Happy Holi!

In some places in India, there are more festivals than there are days of the year. In fact, life in India is pretty much one big festival and they certainly know how to celebrate it.

Though I've experienced lots of little festivals in three months, I'd been looking forward to experiencing one of North India's biggest festivals: Holi.

Holi is a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon day of the Phalgun month (usually February/March). There are so many legends surrounding Holi that is difficult to get a clear grasp on the events. As one legend has it (in a very short summary), someone was thrown into a fire but spared his life because he prayed to Lord Vishnu.

10 Things I'll Miss About Living in Thailand

In many ways, this challenging semester illuminated for me that I could never permanently settle here and it was time to wrap up life in Thailand. Despite the occasional aggravations in my final months, words fail to articulate how difficult it is to say goodbye to a place that changed my life. At the end of my days living in Thailand, I reflected on what I'll miss most & certainly reminisce about for years to come.

1. An Ode to Thai Food 

If you missed my pathetic attempt at poetry, check out my last post dedicated to my love affair with Thai cuisine. Besides my number one true love, the rest are in no meaningful order...

แห่เทียน (Hae Thian) - Candle Festival

Asanha Bucha Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the beginning of Khao Pansaa, or Buddhist Lent. Also known as the "Rain Retreat," this is a three-month period where monks are meant to stay inside monastery grounds for a period of study and meditation.

The most famous national celebration, the "Candle Festival," takes place right in my town, Ubon Ratchathani. Weeks in advance, workers prepare downtown Ubon for the event by building structures and cleaning the park. Massive wax sculptures are intricately carved and displayed at the local museum in anticipation of the festival.

Songkran

Songkran is a quintessential Thai holiday that I had the pleasure of experiencing last month.

Songkran, derived from a Sanskrit word literally meaning "astrological passage," is considered the Thai new year. Although, the Thai calendar year (currently the year 2055) changes in sync with the Western calender. The origins of Songkran may come from a similar Buddhist holiday in India. Buddhist countries in the SE Asia region such as Burma, Laos and Cambodia celebrate a similar festival around the same time as Thailand (April 13 - 15).

Although officially the festival is three days long, in reality it often encompasses a 5 or 6 day period in which you can expect to be perpetually soaking wet given one step outside.

Loi Krathong

I experienced my first Thai festival, Loi Krathong, last Thursday. This takes place annually on the evening of the full moon of what is usually November on the western calender. 'Loi' literally means 'to float' while 'krathong' is the lotus-shaped float often made out of banana leaves. The festival is often referred to as the "festival of light" or "floating lantern ceremony". On this evening, all over the country, thousands of Thais gather at a local river, canal or lake to light a candle on their hand-made float, make a wish, and let their float be carried away by the current. The flame is supposed to signify a release of sins.