignite the lanterns, hold them above their heads while they fill with hot air, and then release them into the night sky, which becomes dotted with hundreds or thousands of flickering, glowing lights like gigantic fireflies.
I ran into this beauty hanging loose at a Chiang Mai street market; as you can see, like the Thin White Duke, her eyes are mismatched (though Bowie’s eyes are the same color; it’s the pupil size that’s different).
This is the northwest corner of Chiang Mai’s old city; those are 700 year old walls in the background.